Plethora of pop-ups

For the past couple weeks my sister-in-law in Florida, the so-called “movie-lady,” has been trying to find us a copy of “Tron — Legacy” to download and watch.
We hardly watch movies, but this sounded interesting. We had seen “Tron.”
My sister-in-law e-mailed a link. I clicked it.
My Internet-browser is Firefox.
It was suggested to me years ago by a friend in Massachusetts, an old college-mate.
BlogSpot.com (this site) was also going to switch.
I had been using Microsoft Internet-Explorer, but it became somewhat undependable.
And BlogSpot was no longer going to support it.
So I installed Firefox, “FoxFire” to my siblings.
I have other browsers. I still have Internet-Explorer, which I keep for sites that don’t work with Firefox.
But most now do.
I also have Apple’s Safari®, which came with OS-X when they stopped using Internet-Explorer. (My first OS-Xs had Internet-Explorer.)
Microsoft had given up upgrading Internet-Explorer for the Macintosh.
But certain sites wouldn’t work with Firefox — this seemed primarily true of my railfan sites.
But those sites seem to have moved beyond Internet-Explorer, which could be kind of inferior.
People seem to think the computing-world is Microsoft; comparable to cereal being General Mills.
But I drive an Apple Macintosh, much the the chagrin of my siblings.
The Mighty Mezz computerized with Apple Macintosh; they might still be using it.
It’s the computer-platform with which I’m familiar.
Safari seems to be an Apple Macintosh thing. If I click an e-mail web-link it opens Safari.
I suppose I could make Firefox my default browser, but I don’t care.
I use Safari so little, let it open the e-mail web-links.
Seems harmless.
Since I use Firefox, I have it set to block pop-ups.
It doesn’t actually block them.
What it does is array them behind the main web-page, so you don’t see ‘em.
Minimize the main web-page, and there it is; it had been invisible behind everything else.
“Firefox blocked a pop-up from appearing with this page.”
Yes, indeed it did, unless I minimize the page.
Then, “Meaning-of-Life; just enter your Social-Security number.”
Safari was never set up; I never set it to block pop-ups.
I clicked my sister-in-law’s movie-link, and suddenly “This computer is severely infected! Clean your computer; click this link, only $10.95.”
“It is?” I said. “I ain’t cleanin’ nuthin, until it becomes bog-slow; and that’s a job for Mac Shack.
I managed to kill that pop-up, but suddenly an exercise-video was blaring at me.
Not Richard Simmons or Jillian, but “Hup-two-three-four!” —Redemption through sweat.
So much for freebie movie-links. Nothing is ever free.
And I always unclick e-mail boxes; I get enough e-mails as it is.
Plus my daily e-mail from JC Penney, which I don’t think I solicited.
“Look what I’ve been missing!” I said to my wife, as I killed the pop-up exercise-video.

• “We” is me and my wife of 43+ years, “Linda.”
• “OS-X” is Apple’s current computer operating system; OS-10. (OS-X has been in different versions; I started with the first, and and now up to version 7.)
• I’m a railfan, and have been since age-two (I’m 67).
• The “Mighty Mezz” is the Canandaigua Daily-Messenger newspaper, from where I retired over five years ago. Best job I ever had — I worked there almost 10 years. (“Canandaigua” [“cannan-DAY-gwuh”] is a small city nearby where we live in Western NY. The city is also within a rural town called “Canandaigua.” The name is Indian, and means “Chosen Spot.” —It’s about 15 miles away.)
• “Mac Shack” is a local Apple Macintosh service-center in the Rochester area.