Well under the heading of 'not for everyone'.
I find a Hosts file a nice tool.
http://webpages.charter.net/hpguru/hosts/hosts.html
Security? Well it blocks the rubbish servers so that when I run a spyware scan I usually don't find much.
Pop-ups? With a Hosts I get so few of those that for me it's a non-issue.
Pro's--it's free
Con's--it does require an update every so often.
Setup--the way I load it.
does require an unzipper.
does require a rename.
does require the user to drag+drop.
Bottom line, it blocks the rubbish from getting in, so that I don't have to use tools to find and remove the stuff.
I want to add to my safety site, with setup steps for the main free protection programs. Since I no longer use these, and don't want to wreck my finely tuned computer with temp installs just to see them, I'd be grateful if people could provide the installation/best settings for these, nad any caveats/bugs they may have.
Sygate Personal firewall
ZoneAlarm Free firewall
Avast! Free AV
AVG Free AV
MailWasher Free edition
I know there are others, but these are hte ones I recommend for visitors, as they are long-time proven and reliable. I can handle the Spybot and AdAware procedures myself. Thanks in advance for the assist.

Chowhound
Comic Vine
GameFAQs
GameSpot
Giant Bomb
TechRepublic