You're minding your own business, checking out your favorite Web site, when a pop-up ad appears on your screen. Maybe a couple of pop-ups appear.

Everyone says they hate pop-ups. Commercials promote the latest software aimed to "kill" pop-ups. Pop up blocker software has been downloaded hundreds of thousands of times.

But a new study shows somebody's clicking through. Is it you?

GartnerG2 conducted the research, finding 78 percent of Internet users say pop-ups are "very annoying." Only 49 percent find banner ads as annoying as pop-ups.

And while you may find pop-ups annoying, the study also showed they have click-through rates twice as high of banner click-throughs. Advertisers are taking notice of click-throughs and calling pop-ups effective advertising. In fact, between January and September 2002 the number of pop-ups soared from 1.2 billion to 4.9 billion.

If you're not a pop-up fan, this news won't make you any happier. Advertisers are now working on ways to increase their pop-ups successfulness even more.

You've probably tried to close a pop-up, only to find the X didn't really close the ad. Instead, it took you to the advertiser's site. Well, a new type of pop-up automatically takes you to an advertiser's Web site if you roll your mouse over the ad.

The good news is, most companies have heard quite enough on the pop-up issue. They've decided to eliminate all pop-ups from their sites. iVillage and Ask Jeeves both decided pop-ups weren't worth the risk of irritating their site's visitors.

Web browser companies and Internet service providers are also working on technology to stop pop-ups. If you can't wait to get rid of the pop-ups, CNET offers a variety of pop up blocker software you can download and install on your own computer.

Even though the statistics aren't very promising for pop-up haters, one analyst does have her own theory on why the click-through rates are so high.

"Current click-through rates are inflated because many Internet users are not familiar with how to close the pop-up window. The rates will decrease as users gain experience," Denise Garcia said.