I have installed the Googlebar my friend swears by I have clean all cookies and old files I'm so disgusted with the crap I want to find them . . and remove them . .possibly in the registry? Do they install something on the machine beyond a simple cookie? I think understanding them is the 1st step to destroying them Rocket River "SPAM BLOCKERS, bIYACH!!"
Do you have Ad-Aware? You might want to give that a run; it'll tell you if you have any funky files that would be causing said pop-ups. Then you can get them removed. Problem should be solved.
A pop up is just a code in a webpage that launches another browser window. If you have stuff popping up without an open browser window then you probably have spyware. A cookie just tells a site that you have been there before. Clutchfans uses cookies, or you would have to log in everytime you wanted in the bbs. Get a firewall, anti-virus software, and Google pop-up blocker and you should be fine.