The only way those pop-ups can get installed on your systems is by going to sites that contain it....and you can bet a dollar to a dime that somewhere in the fine print/disclaimers it says something like "by viewing this page you agree to have our special advertising software installed on your system"..so in that respect, it is legal.

Your particular situation puts a different spin on things..can you tell me what browser you are using? Can I assume, that since it needs to meed FDIC standards, it is IE? Which in that case, your options are limited, but there still are some things you can do, such as disabling any type of scripting, whether it be java or activeX...

This type of software doesn't just appear out of thin air...someone is going to sites they probably shouldn't be. The question that comes to mind to me (and please don't take this as a comment on your abilities) if adware can get installed that easy on computers that have customer info..how hard would it be to put something on there that can retrieve that customer info?? I would have to believe there is a huge liability issue there.

As far as security of the type you need, I will have to defer to the people here that actually do this for a living.

EDIT: Also, if it is pop-ups coming from your own system, pop-up blockers are going to be ineffective, I think.

Another thought, it has been a while since I used the Google toolbar, but isn't there an option to allow pop-ups from certain sites?