Q: After each turn in the iPad game "Words With Friends," an unwanted pop-up ad appears on my screen. How can I stop these pop-ups?
Chuck Massie, Chaska
A: "Free" may be the most misleading term in the world of computer games, and "Words With Friends" by Zynga Mobile is no exception. Although free to download, Words shows you advertisements between turns, and they can't be turned off. (Zynga previously sold an alternate, advertising-free version of the game for the iPad and iPhone, but it was discontinued this year).
Why can't you opt out of the ads? Advertising is how Words and many other mobile computer games make money for their developers. Words also uses another common moneymaking strategy called "in-game purchases," in which players can voluntarily buy "coins" that unlock special playing features.
I've found two ways to deal with the inescapable ads: Turn off the sound. Or terminate an ad by closing and reopening the Words app.
The latter method may have an added value: It tells Zynga which ads people won't watch, perhaps encouraging them to make the ads shorter.
Q: I've recently begun getting an error message from the Garmin Express app on my PC (which uses the 64-bit version of Windows 7). The error message reads: "D3DCOMPILER_47.dll is missing." What's wrong?
Al Hassebrock, Colorado Springs