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Don't know about Chrome, but for FireFox an essential "starter's kit" is Adblock Plus, Flashblock and NoScript.
All accessible via Tools|Add-ons|Get Add-ons.

Flashblock sounds like it could be useful here......I've just installed Flash, and unlike with Internet Explorer, there seems to be no built-in way of disabling it in Firefox. Hasn't given me any ads yet, but if it does, I'll give it a go.

What does NoScript do?

Er, it disables scripts?
Often ads and other more nasty stuff is activated by running Javascript or other code from within your browser, and NoScript allows you to selectively disable this activity for certain sites. Other sites require some script activity to simply function, so you're able to fine-tune the blocking actions.
It also protects against deliberate HTML tricks pulled by certain sites (usually compromised sites ) and I would have said that for Windows-based users, it's essential to have it installed.
If you find it via Tools|Add-ons|Get Add-ons, then along with the ability to install it immediately you'll also see a link to the NoScript homepage which will give more details.

Thanks - if my browser were molested by a rogue script, how would I know that it was due to a script and not one of the other ways?

Rogue scripts can do more than molest your browser, they can take advantages of known holes in Windows security and plant trojans and malware on your computer. So for example if you suddenly find that Google searches for product X gives you links to lots of porn sites then you know your browser has been compromised. If you use online banking and you find your account has been emptied and you are in repayment arrears with a $10,000 loan you never took out then that is also a clue that your computer has been "molested".

It is often difficult to tell where most malware originates, but the usual culprits are having inadequate browser protection or unsafe downloading practices. All you can do it try to block the usual attack vectors.

Out of curiosity I tried browsing WP using Internet Explorer a couple of months back, and within thirty minutes I got a security alert saying some unknown software was trying to install itself onto IE as an add-on! Most likely originating from a malicious advert. Using Firefox with No-script doesn't even allow such nasties to attempt an attack in the first place. The only sites I allow to use scripts are those I trust such as online-banking sites.

Thanks, Tallyman
So if a script got through, I wouldn't see anything until it was too late to block it. Time to get NoScript, methinks.

Windows is hopeless when it comes to basic security but at least using something more robust like FireFox will help, and then adding stuff like NoScript will help stop Windows from shooting itself in the head.
Only help, mind. Windows is really rather good at shooting itself in the head.

OK, I'm a believer...I've installed it.
It stopped the emoticons working here by default - I take it that's a good thing? Wasn't hard to allow them back - had me worried for a minute though.

Excellent!
My NoScript permissions for WP is set to just allow "wrongplanet.net" and emoticons are working fine. The 6 other addresses remain disabled, although "google.com" was already allowed elsewhere and so becomes allowed here too.

Seems that googlesyndication.com is allowed here - is that good, bad, or irrelevent?

Forbidden ones here are: google-analytics.com, exponential.com, technorati.com, quantserve.com, and scorecardresearch.com. Does that make sense?

All those are blocked in my NoScript including googlesyndication.com

Depending on what sites you visit you may need to allow the site itself to run scripts and just disallow third party scripts. If I desperately need a site to work and it still doesn't run properly then I tend to temporarily allow it to use all scripts. Those permissions are then revoked after closing the browser. It seems a much safer practice than just letting all sites run whatever they like on your computer all the time.

My knee-jerk reaction is to disallow everything unless it's actually required for a site to function and aside from your allowing googlesyndication.com our lists are the same. A Google search on googlesyndication.com shows that it's related to advertising (so that gets shot on sight here! ), while google-analytics.com is statistics-related - also shot on sight.

Basically - if it's not required for the site to run then it doesn't get run. Period.
I've got so used to not seeing distracting ads. or Flash animations on sites that it's a real shocker to see someone else's machine displaying all this garbage unhindered. But I do remember how browsing speed was substantially improved as sites were now being prevented from retrieving unwanted crap from some other site - which was responding slowly or down.
So there are other advantages apart from better security and less visual clutter.

That's exactly how I do it too, and there has do be a damn good reason for any permissions to remain permanent!

Keep in mind that WrongPlanet relies on advertising to support itself. If enough people disable ads, the site will no longer be able to afford to operate.

Ah - well that would fit under "damn good reason", then!
But in my defence I'll soon be sorting out something to make me a contributor, so I don't feel too guilty...

So income is generated because an ad. is simply displayed? I'd assumed this was only "on click".

Yes. We're generally payed every time an ad is displayed if its a banner ad. Google pays per click for the most part, however. Even though some of their text ads are not pay per click.