# Firefox - why am I getting pop-up ads? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 27, 2005, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/firefox-why-am-i-getting-pop-up-ads/310109 "2005-06-27T23:21:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![rexnervous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e9c0ed/32.png) [@rexnervous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rexnervous)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2005, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/firefox-why-am-i-getting-pop-up-ads/310109/1 "2005-06-27T23:21:12Z")
It’s not overwhelming, just occasional, but I can’t figure out why I’m getting pop-up ads with Firefox. Running Firefox 1.0.4. I run AdAware and Spybot pretty frequently (just ran it yesterday, in fact). Also have Trend Micro Internet Security running. I allow only two sites in my “block pop-up windows” option in Firefox. Neither of them could be causing the problems (one is my work’s webmail, the other is my wireless router). So how are these pop-ups still getting through? ---
**Author:** ![Reply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reply/32/15952_2.png) [@Reply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reply)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2005, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/firefox-why-am-i-getting-pop-up-ads/310109/2 "2005-06-27T23:49:17Z")
Firefox’s popup blocker is not perfect. There are many different ways for websites to launch popups (New windows, Java, Javascript, layers, etc.) and the blocker may not catch them all. You can try running more than one popup blocker at a time (i.e. Firefox + Google Toolbar), but then you have to make sure legitimate popups aren’t getting accidentally blocked. Maybe someone else has a better idea? ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2005, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/firefox-why-am-i-getting-pop-up-ads/310109/3 "2005-06-27T23:49:43Z")
Firefox isn’t completely immune. There’s myriad ways of creating popups, and FF only beats _most_ of them. The ones that it can’t deal with do seem to be becoming more common, unsurprising given the rapid rise of the browser. Just keep updated with the latest version, and put up with it. ---
**Author:** ![gazpacho](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/6f9a4e/32.png) [@gazpacho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gazpacho)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2005, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/firefox-why-am-i-getting-pop-up-ads/310109/4 "2005-06-27T23:50:55Z")
I saw on slashdot recently that people are making flash popups now. You could try disabling flash and see if that helps. ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2005, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/firefox-why-am-i-getting-pop-up-ads/310109/5 "2005-06-27T23:56:35Z")
previous thread on the subject [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=303290&](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=303290&) ---
**Author:** ![Hail\_Ants](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/dc4da7/32.png) [@Hail\_Ants](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hail_Ants)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2005, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/firefox-why-am-i-getting-pop-up-ads/310109/6 "2005-06-28T03:46:18Z")
Try adding the [Popups Must Die!](http://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/mozilla.org/firefox/nightly/experimental/popupsdie/) extension to Firefox. Eliminates almost 100% of them for me. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2005, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/firefox-why-am-i-getting-pop-up-ads/310109/7 "2005-06-28T04:58:06Z")
One of the reasons I have lost respect for Snopes- they use popups, and of a kind that are particulary resistant to pop-up blockers. I have also had Spyware attacks from their advertisers in the past. Sure, I know they need money for the site- and Snopes serves a useful purpose. But allowing advertisers to do end runs around security systems isn’t the right thing to do. Note that Ed is aware of this, and promised me in a ATMB thread that if the SDMB ever went to advertising, they wouldn’t allow anything hinky.