# I'm getting popup ads... in Firefox ::boggles:: **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [February 19, 2005, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-getting-popup-ads-in-firefox-boggles/290947 "2005-02-19T22:16:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Oat1957](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Oat1957](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oat1957)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2005, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-getting-popup-ads-in-firefox-boggles/290947/21 "2005-02-20T01:39:47Z")
> [@Mr. Blue Sky](#): > > I downloaded Adblock and Flashblocker. I got the message that said the extensions would be installed when I restarted Firefox. > > I did and it didn’t. > > What happened? > > I’m using Firefox 1.0. I would reboot the computer and then check Tools. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2005, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-getting-popup-ads-in-firefox-boggles/290947/22 "2005-02-20T01:45:02Z")
> [@Oat1957](#): > > I would reboot the computer and then check Tools. I did that, but it didn’t help. I went to the Firefox forums and found my problem was related to my profile. I created a new profile and solved the problem. ---
**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:** [February 20, 2005, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-getting-popup-ads-in-firefox-boggles/290947/23 "2005-02-20T04:00:13Z")
Ah dammit, I just got another popup, even though my Flashblock is on. There must be a another non-flash way to get around Firefox’s popup blocking. It was one of the following URLs that caused it, which I loaded all at once via “Open In Tabs”. Of course, I’m failing to reproduce the popup now. > **[Boca Raton News, Events, & Local Resources](https://www.bocaratonrealestate.com/news/)** > > News, Events, & Local Resources for Residents & Visitors of Boca Raton, FL > **[Miami.com Food, Tourism, Clubs & Travel News | Miami Herald](https://www.miamiherald.com/miami-com/)** > **[Palm Beach Post: Local News, Politics & Sports in W. Palm Beach, FL](https://www.palmbeachpost.com/)** > > Get the latest breaking news, sports, entertainment and obituaries in Palm Beach, Florida from Palm Beach Post. > **[Latest news headlines - South Florida Sun-Sentinel](https://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/)** > > Up-to-date breaking news from Florida and around the world. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2005, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-getting-popup-ads-in-firefox-boggles/290947/24 "2005-02-20T04:10:01Z")
**Revtim** , I tried all your links (w/Flashblock on) and didn’t get any popups. I even tried them in Opera & IE. ---
**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:** [February 20, 2005, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-getting-popup-ads-in-firefox-boggles/290947/25 "2005-02-20T04:20:48Z")
It seems like they are making the popups random or something, perhaps to make them more difficult for the Firefox developers to close the holes. The people in that Mozillazine forum are also having trouble reproducing each other’s popups. ---
**Author:** ![Diceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2005, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-getting-popup-ads-in-firefox-boggles/290947/26 "2005-02-20T04:50:56Z")
I’ve installed Firefox (I’ve been meaning to try it out for a while now) and I get the Snopes popup on it. No extentions were installed, although I added the Dictionary Search one later. I went to the popup blocker test site that **Revtim** mentioned, and there are a number of types of popups that Firefox didn’t catch. Then again, neither IE’s new popup blocker nor the Popup Ad Filter that I bought a while ago catch everything either. ---
**Author:** ![Dusty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a183cd/32.png) [@Dusty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dusty)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2005, 6:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-getting-popup-ads-in-firefox-boggles/290947/27 "2005-02-20T06:10:10Z")
I use Mozilla, not Firefox, but their engines are similar enough I think this is in keeping: Just today, I got the first unsolicited popup I’ve ever gotten with Mozilla. It came from [Dictionary.com](http://Dictionary.com). I’ve since upgraded to the latest release (1.8α6, I’d been using α5) and after at least fifty tries, I’ve not gotten another. However, I don’t know if that’s the reason they aren’t getting through or if the popups are purposefully random. On the test site **Revtim** gave, the only ones that got through for me were the Flash- and Java-spawned ones. I notice [Dictionary.com](http://Dictionary.com) usually has a Flash skyscraper ad on the right-hand side. Are any of the sites getting popups through not employing Flash or Java in some way? ---
**Author:** ![pepperlandgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f17d59/32.png) [@pepperlandgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pepperlandgirl)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2005, 7:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-getting-popup-ads-in-firefox-boggles/290947/28 "2005-02-20T07:25:15Z")
> [@Diceman](#): > > I’ve installed Firefox (I’ve been meaning to try it out for a while now) and I get the Snopes popup on it. No extentions were installed, although I added the Dictionary Search one later. > > I went to the popup blocker test site that **Revtim** mentioned, and there are a number of types of popups that Firefox didn’t catch. Then again, neither IE’s new popup blocker nor the Popup Ad Filter that I bought a while ago catch everything either. After you installed Firefox, did you go and Tools-Options-Web Features and make sure you set it block pop-ups? IIRC, it’s not the default setting. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2005, 10:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-getting-popup-ads-in-firefox-boggles/290947/29 "2005-02-20T10:23:17Z")
> [@Revtim](#): > > OK, still don’t get one from Snopes with Abe Vigoda Status. Out of context, this is a weird-ass sentence. ---
**Author:** ![Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e19adc/32.png) [@Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2005, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-getting-popup-ads-in-firefox-boggles/290947/30 "2005-02-20T13:10:38Z")
You’re not getting pop-ups, you’re getting pop-_unders_, right? It’s what I composed a brief bitch about in the [Pit](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=303108). From what I’ve been able to determine, it’s a new set of code that takes advantage of either Flash or Java, and often a cookie gets dumped on your machine so that you only get hit once an hour or once a day at some sites. ---
**Author:** ![TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tellmei_mnotcrazy/32/3419_2.png) [@TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TellMeI_mNotCrazy)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2005, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-getting-popup-ads-in-firefox-boggles/290947/31 "2005-02-20T13:18:14Z")
Good point - yes, they are actually pop-unders. Insidious little bastids. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2005, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-getting-popup-ads-in-firefox-boggles/290947/32 "2005-02-20T13:18:36Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > Out of context, this is a weird-ass sentence. Sounds like some sort of code message. ---
**Author:** ![Diceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2005, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-getting-popup-ads-in-firefox-boggles/290947/33 "2005-02-20T16:01:55Z")
> [@pepperlandgirl](#): > > After you installed Firefox, did you go and Tools-Options-Web Features and make sure you set it block pop-ups? IIRC, it’s not the default setting. Actually, yes it was the default setting. Jeez, give a little credit! ---
**Author:** ![Foible](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Foible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Foible)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2005, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-getting-popup-ads-in-firefox-boggles/290947/34 "2005-02-20T17:53:57Z")
Wow, I did not like hearing this about my favorite browsers and one of my favorite websites. (snopes) I went to snopes and on the third page I got a popup, Damn! I did not have any pluggins in my firefox browser. Next I went to the firefox options and played with the Java options. I left it enabled but under the “advanced” options I shut off all of the skanky features about moving menus and images. I shut off everything that was allowed there. Next I went back to snopes and surfed around some more, no more popups. Next I went to the other sites mentioned in this thread as guilty, the Onion and TV Tome, No popups there either. Ok, I haven’t proved this is the solution yet, it could be timed to only happen once an hour or once a day or so, so I did another test. I hit my KVM switch and brought up another computer, this one running the whole Mozilla. I changed my Java settings to match the first system and I surfed the three sites. I got no popups from any of them but I did get some weird behavior that made me think they were trying to be tricky. Snopes kept triggering the “connect my modem” dialog for my cell phone connection and TV Tome caused a “Java pluggin not available, Download?” dialog. That makes me think they are exploiting a Java hole to cause the popup. I’ll post again if one gets through my new settings. This still doesn’t prove it isn’t timed, the can track me by IP address rather than just cookies, but I don’t want to reset the cable modem now to force a new IP address. If anyone else tries these settings I’d be interested in hearing the results. ---
**Author:** ![pepperlandgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f17d59/32.png) [@pepperlandgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pepperlandgirl)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2005, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-getting-popup-ads-in-firefox-boggles/290947/35 "2005-02-20T23:34:25Z")
> [@Diceman](#): > > Actually, yes it was the default setting. > > Jeez, give a little credit! Heh, I remember having to set it, but I DLed mine a long time ago. Plus, I learned after helping friends and family members that you always have to ask the stupidobvious questions first. FTR, since using Firefox, I’ve never had a single popup. Just to be on the safe side, I installed the flash blocker extension, but I’ve never had an issue. Not even at snopes. ---
**Author:** ![Dignan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f07891/32.png) [@Dignan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dignan)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2005, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-getting-popup-ads-in-firefox-boggles/290947/36 "2005-02-21T17:46:31Z")
> [@Diceman](#): > > I use IE, but [MSN.com](http://MSN.com) is my home page. It doesn’t have any popups. It’s possible that Microsoft created popups that target Firefox, but it sounds like you guys have caught some sort of spyware. I think I figured out the problem. Not that I know how to solve it, or why it happens, but I know what causes it. Just dragging my cursor over the ad for “Lowermybills” or whatever the stupid company is, will open up the window. I don’t click or anything, just pass the mouse over it and it opens up one (or five) windows. ---
**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:** [April 3, 2005, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-getting-popup-ads-in-firefox-boggles/290947/37 "2005-04-03T01:41:27Z")
“Firefox Tests Beefed-up Popup Blocker” > **[IoT recent news | page 1 of 5 | InformationWeek | InformationWeek](https://www.informationweek.com/IoT)** “The Mozilla Foundation is testing a patch to its Firefox browser that puts the kibosh on popup ads which have been slipping through the open-source browser’s blocker.” “Unfortunately, it also blocks legit popups. The only way to access those is to “white list” the site from the built-in popup blocker. “This looks, at this stage, like a reasonable trade-off,” said Asa Dotzler, the Mozilla developer who created the patch.” It can be found here: [http://mozilla.osuosl.org/pub/mozilla.org/firefox/nightly/experimental/popupsdie/](http://mozilla.osuosl.org/pub/mozilla.org/firefox/nightly/experimental/popupsdie/) I haven’t tried it yet. ---
**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:** [April 3, 2005, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-getting-popup-ads-in-firefox-boggles/290947/38 "2005-04-03T01:43:16Z")
Dangit, I get a “not a valid install package” error. ---
**Author:** ![Jenaroph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e8c25b/32.png) [@Jenaroph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jenaroph)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2005, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-getting-popup-ads-in-firefox-boggles/290947/39 "2005-04-03T02:39:58Z")
It worked for me, yay! I went to snopes and got the “firefox has blocked this site from opening a popup” message, and unlike every other time in the past month or so, it actually DID! ---
**Author:** ![monkeyfist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9c0ed/32.png) [@monkeyfist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monkeyfist)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2005, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-getting-popup-ads-in-firefox-boggles/290947/40 "2005-04-03T02:51:05Z")
FWIW, I use IE and haven’t gotten a pop-up, pop-under, or pop-in in I-don’t-know-how-long, but I am also running Ad-Aware’s Ad-Watch. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-getting-popup-ads-in-firefox-boggles/290947.md?page=1)