# pop up windows that don't go away **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [January 17, 2016, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-up-windows-that-dont-go-away/743440 "2016-01-17T21:22:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Damuri\_Ajashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/898d66/32.png) [@Damuri\_Ajashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Damuri_Ajashi)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2016, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-up-windows-that-dont-go-away/743440/1 "2016-01-17T21:22:57Z")
WTF is the deal with these. I had this pop-up window that I couldn’t close short of force closing internet explorer. The window started giving me a presentation on how to lose weight using some miracle method (a lot of these seem to have some guy drawing pictures) that they would tell me about at the end of a presentation and at the end of the presentation, they ask me for money to find out about more about the method. WTF? My understanding is that this is not a flaw but a feature inserted by Sun Microsystems [?] Why the fuck isn’t there some way to prevent these pop-ups? ---
**Author:** ![MindsEye\_Watering](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mindseye_watering/32/3619_2.png) [@MindsEye\_Watering](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MindsEye_Watering)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2016, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-up-windows-that-dont-go-away/743440/2 "2016-01-17T21:33:19Z")
> [@Damuri\_Ajashi](#): > > Why the fuck isn’t there some way to prevent these pop-ups? There is: use Chrome or Firefox with ScriptBlock (NoScript), AdBlock and FlashBlock. ---
**Author:** ![Superdude](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superdude/32/13450_2.png) [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2016, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-up-windows-that-dont-go-away/743440/3 "2016-01-17T22:45:39Z")
I use Chrome, and sometimes have that same issue. Though my popups are usually telling me that my computer is virus-infected, despite what AVG antivirus and AVG tune-up tell me. I’ll have to force-kill Chrome like **DA** does. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2016, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-up-windows-that-dont-go-away/743440/4 "2016-01-17T23:21:54Z")
> [@Superdude](#): > > I use Chrome, and sometimes have that same issue. Though my popups are usually telling me that my computer is virus-infected, despite what AVG antivirus and AVG tune-up tell me. Then you need to try something else. There is no antivirus/antispyware that can detect and remove everything. ---
**Author:** ![Merneith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/57b2e6/32.png) [@Merneith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merneith)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2016, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-up-windows-that-dont-go-away/743440/5 "2016-01-18T03:14:31Z")
Try uBlock (I use uBlock Origin Flavor). Just rightclick on the offending pop-up, select “block this element”, and it goes away. Sometimes the popup might contain more than one element, but a few more clicks will get them all. Really. Stop using Internet Explorer. There’s just no excuse for that rubbish. ---
**Author:** ![China\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/779978/32.png) [@China\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/China_Guy)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2016, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-up-windows-that-dont-go-away/743440/6 "2016-01-18T03:34:44Z")
What version of Explorer are you using? You definitely need to be on IE11. Or are you using the Windows 10 Edge browser? I haven’t had any significant pop up issues with Edge. ---
**Author:** ![Doug\_K](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5ac83/32.png) [@Doug\_K](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doug_K)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2016, 6:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-up-windows-that-dont-go-away/743440/7 "2016-01-18T06:22:46Z")
> [@Fear\_Itself](#): > > Then you need to try something else. There is no antivirus/antispyware that can detect and remove everything. There’s nothing to remove (unless you’re foolish enough to click “O.K” on the pop up). Phony virus warning pop ups are a common ploy to trick people into installing malware. ---
**Author:** ![kbear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/4491bb/32.png) [@kbear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kbear)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2016, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-up-windows-that-dont-go-away/743440/8 "2016-01-18T22:11:32Z")
> [@Superdude](#): > > I use Chrome, and sometimes have that same issue. Though my popups are usually telling me that my computer is virus-infected, despite what AVG antivirus and AVG tune-up tell me. I’ll have to force-kill Chrome like **DA** does. I get that when from those nasty clickbait sites advertised on Facebook. Sometimes I forget and click on “10 ways coconut oil will change your life” and boom…virus pop up that won"t go away. ---
**Author:** ![Merneith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/57b2e6/32.png) [@Merneith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merneith)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2016, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-up-windows-that-dont-go-away/743440/9 "2016-01-19T21:31:26Z")
In that case, the pop up window can be selected from the taskbar or in the task manager. End task and it will close the pop up window, usually without closing the main window. Then install an adblocker that will take care of facebook ads, too. ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Economist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c89c15/32.png) [@Evil\_Economist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Economist)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2016, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-up-windows-that-dont-go-away/743440/10 "2016-01-19T21:54:15Z")
> [@Merneith](#): > > In that case, the pop up window can be selected from the taskbar or in the task manager. End task and it will close the pop up window, usually without closing the main window. Yep, this works. I’ll also second uBlock Origin as a way to prevent it from happening again. I hate when they use Windows’ text-to-speech software to read out the text on the ad while preventing you from closing it. And of course Microsoft’s new Edge browser doesn’t allow ad blockers, because Microsoft is incompetent.