This site will have limited functionality while we undergo maintenance to improve your experience. If an article doesn't solve your issue and you want to ask a question, we have our support community waiting to help you at @FirefoxSupport on Twitter and/r/firefox on Reddit.

Search Support

Avoid support scams. We will never ask you to call or text a phone number or share personal information. Please report suspicious activity using the “Report Abuse” option.

Learn More

some words on some sites are "blue" and lead to off site ad pages

  • 3 cavab
  • 1 has this problem
  • 20 views
  • Last reply by catfoods22

more options

I have noticed lately that some words on sites I visit are highlighted in blue. When I mouse over them it is an ad for "free games", when I click them they lead to off site ad pages.

This does not happen with Explorer (which I hate to use). I also don't think it was like this a month ago. I have run a scan, and only found tracking cookies which I do not keep.

I have always seen these "blue highlighted" words in news stories on Yahoo and MSN home pages. Maybe I do have malware on my comp. I use AVG free and will NOT install any of the big company anti virus crap. They screw up my games and I believe these companies are the ones releasing the virus's, it keeps them in business.

Thanks Joe

I have noticed lately that some words on sites I visit are highlighted in blue. When I mouse over them it is an ad for "free games", when I click them they lead to off site ad pages. This does not happen with Explorer (which I hate to use). I also don't think it was like this a month ago. I have run a scan, and only found tracking cookies which I do not keep. I have always seen these "blue highlighted" words in news stories on Yahoo and MSN home pages. Maybe I do have malware on my comp. I use AVG free and will NOT install any of the big company anti virus crap. They screw up my games and I believe these companies are the ones releasing the virus's, it keeps them in business. Thanks Joe

All Replies (3)

more options

I just noticed my version is way old?? I thought the updates were automatic?

I am guessing updating will fix this?' Just hope it does not add more trouble.

more options

Do a malware check with some malware scanning programs.
You need to scan with all programs because each program detects different malware.
Make sure that you update each program to get the latest version of their databases before doing a scan.

See also:


You can look at Adblock Plus.

You need to subscribe to a Filter list (e.g. the EasyList).

more options

Tried to post a new thread but it isn't working. I am curious where these blue underlined words come from, found one in FFox's default page and the word underlined in blue twice was restore taking me to a web site that provides free storage and all the virus and malware scans show negative. It it the site itself?