Pop-up ad
I take online surveys. In the last month, the Montgomery Wards website pops up on 3 of my survey sites and I cannot complete the survey - it kicks me out. This only happens with Mozilla. Internet Explorer does not do this, but I prefer using Mozilla. I have tried everything I know to try and it keeps happening. I have never been to the Montgomery Wards website, so I don't know how it got int my surveys. The surveys are from different survey sites and they couldn't help me. Was their an update or something I can do from this end to get rid of this annoying website pop-up. Thanks.
Chosen solution
There are some add-ons which inject their own ads into sites. Here's my suggested procedure for tracking down and cleaning up bad add-ons, hijackers, and ad injectors. I know it seems long, but it's not that bad.
(1) Open the Windows Control Panel, Uninstall a Program. After the list loads, click the "Installed on" column heading to group the infections, I mean, additions, by date. This can help in smoking out undisclosed bundle items that snuck in with some software you agreed to install. Be suspicious of everything you do not recognize/remember, as malware often uses important or innocent sounding names to discourage you from removing it. Take out as much trash as possible here.
(2) Open Firefox's Add-ons page using either:
- Ctrl+Shift+a
- "3-bar" menu button (or Tools menu) > Add-ons
- in the Windows "Run" dialog, type or paste
firefox.exe "about:addons"
In the left column, click Plugins. Set nonessential and unrecognized plugins to "Never Activate".
In the left column, click Extensions. Then, if in doubt, disable (or Remove, if possible) unrecognized and unwanted extensions. Bear in mind that all extensions are optional, none come with Firefox, and you can learn more about them by checking their reviews on the Add-ons site.
Often a link will appear above at least one disabled extension to restart Firefox. You can complete your work on the tab and click one of the links as the last step.
(3) You can search for remaining issues with the scanning/cleaning tools listed in our support article: Troubleshoot Firefox issues caused by malware. These on-demand scanners are free and take considerable time to run. If they finish quickly and especially if they require payment, you may have a serious infection. I suggest the specialized forums listed in the article in that case.
Success?
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Are you using any blocking programs?
Type about:preferences#content<enter> in the address bar. Under Pop-ups, at the far right, press the Exceptions button.
I tried that, but it didn't work. Thanks for your help.
The only program I have on my computer is AVG. Should I disable this and see what happens?
Yes give it a try.
I removed AVG and then had to contact AVG to remove AVG Web Tune Up. Now that I have that removed, I still have the Wards pop-up. I don't know where to go from here because I sometimes use Internet Explorer and I don't have the problem with it. It only happens on Mozilla - so doesn't it have to be a Mozilla problem?
Start Firefox in Safe Mode {web Link} by holding down the <Shift>
(Mac=Options) key, and then starting Firefox. Is the problem still there?
While still in Safe Mode,
Type about:support in the address bar and press Enter. Under the main banner, press the button; Copy Text To Clipboard.. Then in the reply box at the bottom of this page, do a right click in the box and select Paste. This will show us your system details. No Personal Information Is Collected.
Chosen Solution
There are some add-ons which inject their own ads into sites. Here's my suggested procedure for tracking down and cleaning up bad add-ons, hijackers, and ad injectors. I know it seems long, but it's not that bad.
(1) Open the Windows Control Panel, Uninstall a Program. After the list loads, click the "Installed on" column heading to group the infections, I mean, additions, by date. This can help in smoking out undisclosed bundle items that snuck in with some software you agreed to install. Be suspicious of everything you do not recognize/remember, as malware often uses important or innocent sounding names to discourage you from removing it. Take out as much trash as possible here.
(2) Open Firefox's Add-ons page using either:
- Ctrl+Shift+a
- "3-bar" menu button (or Tools menu) > Add-ons
- in the Windows "Run" dialog, type or paste
firefox.exe "about:addons"
In the left column, click Plugins. Set nonessential and unrecognized plugins to "Never Activate".
In the left column, click Extensions. Then, if in doubt, disable (or Remove, if possible) unrecognized and unwanted extensions. Bear in mind that all extensions are optional, none come with Firefox, and you can learn more about them by checking their reviews on the Add-ons site.
Often a link will appear above at least one disabled extension to restart Firefox. You can complete your work on the tab and click one of the links as the last step.
(3) You can search for remaining issues with the scanning/cleaning tools listed in our support article: Troubleshoot Firefox issues caused by malware. These on-demand scanners are free and take considerable time to run. If they finish quickly and especially if they require payment, you may have a serious infection. I suggest the specialized forums listed in the article in that case.
Success?
I finally went to Mozilla home page and clicked refresh. That removed all of Mozilla's add-ons and the problem seems fixed for now. Mozilla also had me update an Adobe program - so I did that also - but that didn't fix the problem. Hopefully from now on, if I have a problem, I will refresh Mozilla and see if that fixes my problem. Thanks for you help.