How do I block Yahoo Search popups?
Every day, several times a day, a Yahoo popup often appears asking to add a Yahoo Search extension. I do not want the extension but that option is not given. All I can do is click the "X" in the top right corner to close the popup.
I have Popups blocked in Options, and Yahoo Search is not listed as an exception.
I have uninstalled and reinstalled Firefox several times, according to the directions given here: https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1089284. But this does not eliminate the popup. I do not have Yahoo toolbar or Yahoo ANYTHING installed on my computer, so there is nothing to uninstall in "Programs and Features."
This is intrusive and annoying. I do not want to use Yahoo Search. I have set the options in Firefox to use Google Search. How do I make this popup go away?
All Replies (8)
Does this occur when you are using a Yahoo site or at various other times?
What extensions do you have installed? You can copy/paste a list from the table on the troubleshooting information page. It will look a bit messy, but we're used to it. Either
- "3-bar" menu button > "?" button > Troubleshooting Information
- (menu bar) Help > Troubleshooting Information
- type or paste about:support in the address bar and press Enter
The scroll down to Extensions and you can copy/paste the table into a reply.
I know this happens when I am browsing news articles on Yahoo News, which I do daily. It might happen on other sites, but I can't say for sure.
I have these Extensions installed: Adblock Plus 2.7.3 - enabled Firefox Hello 1.3.2 - enabled Multi-process staged rollout 1.0 - enabled New Tab Override (browser.newtab.url replacement) 3.0 - enabled Norton Identity Safe - enabled Pocket 1.0.2 - enabled RightToClick 2.9.6 - enabled Logitech SetPoint 6.5 - disabled Tab Mix Plus 0.5.0.0 - disabled Tile Tabs 13.9 - disabled
Modified by Maeve1956
None of the enabled extensions look suspicious.
If Yahoo really is so bad about taking no for an answer, I would expect to see more postings. I don't understand why some users are affected so severely and not others.
Maybe ABP can block that overlay? (It's not a separate window, so not covered by the popup blocker.) There is a forum for Adblock Plus users to discuss how to block things: https://adblockplus.org/forum/
I saw a thread for Chrome about a similar ad, but didn't find one for Firefox (it might be there, just not something that came up in my searches):
I wonder if the choice of Search Engine in Firefox Options has anything to do with this. When you first install Firefox, the default search engine is Yahoo, but I always change that to Google. Perhaps most people leave it set to Yahoo, and then they don't get these popups? Just an idea which only this moment occurred to me. . .
Websites cannot detect your search settings.
Does this occur when you are logged in or logged out of Yahoo?
I am not sure how to answer that. I have a Yahoo e-mail account which I POP through Outlook, and Outlook is always open on my computer, but I never actually go to Yahoo Mail and log in there. If I want to post comments on a Yahoo News article, I use my Disqus account. Does the Outlook POP profile count?
FYI: Here is a screen capture of what I see. I turned off my computer around 1 am, but due to insomnia turned it back on around 3:30 am, went to Yahoo News to pass the time, and the popup appeared as soon as I opened the first news article.
I may be blocking whatever triggers those. I don't recall seeing one.
Regarding Outlook using a POP connection, that connects to a mail server, and doesn't send the cookies stored in Firefox, so that shouldn't affect how Yahoo processes Firefox requests.