Join the AMA (Ask Me Anything) with the Firefox leadership team to celebrate Firefox 20th anniversary and discuss Firefox’s future on Mozilla Connect. Mark your calendar on Thursday, November 14, 18:00 - 20:00 UTC!

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

How to get rid of pop-ups?

more options

I keep getting pop-ups from stores or catalog companies that I have recently visited. How can I stop them from showing up on my screen?

I keep getting pop-ups from stores or catalog companies that I have recently visited. How can I stop them from showing up on my screen?

All Replies (2)

more options

Hello,

This popups/ads, sometimes comes from addons or malwares, then try these two ideas:

Also you can try use a popup/ads blocker:

more options

Firefox's built-in popup blocker is effective against some popups, but it allows popups triggered by clicking a link or moving your mouse pointer over a triggering element.

If you aren't doing anything when the popup opens, they could be generated from rich media (Flash) ads. The web loses a lot of usability if you disable Flash completely, but you could try temporarily setting Flash to Click-to-Play ("Ask to Activate"). This will delay Flash from starting on a page until you approve it.

To set "Ask to Activate", open the Add-ons page using either:

  • Ctrl+Shift+a
  • orange Firefox button (or Tools menu) > Add-ons

In the left column, click Plugins. Look for "Shockwave Flash" and change "Always Activate" to "Ask to Activate".

When you visit a site that wants to use the Flash, you should see a notification icon in the address bar and one of the following: a link in a black rectangle in the page or an infobar sliding down between the toolbar area and the page.

Does that affect the popups?