Pop-up ads undermine the user experience and sometimes even contain malware, here’s how to block them based on the browser you use
Internet advertising is critical to the survival of various websites. A bit like what happens in television. It must be said, however, that on some portals ads are really invasive, especially those that open as popups, and then in a new window that prevents reading. There are, however, some “tricks” to stop them.
Let’s start by saying that advertisements are essential to keep some services on the Net totally free and therefore they are not always a synonym of unreliable sites. However, often some ads are displayed in popups, as mentioned. This kind of ads besides being invasive undermine the user’s experience while browsing. Luckily, however, there are several actions we can take to block them on our favorite web browser. Also because it should be remembered that pop-ups are often exploited by hackers to insert malicious code into them.
Google Chrome desktop
Blocking popups on Chrome is very easy. To start the procedure, just type on the URL bar chrome://settings/content and we will be directed to the settings page of the Google browser. We have to scroll the menu until the section called popups and check the option “Do not allow popups to be displayed on sites”. In this way we will block pop-up advertising on all portals. However, we can always exclude some sites from the block, just click on the Manage Exceptions item. Just type the name of the website you want to exclude and press Enter. To remove a site from the exceptions, just click on the X next to it.
Google Chrome from mobile
The same procedure can also be applied on Chrome for mobile devices, both with Android and iOS operating systems. The steps are only slightly different. First we need to go to the menu icon of the browser, the one with the three vertical dots. Here we select the item Settings. At this point if we have an iOS smartphone we must click on Content Settings, while if we have an Android we must go to Site Settings. On iOS we must press on the item Popup Blocker and tick the function. And that’s it. On Android the process is virtually identical we go to the popup item and bring the icon on. In this section we can also manage exceptions.
Microsoft Edge
On the home Windows browser we go to the menu icon, which is located in the upper right and is represented by the three horizontal dots. At this point in the pop-up menu we select the item Settings. In the page that opens we scroll to the heading Advanced Settings. In the new page we look for the Popup Blocker section and select the item On.
Safari
If we use Safari on the desktop we go to the browser menu on the right side of the screen. In the pop-up page we scroll until we see the Preferences item and then click on it. In the page that is superimposed we look for the section Security. Inside this page we will find the function Block popup windows. Also here we move the tick to On and that’s it. If we use Safari on iPhone and iPad we go to the settings of the smartphone and here we select the item Safari. Let’s go to the General settings and then the words Popup Blocker. Also in this case to activate the block just bring the indicator to On.
Opera
If we use the Opera browser on the computer then type opera: // settings in the URL field. In the menu on the left side of the screen click on Websites. In the page that opens we have to scroll until we find the item Popup. At this point we have to put a tick under the option Do not allow any site to show pop-ups. Also in Opera there is a feature to Manage Exceptions. This feature can be used exactly as it is on Chrome.
Mozilla Firefox
Let’s finally close with Firefox. If we use this web browser we need to go to the settings and then under the heading Content. Clicking on this section we’ll find a menu with various headings including Popup. Clicking in there we’ll find the Popup Blocker function. Here we just need to put the spit on and that’s it. Also in Firefox we can manage the Exceptions. If instead we use Firefox on iOS operating system we have to go to the menu (the three horizontal lines). Then we press on Settings and then select the heading Close popup windows. And here we select On.