How to Disable Pop-Up Blockers

When surfing the Internet you may occasionally notice a webpage appear in a new window when clicking an unrelated link. Unwanted pages that appear in this manner are known as "pop-ups," and are most commonly advertisements for various products or programs attempting to bilk money out of the web surfer. In response to pop-ups, most web browsers have pop-up blocking tools which prevent them from appearing. Stand-alone pop up blockers and toolbars exist as well. However, sometimes a pop-up blocker may stop you from viewing a site you want to use. In this case, the pop-up blocker can be disabled.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Disabling Pop-up Blockers in Firefox and Internet Explorer

1. Click on the Tools menu, for either Internet Explorer or Firefox.

2. Disable the blocker in Firefox. Click "Options," then go to the Content tab. Uncheck the box called "Block pop-up windows," and then click "OK."

3. Disable the blocker in Internet Explorer. Scroll down the Tools menu and find "Pop-up blocker." Hover over "Pop-up blocker," to bring up more options, and then select, "Turn off Popup blocker."

Disabling a Pop-up Blocking Program

4. Open the Task Manager by holding down "Delete," "Control" and "Alt," at the same time.

5. Click on the Processes tab at the top of the Task Manager.

6. Scroll through the processes currently running on your computer. Locate your pop-up blocker, and select it. Clicking on the description column will sort the processes alphabetically for easier searching.

7. Click, "End process," then close the Task Manager.

Tips & Warnings

• Pop up blockers can usually be set to allow certain websites, while still blocking pop-ups on unknown sites. Add trusted sites to "exceptions," in your Options menu. When using a toolbar with a pop-up blocker feature, click on any pop-up blocking notifications on the toolbar to exempt the pop-up. Web browsers other than Firefox and Internet Explorer will have a similar set of menus to disable pop-up blocking.