Start Firefox in Use Troubleshoot Mode in Firefox to check if one of the add-ons is causing the problem (switch to the DEFAULT theme: Tools > Add-ons > Themes).

• Don't make any changes on the Safe mode start window.

See:

• Troubleshoot extensions, themes and hardware acceleration issues to solve common Firefox problems
• Troubleshoot issues with plugins like Flash or Java to fix common Firefox problems

If it does work in Safe-mode then disable all extensions and then try to find which is causing it by enabling one at a time until the problem reappears.

• Use "Disable all add-ons" on the Safe mode start window to disable all extensions.
• Close and restart Firefox after each change via "File > Exit" (Mac: "Firefox > Quit"; Linux: "File > Quit")

Thankyou Cor-el,

It appears as it was a problem with the Zone Alarm Toolbar. When this was disabled everything worked fine, when enabled no popups.

I checked my ZA for updates and installed the latest, which re-installed the toolbar in firefox. It is all working correctly.