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 can I remove the embedded links on webpages?

more options

When I open a web page there are several words on each page that are embedded links. For instance, I was reading an article and in the article the word research was blue and underlined twice. When I rolled my cursor over this word I received an ad and a link to look up the work or search for that word. This happened when I updated Firefox. It has now also running advertisements in the lower right corner and allowing pop up advertisements even when I have them blocked. How can I turn these features off?

When I open a web page there are several words on each page that are embedded links. For instance, I was reading an article and in the article the word research was blue and underlined twice. When I rolled my cursor over this word I received an ad and a link to look up the work or search for that word. This happened when I updated Firefox. It has now also running advertisements in the lower right corner and allowing pop up advertisements even when I have them blocked. How can I turn these features off?

Chosen solution

By the way, if you installed the update from a download, can you check your download history for the source? It might be one of those unscrupulous bundling sites that install something that pushes more and more crap onto your computer.

Read this answer in context 👍 1

All Replies (3)

more options

That kind of advertising is very annoying. Sometimes is it added by the site itself, but if you see it everywhere, more likely, you have a bad extension.

Try disabling ALL nonessential or unrecognized extensions on the Add-ons page. Either:

  • Ctrl+Shift+a
  • "3-bar" menu button (or Tools menu) > Add-ons

In the left column, click Extensions. Then, if in doubt, disable.

Often a link will appear above at least one disabled extension to restart Firefox. You can complete your work on the tab and click one of the links as the last step.

Does that cut down those embedded ads?

You may have noticed that some extensions do not have a Remove button. Those were installed externally to Firefox. So for those I suggest:

Open the Windows Control Panel, Uninstall a Program. Click the "Installed on" column heading to group the infections, I mean, additions, by date. This can help in smoking out undisclosed bundle items that snuck in with some software you agreed to install. Take out as much trash as possible here.

more options
  1. Start Firefox in safe mode to check if one of the extensions is causing the problem:
  2. Malwares can also cause these problems:
  3. You can also use some add-ons to block ads/popups:


Could you give us a screenshot of these ads?

more options

Chosen Solution

By the way, if you installed the update from a download, can you check your download history for the source? It might be one of those unscrupulous bundling sites that install something that pushes more and more crap onto your computer.