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

My firefox shows ads and popups on every webpage I browse

more options

hi my firefox is loading ads and opening webpages when I browse the web. Is it an application or plugin that can be fixed.

thanks Al

I tried to upload a screen shot but it never worked.

hi my firefox is loading ads and opening webpages when I browse the web. Is it an application or plugin that can be fixed. thanks Al I tried to upload a screen shot but it never worked.

All Replies (1)

more options

Sorry about the screen shot. You can try attaching it to a reply to your question.

This sounds like a bad add-on, since those provide the easiest way to modify pages. Here's my suggested procedure for tracking down and cleaning up bad add-ons. I know it seems long, but it's not that bad.

(A) Open the Windows Control Panel, Uninstall a Program. After the list loads, 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. Be suspicious of everything you do not recognize/remember, as malware often uses important or innocent sounding names to discourage you from removing it. Take out as much trash as possible here.

(B) Open Firefox's Add-ons page using either:

  • Ctrl+Shift+a
  • "3-bar" menu button (or Tools menu) > Add-ons
  • in the Windows "Run" dialog, type or paste
    firefox.exe "about:addons"

In the left column, click Plugins. Set nonessential and unrecognized plugins to "Never Activate".

In the left column, click Extensions. Then, if in doubt, disable (or Remove, if possible) unrecognized and unwanted extensions. Bear in mind that all extensions are optional; none ship with Firefox.

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.

Any improvement?

(C) You can search for remaining issues with the scanning/cleaning tools listed in our support article: Troubleshoot Firefox issues caused by malware. These on-demand scanners are free and take considerable time to run. If they finish quickly and especially if they require payment, you may have a serious infection. I suggest the specialized forums listed in the article in that case.

Success?