Pop-up blockers prevent pop-ups that you find bothersome or hazardous from infecting your computer. They do, however, disable pop-ups that you may want or need to use, such as when seeing breaking news. As a result, knowing how to disable pop-up blockers is essential. Most pop-up filters are incorporated into the internet browser you use.
Mac users don’t mind if the pop-up blocker is enabled. Due to the peculiarities of today’s Internet, such as obstructive advertising and the increasingly interactive nature of websites, this approach is necessary.
Adware and phishing campaigns are on the rise in the Apple world, adding fuel to the fire. They heavily rely on pop-ups to promote associated dodgy businesses, trick users into installing follow-up infections or wheedle out crucial information.
Fortunately, numerous programs are available to bridge the gap between security-conscious Mac users and ad-free web browsing. Most of the time, no third-party software is required for that function. Safari, Chrome, Firefox, and other popular browsers all have their pop-up blocking feature enabled by default.
Some websites require pop-ups to function correctly. Distance learning services, for example, are only half-baked unless they can directly communicate with students via dialog windows. Because of the current global healthcare crisis, the popularity of such remote instructional programs has skyrocketed.
When new students join, they quickly discover that their pop-up blocker impedes completing online courses. In this regard, use cases range from sophisticated authentication to various transaction confirmation screens and requests to display notifications in the future.
Another instance in which pop-ups are part of a healthy user experience is chat assistance features incorporated in many websites. Typically, these pop-ups feature bots that answer the most frequently asked questions, so if you disable them, it won’t be easy to get rapid responses to your questions.
How to Disable Popup Blocker on Mac
To begin, you must disable the browser’s native pop-up blocker feature. If adware mimicking a pop-up blocker has taken over the web browser settings, they should be set to their default levels. However, this will remove most of your preferences, online browsing history, and all temporary data stored by websites.
Below is a step-by-step view of how to complete this process:
To disable the pop-up blocker in Safari
- Launch the browser and navigate to the Safari menu. Select Preferences from the drop-down menu.
- Go to the Websites tab and select Pop-up Windows in the sidebar in the Preferences screen.
- If you want to allow pop-ups for a specific website, open it in Safari, and it will be shown in the Currently Open Websites area, with the necessary drop-down controls next to it. Set the Block and Notify (or Block) to Allow.
- To allow pop-ups on all websites in Safari, use a similar drop-down menu in the bottom right-hand corner of the Websites section of the Preferences and pick the Allow entry.
- Determine whether your problem has been resolved. It could be an adware issue requiring a different solution if the problem persists. Go to the Advanced section of Safari Preferences and check the box next to the “Show Develop menu in the menu bar.”
- Now that the Develop menu item has been added to Safari, expand it and select Empty Caches.
- Now, go to History and select Clear History from the drop-down list under the Safari menu.
- Safari will present a window asking you to specify the time frame for executing this action. To get the most out of this, select all History. Select the Clear History option to confirm and quit.
- Choose the Privacy tab in Safari Preferences at the top. Locate and select the option that reads Manage Website Data.
- The browser will then display a screen that lists the websites with saved data about your Internet activities. The dialog also contains a brief explanation of what is being removed: you won’t be able to access some services after the procedure and maybe find the website behaves differently. If you’re comfortable with that, proceed to the Remove All button.
- Relaunch Safari.
How to disable the pop-up blocker in Google Chrome on Mac
- Launch Chrome, click the Customize and control Google Chrome button in the upper right-hand corner of the window, and then pick Settings from the drop-down menu.
- In the sidebar, choose Privacy and security, then Site Settings, and finally Pop-ups and redirects.
- Move the toggle switch to the Allowed position. You can also specify which websites are permitted to show pop-ups. Pop-ups will now be enabled in Chrome.
- Determine whether the problem has been resolved. If it’s still there, you’ll need to reset Chrome to its factory settings. Here’s how to go about it: Select Advanced from the Settings window.
- Scroll down to the section labeled Reset settings.
- On the pop-up dialog, confirm the Chrome reset. When the procedure is finished, restart the browser and scan it for malicious activity.
How to disable the pop-up blocker in Mozilla Firefox on Mac
- Select Preferences from the menu button in the upper right-hand corner of the Firefox window.
- In the sidebar, select Privacy & Security and scroll down to the Permissions section.
- Locate the Block pop-up windows entry and click the Exceptions button next to it. Enter the URL of the website you wish to allow pop-ups on. Click Save Changes to save the changes.
- Uncheck the Block pop-up windows box if you’re ready to enable pop-ups for all websites in Firefox.
- If the problem persists, you should reset the browser to its default settings. Navigate to Help – Troubleshooting (or type about:support in the URL bar and press Enter).
- On the Troubleshooting Information screen, click the Refresh Firefox button.
- Restart Firefox after you have confirmed the changes you wish to make.
How to Use a Removal Tool to Remove Malicious Popup Blocker on Mac
Mac maintenance and security program Combo Cleaner keeps your Mac clean by detecting and eliminating malicious pop-up blocker viruses. This method has significant advantages over manual cleanup because the program receives hourly virus definition updates and can detect even the most recent Mac infestations.
In addition, the automatic solution will detect malware core files hidden deep within the system structure, which were otherwise hard to locate.
Here’s how to use Combo Cleaner to get rid of the unwanted pop-up blocker:
- Get the Combo Cleaner installer. After that, double-click the combocleaner.dmg file and follow the on-screen instructions to install the utility on your Mac system.
- Allow the program to update its malware signature database from your Launchpad to ensure it can detect the latest threats.
- Select the Start Combo Scan option to scan your Mac for malicious activity as well as performance problems.
- Review the scan results. If the report states “No Threats,” you’re on the right track with the manual cleaning and can safely proceed to clean up the web browser, which may continue to behave up as a result of the malware attack’s aftereffects (see instructions above).
- If Combo Cleaner detects dangerous code, click the Remove Selected Items option. This will have the software remove the unwanted pop-up blocker threat, as well as any other viruses, PUPs (potentially unwanted programs), or junk files that do not belong on your Mac.
- Once you’ve double-checked that the malicious software has been deleted, browser-level troubleshooting may still be on your to-do list. If your favorite browser is affected, return to the previous portion of this tutorial to resume normal web browsing.