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It's been a while I used Internet Explorer to access different websites and it always shows Internet Explorer blocked a pop-up from www.example.com. I don't believe it is to block viruses, as all the websites I access are healthy.

  1. What does "pop-up" really mean?
  2. Any reasons for blocking a pop-up?
  3. How can I disable these annoying pop-up messages?

Also, does Super User contain any pop-ups?

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    The term "pop-up" is short for "pop-up window", which refers to a new window that is placed in the foreground, meaning that the new window is on top of any other windows that already existed. The primary reason for blocking them is because they can be even more annoying. In some cases, malicious people can use techniques like making the pop-ups seem like legitimate content, and cause worse problems (like causing security violations). To disable, I'd click the "Options for this site" and see if it gives you an option. This seems weird; I don't recall noticing SuperUser showing pop-ups.
    – TOOGAM
    Jul 8, 2016 at 17:15
  • you are making me feel old. In the long-long-ago, before the California Anti-spyware act of 2003, web advertisers would launch dozens of pop-up ad windows if you ended up on the wrong site. It was very very annoying. there were some phising attacks based on the premise. I have never seen a popup on SU nor have I been advised that one was blocked. Jul 8, 2016 at 17:17
  • @TOOGAM It seems like my laptop attacked by virus. Sometimes I want to access A website but unwanted B website opened even though my antivirus is running.
    – John Joe
    Jul 8, 2016 at 17:21
  • @FrankThomas Any solutions for this ? T.T
    – John Joe
    Jul 8, 2016 at 17:23
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    ...would recommend you change your example site to something other than xxx.com
    – Blaine
    Jul 10, 2016 at 22:14

2 Answers 2

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+100

Pop-ups are additional browser windows that are opened (usually) via JavaScript. A function frequently responsible for opening the popup window is window.open.

Most browsers have popup-blocking features because popups are annoying. As mentioned in the comments, shady websites frequently throw up numerous windows with ads or malware. Most popup blockers only allow popups if the window was created in an event handler that runs in response to a user action. For example, a popup blocker might allow a new window to appear when you click on a button, but not in response to a timer.

Super User, to my knowledge, never creates popups. Therefore, it's very likely that there is other software on your computer that is injecting content into otherwise "healthy" web pages. Please see How can I remove malicious spyware, malware, adware, viruses, trojans or rootkits from my PC? Once you clean out the malicious software, you will probably barely ever see a "popup blocked" message.

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Since Ben answered questions #1 and #2, I'll take a stab at #3. These instructions should work with current versions of Internet Explorer (IE). I'm writing these directly from IE 11.

In the Internet Explorer menu bar select Tools, then Internet Options.
1) On the Privacy tab, click the Setting button next to the Turn on Pop-up Blocker check box.
2) Near the bottom of that window, uncheck the box next to Show Notification Bar when a pop-up is blocked.
3) Click Close, then click OK.

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