How to Stop Pop-Up Ads on Your PC (For Good)

Step 1: Install uBlock Origin

This is non-negotiable. uBlock Origin is the best ad blocker available — it uses less RAM than AdBlock Plus, blocks more by default, and doesn’t accept payment from advertisers to let their ads through (unlike AdBlock Plus’s “Acceptable Ads” program). Install it from the official extension store for your browser:

• Chrome / Edge / Brave: Chrome Web Store → search “uBlock Origin” → the one by Raymond Hill (gorhill)
• Firefox: Firefox Add-ons → search “uBlock Origin”

Default settings block almost everything without breaking sites. You don’t need to configure anything out of the box. If a site asks you to disable your ad blocker, use the uBlock Origin power button in the toolbar to pause it for that domain specifically.

Step 2: Check your browser’s built-in popup blocker

Every major browser includes a popup blocker that should be on by default — but sometimes it gets disabled or set to “exceptions” mode without you knowing. Verify it’s active:

Chrome/Edge: Settings → Privacy and Security → Site Settings → Pop-ups and redirects → make sure it’s set to Don’t allow sites to send pop-ups or use redirects. Scroll down and remove any sites in the “Allowed to send pop-ups” list that you don’t recognize.

Firefox: Settings → Privacy & Security → Permissions → Block pop-up windows (check the box). Click Exceptions and remove anything unfamiliar.

Step 3: Audit your browser extensions

Malicious or adware-bundled extensions are a common source of injected ads — new tabs that open, ads inserted into pages, redirected search results. Go to your extension manager and look at what’s installed:

• Chrome/Edge: Type chrome://extensions or edge://extensions in the address bar
• Firefox: Menu → Add-ons and themes → Extensions

Remove anything you don’t recognize or didn’t intentionally install. Common culprits have generic names like “Search Manager,” “PDF Converter Free,” “Coupon Helper,” or “Video Downloader Pro.” If in doubt, remove it — you can always reinstall a legitimate extension.

This is one of the most common sources of modern “pop-up ads” and most people don’t recognize what they’re looking at. At some point you clicked “Allow” on a notification prompt from a website — possibly a news site, a streaming site, or a sketchy page that disguised the prompt as a CAPTCHA or age verification. Now that site sends you Windows notifications that look like system alerts.

The fix is not malware removal. The fix is revoking those notification permissions.

Chrome/Edge: Settings → Privacy and Security → Site Settings → Notifications. Under “Allowed to send notifications,” click the three dots next to any site you don’t want, then Remove or Block. While you’re there, set the default to Don’t allow sites to send notifications so this doesn’t happen again.

Firefox: Settings → Privacy & Security → Permissions → Notifications → Settings. Remove any domains sending unwanted notifications. Check “Block new requests asking to allow notifications” to prevent future abuse.

If your browser homepage changed, search engine was hijacked, or you’re seeing pop-up windows appear with no browser open — you have software installed on your system that shouldn’t be there. This typically arrives bundled with free software downloads: a PDF reader, a video converter, a game client, or a driver update tool that included “optional” offers you didn’t untick.

Step 1: Uninstall suspicious programs

Open Settings → Apps → Installed apps. Sort by Date installed. Look for anything that appeared around the time the pop-ups started. Common adware program names include things like “Browser Assistant,” “Web Companion,” “PC Optimizer Pro,” anything with the word “search” in the name, and any PDF or media tool you downloaded from a third-party site. Uninstall them.

If you’re not sure whether a program is legitimate, right-click it → copy the name → search it with “is [program name] adware.” Forums like Reddit’s r/techsupport and Bleeping Computer have reliable information on known PUPs.

Step 2: Run Malwarebytes Free

Malwarebytes is specifically good at finding adware and PUPs that traditional antivirus misses. The free version scans on-demand — it doesn’t run in the background (that’s the Premium version), but for a one-time cleanup it’s exactly what you need.

1. Download Malwarebytes from malwarebytes.com (official site only). Don’t search for it — type the URL directly. Fake “malware removal” downloads are themselves malware.
2. Run the installer and choose Free when prompted.
3. Click Scan and let it run. A full scan takes 5–15 minutes depending on drive size.
4. Review the results and quarantine everything it finds.
5. Restart when prompted.

If you want ongoing protection — real-time blocking of malicious sites and drive-by downloads — Malwarebytes Premium runs quietly in the background and pairs well with your existing antivirus. For a full comparison of free security tools, see our best free antivirus guide.

Step 3: Reset hijacked browser settings

After removing adware, your browser settings may still be pointing to the hijacker’s search engine or homepage. Fix them manually:

Chrome: Settings → Search engine → change to Google, Bing, or DuckDuckGo. Settings → On startup → set to “Open a specific page” and set your preferred homepage. Check Settings → Appearance → Home button URL as well.

Firefox: Settings → Search → Default Search Engine. Settings → Home → Homepage and new windows.

This is the bonus layer most guides skip. DNS-level ad blocking works differently from browser extensions: instead of filtering page elements after they load, it intercepts the domain lookup for known ad servers and returns nothing. The ad never connects. It works in every browser, every app, every device on your network — without installing anything per-device.

Two free options worth knowing:

Option A: NextDNS (recommended for control)

NextDNS lets you set up a custom DNS resolver with ad blocking, malware blocking, and detailed query logs. The free tier covers 300,000 queries per month — plenty for a single household. Setup:

1. Go to nextdns.io and create a free account.
2. Note your unique DNS addresses (shown on the Setup page).
3. On Windows: Settings → Network & Internet → your connection → DNS server assignment → Manual → enter your NextDNS addresses for both IPv4 and IPv6.
4. Enable the blocklists you want in the NextDNS dashboard (AdGuard DNS Filter and OISD Big are good starting points).
5. Test it at test.nextdns.io.

The NextDNS dashboard shows which domains are being blocked, so you can whitelist anything that breaks. You can also set it on your router to cover every device on your home network instead of configuring it per-device.

Option B: AdGuard DNS (simpler, no account needed)

If you just want ad blocking without setup overhead, AdGuard offers public DNS servers with ad filtering built in. No account needed:

• Primary DNS: 94.140.14.14
• Secondary DNS: 94.140.15.15

Change these in the same Windows DNS settings mentioned above. Less control and visibility than NextDNS, but zero configuration required.

If you’ve worked through the sections above and ads are still appearing, or if you have an active infection that Malwarebytes didn’t fully clear — do this combination: a Malwarebytes scan in Safe Mode plus a full browser reset.

Safe Mode scan

Adware that survives a normal scan can often be removed in Safe Mode, where most third-party software (including the adware) doesn’t load:

1. Press Windows key, hold Shift, click Power → Restart. This boots into the recovery environment.
2. Choose Troubleshoot → Advanced options → Startup Settings → Restart.
3. Press F4 for Safe Mode (no network) or F5 for Safe Mode with Networking if you need to download Malwarebytes.
4. Open Malwarebytes and run a full scan.
5. Quarantine everything it finds, then restart normally.

Full browser reset

After clearing the infection, reset your browser to defaults to remove any lingering hijacked settings that the uninstall left behind:

Chrome: Settings → scroll down to “Reset settings” → Restore settings to their original defaults. This resets your homepage, search engine, pinned tabs, and disables extensions — your bookmarks and passwords are not affected.

Firefox: Help menu → More troubleshooting information → Refresh Firefox. This keeps bookmarks, passwords, and open tabs, but removes extensions, customizations, and preferences.

Edge: Settings → Reset settings → Restore settings to their default values.

After a browser reset, reinstall only the extensions you actually want — starting with uBlock Origin. Don’t restore from a backup of your extension list; start clean.

For anything more serious — ransomware, rootkits, or an infection you can’t clear after Safe Mode — see our complete PC virus removal guide, which covers boot-level scanners and Windows reset as a last resort. You can also use our free PC Tech Helper tool to describe your symptoms and get tailored next steps.