No. Plenty of sites use popup windows for login flows, chat widgets and other legitimate features. That is what an allowlist is for — block them everywhere by default, then permit the handful of sites where you actually want them.

What is the best popup blocker for Firefox?

Firefox’s own setting (about:preferences#privacy → Block pop-up windows) handles the crude cases and nothing more, so the honest answer is that it is not the browser’s blocker. A dedicated extension is what closes the gap. DNDShield adds pop-under blocking, drops window-open calls aimed at known ad and redirect hosts, and limits how many windows a single click can spawn.

Does Firefox’s built-in pop-up blocker actually work?

For the simple case, yes — a script calling window.open() on page load gets stopped. It is the modern tricks it misses: windows opened behind the tab you are on, popups triggered on a timer, and clicks hijacked by a page-wide listener so an ordinary tap counts as permission.

What is a pop-under, and why does my browser not stop it?

A pop-under opens a window behind your current tab, so you only find it when you close what you were reading. Browsers generally treat a window opened after a click as wanted, and pop-unders exploit exactly that — the click was real, the window just was not what you asked for.

Can I allow pop-ups on specific sites?

Yes. Add the site to your allowlist and its popups come through while everything else stays blocked. You can also switch the pop-up guard off entirely in Settings if you would rather rely on the browser alone.

How to Block Pop-ups in Chrome, Edge and Firefox

Q: Why do I still get popups with Chrome’s blocker enabled?

Chrome’s built-in blocker only stops basic window.open() popups. Overlay modals, redirect chains and pop-unders are not what it was designed to catch, so they still get through. Those need an extension running its own guard on the page.

How to Block Pop-ups in Chrome, Edge and Firefox

Why Pop-ups Still Exist

Despite browser improvements, pop-ups remain one of the most annoying parts of browsing. Malicious sites use pop-unders, redirect chains, and overlay tricks to bypass built-in blockers.

Chrome: Block Pop-ups

Built-in settings:

Go to chrome://settings/content/popups
Select Don't allow sites to send pop-ups or use redirects

With an extension:

Install DNDShield for advanced popup and redirect blocking that catches what Chrome misses — including pop-unders and forced redirect chains.

Edge: Block Pop-ups

Go to edge://settings/content/popups
Toggle Block on

Edge uses the same Chromium engine as Chrome, so the same extensions work on both.

Firefox: Block Pop-ups

Go to about:preferences#privacy
Check Block pop-up windows

Firefox's built-in blocker is basic. For full protection, install an features" class="doc-internal-link">ad blocker extension.

What Browsers Miss

Built-in popup blockers only catch basic window.open() calls. They miss:

Pop-unders: Windows that open behind your current tab
Redirect chains: Sites that bounce you through 3-4 URLs before landing
Timer-based popups: Popups triggered after a delay
Click hijacking: Your click opens a new tab/window instead of the link
Overlay modals: Full-screen overlays that look like popups but are part of the page

An extension like DNDShield blocks all of these.

How DNDShield Blocks Pop-ups

DNDShield adds a dedicated pop-up guard that runs on every page and catches the tricks built-in blockers miss:

Pop-under blocking — stops windows that open behind your current tab, the most common ad pop-up trick
No-gesture blocking — blocks window.open() calls that fire without a real click (auto-launched pop-ups)
Known ad-host blocking — pop-ups aimed at known advertising and redirect domains are dropped
Per-click limits — one stray click can't spawn a burst of windows

It works silently — a small on-page toast confirms when a pop-up is blocked — and you stay in control: turn it off in Settings, or add any site to your allowlist to let its pop-ups through.

FAQ

Why do I still get popups with Chrome's blocker enabled? Chrome's blocker only stops basic window.open() popups. Overlay modals, redirect chains, and pop-unders require an extension.

Are all popups bad? No. Some sites use popups for login forms, chat widgets, and legitimate features. Use an allowlist to permit popups on trusted sites.

If you've searched "best popup blocker for Firefox" or the Chrome/Edge equivalent, here's the honest answer: the browser's own popup blocker isn't it. It was never designed to be — it stops the crude window.open() calls from 2005-era sites and calls it a day. Everything ad networks actually use today — pop-unders, delayed triggers, click-hijacked "gestures" — sails right through.

A dedicated extension is the real answer, and DNDShield was built specifically to close that gap rather than duplicate what your browser already does badly. It runs its own guard on every page, checks every window-open attempt against known ad/redirect networks, and — this part matters — only lets a popup through if it came from something you actually clicked, not from a script pretending you clicked something.

That last bit is the difference between "blocks most popups" and "blocks the popups that get through everything else." Sites that hijack real clicks (bind a listener to the whole page so any tap counts as "permission") are exactly how the sketchier ad networks get around basic gesture checks — DNDShield checks what you clicked, not just that you clicked.

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