Some sites getting around Firefox's pops blocker? - Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community

Wingless · 02-23-2005, 08:19 AM

I've noticed this over the past few days, but some sites (I'm not sure which ones) seem to be getting around Firefox's pop-up blocker. (Technically I guess they're pop-unders, since I don't notice them until I close the "main" Firefox window). I know it's not any spyware since I've run Spybot and AdAware to no avail. I have no extensions installed that deal with pop-ups. Anyone else notice sites getting around it, or is it a personal problem?

P-Naughty · 02-23-2005, 08:37 AM

I've had the same problem with a few sites. I didn't have this problem before 1.0 came out, and I don't think I had any trouble with 1.0PR. I guess some people have found a way around it.

Redlemon · 02-23-2005, 08:39 AM

Yes, the fuckers are getting more clever. They are also crashing Safari on the Mac.

The Firefox devs are very interested in finding a way to block these. They are collecting data at Bug 253831 - sites with pop-ups that get past our pop-up blocker (don't post to Bugzilla unless you have something of substance to add; they don't like "me too" posts).

Also, you could install the Adblock extension, which should take care of it. Personally, I don't mind regular advertisements, as long as the popups go away.

EDIT: They know 'how' it is being done; the question is, how to stop it without breaking legitimate uses.

laconic1 · 02-23-2005, 08:56 AM

I've been noticing popunders starting to happen as well. I'll make sure to start keeping track of which sites are doing this.

Jeff · 02-23-2005, 11:59 AM

Yeah, I've definately been noticed this as well. Not too happy about it, but than again, it's still not too bad.

sixate · 02-23-2005, 12:49 PM

So if Firefox no longer blocks all pop-ups then what is the advantage and what makes everyone think that there will be no security holes found in it? The more popular it gets the more it will be exploited by assholes.....

BTW, I'm an IE user who hasn't seen a pop-up in well over a year.

The only time that I have seen pop-ups are the few times that I've tried Firefox.

KMA-628 · 02-23-2005, 01:06 PM

I have gotten them from Drudge, exbyte and a few other sites like exbyte (jokaroo, m90, etc.)

I have been going nuts with adblock, but it seems to be doing the trick if you disable all scripts on the page giving you pop-ups. It takes a few minutes to get them all, but they don't seem to be coming back.

Redlemon · 02-23-2005, 01:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sixate

So if Firefox no longer blocks all pop-ups then what is the advantage and what makes everyone think that there will be no security holes found in it? The more popular it gets the more it will be exploited by assholes.....

BTW, I'm an IE user who hasn't seen a pop-up in well over a year.

The only time that I have seen pop-ups are the few times that I've tried Firefox.

I've only started getting these for about a week now, the exploit is quite new. Have you visited any of the sites near the end of the bug I mentioned? www.drudgereport.com and www.activewin.com were giving me popunders, but I've blocked images from fastclick.net, and I haven't seen one in a while.

And why Firefox over IE? I answered that in another thread, but the operating features and customizability are what I like. Find as you type, keyword searching, and tabbed browsing are the main things that I miss when I have to use IE.

Redlemon · 02-23-2005, 01:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by KMA-628

I have gotten them from Drudge, exbyte and a few other sites like exbyte (jokaroo, m90, etc.)

I have been going nuts with adblock, but it seems to be doing the trick if you disable all scripts on the page giving you pop-ups. It takes a few minutes to get them all, but they don't seem to be coming back.

They set cookies so that they only hit you once a day or so; you might see them again.

sixate · 02-23-2005, 01:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Redlemon

I've only started getting these for about a week now, the exploit is quite new. Have you visited any of the sites near the end of the bug I mentioned? www.drudgereport.com and www.activewin.com were giving me popunders, but I've blocked images from fastclick.net, and I haven't seen one in a while.

And why Firefox over IE? I answered that in another thread, but the operating features and customizability are what I like. Find as you type, keyword searching, and tabbed browsing are the main things that I miss when I have to use IE.

I visit drudge often and quite frankly I never woulda known that they have pop-ups unless someone told me. Just tried the second site, which I have never been to, and didn't receive a pop-up even after I browsed around a bit.

Lebell · 02-23-2005, 01:47 PM

I just visited drudge and I got two popups even with the new IE AND google tool bar.

Why can't these fuckwads get a clue that if you have a popup blocker, you probably don't want to see their asshole ad, and if you do, you probably won't like their company very much for forcing it on you.

This isn't rocket science!

God of Thunder · 02-23-2005, 01:48 PM

Just went to Drudge with Firefox and didn't get a pop up or pop under. I blocked the cookie and I use the adblock extension. Go figure.

soccerchamp76 · 02-23-2005, 02:59 PM

I use Firefox and the Adblock extension and have not seen a popup ad since I installed Firefox.
I also have seen about 0.5% of the ads on the actual site as well because of the Adblock. Can you do that with IE? NOPE!

Redlemon · 02-25-2005, 11:10 AM

Heh.

jonjon42 · 02-25-2005, 11:22 AM

yep this seems to be affecting most pop-up blockers now. It's a pain in the ass but hopefully the devs figure it all out.
I have experienced a total of one pop-up since using firefox, and none since using adblock. (except for when i was trying to test drudge and activewin)

skaven · 02-27-2005, 12:37 PM

The ones I hate the most are the flash-based ads that show up on sites like ifilm.com and fandango.com. Luckily Adblock takes care of 99% of these after the first time I see them. I've also noticed that using Adblock liberally on sites like dilbert.com and any of the keenspot network sites can dramatically improve load times. For example, without adblock enabled, viewing the latest dilbert comic would often take minutes to load, sometimes even timing out before completing loading. Now that I block all the damn javascript and ads and stuff, it loads up no problem in under 5 seconds. Yay firefox!

soccerchamp76 · 02-27-2005, 02:16 PM

Yeah, that is another advantage of Adblock. Not only do you not see the ads, they do not have to load at all.

spived2 · 02-28-2005, 03:36 AM

I tried both of those sites (using Firefox) and didn't get a single popup.... and I don't have any extensions installed at all.

IC3 · 02-28-2005, 03:57 AM

I switched to firefox for a few days then went back to IE..I just went to drudge and surfed around abit and didn't get any pop-up's..Can somebody please tell me what a pop-under is?

I use the google toolbar for a pop-up blocker and it works great, I have it set on medium..and very rarely get a pop-up and when i do it's just an advertisment from a legit site.

I also thought of what sixate stated above about the more people use firefox then the more security holes all those asshats are gonna find in it..And thought to myself, I am hearing a shitload about firefox lately..So i'm just gonna stick with IE and the google toolbar.

trache · 02-28-2005, 06:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by IC3

I switched to firefox for a few days then went back to IE..I just went to drudge and surfed around abit and didn't get any pop-up's..Can somebody please tell me what a pop-under is?

A pop-up is a child of the browser window you are visiting currently. It pops up above your currently website and sets the focus to itself (so that you then have to close it or click another window to interact with something else on your screen).

A pop-under is also a child of the current website and pops up, but then sets the current window back to the website you were viewing. You're guaranteed to at least see this one because you do have to close it to get rid of it. In a sense it is supposed to be "unobtrusive" and you only see it when you are closing a bunch of windows. In my opinion it is still just as annoying.

The difference between pop(ups|unders) and this new wave of advertisements, is that the new adverts use Dynamic HTML... you often see this in the form of advertisements that "float" above the current website but not in their own window. They'll often show up on the left hand side of the screen and move to the right waiting for you to click on a "Close" or "X" link near the advertisement to getr id of it.

In effect this is "completely legal" (in the sense of trying to fight it with a popup blocker) because it's not a pop(up|under) but simply fancy HTML.

I have Firefox 1.0.1 (just released) and the latest version of Adblock with G's filterset (http://www.geocities.com/pierceive/adblock/). I hardly see any advertisements, and it allows you to add and remove images at will (just right click them). If you have an issue and cannot see something you were meant to, you can always toggle Adblock (press CTRL-SHIFT-B) and reload the page. It also blocks Flash files (at your discretion of course).

Wingless · 02-28-2005, 08:37 AM

See, I don't like using AdBlock because effectively you're stealing. Forget about the big powerhouse sites, smaller and more personal sites that I frequent depend on advertising for money. AdBlock kills that revenue for those personal sites.

Pop-ups, yeah it's stealing too if I block them, but they're a bit more intrusive than in-page advertising. If you've surfed the web for a few years like I have (wow, I'm old enough to say that), you develop a mental AdBlock and you learn to ignore advertising

skaven · 03-01-2005, 12:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by IC3

I also thought of what sixate stated above about the more people use firefox then the more security holes all those asshats are gonna find in it..And thought to myself, I am hearing a shitload about firefox lately..So i'm just gonna stick with IE and the google toolbar.

C'mon people...This is the classic FUD that *all* closed-source companies are spouting! Just because something is popular doesn't mean it will get cracked. Apache is the de-facto standard for unix (and a lot of windows) web servers, but you don't hear about Apache servers getting pwn3d do you? No! It's the less popular IIS server that is getting taken all the time. Why? Because it's fundamentally flawed, and Apache is not. Code can be written to be secure, whether it is popular or not. I'm not saying Firefox is perfect, but just because it's popular doesn't automatically mean that within a year it'll be just as riddled with problems as IE.

trache · 03-01-2005, 02:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wingless

See, I don't like using AdBlock because effectively you're stealing. Forget about the big powerhouse sites, smaller and more personal sites that I frequent depend on advertising for money. AdBlock kills that revenue for those personal sites.

You can fiddle with Adblock to not block the advertising you want to see, or press CTRL-SHIFT-B to toggle it on and off at will.

KMA-628 · 03-02-2005, 01:07 PM

I downloaded and installed Firefox 1.0.1 last night.

No change as of yet.

One of my homepages, Drudge, hits me with pop-ups everytime it opens (and sometimes when it reloads). It is getting rather annoying and is on its way to being removed from my homepage list.

I use adblock, but I keep getting pop-ups on Drudge.

spived2 · 03-02-2005, 10:16 PM

Curious, do you happen to have that site in the Allowed Sites under the Tools>Options>Web Features>Block Popup Windows? You should check, you may have allowed that site by accident a long time ago. I'm using Firefox 1.0 and I checked out all the sites that were listed as having popups and not a single window popped up.

Redlemon · 03-07-2005, 06:49 AM

THIS MAY BE THE FIX

.

This is straight out of the mouth of Asa, one of the main Firefox developers. I've tested this out on my major sites, and I'm blocking the unwanted popups without affecting the requested popups on other sites. For now, it's a 'use at your own risk' kind of thing.
adot's notblog*: blocking those flash pop-unders with firefox:

Quote:

There's been quite a lot of buzz around the blogs the last couple of weeks with people seeing the return of the pop-ups and pop-unders. It looks to me like the overwhelming majority of these are from plug-ins, mostly flash.

A number of pundits and bloggers have been wondering aloud whether or not we'll be able to keep up with the pop-up spammers now that more of them are focused on us. Well, we shipped 1.0 with the capability to block these pop-ups and pop-unders but we didn't enable it because we were concerned about breaking legitimate uses. If you'd like to turn it on, it's a fairly simple change -- and would be absolutely trivial for us to enable once we determine whether or not lots of websites are depending on the feature.

To block pop-ups from plugins, open your Firefox 1.0 or 1.0.1 browser, type about:config in the address field. Right-click in the resulting config page somewhere and select New -> Interger. Type privacy.popups.disable_from_plugins in the resulting dialog, hit OK, type 2 in the next dialog and you're all set.

This pref can actually take three values:

* 0: open allowed
* 1: the opened windows are treated as popups, but they're allowed to open (we limit the number of these types of popups)
* 2: the window is a popup, block it

If you turn this on, please let me know how it works for you so we can make the decision about offering it to users who aren't likely to be hacking in about:config.

If this breaks the functionality of some of your sites, set the preference back to 0, and post here or at Asa's blog to state where you have a problem.

Wingless · 03-07-2005, 09:53 PM

Just did the fix, but I'll have to just run it through my normal web browsing to see if it works...

asshopo · 03-08-2005, 05:28 AM

1 word: Active-X

Extensions and themes are nice too. Tabbed browsing, adblock, and other things I can't get with standard IE.

Krycheck · 03-08-2005, 07:23 AM

Heck im getting pop-up not pop-unders. www.cnn.com is one site that comes to mind. I'm gonna make a note of these sites and I just wont visit them anymore.

Redlemon · 03-08-2005, 09:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Krycheck

www.cnn.com is one site that comes to mind.

With the setting above, I get no popups at CNN (and I get the Popups Blocked icon). I'm not using Adblock, hosts files, or image blocking either, just the built-in popup blocker.

KMA-628 · 03-08-2005, 09:33 AM

Same here.

I did the change and the pop-ups/unders I used to get, I don't get any more (at least so far).

How long before we need another fix?

laconic1 · 03-08-2005, 01:47 PM

I did the fix on my work computer this morning, so far so good, I'll have to try it on my home computer tonight and try it some more.

02-23-2005, 08:19 AM	#1 (permalink)
Wingless Psycho Location: Metro Detroit, Mich, USA	Some sites getting around Firefox's pops blocker? I've noticed this over the past few days, but some sites (I'm not sure which ones) seem to be getting around Firefox's pop-up blocker. (Technically I guess they're pop-unders, since I don't notice them until I close the "main" Firefox window). I know it's not any spyware since I've run Spybot and AdAware to no avail. I have no extensions installed that deal with pop-ups. Anyone else notice sites getting around it, or is it a personal problem? __________________ Tommy Nibs is a funny word. So here I am, above palm trees, so straight and tall... You are, smaller getting smaller, but I still see... you. Jimmy Eat World - Goodbye Sky Harbor

02-23-2005, 08:37 AM	#2 (permalink)
P-Naughty Crazy Location: Georgia Southern University	I've had the same problem with a few sites. I didn't have this problem before 1.0 came out, and I don't think I had any trouble with 1.0PR. I guess some people have found a way around it. __________________ I will not walk so that a child may live! - Master Shake

02-23-2005, 08:39 AM	#3 (permalink)
Redlemon Devoted Donor Location: New England	Yes, the fuckers are getting more clever. They are also crashing Safari on the Mac. The Firefox devs are very interested in finding a way to block these. They are collecting data at Bug 253831 - sites with pop-ups that get past our pop-up blocker (don't post to Bugzilla unless you have something of substance to add; they don't like "me too" posts). Also, you could install the Adblock extension, which should take care of it. Personally, I don't mind regular advertisements, as long as the popups go away. EDIT: They know 'how' it is being done; the question is, how to stop it without breaking legitimate uses. __________________ I can't read your signature. Sorry. Last edited by Redlemon; 02-23-2005 at 09:02 AM..

02-23-2005, 11:59 AM	#5 (permalink)
Jeff And we'll all float on ok... Location: Iowa City	Yeah, I've definately been noticed this as well. Not too happy about it, but than again, it's still not too bad. __________________ For those who believe in God, most of the big questions are answered. But for those of us who can't readily accept the God formula, the big answers don't remain stone-written. We adjust to new conditions and discoveries. We are pliable. Love need not be a command or faith a dictum. I am my own God. We are here to unlearn the teachings of the church, state, and our educational system. We are here to drink beer. We are here to kill war. We are here to laugh at the odds and live our lives so well that Death will tremble to take us. --Charles Bukowski

02-23-2005, 01:47 PM	#11 (permalink)
Lebell Cracking the Whip Location: Sexymama's arms...	I just visited drudge and I got two popups even with the new IE AND google tool bar. Why can't these fuckwads get a clue that if you have a popup blocker, you probably don't want to see their asshole ad, and if you do, you probably won't like their company very much for forcing it on you. This isn't rocket science! __________________ "Of all tyrannies, a tyranny exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It may be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end, for they do so with the approval of their own conscience." – C. S. Lewis The ONLY sponsors we have are YOU! Please Donate!

02-23-2005, 08:56 AM	#4 (permalink)
laconic1 Junkie	I've been noticing popunders starting to happen as well. I'll make sure to start keeping track of which sites are doing this.

02-23-2005, 12:49 PM	#6 (permalink)
sixate Registered User Location: Somewhere in Ohio	So if Firefox no longer blocks all pop-ups then what is the advantage and what makes everyone think that there will be no security holes found in it? The more popular it gets the more it will be exploited by assholes..... BTW, I'm an IE user who hasn't seen a pop-up in well over a year. The only time that I have seen pop-ups are the few times that I've tried Firefox.

02-23-2005, 01:06 PM	#7 (permalink)
KMA-628 ....is off his meds...you were warned. Location: The Wild Wild West	I have gotten them from Drudge, exbyte and a few other sites like exbyte (jokaroo, m90, etc.) I have been going nuts with adblock, but it seems to be doing the trick if you disable all scripts on the page giving you pop-ups. It takes a few minutes to get them all, but they don't seem to be coming back.

02-23-2005, 01:48 PM	#12 (permalink)
God of Thunder Talk nerdy to me Location: Flint, MI	Just went to Drudge with Firefox and didn't get a pop up or pop under. I blocked the cookie and I use the adblock extension. Go figure. __________________ I reject your reality, and substitute my own -- Adam Savage

02-23-2005, 02:59 PM	#13 (permalink)
soccerchamp76 Go Cardinals Location: St. Louis/Cincinnati	I use Firefox and the Adblock extension and have not seen a popup ad since I installed Firefox. I also have seen about 0.5% of the ads on the actual site as well because of the Adblock. Can you do that with IE? NOPE! __________________ Brian Griffin: Ah, if my memory serves me, this is the physics department. Chris Griffin: That would explain all the gravity.

02-25-2005, 11:10 AM	#14 (permalink)
Redlemon Devoted Donor Location: New England	Heh. __________________ I can't read your signature. Sorry.

02-25-2005, 11:22 AM	#15 (permalink)
jonjon42 Psycho Location: inside my own mind	yep this seems to be affecting most pop-up blockers now. It's a pain in the ass but hopefully the devs figure it all out. I have experienced a total of one pop-up since using firefox, and none since using adblock. (except for when i was trying to test drudge and activewin) __________________ A damn dirty hippie without the dirty part....

02-27-2005, 12:37 PM	#16 (permalink)
skaven Insane Location: Austin, TX	The ones I hate the most are the flash-based ads that show up on sites like ifilm.com and fandango.com. Luckily Adblock takes care of 99% of these after the first time I see them. I've also noticed that using Adblock liberally on sites like dilbert.com and any of the keenspot network sites can dramatically improve load times. For example, without adblock enabled, viewing the latest dilbert comic would often take minutes to load, sometimes even timing out before completing loading. Now that I block all the damn javascript and ads and stuff, it loads up no problem in under 5 seconds. Yay firefox!

02-27-2005, 02:16 PM	#17 (permalink)
soccerchamp76 Go Cardinals Location: St. Louis/Cincinnati	Yeah, that is another advantage of Adblock. Not only do you not see the ads, they do not have to load at all. __________________ Brian Griffin: Ah, if my memory serves me, this is the physics department. Chris Griffin: That would explain all the gravity.

02-28-2005, 03:36 AM	#18 (permalink)
spived2 Desert Rat Location: Arizona	I tried both of those sites (using Firefox) and didn't get a single popup.... and I don't have any extensions installed at all. __________________ "This visage, no mere veneer of vanity, is it vestige of the vox populi, now vacant, vanished, as the once vital voice of the verisimilitude now venerates what they once vilified. However, this valorous visitation of a by-gone vexation, stands vivified, and has vowed to vanquish these venal and virulent vermin vanguarding vice and vouchsafing the violently vicious and voracious violation of volition. The only verdict is vengeance; a vendetta, held as a votive, not in vain, for the value and veracity of such shall one day vindicate the vigilant and the virtuous. Verily, this vichyssoise of verbiage veers most verbose vis-à-vis an introduction, and so it is my very good honor to meet you and you may call me V." - V

02-28-2005, 03:57 AM	#19 (permalink)
IC3 Poison Location: Canada	I switched to firefox for a few days then went back to IE..I just went to drudge and surfed around abit and didn't get any pop-up's..Can somebody please tell me what a pop-under is? I use the google toolbar for a pop-up blocker and it works great, I have it set on medium..and very rarely get a pop-up and when i do it's just an advertisment from a legit site. I also thought of what sixate stated above about the more people use firefox then the more security holes all those asshats are gonna find in it..And thought to myself, I am hearing a shitload about firefox lately..So i'm just gonna stick with IE and the google toolbar. __________________ "To win any battle, you must fight as if you were already dead" -Musashi Last edited by IC3; 02-28-2005 at 04:02 AM..

02-28-2005, 08:37 AM	#21 (permalink)
Wingless Psycho Location: Metro Detroit, Mich, USA	See, I don't like using AdBlock because effectively you're stealing. Forget about the big powerhouse sites, smaller and more personal sites that I frequent depend on advertising for money. AdBlock kills that revenue for those personal sites. Pop-ups, yeah it's stealing too if I block them, but they're a bit more intrusive than in-page advertising. If you've surfed the web for a few years like I have (wow, I'm old enough to say that), you develop a mental AdBlock and you learn to ignore advertising __________________ Tommy Nibs is a funny word. So here I am, above palm trees, so straight and tall... You are, smaller getting smaller, but I still see... you. Jimmy Eat World - Goodbye Sky Harbor

03-02-2005, 01:07 PM	#24 (permalink)
KMA-628 ....is off his meds...you were warned. Location: The Wild Wild West	I downloaded and installed Firefox 1.0.1 last night. No change as of yet. One of my homepages, Drudge, hits me with pop-ups everytime it opens (and sometimes when it reloads). It is getting rather annoying and is on its way to being removed from my homepage list. I use adblock, but I keep getting pop-ups on Drudge. __________________ Before you criticize someone, you need to walk a mile in their shoes. That way, if they get angry at you.......you're a mile away.......and they're barefoot.

03-02-2005, 10:16 PM	#25 (permalink)
spived2 Desert Rat Location: Arizona	Curious, do you happen to have that site in the Allowed Sites under the Tools>Options>Web Features>Block Popup Windows? You should check, you may have allowed that site by accident a long time ago. I'm using Firefox 1.0 and I checked out all the sites that were listed as having popups and not a single window popped up. __________________ "This visage, no mere veneer of vanity, is it vestige of the vox populi, now vacant, vanished, as the once vital voice of the verisimilitude now venerates what they once vilified. However, this valorous visitation of a by-gone vexation, stands vivified, and has vowed to vanquish these venal and virulent vermin vanguarding vice and vouchsafing the violently vicious and voracious violation of volition. The only verdict is vengeance; a vendetta, held as a votive, not in vain, for the value and veracity of such shall one day vindicate the vigilant and the virtuous. Verily, this vichyssoise of verbiage veers most verbose vis-à-vis an introduction, and so it is my very good honor to meet you and you may call me V." - V

03-07-2005, 09:53 PM	#27 (permalink)
Wingless Psycho Location: Metro Detroit, Mich, USA	Just did the fix, but I'll have to just run it through my normal web browsing to see if it works... __________________ Tommy Nibs is a funny word. So here I am, above palm trees, so straight and tall... You are, smaller getting smaller, but I still see... you. Jimmy Eat World - Goodbye Sky Harbor

03-08-2005, 05:28 AM	#28 (permalink)
asshopo Insane Location: Michigan	1 word: Active-X Extensions and themes are nice too. Tabbed browsing, adblock, and other things I can't get with standard IE.

03-08-2005, 07:23 AM	#29 (permalink)
Krycheck Sultana ruined my evil persona Location: Los Angeles	Heck im getting pop-up not pop-unders. www.cnn.com is one site that comes to mind. I'm gonna make a note of these sites and I just wont visit them anymore. __________________ His pants are tight...but his morals are loose!!

03-08-2005, 09:33 AM	#31 (permalink)
KMA-628 ....is off his meds...you were warned. Location: The Wild Wild West	Same here. I did the change and the pop-ups/unders I used to get, I don't get any more (at least so far). How long before we need another fix? __________________ Before you criticize someone, you need to walk a mile in their shoes. That way, if they get angry at you.......you're a mile away.......and they're barefoot.

03-08-2005, 01:47 PM	#32 (permalink)
laconic1 Junkie	I did the fix on my work computer this morning, so far so good, I'll have to try it on my home computer tonight and try it some more.