Read this article to know all the different ways in which you can block or prevent unwanted pop-ups to appear on your Safari browser.
Nowadays, the web is full of advertisements. No matter what sites you visit, you can always see subscription pop-ups, banners, and text ads. Sometimes, a pop-under will appear suddenly in the background and congratulate you as the winner of a prize. Popups will appear even when you are using a secure browser like Safari to surf the web.
Exposure to these popups can be dangerous especially if you use your computer to access sensitive information. The following are some tips on how to block popups on Safari.
Close the Popups: First of all, if you see popups, you should quickly quit them. If it won't quit after you click the x button, you can try quitting the relevant tab. You can press Command-W to quit the browser window if the pop up did not disappear after you have closed the relevant tab. After pressing Command + W, you will hear alert sounds with prompts that ask you for confirmation on closing the window. You should click the OK button on the prompt window one by one. The last resolution is to open the program manager by holding down the 3 keys including Command, Option, and Esc. When the program manager opens, you can look for the web browser in the list and click on the Force Quit button to quit it.
Configure the Security and Privacy Settings on Safari: If you see popups in your Safari browser, it is because you did not disable popup windows in your settings. You can do so by going to Safari > Safari Preferences > Security. The block popup windows box must be checked. Next, in Privacy, you must configure the browser not to allow trackers to track you. In the Privacy tab, you can select always block under the cookies and website data. Under Website use of location services, you should select the Deny without prompting option so that it will not display a prompt every time a pop up is blocked. Under website tracking, check the Ask websites Not to Track Me option.
Clear Your Website Data: It is time to clear up the website data once you have configured all the security settings. Before doing this, make sure you have already closed the popup windows. You are to click the Manage Website Data in the privacy tab. It will display a list of websites that use trackers and have stored cookies on your computer. You must check all these websites and click on the removal all button to remove them. When it prompts you for your confirmation, you should click on the Remove Now button.
Keep Mac and Safari Up to Date: Finally, you must make sure your Safari browser is up to date. Every now and then, you will see an update notification on your Mac OS. If it asks you to install updates, make sure you install them as these updates usually will improve the security of your computer from popup ads.
Uninstall Suspicious Extensions: Sometimes, pop up happens because of the extensions you install. The extensions may contain adware that causes pop-ups to appear when you launch the browser. You can go to Safari > Preferences > Extensions and delete extensions that are suspicious. You can also delete extensions that you are not using. To uninstall an extension, you can select it and click on the uninstall button. After uninstalling all the extensions, make sure you restart the browser. If you don't know which extension is causing the popup, you can simply delete all the extensions. After all, extensions are not a necessary requirement for the browser to resume normal operation.
Protect Yourself from Popups with a Third Party Ad Blocker: For a more secure browsing experience, you can install a third party ad blocker program. It is one of the 3 simple ways to block pop-ups in Safari. The program you choose should be able to block all types of ads and popups on Safari. It should give you an option to unblock popups from important sites, for example, the travel site where you want to book your trip use popups. In this way, you will be able to whitelist the site. Whitelist is a feature that let you tell the software that those webpages are safe and that it should allow ads to run on them. It is important to only buy ad blocker created by a reputable software maker like AdGuard. Ad blocker by unknown companies maybe a masquerade spy that can track your behavior and sell your data for profits. Click here for more details: https://adguard.com/en/article/safari-pop-up-blocker.html
Avoid Downloading Files from Untrustworthy Sites: You should avoid going to untrustworthy sites to download free software. The files you download from these sites usually contain adware that will plague your computer with popups. Instead, you should get your applications from the official app download sites, the iTunes store. If you want to download software, make sure you download it directly from the developer sites.
Be Careful When Visiting Freebies Sites: Popups are commonly found on sites that offer freebies like screensaver/wallpaper, games, and other freebie sites. If you know of any site that displays popups, you should make a record of them so that you can avoid visiting them.
Install Anti-Malware Program: You may also want to consider installing an anti-malware program because it can help you to uninstall programs that contain adware. Mac is different than Windows and does not provide the option to install/uninstall a program. The anti-malware program can scan your computer for junkware and uninstall them completely.
That completes our list of solutions to block pop-ups on your browser. While some of these are preventive methods, others like blockers and Anti-malware programs blocks pop-ups from coming on to the screen.
