So you know how some sites are getting around popup blockers by just spawning new windows (the ones without menubars ect...). Is there a way to disable ALL new windows from opening. I have NEVER seen a site that opens a legit new window, its always spam/adverts.
I poked around in about:flags but figured id ask here.
Thanks!
*I of course have the block popups setting checked in options, but that doesnt stop these windows (oddly enough, youd think it would).
Visit the Community page
Join our forums
Subscribe to our email newsletter
Subscribe with RSS
Follow us on Facebook
Follow us on LinkedIn
Follow us on Twitter
Follow us on Mastodon
Follow us on BlueSky
Sites that do that should generally be avoided. No legitimate websites go to such pain to spawn popup windows. So, the sites that do those popups are often trying to infect you with malware and other nasties as well. It's best to avoid them altogether.
You can divert it from a new window to a new tab. browser.link.open_newwindow should be set to 3 (default in current Firefox) and then set browser.link.open_newwindow.restriction to 0 to force them to open in a new tab (it just treats them by the browser.link.open_newwindow setting above) or to 1 to disable all open new window events altogether. This will break logins on some sites, some sites which use new window tricks for downloading (mainly for IE). It will break the Tweet button on here and other sites. It will also break Login With Facebook on all sites. Plus all other things like that.
If you still go to them, you should have AdBlock installed as well as NoScript (make sure to make an exception for PortableApps.com for both, of course). I'd recommend ensuring you have ALL plugins disabled as well (Java, Adobe PDF Reader, etc) as those sites are likely using those to attempt to infect your browser/machine.
Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!
Is there a similar solution to browser.link.open_newwindow.restriction method to open them in new tabs?
Perhaps something like this? -> https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/papnlnnbddhckngcblfljaelgceffobn
Thankee sir.
I like the idea of just blocking all new windows period. Aside from a few of the examples already given, 99% of legit sites will NEVER spawn new windoes. So in firefox we set that one setting to '1' right? What about chrome, how do we just stop all new windows in chrome?
This is just from a simple search.
https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/lijicndbkjoplmhnclmoahmcaffaeapp
The add-on claims to prevent all websites from creating new windows. I haven't tried it though since I use Firefox