Pop-up asking me to disable my ad blocker

[cork1958]

On 12/05/2025 at 10:55, Steven P. said:

I was asked to move it in a different place, that might be why.

Didn't move it far enough then as I'm still getting it on front page.

[snowy owl]

On 12/05/2025 at 10:48, FloatingFatMan said:

It's spreading.  I just got the popup in the Domestic Politics forum... :S

 

Same here 😞!

Edit: Not anymore 😁

[FloatingFatMan]

On 12/05/2025 at 17:22, snowy owl said:

Same here 😞!

Edit: Not anymore 😁

Just got it again.  

[snowy owl]

On 12/05/2025 at 14:21, FloatingFatMan said:

Just got it again.  

So did I 😂!

However, not on the home page of the site!

[Joe User]

I'm getting them while running Malware Bytes, but turned off for Neowin.

 

[+Edouard Subscriber²]

I'm confused by all of this. I'm running Malwarebytres Premium and UBlock Origin Lite yet never see this issue. I also run at times NordVPN and have yet to see this issue.

I've run tests on my default Firefox, my secondary Brave and even Chrome and cannot replicate this issue.

I don't post this to be a smart*ss. Just to throw in the mix that this problem isn't impacting everyone.

 

[snowy owl]

I had it again this morning using Firefox, with uBlock disabled, a fact worth noting: it's random.

To test, I launched Edge, which in the privacy settings is set to strict, and I went to the site, with ExpressVPN, uBlock Origin, and NoScript all enabled, and no pop-up, then I went to the forum, under the same conditions, everything was enabled, and no pop-up... it's beyond comprehension.

Here are two screenshots of Edge:

And the forum:

Maybe I should enable NoScript on Firefox? That's the only difference between the two!🤔🤔🤔

[Raa]

Started to get this last Friday, and only just took a few hours to dig right into it.

Unfortunately, still getting it here. Quite annoying, will have another tinker tomorrow with a fresh set of eyes...

[cork1958]

FWIW, I am currently running Zorin Linux from usb with Brave and it's shields running with ublock origin. Settings are pretty much the same I use on Edge and Firefox. No VPN.

Haven't seen pop up yet after leaving this site and coming back several times.

[cork1958]

Back to Edge on Windows 10 and got pop up. Was here on Firefox 138.0.3 and Windows 10 a little bit ago and no pop up.

[FloatingFatMan]

On 13/05/2025 at 19:39, cork1958 said:

Back to Edge on Windows 10 and got pop up. Was here on Firefox 138.0.3 and Windows 10 a little bit ago and no pop up.

It's doing it on my work laptop as well (Chrome 136.0.7103.93), but admittedly, THAT has both a corporate ad-blocker at the firewall level and ad-blocker extensions that I cannot disable...

[cork1958]

I got the pop up in Firefox now today. Didn't yesterday, so back to getting it in both browsers again.

[snowy owl]

Hi!

This pop-up problem is still not solved, Neowin is whitelisted in uBlock Origin, when I first visit the site, I get this pop-up telling me that my ad blocker is activated, when it's not! If I leave the site to return later, no matter how many times I come back, there's no pop-up. But every time I close the browser, and come back to the site, I still get that first pop-up!

And for the past few days, I've been unable to paste a link to YouTube that shows a thumbnail of the video, without having to proceed by including a link, which only adds a link and no thumbnail.

Help! 😁

 

[cork1958]

On 04/06/2025 at 09:07, snowy owl said:

Hi!

This pop-up problem is still not solved, Neowin is whitelisted in uBlock Origin, when I first visit the site, I get this pop-up telling me that my ad blocker is activated, when it's not! If I leave the site to return later, no matter how many times I come back, there's no pop-up. But every time I close the browser, and come back to the site, I still get that first pop-up!

And for the past few days, I've been unable to paste a link to YouTube that shows a thumbnail of the video, without having to proceed by including a link, which only adds a link and no thumbnail.

Help! 😁

 

Luck you. I get that pop up even after leaving the site for a bit and do some other surfing around and then come back.

[snowy owl]

On 04/06/2025 at 10:21, cork1958 said:

Luck you. I get that pop up even after leaving the site for a bit and do some other surfing around and then come back.

I must be! 🤔

Are you having problems attaching a video from YouTube? Having to add a link instead of simply pasting the URL? I think another member mentioned having the same issue this week?

[cork1958]

On 04/06/2025 at 10:32, snowy owl said:

I must be! 🤔

Are you having problems attaching a video from YouTube? Having to add a link instead of simply pasting the URL? I think another member mentioned having the same issue this week?

IDK, let me test. I attached this the same way I always have when using Edge. I simply paste as plain text. Really hate that I have to sign into YouTube to see videos! Is this what you were meaning?

 

[snowy owl]

On 04/06/2025 at 10:46, cork1958 said:

IDK, let me test. I attached this the same way I always have when using Edge. I simply paste as plain text. Really hate that I have to sign into YouTube to see videos! Is this what you were meaning?

 

Exactly that, in my case it doesn't work at all!

[Steffan]

On 04/06/2025 at 10:21, cork1958 said:

Luck you. I get that pop up even after leaving the site for a bit and do some other surfing around and then come back.

That's the issue I'm still having. I whitelisted the site in adguard. I'm using Edge as well. I'll sign into Firefox to see if that makes any difference.

[Steven P. Administrators]

Guys can you please share your configuration so I can forward it to my ad contact?

They have already told me that using a VPN can trigger it as well as things like Malwarebytes traffic shaping.

I personally use PIA VPN with split tunnel enabled, and Chrome is set to bypass the VPN completely (so it does not use the PIA DNS).

It is possible that if you are using a VPN, you are also using their DNS which may be triggering it.

I am following up with her on all these reports, and I also asked her to check this thread.

[cork1958]

FWIW, I get the pop up whether using my VPN or not, although strangely, I did not get it just now when coming here in Firefox.

About the only security setting I have that might influence is Enhanced Tracking Protection is set to maximum.

[Steven P. Administrators]

On 04/06/2025 at 15:07, snowy owl said:

This pop-up problem is still not solved, Neowin is whitelisted in uBlock Origin, when I first visit the site, I get this pop-up telling me that my ad blocker is activated, when it's not! If I leave the site to return later, no matter how many times I come back, there's no pop-up. But every time I close the browser, and come back to the site, I still get that first pop-up!

This seems to be something like secure browsing where (some or all?) cookies are deleted after a session when the browser is closed?

[cork1958]

On 04/06/2025 at 14:37, Steven P. said:

This seems to be something like secure browsing where (some or all?) cookies are deleted after a session when the browser is closed?

Never delete cookies here.

Edit: As of a couple restarts of Firefox with and without VPN, I did not get the pop up, but did both times, with and without VPN in Edge.

Edited June 4, 2025 by cork1958

[Steffan]

No issues so far with Firefox. I have everything set to default and not on the VPN. I'm still getting it on Edge. The only computer I have at home is my work device which Edge is managed by them. I did flush the cookies for the site a week or two ago.

[snowy owl]

I use the Cookie AutoDelete extension precisely to keep Neowin's cookies. Because Firefox is set to delete all cookies when I quit my session.

This screenshot was taken on the site, and as you can see, Neowin's cookies are whitelisted.

Using Edge with uBlock Origin, NoScript enabled, there are no pop-ups.

 

It doesn't matter whether ExpressVPN is used or not, regardless of the browser? 🤷🏽‍♂️

 

Edited June 4, 2025 by snowy owl

[Steven P. Administrators]

On 04/06/2025 at 20:51, snowy owl said:

I use the Cookie AutoDelete extension precisely to keep Neowin's cookies. Because Firefox is set to delete all cookies when I quit my session.

This screenshot was taken on the site, and as you can see, Neowin's cookies are whitelisted.

 

Yeah but the ad block popup thing is not a Neowin cookie. Neowin sets a lot of cookies from different domains too I believe. Just look! 😛 (you can view this by pressing F12 > and then the 'Application' tab in Chrome).

If you are deleting cookies after every session then it makes sense to me that you have to login to YouTube and certain other sites again, and so forth.

Even though the cookies are not called neowin.net they are still considered first party ones necessary to the site for different things. Third party cookies are blocked by default in Chrome (also on my Chrome) but everything "just works".