How to Temporarily Enable Pop-ups In Your Web Browser?

How to Temporarily Enable Pop-ups In Your Web Browser
How to Temporarily Enable Pop-ups In Your Web Browser

Pop-ups are disliked by everyone. Pop-ups are, at best, obnoxious advertisements that advertisers employ to catch your attention. In the worst-case scenario, they can fool you into clicking a malicious link, infecting your device with malware and viruses.

Trusted websites, on the other hand, contain important components shown in the form of pop-ups that you should accept in your browser. Many browsers, such as Google Chrome, Firefox, and Safari, have built-in ad blockers that prevent pop-ups from appearing. You’ll have to learn how to manually enable valid pop-ups in your browser if you ever need to.

Why Should You Allow Pop-Ups on Your Browser?

Pop-up windows aren’t always intrusive or destructive.

If your browser’s settings prevent pop-ups from appearing on all websites, you may miss out on some great discounts. If you’re shopping online, for example, e-commerce firms frequently employ pop-ups to offer special deals to their visitors.

Chat support is another example of a useful pop-up window that should be provided. Many websites employ pop-up windows to allow users to contact them without having to leave the browser window.

How to Enable Pop-ups in Chrome for a Limited Time

You can allow pop-ups from a single website or from all websites in Google Chrome.

Allowing Pop-ups from a Specific Website

When Chrome stops a pop-up window, the address bar will display an icon with a red X.

Select the red X icon in the address bar if it’s a reputable website and you wish to enable the pop-up. This site’s options will be listed on a menu. Always Allow Pop-ups and Redirects is selected. Select Done to confirm.

After that, Google Chrome will ask you to reload the website. You’ll be able to see the pop-ups on the site after the page has reloaded.

Select the icon with the red X from the address bar if you only want to see the contents of the pop-up this once. Then, under Pop-ups blocked, pick the blue link. Chrome will then take you back to the pop-up that was previously disabled.

Allow Pop-ups from Any Website

It’s important to remember that permitting pop-ups from all sites isn’t a good idea. If you need to enable pop-ups from all sites in Chrome for some reason, follow the procedures below.

  1. Go to the Google Chrome menu and select Settings.
  2. Select Site Settings from the Privacy and Security menu.
  3. Scroll down until you reach the Content section. Select Pop-ups and redirects from the Content menu.
  4. Select Allow pop-ups at the top of the window.
  5. The browser will now display pop-up windows on any site that supports them.

Allowing Pop-ups from a List of Websites

If you wish to accept pop-ups from multiple sites but not all of them, you can whitelist them in Google Chrome settings by adding them to a special list.

  1. Follow the steps outlined above to discover this list: Chrome Settings > Privacy and security > Site Settings > Pop-ups and redirects. Select Add next to Allow to send pop-ups and use redirects.
  2. Select Add after entering the website’s URL. Rep this procedure for each site from which you want to see pop-up windows.

How to Enable Pop-ups in Firefox for a Limited Time

Mozilla Firefox also has a powerful built-in pop-up blocker that protects you from clicking on harmful links while also causing some websites to lose functionality.

You can change the settings in your browser to allow pop-ups on specified websites or disable the pop-up blocker entirely.

Allowing Pop-ups from a Specific Website

Follow the steps below to allow pop-ups from a certain website in Firefox.

  1. Open the Firefox Preferences window. To do so, go to the upper-right corner of the browser window and click the gear symbol.
  2. From the left-hand panel, select Privacy & Security.
  3. Permissions can be found by scrolling down.
  4. The Block pop-up windows box is checked by default in the Permissions section. Next to it, select Exceptions.
  5. Select Allow after entering the URL of the website you want to whitelist.
  6. To confirm, click Save Changes.
  7. The pop-ups from the website you added to the list will now appear. You can repeat this process to add more websites to which the pop-ups form should appear.

Allow Pop-ups from Any Website

You can also disable Firefox’s pop-up blocker, which will allow pop-ups from any website.

To do so, go to Firefox Preferences > Privacy & Security > Permissions and follow the steps outlined above. Then uncheck the box labelled Block pop-up windows.

Your modifications will be stored automatically, and pop-up windows from all sites will now appear in Firefox.

Should you turn off your browser’s pop-up blocker permanently?

Pop-up blockers are activated by default in all major web browsers for a reason. It’s not a good idea to turn off the pop-up blocker because many websites employ pop-ups for the wrong purposes. Some pop-up windows are from third-party websites that may try to deceive you into disclosing your personal information by tricking you into entering bogus contests or downloading harmful software to fix supposed computer and software problems.

If you do decide to enable pop-ups in your browser, be careful not to click on any that appear strange or illegitimate.

In your browser, do you have pop-ups enabled or disabled? Which websites (if any) do you allow pop-ups to appear on? In the comments section below, tell us about your experience.

Mark Funk
Mark Funk is an experienced information security specialist who works with enterprises to mature and improve their enterprise security programs. Previously, he worked as a security news reporter.