Dear Computer Lady,
Something is driving me bananas. I have a fairly new Lenovo Desktop computer with Windows 10. My email comes through Gmail. All of a sudden when I open something I get this popup add that comes up sometimes in the middle of the page, sometimes off to the side, but VERY annoying.
Is this because of Gmail, my computer or what? I will change email if that is the case, even though it is a hassle with everything involved. I really trust your responses. You are very smart!
Thanks, Ron
PS My pop up blocker is turned on.
Dear Ron,
I use Gmail every day, and I don’t get any ads popping up anywhere on the page, so I don’t think it is your Gmail.
Based on the large numbers of computers that I clean out for my customers, I would say that you have some sort of advertising malware installed on your computer. It might have come with your computer, or, more likely it got downloaded with another program that you installed on your computer.
One of the services that I provide is to remove what is called, “bloatware” from new computers. This is software that you probably don’t want on your computer, but the manufacturer gets a premium for installing it on all new computers.
I also spend quite a bit of time removing unwanted programs for people that they downloaded with a program that they did want. These are referred to as PUPs (Potentially Unwanted Programs) and all they do is try to get you to buy things that you don’t really need.
Once you get rid of these PUPs and bloatware, you should find that you don’t even need your pop-up blocker any more.
Elizabeth
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Elizabeth Boston is a Web designer, Social Media Consultant and managing editor of, “Ask The Computer Lady”.
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