How to Block Ads and Pop-ups in Chrome
Chrome blocks most pop-ups and intrusive ads on its own. Here is how to tighten those settings, stop abusive notifications, and add a blocker that still works.
Chrome already blocks most pop-ups and the worst intrusive ads without any add-on, but the defaults leave gaps: spammy site notifications, ads that slip through, and controls you can tighten. This guide covers the built-in options in Chrome’s Site settings, how to shut off abusive notifications, how Safe Browsing helps, what to do about unwanted software on Windows, and where an ad-blocker extension fits after Chrome’s Manifest V3 changes. One thing to be clear about up front: Chrome filters intrusive ads, not every ad.
What Chrome blocks on its own
Chrome blocks pop-up windows by default. When it stops one, the address bar shows a “Pop-up blocked” marker you can click to allow that site if you genuinely need the window, as described in Google’s pop-up guidance. Separately, Chrome filters ads that fail industry standards for intrusive advertising: the auto-playing video with sound, the ad that covers the whole page, the countdown before the content loads. On the small number of sites that keep showing those ads and never fix them, Chrome may filter ads on that site entirely, per Chrome’s help on unwanted ads.
What it does not do is strip ordinary banner and in-feed ads from every site. If your goal is a page with zero advertising, the built-in tools will disappoint you; they target the ads that hijack a page, not advertising in general.
| Built-in feature | What it handles | On by default |
|---|---|---|
| Pop-up blocker | Windows a site opens without your action | Yes |
| Intrusive-ads filter | Ads that fail intrusive-ad standards; all ads on repeat offenders | Yes |
| Notification control | Sites asking to send desktop alerts | Prompts you |
| Safe Browsing | Dangerous sites, downloads, and extensions | Standard level on |
Tighten the settings that control ads and pop-ups
These controls live in one place. Open Chrome’s menu (the three dots, top right), choose Settings, then Privacy and security, then Site settings. From there you can set the default behavior for the whole browser or override one site at a time.
| To control | Where to go | What to choose |
|---|---|---|
| Pop-ups and redirects | Site settings, then Pop-ups and redirects | Don’t allow sites to send pop-ups or use redirects |
| Intrusive ads | Site settings, then Additional content settings | Keep the intrusive-ads block turned on |
| One specific site | Click “View site information” in the address bar | Set Pop-ups or Ads to Block |
If a site you trust breaks because Chrome blocked something it needs, use the same per-site menu to allow it rather than loosening the default for every page. The exact labels shift a little between Chrome versions, but the path through Privacy and security to Site settings stays the same.
Stop abusive notifications and turn up Safe Browsing
The most common modern nuisance is not a pop-up but a stream of desktop notifications a site talked you into allowing. The fastest fix is per site: open the page, click “View site information” to the left of the address, find Notifications, and set it to Block, as shown in Chrome’s notifications help. To stop the requests at the source, go to Settings, Privacy and security, Site settings, then Notifications and pick the quieter option so sites can no longer interrupt you with a prompt. Chrome already blocks notifications from sites it identifies as intrusive or misleading and recommends you keep blocking them. Many of those alerts push fake virus warnings and prize scams, the same playbook covered in how to spot a phishing email.
Safe Browsing is a separate layer worth checking while you are in here: Settings, Privacy and security, then Security. Standard protection is on by default. Enhanced protection warns you about dangerous sites, downloads, and extensions that Google has not catalogued yet, in exchange for sending more of your browsing data to Google in real time, per Google’s Safe Browsing levels. It does not block ads, but it is the layer that catches the malicious download hiding behind a fake “update now” ad. Pair it with account basics like a strong, unique password and passkeys so one bad click does not cascade into a hijacked account.
Clean up unwanted software on Windows
If ads and pop-ups appear everywhere at once, including outside the browser, the problem may be software installed on the PC rather than a setting. Chrome used to include a “Clean up computer” scanner (the Chrome Cleanup Tool) for Windows, but Google removed it starting with Chrome 111 in 2023, having found it rarely turned up anything. The current advice from Chrome’s help is more manual, and it is worth doing in order.
| Step | Where | Why it helps |
|---|---|---|
| Remove unknown programs | Start, Settings, Apps, Installed apps | Uninstall anything you do not recognize or did not install |
| Reset Chrome | Settings, Reset settings, Restore settings to their original defaults | Undoes a hijacked search engine, homepage, or startup pages |
| Scan the PC | Windows Security or your antivirus | Catches the malware Chrome no longer scans for itself |
Reset only clears settings and disabled extensions; it does not delete bookmarks or saved passwords. After a reset, turn extensions back on one at a time and only the ones you trust, following Chrome’s guide to removing unwanted ads and malware.
Ad-blocker extensions, Manifest V3, and Android
For heavier ad blocking than Chrome’s filter offers, an extension is the usual answer, with one catch. Chrome has finished moving to Manifest V3, and older Manifest V2 extensions stopped working for everyone in 2025, per Chrome’s developer timeline. Manifest V3 replaced the old blocking network API with a more limited one, so the classic uBlock Origin no longer runs on current Chrome. Its maintainer offers uBlock Origin Lite, built for Manifest V3 with narrower capabilities, and points to Firefox as the browser that still runs the full version, per the uBlock Origin site. An extension can still remove far more than Chrome’s built-in filter; just know the Chrome versions are more limited than they used to be.
Android works from the same Site settings. In Chrome, tap the three-dot menu, then Settings, then Site settings, where Pop-ups and redirects and Notifications each toggle on or off, and Safe Browsing sits under Settings as well. Chrome on Android does not support extensions, so an ad-blocker add-on is not an option there; the built-in controls, or switching to a browser that blocks ads, are the realistic choices.
Set the pop-up, intrusive-ads, and notification controls once, raise Safe Browsing if the data trade-off is acceptable to you, and reach for an extension only when you want more than intrusive-ad filtering. If ads follow you across apps and not just websites, treat it as software to remove rather than a setting to change.