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New Weird popup in Chrome with UBlock Origin.
As I mentioned in Administrivia, I'm suddenly, but only occasionally, seeing some weird popups in the Chrome browser on Windows.

I only started seeing it after installing the Win10 Anniversary Update. In the process of installing that, I had to remove McAfee's corporate antivirus as it supposedly isn't compatible anymore. So I'm using MS's Win Defender now.

I don't know if they're related.

The popup appears on changing to an existing tab. A white box nearly filling the browser window appears with a line at the top saying "Sponsored by (name of tab). Please wait"

A few seconds pass, then a new tab is created with some obnoxious ad.

I just ran MalwareBytes - it didn't find anything.

I assume it's some sort of weird ad that is getting through UBlock Origin. The closest thing I've found in a Google search is mention of RevContent ads, but those seem to be different. I haven't tried going through the removal process for that yet.

I'll try manually blocking it if it happens again, but since it opens a new tab I'm not optimistic that it will work.

I don't know if it happens with other browsers.

I'll report back here if I figure anything out.

Cheers,
Scott.
New might be easier to track down by the ad content, get a screenshot next time you see one and share
always look out for number one and don't step in number two
New Ok - if it's not something horrible. ;-)
New contact phone +442037693038 some dodgy brits it appears
always look out for number one and don't step in number two
New Check the extensions and Chrome's internal process list
See https://productforums.google.com/forum/#!topic/chrome/ef3GmyyY2PM for the fun that can be had with hidden extensions.

The thread is a year old and a later update prevented extensions from hiding in the address bar, but someone may have found another avenue. Or it may be masquerading as a benign program.
New Thanks. I'll check it out this weekend.
New That's an annoying web page. ;-)
Pressing the down arrow key causes it to move a whole screen rather than one line... (sigh)

I don't see anything weird in "about:version". Nothing weird is showing up in Chrome's TaskManager (shift-esc) either.

I've successfully blocked the various popup elements and the spawned windows using uBlock Origin, so that's good enough for now. I don't feel like stripping Chrome bare and/or reinstalling - it's not worth the time.

It is a bit disconcerting though...

Thanks.

Cheers,
Scott.
     Weird popup in Chrome with UBlock Origin. - (Another Scott) - (7)
         might be easier to track down by the ad content, get a screenshot next time you see one and share -NT - (boxley) - (6)
             Ok - if it's not something horrible. ;-) -NT - (Another Scott)
             Just happened again. The URLs... - (Another Scott) - (4)
                 contact phone +442037693038 some dodgy brits it appears -NT - (boxley)
                 Check the extensions and Chrome's internal process list - (scoenye) - (2)
                     Thanks. I'll check it out this weekend. -NT - (Another Scott)
                     That's an annoying web page. ;-) - (Another Scott)

Beware of things that go blimp in the night...
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