How to stop websites from opening new tabs when you click

What is actually happening

You press Play on a video, close a cookie banner, or just click somewhere on the page, and a new tab opens with an ad, a "you won a prize" page or a sketchy download. You close it, click again, and another one appears.

This is not your computer misbehaving. The website you are on has added an ad script that waits for your click. The moment you click, it uses that click to open a tab of its own. These are often called pop-under ads or click-hijacking ads, and they are common on free streaming, download, comic and file-sharing sites.

Step 1: Check Chrome's pop-up setting

First make sure Chrome's own blocker is on. It won't stop every ad tab, but it stops the ones that open with no click at all.

1. Open Chrome and click the three-dot menu at the top right, then Settings.
2. Go to Privacy and security, then Site settings.
3. Click Pop-ups and redirects. You can also paste chrome://settings/content/popups into the address bar.
4. Choose Don't allow sites to send pop-ups or use redirects.
5. Check the Allowed list below and remove any site you don't trust.

If ad tabs still open when you click, that is expected. The next section explains why.

Step 2: Understand why the setting isn't enough

Chrome's blocker works by asking one question: did the person just click or press a key? If yes, the new tab is allowed, because that is how normal links and buttons work. Ad scripts take advantage of exactly that. They attach themselves to your click, so to Chrome the ad tab looks like something you asked for.

Some sites go further and lay an invisible link over the whole page, so your first click lands on the ad instead of the Play button. Others move the page you wanted into a new tab and turn your current tab into the ad. We explain each trick in why clicking a website opens an ad in a new tab.

Step 3: Block click-triggered ad tabs with an extension

To stop these tabs you need something that looks at how a page opens a tab, not just whether you clicked. That is what AdTabBlock does. It is a free Chrome extension that:

• Stops scripts that open a tab to another website when you click the page
• Disables invisible "click anywhere" links laid over the page
• Keeps your current tab where it is when a page tries to swap it for an ad
• Closes any ad tab that still slips through, before it gets in your way

Your own clicks keep working: links and thumbnails you click, Ctrl or Cmd + click, middle-click, right-click "Open link in new tab", and sign-in or payment windows from Google, Apple, Microsoft, PayPal and banks.

Step 4: Test that it works

Open the AdTabBlock test page. It copies the three most common tricks using a harmless example page. With AdTabBlock on, each test shows "Blocked".

What if tabs open even when you don't click?

That is a different problem. If new tabs or windows appear on their own, when Chrome starts, or on every website, the cause is usually an unwanted extension, site notifications you allowed by mistake, or adware on your computer. Follow our guide to Chrome opening new tabs by itself.

Quick answers

Will an ad blocker stop this?

Sometimes. Ad blockers hide ads using lists of known ad servers, so they catch many pop-under networks but miss new or rotating ones. AdTabBlock works differently: it watches the tab-opening behaviour itself, so it doesn't depend on a list. Many people use both together.

Does incognito mode help?

No. Incognito stops Chrome saving your history, but the website's ad scripts run exactly the same way.

Is it safe to keep clicking?

Close ad tabs without clicking anything inside them, and never install files or "updates" that a surprise tab offers you.