I keep getting pop-up ads on my computer even when my browser is closed. They look like notifications from Windows. How do I stop them?
These are browser notification spam — at some point you accidentally clicked Allow on a website asking to send notifications, and now that site pushes ads through your browser even when it is closed. In Chrome, go to Settings, Privacy and Security, Site Settings, Notifications. You will see a list of sites that are allowed to send notifications. Remove any site you do not recognize by clicking the three dots next to each one and selecting Remove. In Edge, go to Settings, Cookies and Site Permissions, Notifications, and do the same cleanup. Also turn off the option that says Sites can ask to send notifications — change it to Don't allow sites to send notifications. For Windows notification ads specifically, go to Settings, System, Notifications, and scroll down to find any suspicious app names sending notifications — turn them off. If you are also seeing pop-ups on your desktop, you may have adware installed. Download Malwarebytes (free version), run a full scan, and remove anything it finds. After cleaning, install the uBlock Origin browser extension to block future notification permission pop-ups and ads.
