Adblock Plus, the #1 most downloaded browser add-on in the world, today announced an update of its add-on for Chrome which blocks a new variant of stealthy pop-up advertisements that sneak past most existing blockers.

“Most modern web browsers have built-in pop-up blockers already, but they typically can block only ‘standard’ pop-ups. There is a new variant of pop-ups on the rise which slip past these blockers, so Adblock Plus has improved its add-on for Chrome with a universal blocker to stop them all,” said Till Faida, co-founder of Adblock Plus.

The new pop-up (and pop-under) variants evade traditional pop-up blockers by opening on mouse clicks and other user events that are completely unrelated to the advertisement. For example, a user might click on an unrelated link or button and then receive a pop-up. Built-in blockers in most web browsers are powerless to stop these types of pop-ups automatically because doing so will break functionality for many legitimate websites (pop-up technology is used for more than just serving up ads). But Adblock Plus is able to selectively block just the advertising pop-ups by using special filters created by its huge community of volunteers -– real human beings who can spot and tag the advert pop-ups without interfering with any site’s functionality.

Adblock Plus is a free ad-blocking tool, and is the product of an open-source community project; it has been downloaded more than 200 million times worldwide. Adblock Plus plugs into any Chrome, Firefox, Opera or Android browser.

Links:

- Download the latest Adblock Plus for Chrome: : www.adblockplus.org

- Download Adblock Plus for Android at Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.adblockplus.android

- Download Adblock Plus for Firefox & Opera: www.adblockplus.org

About Adblock Plus

Adblock Plus is a web extension that addresses annoying and intrusive online advertising by putting users in control. It allows defining filters that determine what a website is permitted to load, as well as provide a way to collapse unwanted sections of a web page. Adblock Plus has been the most downloaded and the most used extension almost continuously since November 2006. PC World rated Adblock Plus as a top innovation in its 100 Best Products of 2007 list, and in March 2010 the project collected the Linux New Media award for the Best Open Source Firefox Extension.

Follow AdBlock Plus on Twitter at @AdBlockPlus and read our blogs at http://adblockplus.org/blog/