Why am I seeing ads all of a sudden?

[omni550]

Since there are so many well-informed and intelligent folks here, I have a question.

Recently (in the past 2-4 weeks), I am starting to see ads on many/most sites, including E-R.org. Previously, I never saw ads on most sites.

I am using Firefox with AdBlock Plus, and also StopAllAds.

I don't recall changing any settings. (But now, as I'm typing this, I do recall downloading Win11 in the recent past. Might that be the culprit?)

Any ideas on how to stop seeing ads?

omni

 

[Marita40]

I don't see ads and I also use AdBlock Plus. I wonder if you need to reload it (ie. delete AdBlock and then resubscribe) and/or reboot. This usually fixes most things like this for me.

 

[zinger1457]

You should have an icon for the ad blocking program to the right of the address bar on your browser. Does it show as active when you're on this site? The icon for the ad blocker I use is green when active, grey'd out when not active.

 

[Graybeard]

I never saw an ad here unless I was not logged in, did you log out?

 

[COcheesehead]

No ads when logged in.

 

[omni550]

I don't see ads and I also use AdBlock Plus. I wonder if you need to reload it (ie. delete AdBlock and then resubscribe) and/or reboot. This usually fixes most things like this for me.

Marita,

Ding, ding, ding! We have a winner!

I just deleted and reloaded AdBlockPlus and that seems to have done the trick!

THANK YOU!!!! (Ads can be so annoying when you've gotten used to not seeing them.)

omni

 

[Telly]

omni550's topic here was timely, but unfortunately, the suggested solution didn't work for me.

Background
Desktop PC running Windows 10 with FireFox with AdBlock Plus extension, and running Norton virus protection. AdBlock Plus worked great, no problems ever. Until I did something stupid on Sunday 5/15.
Norton pops up helpful hints every once in a while within it's program. One was to check if all programs are up to date. This time i clicked on it, after it ran it said everything was up to date, except GIMP, and showed my present release level of GIMP and current available level. I don't use GIMP, DW did once to convert a file to something readable. Hesitating, I clicked on the update within the Norton program. It was chunking along for a while, hard drive access light flashing. After a bit, I thought it was going on too long, regretted starting it, so I hit cancel, and it worked to back out and close.

After that, I suddenly had ads all over YouTube. And here on E-R.org when not logged in, had big spaces inserted between about every two or three posts within a thread, JW Viewer videos were running between posts and to right side, all showing the same filler videos repeating, like placeholders. Other websites are affected too, if they run imbedded advertising.

Things I've tried
Uninstalling GIMP, it's gone. Removing AdBlock Plus and re-installed from their official website. Rebooting. Playing with AdBlock Plus settings. Nothing fixes the ads issue. It's as if AdBlock Plus, though it's status is enabled, is secretly being turned off such that I can't see it. I've run multiple scans via Norton, nothing found. I think something rode in with the GIMP update. I regret ever clicking on that update!