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Why am I getting double underlined links that display an ad?

Question: My Chrome browser has started to double underline words that have a pop-up ad? How can I turn this off?

It’s not your browser.

The bottom line here is that advertising powers the internet. The way those sites pay for their operations is by hosting advertising of various forms.

Become a Patron of Ask Leo! and go ad-free!

Why sites use advertising

Many (if not most) of the sites that you visit are completely free to you. You don’t have to pay a dime to access them. You just have to see that there are ads.

The double underline words that pop up advertisements are one form of website advertising. If you see it only on certain sites, then those sites have this elected to use kind of ad serving technology. It was on Ask Leo! for a while, but I removed it a while back.

It’s nothing more than an option that’s available to website owners to generate some revenue to cover the costs of running their site.

Advertising!What if it’s malware?

If you’re seeing this on all of the sites that you visit, then it could be malware. For example if you’re seeing it on Ask Leo!, then it almost certainly is, since I’m not using that ad serving technology any more.

In that case, you’d do things like check your browser add-ons and your anti-malware tools to make sure that they are running and up-to-date. I’d consider running an extra scan with Malwarebytes.

But unless this is appearing everywhere, this is typically an option that website owner use to generate some revenue.

If it’s too annoying, then the only solution that I’m aware of is to stop visiting those sites.

 

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15 comments on “Why am I getting double underlined links that display an ad?”

  1. I had that problem recently and realized it was a browser add on. Just disable and delete any browser add-on that is not familiar to you.

    Reply
  2. I REALLY hate the double-underlined popups, which must be closed manually to get back to the document. There are at least three companies that create them:
    – Kontera – ContentLink
    – Vibrant Media – IntelliTXT
    – LinkWorth – LinkWords

    I’ve blocked all three in AdBlock+, which works most of the time.

    If you can get along without JavaScript, disabling it removes them. I’ve put a clickable icon at the far right end of my Navigation Toolbar that lets me turn JavaScript on and off.

    Reply
  3. OK, so I am getting them on YOUR site with firefox (no, I don’t have any unwanted add-ons), and chrome (haven’t check MS IE, though no reason to believe it different). So, what’s up? Many of the double-underlined hover over popups have FreeTwit Tube at the bottom, some are ‘from’ info.com, while others seemingly come from award hotspot.com. When clicked, some lead to dealshark, while others link to clickshare. Eventually they are either blocked by my adblock (in firefox) or redirect to an ad, often for reputable products (including Chrome itself!). They are VERY annoying! Any suggestions? (BTW, aside from adblock on mozilla, I have Avira pro) and they still keep coming. I have looked everywhere on the web and have found no solution.
    Appreciate any help,
    Tony

    Reply
  4. Hi!
    I found your website because I had this problem of double underlining. It is caused, on my computer, by an add-on for Chrome called Freecorder. Actually, I easily solved the problem myself seeing there was no answer to it in your pages:

    At the bottom of the pop up which appears when the arrow of the mouse is over the double underlined link, there is a question mark on which I clicked. It opened a page on Nav-Links (nav-links.com) which proposed to delete all ads from them. I think it’s fair enough – not to Freecorder, but, well, yes, those double underlines are very annoying… ;-) – to be noticed.

    I hope this info will help you to your pages and help your readers.

    Reply
  5. Hey!! Your page is loaded with those double-underlined words too! I can’t even read your article without mistakenly hovering near or over those double-underlined words. And then I get a half dozen or more pop-up ads. Some of those ads won’t even close until I answer their questions. And the underlined words are so random. The words have nothing to do with the ads. Words like “get ready” or “somewhat.” It’s crazy!
    It’s making it so difficult to use my pc anymore. I first noticed the problem in Classmates.com. It’s been constant ever since.
    So far, I’m still not sure how to correct this.
    Not all websites I visit have double-underlined words. In Wikipedia today, I noticed when I click a photo I get loads of random adds.
    Is there a fix or do I have a virus?

    Reply
  6. I’m not getting the blue underlines on your website. It happens on most everyone else’s. This is with using Explorer 9. This does not happen when I use Chrome. Thoughts?

    Reply
  7. I’m seeing this only on my own website, not on anyone else’s. I haven’t changed any code or I don’t have any weird extensions. Any idea why this is only appearing on my own blog and only from my computer (i.e. not on my phone)?

    Reply
  8. Like you said, I only get these lines on websites that activated this system. But I downloaded a crack for an antivirus (fake ofcourse, it was adware instead, I’m so stupid) and since then I got these lines, not on all sites but still I want them removed from those sites. Because back in the day it did’nt appear, my question is, is resseting your computer the only way to get rid of these lines and annoying pop-ups. ( I have used Malwarebytes Anti-Malware, Adware removal tool, Junkware remover and hitman pro but it didn’t remove a thing). Please help me.

    Reply

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