Closing pop ups

Pop-up messages are those little boxes that suddenly appear on your screen, usually asking you to answer a question. Some come from apps you are using to check if you want to give the app permission to access or do something.

Other pop ups can appear when you are using your web browser to look at websites. These are often just the website eagerly wanting you to buy goods or sign up for a special deal or mailing list. But some website pop ups can be more sinister than that, and can be links to fake websites or scams.

If you receive a pop-up message from a website you don't know or trust, it's usually best to not click or tap inside it, but to close it. In this course, we show you some techniques you can use to remove pop ups safely.

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- Transcript: Closing pop ups
  
  Pop-up boxes appear unexpectedly. They come from websites or apps on your smartphone or tablet. A pop up might provide information, ask for permission to do something, or ask you to do something.
  
  Carefully read a pop up before deciding whether to tap on it. If you're sure the pop up is safe, you can follow its instructions. Some pop ups are useful, but others are scams.
  
  You might be able to close the pop up and make it go away by tapping the small x in the top right corner. If you're unsure the pop up is safe, or don't trust the website or app the pop up is from, don't tap on the small x. Instead, try tapping the screen anywhere outside the pop-up box to close it. This can also work if there's no small x in the pop up at all.
  
  If the pop up won't go away, don't be tempted to tap on its buttons to remove it. The safest thing to do is close the web page it appears on. Let's see how to do that.
  
  Find the Tabs icon and tap it to show all the open web pages on your device. The Tabs icon will be in the top or bottom right of the screen, depending on your device. Find the web page with the pop up and tap the little x to close it. You can then tap on any other web page to take you back to your browsing in peace and quiet.
- Activities
- Try it
  
  For smart devices only. Practise closing pop ups safely in this informative activity.
  
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Closing pop ups

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