Why Disable the Pop-Up Blocker in Edge? Normally, you do not have to disable Edge's pop-up blocker. It's helpful to block obtrusive advertisements and alerts, many of which are phishing attempts.

Microsoft Edge's Scareware blocker is a local AI model designed to help users avoid annoying and dangerous full screen pop-ups while browsing the web.

Manage Popups in Microsoft Edge. Launch Edge (Chromium), ... Under Pop-up Blocker settings, you can check or uncheck the Turn on Pop-up Blocker checkbox to Turn On or Turn Off the popup blocker.

Understandably, Microsoft wants to fight this — and it’s doing so with a new Scareware Blocker feature in Edge, which was first announced in November at the 2024 Ignite conference.