I just spent a fair part of my afternoon tracking down the way to get rid of an annoying JollyWallet pop-up ad, and perhaps my experience will save someone else some time. This is not just another pop-up ad because Adblock Plus does not catch it. Others are calling it malware or a virus, and I’m inclined to agree.
I had not yet figured out for myself that the pop-up shows up only on commercial websites — those where I might be making a purchase of some kind. I thought it was just popping up randomly, intermittently, which made it all the more annoying. I’d only noticed it in the last week or so, and did not recall installing any new software of any kind. Macs aren’t subject to nearly as many viruses as Windows machines so I couldn’t imagine where it was coming from. Finally one website indicated it wasn’t an installed program (I’d already spent time searching my program files), it was an installed browser extension. Except I hadn’t added any extensions recently. I mostly use Chrome and it was not listed in my Chrome extensions. But it did come up only on Chrome, not on Firefox, the other browser I use.
Finally, after more digging, I found it. Someone had uninstalled all their Chrome extensions and then reinstalled them one by one, systematically testing each time to see if the ad appeared when they went to the Best Buy website. (I happened to be testing on the Target website because that was the last place I knew for sure I’d seen it.)
Bottom line: The culprit seems to have been Webpage Screenshot Capture, a little Chrome extension that makes it easy to grab and annotate screenshots. Oddly enough, I’d installed it last summer and the JollyWallet garbage only started showing up a few days ago. Still, uninstalling Webpage Screenshot got rid of JollyWallet.
I hope I’ve seen the last of JollyWallet.
Addendum: The Chrome Web Store page for Webpage Screenshot Capture now includes a notice that they (Webpage Screenshot) are testing JollyWallet on a “small amount” of users. One of the slideshow images is a screenshot of the ad. If that notice was there last summer, I overlooked it. Until now I had also overlooked the fact that the green bar actually says Webpage Screenshot is a party to the annoyance. Too bad. It was a handy little tool on occasion.
And yes, I realize there’s a JollyWallet website with instructions for uninstalling it. But if you thought it was a virus or malware, would you trust them to tell you how to get rid of it?
Note: A reader in the Apple support forums who uses Safari reported that the extension Glims was the source of his JollyWallet pop-ups.
You can go into the options section of webpage screenshot extension and uncheck the jollywallet option.
Thanks for the information. I found a lot of very frustrated people out there who, like me, just wanted to be rid of the annoyance. I predict the app will be dropped like a hot rock by everyone who finds out where the pop-up is coming from.
I’ve never encountered this pop up but it seems lately regardless of the sites you visit, pop ups are everywhere. I was under the impression that web designers were trying to get away from flash and pop ups and videos playing instantly. Apparently I was wrong – it seems they are stronger than ever.
Glad you got rid of your annoying pop up – if you want more practice I can point you several more. 😉
Annie
This was particularly annoying because I haven’t seen a pop-up for months. And rarely any ads at all. Adblock Plus has spoiled me to the point I’d almost forgotten such junk exists. There’s a cure for autoplay videos too, but I didn’t like the blank placeholders it used. Guess there’s no perfect solution.
Thanks for your generous offer, but I think I’ll pass. 😉
not sure why you had to spend so many hours figuring this out;
look at the first screenshot it is clearly saying:”Webpage Screenshot & jollywallet give you money when you purchase on this site”
And then clearly giving you the option to accept the offer, by clicking “ok” or declined it by clicking “no thanks”.
So not only, it is very clear where it is coming for, but also user choice is given.
Yes, jollywallet appears only on selected e-commerce sites or online stores and is offering its users to receive cash back for their online purchases.
Even though in this case, nit required, additional information on how to remove or disable jollywallet can be found here: [URL removed]
Peles
(I removed your links back to JollyWallet.)
I’ve already explained what happened and that I wasn’t interested in reading your ad, declining your offer, or having the pop-up appear again. A Google search will quickly show I am not alone in this. As far as I’m concerned, third-party pop-ups are like spam, robocalls, and telemarketers. I don’t want to see or hear any of them and most certainly will not do business with any of them.
Ugh, how annoying!
Understatement of the day.
You didn’t read the change-log. http://www.webpagescreenshot.info/?t=changelog
Webpage Screenshot tells you that they going to embed it, and you can disable it.
I didn’t read it because (a) I never saw it and I’m not sure Chrome’s auto update gave me a chance to read it and (b) since I didn’t realize it was from Webpage Screenshot, I didn’t know where to look for a change log.
Seems as though that old saw, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it,” applies when we are invited to upgrade apps or much of anything else on our puters.
My inner skeptic is fast becoming a cynic.
I hate these things. Glad you found a way to destroy it
Not unlike having a live spider crawl across my screen …