A window that suddenly appears (pops up) when you select an option with a mouse or press a special function key. Usually, the pop-up window contains a menu of commands and stays on the screen only until you select one of the commands.

Are pop up windows bad?

Pop-up windows can often be a pain, but they sometimes indicate a more serious problem. ... But other pop-ups are just spam that's both invasive and malicious in nature. These types of pop-ups are actually an alarm telling you that something's wrong with your computer and you need to fix it.

What is a pop up called?

The term popup refers to a graphical user interface display area that can appear as a window in different sizes and screen positions on websites' visual interface, typically without the site visitor's permission. They pop up on the screen; this is why they are called “popups.”