How can I eliminate popups in Firefox?

Look for Adblock or Adblock+ in Firefox’s extension/add-on library.

I have both adblock and adblock plus but they don’t seem to have any effect on this type of popup.

Give us an example website with this type of popup so we can evaluate it.

In the Firefox menu bar select “Tools”.
Then go to near the bottom and select “Ad Block” or “Ad Block Plus”
Then look at your filter settings or white list. Ad block might be turned off for that particular page.

Also be aware that there are some popups you might want to see, and you’ll be blocking them as well. Popup windows are used on some sites to provide extra information onClick, or an enlargement of a product photo. Gmail also uses an onBeforeClose popup to warn you if you have email partially written, and have not switched focus to save a draft of it, so that closing the program will cause you to lose your work. Not all popups are evil.

Here is an example: http://bostonglobe.com/news/science/2013/02/17/russian-meteor-hit-brings-new-life-efforts-detect-space-objects-that-threaten-earth/rQzIMz4Bs135WIQMZZaZTN/story.html

Thanks for showing us what you mean. That popup appeared for me too. 2/17/2013 It will not take long for Ad Block to get it.

@victord66 Either they took the criticism of popups to heart, or my Firefox setup is blocking it.

Here’s another sample: http://www.yorkpress.co.uk/news/10223823.School___s_anger_after_fox_hunt_scare/

You could use Ghostery.

@wildpotato I’m using Ghostery and Ad Block Plus and I still get that pop up.
They have managed to get around it so far.