diff --git a/app-shell-odd/src/ui.ts b/app-shell-odd/src/ui.ts
index ec5f3e1ae0a..fdae0e8a54d 100644
--- a/app-shell-odd/src/ui.ts
+++ b/app-shell-odd/src/ui.ts
@@ -59,11 +59,13 @@ export function createUi(dispatch: Dispatch): BrowserWindow {
   mainWindow.loadURL(url, { extraHeaders: 'pragma: no-cache\n' })
 
   // open new windows (<a target="_blank" ...) in browser windows
-  mainWindow.webContents.on('new-window', (event, url) => {
-    log.debug('Opening external link', { url })
-    event.preventDefault()
-    // eslint-disable-next-line @typescript-eslint/no-floating-promises
-    shell.openExternal(url)
+  mainWindow.webContents.setWindowOpenHandler(({ url, disposition }) => {
+    if (disposition === 'new-window' && url === 'about:blank') {
+      shell.openExternal(url)
+      return { action: 'deny' }
+    } else {
+      return { action: 'allow' }
+    }
   })
 
   return mainWindow