You might have unwanted software or malware installed on your computer if you experience: Pop-up ads and new tabs that won't go away Your Chrome homepage or search engine keeps changing without your permission Unwanted Chrome extensions or toolbars keep coming back Your browsing is hijacked and redirects to unfamiliar pages or ads Alerts about a virus or an infected device Use Safe Browsing in Chrome Avoid malware in the future Learn how to block or allow pop-ups in Chrome Change your default ads permissions On your computer, open Chrome. At the top right, click more settings privacy and security . Click site settings additional content settings intrusive ads . Select the option you want as your default setting. Remove unwanted programs on your computer Before you reset your browser settings, check your computer for unwanted programs. Learn how to reset your browser settings . On your Windows computer, go to the Start menu. Select Settings Apps Installed apps . Select the app that you want to remove Uninstall . On your Mac computer, open Finder . On the left, select Applications . Right-click any unwanted programs or programs that you don't recognise. Select Move to bin . At the bottom, right-click Bin . Select Empty bin . Automatically reset settings changed by unwanted programs For your safety, Chrome browser automatically checks if your settings have been changed every time you launch Chrome. This ensures that your browser behaves as expected and restores important settings to the default and known safe values without you having to manually find and fix these issues. If search has been reset, the next time that you perform a search, you'll find a small notice on the search results page. You can select:

Got it: Acknowledges the change and closes the pop-up. Learn more: Redirects you to a page on how to reset Chrome settings to default . To get a detailed notification of all the changes, on the address bar, enter: chrome://settings . How to reset Chrome settings to default . In some countries, Google Search is Chrome's default search engine. In others, you may be asked to choose your default search engine. You can change your default search engine at any time. Manually reset your browser settings On your computer, open Chrome. At the top right, select More Settings . Select Reset settings Restore settings to their original defaults Reset settings . If you reset your browser settings, you have to turn some extensions on. To turn extensions on, at the top right, select More Extensions Manage extensions . Only turn on extensions that you trust. If the steps above don't work, go to the Chrome Help Forum . Tip: If you're a website owner, learn how to resolve malware or unwanted software issues related to your downloads. More info about malware Learn what to look for when you have malware on your computer and how to stay safe online. Three tips for spotting malware (1:42) For this same video with audio descriptions, go to Three tips for spotting malware . Beware of sites that may cause you to download unwanted software. For example, if you win a contest or get copyrighted content at no charge. Beware of encrypted archives, like .zip files with a password required, that may bypass antivirus detection scans. Beware of warnings about viruses or infected devices, especially if you haven’t recently used a virus scanner. Avoid insecure connections when you visit sites and don’t download files from sites that don’t start with HTTPS. Learn how to check if a site's connection is secure . Pay attention to Safe Browsing download warnings. To avoid antivirus detections, malicious actors may ask you to turn off or ignore warnings. If a pop-up about a program update or download seems suspicious, don't click on it. Instead, go to the program's official website to download it. Related resources Download a file Block or allow pop-ups in Chrome Was this helpful? Need more help? Try these next steps: