The classic symptoms are: the search engine changed by itself, tabs and pop-ups open without you clicking anything, ads appear on sites that never had them, and the home page became something else. Start by opening the extensions page and removing everything you do not recognise (Solution 1). If the problem continues, disable them all and re-enable them one at a time to find the culprit (Solution 2). Then restore your search engine and home page (Solution 3) and cut off notifications from sites you never allowed (Solution 4). When none of that works, resetting browser settings (Solution 5) clears the leftovers without deleting bookmarks or passwords.
What causes this problem
- An extension installed alongside another program, by an installer that ticked the option by default without you noticing.
- A legitimate extension that changed owners and started injecting ads through an automatic update.
- An installation from outside the official browser store, from a file downloaded on a download site or from an ad disguised as a button.
- Notification permission granted to a dubious site, which then sends alerts designed to look like system warnings.
- A modified browser shortcut on the desktop, opening an unwanted page even with a clean browser.
- A synced profile bringing the extension back on another computer signed in to the same account.
- Note the exact symptom: hijacked search, tabs opening by themselves, new ads on familiar sites, or a different home page. That tells you where the hijack happened.
- Check whether the problem happens in both browsers you use. If it is only one, it is an extension or a setting in it; if it is all of them, there may be a program installed on the system.
- Export or confirm your bookmarks are synced before you start, so you are not relying on memory afterwards.
- Have the passwords for your important sites handy: if you end up clearing the profile, you will need to sign in again.
- If the computer belongs to your employer, tell support before removing extensions installed by policy, because some are mandatory.
Solutions, in the order to try them
1Open the extensions page and remove anything you do not recognise
This is the step that fixes most cases. Unwanted extensions tend to use generic names and promise mundane utilities, such as converting files, finding coupons or saving videos. When in doubt, remove: extensions can be reinstalled later from the official store, and none of them holds anything you cannot get back.
- In Chrome, click the three dots in the top right, go to Extensions and choose Manage extensions. In Edge, click the three dots, choose Extensions and then Manage extensions.
- Go through the list and read each one's name and description.
- Click Details on the suspicious ones and look at the permissions: access to all sites and the ability to read and change data on any page are warning signs in an extension you do not know.
- Click Remove on anything you did not install on purpose and do not use.
- Close and reopen the browser and test your browsing before moving on.
2Isolate the culprit by disabling all and re-enabling one at a time
When the strange behaviour continues even after the cleanup, what is left is finding which extension is causing it. Switching them all off at once and re-enabling them in groups is the fastest method, and it works better than guessing from names.
- On the extensions page, disable every one using its toggle, without removing them.
- Browse for a few minutes and confirm the symptom is gone. If it persists, the cause is not an extension: go to Solutions 3, 4 and 6.
- Re-enable half of the extensions and browse again. If the problem returns, the culprit is in that half.
- Keep splitting the suspect group in half until one remains.
- Remove the extension you identified and re-enable the rest.
3Restore the search engine, home page and startup tabs
Even after it is removed, the extension leaves behind the settings it changed. While those stay in place, the address bar keeps sending your searches to the wrong place and the browser keeps opening that strange page at launch.
- Open the browser settings and go to the search engine section.
- Set the search engine you want as the default and, in the list of engines, delete every unfamiliar entry.
- Go to the startup section and remove any page you did not put there.
- Also check the home button page, which sits under a separate option in the appearance settings.
- Restart the browser and confirm searches go back to the right place.
4Cut off notifications from sites you never allowed
A lot of people mistake site notifications for a virus. Those alerts in the corner of the screen saying your computer is infected come from a permission granted with a hurried click on an allow button. Revoking the permission stops the alerts immediately, with nothing else needed.
- In browser settings, go to privacy and security and then to site settings.
- Open the notifications section.
- Go through the list of allowed sites and remove every one you do not recognise.
- If the list is huge, change the general option so sites have to ask before sending notifications.
- Do the same in the pop-ups and redirects section, making sure blocking is on.
5Reset browser settings
A reset returns the browser to its default state: it disables extensions, clears cookies and temporary data, and restores the search engine, home page and pinned tabs. It does not delete bookmarks, history or saved passwords. It is the most efficient route when you cannot pin down exactly what was changed.
- In Chrome, open settings and find the reset settings section, with the option to restore settings to their original defaults.
- In Edge, open settings and go to reset settings, choosing the option to restore settings to their default values.
- Read the warning on the confirmation screen and go ahead.
- After resetting, re-enable one by one only the extensions you actually use and trust.
- If the symptom returns the moment you re-enable a particular extension, that is the culprit: remove it for good.
6Check the browser shortcut on the desktop
This is the trick that fools a lot of people: the browser is clean, but a web address was appended to the end of the shortcut's target line. So every time you open it from the icon, the unwanted page shows up, and it looks like nothing was fixed.
- Right-click the browser shortcut and choose Properties.
- Look at the Target field: it should end with the program name in quotes, with no web address after it.
- If an address is tacked on at the end, delete only that part and confirm.
- Repeat for shortcuts on the taskbar and in the Start menu, because each has its own target line.
- On a Mac, the equivalent is checking whether a startup item opens the browser on a specific page, in the login items settings.
7Deal with an extension that comes back or cannot be removed
If the remove button is greyed out or the extension reappears on its own, something outside the browser is reinstalling it: a system policy, a program installed on the computer, or profile sync. In that case, removing it in the browser achieves nothing while the source is still there.
- Check whether the browser shows a notice that it is managed by your organisation. On a personal computer, that points to a policy left behind by an unwanted program.
- Open the list of installed programs on the system and uninstall anything related to toolbars, search or coupons that you do not recognise.
- Pause browser sync before cleaning up, so the extension does not come back from another device signed in to the same account.
- Once everything is clean, remove the extension on the other devices using the same account too, and only then turn sync back on.
- If it still returns, create a new browser profile and use that one, carrying over only your bookmarks.
8Run a security scan on the system
When the problem shows up in more than one browser at the same time, the source is usually the computer rather than the browser. A full scan with the system's own antivirus, up to date, clears most of these cases. Avoid installing unknown cleaners to solve the problem: they are often part of it.
- On Windows, open the system's security app and run a full scan, not the quick one.
- Let the scan finish without using the computer for other things, because it takes a while and slows down if you do.
- Quarantine or remove everything it finds and restart the computer.
- After the restart, repeat Solution 1 to check the extension has not returned.
- Keep new program installations restricted to official sources, which is what prevents it from happening again.
Applies to
| System | Status |
|---|---|
| Google Chrome on Windows and macOS | Confirmed |
| Microsoft Edge on Windows and macOS | Confirmed |
| Other Chromium-based browsers | The extensions page and the reset exist, but sit in different places in the menu |
| Chrome and Edge on phones | There are no extensions in the mobile version; the symptom comes from site notifications or another app |
Menu names can change slightly between versions. If a step above does not match what you see on screen, the official support page from the manufacturer has the most current wording for your version.
Frequently asked questions
Last checked: Oct 25, 2026 · We review this guide whenever the manufacturer changes the process.