The Hijacked Startup
Google Chrome allows you to customize exactly what happens when you first launch the browser. By default, it opens a clean “New Tab” page. However, it is incredibly common for third-party software installers, malicious browser extensions, or aggressive search engine toolbars to silently change this setting in the background. Suddenly, every time you open Chrome, it automatically redirects your homepage to a strange search portal, a news aggregator, or a heavily monetized landing page that you never explicitly authorized.
Securing Your Startup Page
To regain control of your browsing experience and stop Google Chrome from automatically changing your homepage or startup page, you must manually reset the startup behavior and lock out rogue extensions.
Click the three vertical dots in the top-right corner of Chrome and select Settings. In the left-hand navigation sidebar, click on On startup. In the main panel, you will see three radio buttons. The culprit is usually the bottom option: “Open a specific page or set of pages.” If you see strange URLs listed underneath this option, click the three dots next to the malicious URL and select Remove. To guarantee a clean start, click the top radio button: Open the New Tab page. If the problem persists after restarting Chrome, the change is being enforced by an extension. Go to Extensions > Manage Extensions (or type chrome://extensions/ in the address bar) and disable any recently added or unrecognized toolbars.