The Zombie Sessions
Google Chrome has a startup feature designed for continuity called “Continue where you left off.” If this is enabled, or if Chrome experiences an unexpected crash (like a power outage or a force-quit), the browser will automatically reopen every single tab you had active during your previous session the next time you launch it. While helpful if you accidentally closed the window, it is a privacy nightmare if you were browsing sensitive information and someone else opens the browser later. It also causes massive performance lag upon startup as Chrome attempts to simultaneously load thirty heavy web pages at once.
Forcing a Clean Startup
To ensure your browsing sessions are private and stop Google Chrome from automatically reopening closed tabs from your last session, you must adjust the browser’s startup behavior.
Open Google Chrome. Click the three vertical dots in the top-right corner of the window and select Settings. In the left-hand navigation sidebar, click on On startup. In the main panel, you will see three distinct radio buttons dictating how Chrome behaves when launched. By default, it might be set to “Continue where you left off.” To ensure a clean slate every time, click the radio button next to Open the New Tab page. (Alternatively, you can choose “Open a specific page or set of pages” and designate a single homepage like Google.com). Now, when you close Chrome, your session dies with it. The next time you open the browser, it will only display a single, blank New Tab page.