Introduction
Browser hijacking is very real. Things you may see if you’re Google Chrome browser has been hijacked include unwanted toolbars, your home page changing but you didn’t do it, or you start seeing your search results in a search engine that isn’t Google. If you’re running into problems your first step to clean things up should be to reset Google Chrome to its default settings to see if that gets things back in working order. Examples of all instructions in the steps can be seen in the YouTube video below.
Steps to Reset Google Chrome to Default Settings
- Launch the Google Chrome web browser, and then click the “Menu” icon to display a menu. The menu icon features three vertical ellipses.
- Click “Settings” in the menu.
- Select “Advanced” in the menu on the left side of the screen to see more options, and then click “Reset and Clean Up” in that list. Options associated with resetting and cleaning up Google Chrome are shown on the right side of the screen.
- Click “Restore settings to their original defaults.” The Reset Settings dialog box is displayed, letting you know that moving forward will reset your startup page, new tab page, search engine and pinned tabs, as well as disabling all extensions and clearing your temporary cookies. Your bookmarks, history and saved passwords will not be cleared as part of resetting your Google Chrome settings back to default.
- Choose “Reset Settings.” The dialog box will close, and your Google Chrome settings will automatically be completely reset.