How To Reset Chrome To Its Default Settings (Windows Guide)

Browser resetting can be done anytime if you are noticing any unwanted modifications to the preferred browser settings of yours. Resetting Chrome browser will not remove your saved bookmarks and passwords.

However, the new tabs, browsing history, search engine, and extensions are cleared and set to default.

To reset your chrome follow the quick steps:

Method 1: This is the URL for the reset chrome browser “chrome://settings/resetProfileSettings?origin=userclick”, just copy the URL and paste it into the address bar.

Reset Chrome

Method 2:

1. Click on “Chrome’s Menu” then choose “Settings”;
   

   Reset Browser Chrome 1

2. A settings window will appear, scroll to the bottom and, click “Advanced”;
   

   Reset Browser Chrome 2

3. Now, scroll down to the “Reset and cleanup,” section;
   

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4. Click on “Reset Settings” → Reset Settings to confirm the reset.
   

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If you do not want to reset your whole browser, then you can follow the below instructions to manually remove unwanted extensions and unknown start-pages and URLs from your browser.

Removing unwanted extensions

Steps by slightly differ due to browser versions, to avoid any clash simply copy this URL “chrome://extensions/”, paste it into the search bar and hit enter.

1. Click the Chrome menu appearing on the top right corner of the browser as three vertical dots;
2. Select “More Tools” and the Click “Extensions”.
   

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3. Once the extension page appears, look for any suspicious extension that you may have to choose to install.
4. Click on the trash icon or “Remove” button.
5. Also, disable the Developer Mode if enabled.
   

   Remove Chrome Extensions 2

Check for existing start page, search engines, and other defaults

1. Again from the menu click on settings and go to Set page (for older version), in the newer version on the left menu choose “Search engine”.
   Or simply copy, paste this URL “chrome://settings/search” on browser address bar and hit “enter”.)
   

   Reset Chrome Browser Search Engine 1

2. Scroll down to find the ‘On startup’ section where you will get ‘Open a specific page or set of pages’ and then click on Set pages(older version).
   

   Reset Chrome Browser Search Engine 2

3. Now check the URLs listed there and click on the X button to remove any unwanted/hijacked start-page. For new version click on the three vertical dots and click on “Remove”.
4. After all the infected or hijacker start pages are removed, then add a new start-page by clicking on “Add a new page” and type “http://www.google.com” to set Google as your default startup page.
   

   Reset Chrome Browser Search Engine 4

   

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5. Now scroll above to the Appearance section and click on the Checkmark on “Show Home Button” for an older version and click on the radio button next to the default URL added above “http://www.google.com” (for the new version)and click Change.
   

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6. Next, you need to manage the search engine settings, Scroll down to the ‘Search’ or “Search engine” section(depends on the browser version) and click on the option Manage search engines;
   

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7. Select your preferred search engine from the list and(mark as default) if remove the unwanted ones by clicking on “X” button or three vertical dots and click remove.
   

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After you have removed all the unwanted search engines, Restart your browser to make sure all changes are made successful.

Browser Infected with Virus

If you still face the issues, this means your browser is infected with some sort of virus or Adware. You need to give a full system scan to your computer to detect and remove the virus.

It is very important to stay cautious while browsing online, any unsafe click or action could make way for uninvited guests to interfere with your browsing. So, it is advised to follow some best practices to avoid such consequences in future.