When Google Chrome home page or new tab keeps on redirecting to various web sites, it means that some sort of malware is residing on the computer. In fact, the Google Chrome redirect is not the only issue on a malware-infected system. New Tab can also be affected. There are reports that New Tab of Google Chrome keeps opening on certain web address even without the user’s action. In short, Google Chrome acts on its own as if it is under the control of virus or malware.
Is Google Chrome redirect a virus?
Google Chrome redirecting to malicious web sites seems to be part of daily malware activities. Cyber crooks are utilizing this scheme to deliver web traffic to client’s websites. In return, they are getting paid an amount for the diverted visitors.
With the many instances of this Google Chrome redirects, we cannot confirm nor deny that it is a virus infection. It is a fact that some of it is caused by Trojan contamination, especially threats like Exploit:HTML/IframeRef.Z, Trojan:HTML/Phish, BrowserModifier:Win32/Prifou, and more. Hence, there are cases that redirecting Google Chrome to unwanted pages are merely due to a malicious script that is embedded on the visited page.
Dealing with Google Chrome redirect virus
It is unhealthy for any computer system to have a Google Chrome redirect virus. This does not only bother your daily browsing experience, your sensitive data are also at risk from this type of virus infection or browser annoyances. Thus, it is a must to stop this redirect and get rid of the malicious program that is in-charge. Steps are provided below for your guidance.
Steps to remove Google Chrome Redirect Virus
Simply removing components relevant to the malware may not fully stop the redirect issue. Thus, you need to scan the computer with tools provided below.
Step 1: Run Chrome Cleanup Feature
Malware and adware may reside on the computer without user’s knowledge. Tricks were used to accomplish this and one of which is by bundling malicious files to free programs. Sometimes, removing adware extension from Google Chrome is enough to fix the issue. If that doesn’t work, we recommend using the “Clean up computer” feature of Google Chrome to find and delete harmful extensions automatically.
1. Open Google Chrome browser.
2. Type the following strings in the address bar and press Enter to proceed to Settings page.
chrome://settings/cleanup
3. Under Clean up Computer section, click on Find button to start finding for harmful software.
4. Proceed to the next steps until all harmful software are totally deleted.
Step 2 : Scan the Computer with AdwCleaner
1. Download the tool called AdwCleaner from the location stated below.
Click here to download AdwCleaner (this will open a new window)
2. Once you have completed the download, please close all running programs on the computer.
3. Locate the file and double-click on adwcleaner_Ver.exe to start running the tool. Then, click on Scan button.
4. It searches for presence of harmful programs, plug-ins, add-ons, or any data that were found malicious and linked to Google redirect virus. You need to Clean all items detected by this tool.
5. Once scan is done, the tool may need to reboot your computer to finalize the cleaning process.
6. After reboot, AdwCleaner will display the log file of the recent scan.
Step 3 : Use Malwarebytes Anti-malware to totally clean Google Chrome
1. Download Malwarebytes Anti-Malware from the link below. Save the file on your hard drive.
Malwarebytes Anti-Malware Download Link (this will open a new window)
2. Once the download completes, double-click on the file MBSetup.exe to run the program.
3. Select desired option whether you are installing on Personal Computer or Work Computer.
4. On next window, click on Install button to load the basic requirements to run Malwarebytes Anti-malware.
5. It it prompts for License Agreement, you must accept this and click the Next button.
6. Proceed with the succeeding prompts until you reach the window that says Installing…
7. Installation process will take less than a minute. The program should run automatically after the setup process.
8. When Malwarebytes Anti-Malware interface appears, please select Scan from menu to begin the process. The program will check for any available update before proceeding. Do not skip this step. Virus scan may take a while, please wait for the process to finish.
8. When scanning is done, Malwarebytes Anti-Malware will display the list of identified threats. Remove all identified threats and restart the computer to finalized the scan process.
