A computer may be infected with malware if Google Chrome’s home page or new tab repeatedly reroutes to different websites, particularly malicious ones. During the occurrence of these redirects, there are other serious problems on a computer other than the Google Chrome redirect itself. We also noticed that when a user visits a specific website, Google Chrome’s New Tab window opens automatically, showcasing an unknown URL. In simple terms, Google Chrome behaves as though it were controlled by malware or a virus.
Does the virus cause the Google redirect issue?
Google Chrome browser redirection to malicious websites appears to be part of everyday malware activity. Cybercriminals are using this strategy to drive visitors to their clients’ websites. In exchange, they get a fee for the redirected visits.
With so many Google Chrome redirections happening daily, we can neither confirm nor deny that they are caused by a virus infection. It is true that part of it is caused by Trojan infestation,, especially threats like Exploit:HTML/IframeRef.Z, Trojan:HTML/Phish, BrowserModifier:Win32/Prifou, and more. Hence, there are cases where redirecting Google Chrome to unwanted pages is merely due to a malicious script that is embedded in pages that web users are visiting.
What should you do if Google Chrome is redirecting?
Google Chrome redirect issues are harmful to any computer system. This not only disrupts your normal internet browsing experience, but it also puts your important data in danger from virus infections or browser annoyances. Thus, it is critical to stop these redirect problems and remove the malicious program in charge. The steps are outlined below for your convenience.
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 configure certain areas of the browser and scan the computer with the tools provided below.
Step 1 : Turn Off Sync
At this point, it is crucial to turn off Google Sync to prevent any malware from restoring itself if it has exploited this feature. Follow the procedures below to Turn off sync.
1. Open the Google Chrome browser application.
2. On the top address bar, please type or copy and paste the following strings:
chrome://settings
3. Once you are on the settings page, click on the Turn Off button.
4. If it prompts for confirmation, click on Turn Off once again.
5. The process will turn off the sync for the corresponding Google account. Please restart the Google Chrome browser and proceed with the remaining steps.
Step 2 : Run Google Chrome Safety Check
Malware and adware may reside on the computer without the user’s knowledge. Tricks were used to accomplish this, one of which was bundling malicious files into free programs. Sometimes, removing an adware extension from Google Chrome is enough to fix the issue. If that doesn’t work, we recommend using the “Safety Check” feature of Google Chrome to find and delete harmful extensions automatically.
1. Open the Google Chrome browser.
2. Type or copy and paste the following strings in the address bar and press Enter on your keyboard to proceed to Settings page.
chrome://settings/privacy
3. Under the Safety Check section, click on the Go to Safety Check button to start searching for harmful software.
4. Proceed to the next steps and execute the recommendations when necessary.
Step 3 : Scan and remove malware
Combo Cleaner is a trusted computer security and optimization tool equipped with a powerful virus and malware-detection engine. This program can get rid of malware that may have brought the issue to the browser.
1. Download the application from the following page:
2. Save the file to your preferred location.
3. Double-click the downloaded file CCSetup.exe and install with the default settings.
4. At the end of the setup process, click Finish to run Combo Cleaner.
5. The tool will update the database file; please wait for this process to complete.
6. To begin checking for threats like malware, click on the Start Scan button. Wait for this scan to finish.
7. At the end of the scan process, click on Remove all threats to delete malware, including all harmful objects from the computer.
To fully optimize the features of antivirus and privacy scanners, users may have to upgrade to the premium version.
Step 4 : Run an adware scanner and reset Chrome Policies
1. Follow the link below to download the tool called AdwCleaner.
2. When the download has completed, please close all running programs on the computer, especially browsers affected by malware.
3. Browse the location of the downloaded file and double-click on adwcleaner.exe to start running the tool.
4. If Windows displays a prompt saying, "Do you want to allow this app to make changes to your device?" click Yes to proceed.
5. On the AdwCleaner dashboard, click on Settings.
6. While in the Settings window, please turn On the Reset Chrome Policies and Reset IE Policies.
7. Go back to the Dashboard and click the Scan Now button.
8. AdwCleaner searches the computer for malicious programs, extensions, plug-ins, adware, and any items that may be associated with malware.
9. Clean or Remove all suspicious and harmful items identified after the thorough scan.
10. AdwCleaner will then prompt an option to run another repair, which will reset Winsock and other settings. Please click the Run Basic Repair button.
11. A message will appear stating that "All processes will be closed..." Please click Continue.
12. After the cleanup procedure, rebooting the computer is required to finalize the removal of malware as well as other detected threats.
Discussion