Chrome New Tab Page Hijacked? Here's How to Remove It

Chrome opens to an unfamiliar search page, a page full of ads, or a "search assistant" you never installed — every time you open a new tab. It feels like a setting got changed somewhere, but Chrome doesn't actually have a setting for this. That fact is the fastest way to find the fix.

Why this is always an extension, never a setting

Older versions of Chrome let you type a custom URL into Settings > On Startup as the New Tab page. Modern Chrome removed that entirely — there is no native field anywhere in chrome://settings for "what page opens as a new tab." The only mechanism left is an extension using the override the New Tab page permission, which replaces chrome://new-tab-page with a page of its choosing.

That means an unfamiliar New Tab page isn't a corrupted setting or a Chrome bug — it's always an extension, whether you installed it on purpose, it came bundled with other free software, or it's been sitting unused since a browsing session months ago.

Find and remove it

1. Open chrome://extensions.
2. Toggle on Developer mode (top right) — it shows each extension's ID and adds detail that's useful for spotting ones you don't recognize.
3. Look for anything unfamiliar, recently added, or with broad permissions ("Read and change all your data on websites") that has no obvious reason to need them.
4. Remove (not just disable) anything suspicious, then open a new tab to check.

If more than one extension looks questionable, remove them one at a time and recheck after each — that isolates exactly which one was responsible instead of guessing.

Check the default search engine too

A New Tab hijack and a default-search hijack are frequently bundled in the same extension but are separate settings. Open chrome://settings/search and confirm the default search engine is still the one you expect — if it's been switched to an unfamiliar provider, reset it here even after removing the extension, since removing the extension doesn't always revert this setting automatically.

If removing the extension didn't fix it

Two things cause a hijack to survive extension removal:

• Chrome Sync. If you're signed into Chrome and synced across devices, an extension installed on one device syncs to every other signed-in device. Removing it on one machine doesn't remove it everywhere at once — check chrome://extensions on your other devices too, or temporarily pause sync while you clean up.
• A modified desktop shortcut (Windows). A classic hijacker trick appends a URL directly to your Chrome shortcut's target field, so Chrome opens that page on launch regardless of what any extension does. Right-click your Chrome shortcut, choose Properties, and check the Target field — it should end in chrome.exe with nothing after it. Delete anything appended after the .exe and re-save.

The blunt-force option

chrome://settings/reset ("Restore settings to their original defaults") disables every extension and resets the New Tab page, default search, startup pages, and pinned tabs in one step. It's a strong fix and worth using if you can't isolate the specific extension — but it disables extensions rather than deleting them, so go back to chrome://extensions afterward and remove the one responsible rather than leaving it dormant.

Fewer extensions, less surface area

Every extension with broad page-access permissions is a chance for exactly this. Amazing Tabs is built to replace the impulse to install a random "tab manager" or "productivity" extension you found in a search result, with one purpose-built tool:

• Save and search tabs, without needing New Tab page or broad site-access permissions to do it.
• Press ⌘K / Ctrl+K to find anything you've saved, instead of relying on a cluttered New Tab page as your jumping-off point.
• Free for up to 100 saved links, so there's no reason to keep testing unfamiliar extensions to solve the same problem.

One trustworthy extension beats five you don't remember installing. Add Amazing Tabs to Chrome — free, no signup.

Quick recap

• Chrome has no native "custom New Tab page" setting — every New Tab change goes through an extension's override permission, so a hijack is always an extension.
• Check chrome://extensions for unfamiliar or recently added extensions and remove (not just disable) the culprit.
• Check chrome://settings/search separately — a hijacked default search engine doesn't always revert when you remove the extension that changed it.
• Chrome Sync can re-spread a removed extension from another signed-in device; check your other devices too.
• On Windows, check your Chrome shortcut's Target field for an appended URL if the hijack survives extension removal.

Further reading: Chrome New Tab Page Blank or Won't Load? for a broken New Tab page rather than a hijacked one, or Why Does Chrome Keep Opening New Tabs by Itself? for unwanted tabs appearing on their own rather than one page replacing every new tab.

Add Amazing Tabs to Chrome — free → Install from the Chrome Web Store. 100 saved links free, upgrade only if you want unlimited and cross-device sync. See pricing for the full breakdown — including the $99 lifetime deal (capped at 200 spots).