# Google Chrome browser resets the homepage to MSN every time it starts **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 29, 2012, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-chrome-browser-resets-the-homepage-to-msn-every-time-it-starts/636239 "2012-09-29T16:34:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2012, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-chrome-browser-resets-the-homepage-to-msn-every-time-it-starts/636239/1 "2012-09-29T16:34:04Z")
This started several months ago and it’s driving me crazy. I don’t want MSN to be my homepage. I don’t want my browsing experience to have a thing to do with Microsoft at all. But every time I start up Chrome, the home page is reset to MSN. It also used to ignore my settings for the new tab page to be the first to load on startup. Instead, it would load MSN. Somehow I’ve gotten it to stop doing that. Another Microsoft trick it used to pull on me was to switch my default search engine to Bing every time Chrome started. Every time, I had to go into settings and delete all the Microsoft intrusions before I could use Chrome without Microsoft interfering. I somehow managed to make it stop doing that (I think), but it still resets the home page to MSN. Every time I start Chrome, I have to go into settings and delete the MSN URL. But it comes back on every startup. Frankly, I cannot see any difference at all between Microsoft’s browser hijacking and malware. It \*is \*malware! How do I make it stop? I’m ready to nuke Chrome altogether in exasperation, but first I’m looking for a fix for this problem. ---
**Author:** ![x-ray\_vision](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/x-ray_vision/32/351_2.png) [@x-ray\_vision](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/x-ray_vision)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2012, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-chrome-browser-resets-the-homepage-to-msn-every-time-it-starts/636239/2 "2012-09-29T16:50:10Z")
Try the instructions in the last post: > **[MSN is my homepage on Google chrome.](https://www.justanswer.com/computer/5hihb-msn-homepage-google-chrome-requested.html)** > > MSN is my homepage on Google chrome. - Answered by a verified Tech Support Specialist ---
**Author:** ![ZenBeam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/3ab097/32.png) [@ZenBeam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZenBeam)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2012, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-chrome-browser-resets-the-homepage-to-msn-every-time-it-starts/636239/3 "2012-09-29T18:21:09Z")
> [@x-ray\_vision](#): > > Try the instructions in the last post: > > [http://www.justanswer.com/computer/5hihb-msn-homepage-google-chrome-requested.html](http://www.justanswer.com/computer/5hihb-msn-homepage-google-chrome-requested.html) Well that was painful to read… ---
**Author:** ![x-ray\_vision](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/x-ray_vision/32/351_2.png) [@x-ray\_vision](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/x-ray_vision)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2012, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-chrome-browser-resets-the-homepage-to-msn-every-time-it-starts/636239/4 "2012-09-29T18:49:51Z")
^ I posted the wrong link. The last post I was referring to is in the link below: [http://productforums.google.com/forum/#!topic/chrome/Jg630YI5Ypo](http://productforums.google.com/forum/#!topic/chrome/Jg630YI5Ypo) ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2012, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-chrome-browser-resets-the-homepage-to-msn-every-time-it-starts/636239/5 "2012-09-30T17:04:25Z")
I tried that idea. It didn’t work. Edit: I mean, following those instructions, I went into taskbar\>properties\>start menu\>customize and found Chrome listed twice as described. I switched to the other one. Upon restarting, no result. What is the cause of this browser hijack? I didn’t ask for it. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2012, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-chrome-browser-resets-the-homepage-to-msn-every-time-it-starts/636239/6 "2012-09-30T18:10:58Z")
Here is the URL that my homepage keeps getting reset to: [http://www.msn.com/?pc=Z152&install\_date=20111106](http://www.msn.com/?pc=Z152&install_date=20111106) Does that yield any useful information? Each time I start up Chrome, go into Settings, and delete the Microsoft hijack, I replace it with [www.feministing.com](http://www.feministing.com)—but some malware that somebody implanted keeps changing it back to [mns.com](http://mns.com). It still feels a bit… odd… to me that Chrome settings are saved automatically without clicking a Save button or anything. It leaves me very vaguely unsatisfied whether I’ve really saved or not. The problem in this thread is Exhibit A for that. ---
**Author:** ![fubbleskag](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c2a13f/32.png) [@fubbleskag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fubbleskag)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2012, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-chrome-browser-resets-the-homepage-to-msn-every-time-it-starts/636239/7 "2012-10-01T17:41:11Z")
> [@Johanna](#): > > Here is the URL that my homepage keeps getting reset to: > [MSN](http://www.msn.com/?pc=Z152&install_date=20111106) > > Does that yield any useful information? > > Each time I start up Chrome, go into Settings, and delete the Microsoft hijack, I replace it with [www.feministing.com](http://www.feministing.com)—but some malware that somebody implanted keeps changing it back to [mns.com](http://mns.com). It still feels a bit… odd… to me that Chrome settings are saved automatically without clicking a Save button or anything. It leaves me very vaguely unsatisfied whether I’ve really saved or not. The problem in this thread is Exhibit A for that. what is the make/model of your computer? ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2012, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-chrome-browser-resets-the-homepage-to-msn-every-time-it-starts/636239/8 "2012-10-02T02:59:56Z")
Dell Dimension 5150. ---
**Author:** ![drachillix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/48db29/32.png) [@drachillix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drachillix)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2012, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-chrome-browser-resets-the-homepage-to-msn-every-time-it-starts/636239/9 "2012-10-04T14:34:31Z")
still having problems? ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2012, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-chrome-browser-resets-the-homepage-to-msn-every-time-it-starts/636239/10 "2012-10-04T14:41:05Z")
I had a lot of trouble clearing out a homepage hijack on Chrome, after my wife downloaded some malware that set searches to a page called “Babylon”. I ended up editing the registry. Try running regedit and searching for “msn” - you should see a registry key for your homepage, which you can edit to what you want. Usual warnings regarding screwing about with registry apply. ---
**Author:** ![drachillix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/48db29/32.png) [@drachillix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drachillix)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2012, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-chrome-browser-resets-the-homepage-to-msn-every-time-it-starts/636239/11 "2012-10-04T16:13:27Z")
> [@Johanna](#): > > Frankly, I cannot see any difference at all between Microsoft’s browser hijacking and malware. It \*is \*malware! How do I make it stop? I’m ready to nuke Chrome altogether in exasperation, but first I’m looking for a fix for this problem. Dell has a Cobranded MSN home page. If the page is [dell.msn.com](http://dell.msn.com) your furor should be directed at dell who has loaded presets to default to that page. Things that amazingly never happen to customers who buy machines from me 🙂