# Is this Google, or is this me? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 16, 2018, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-google-or-is-this-me/808954 "2018-02-16T20:49:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hilarity_n.suze/32/6223_2.png) [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hilarity_N.Suze)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2018, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-google-or-is-this-me/808954/1 "2018-02-16T20:49:59Z")
So Google is my default search engine, and when I log onto my computer a screen comes up with the Google logo and my six most commonly visited sites underneath. Or I should say, that’s what USED to happen. This last week, the commonly visited sites are gone. Instead I get little colorful bouncing balls which when I mouseover, I am told that I can click there to see the Google Doodle. I do not want to see the Google Doodle. I want to see my six commonly visited sites, so I don’t have to click click click and find them in my Favorites list. What happened, and is it Google or is it me? Either way, how can I get it back? I swear, every time this thing updates, it takes away something I found very useful. (And get off my lawn.) ---
**Author:** ![dolphinboy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dolphinboy/32/330_2.png) [@dolphinboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dolphinboy)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2018, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-google-or-is-this-me/808954/2 "2018-02-16T20:53:22Z")
It’s you. I still see the eight most commonly visited sites. I’m using Chrome BTW. ---
**Author:** ![Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hilarity_n.suze/32/6223_2.png) [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hilarity_N.Suze)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2018, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-google-or-is-this-me/808954/3 "2018-02-16T20:55:39Z")
Okay. Yeah, Chrome. What did I do and how do I fix it? ---
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2018, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-google-or-is-this-me/808954/4 "2018-02-16T22:02:23Z")
Are you sure Chrome didn’t force you to update? What you’re describing sounds like the Chrome version I had a couple of years ago. ---
**Author:** ![Terminus\_Est](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terminus_est/32/3087_2.png) [@Terminus\_Est](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terminus_Est)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2018, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-google-or-is-this-me/808954/5 "2018-02-16T22:53:37Z")
Check your Chrome settings. On upper right, you’ll see three dots one on top of another. Click on that and select “Settings”. In the “On Startup” section, select “Open the New Tab page”. You’re done! ---
**Author:** ![Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hilarity_n.suze/32/6223_2.png) [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hilarity_N.Suze)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2018, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-google-or-is-this-me/808954/6 "2018-02-16T23:48:15Z")
> [@Grrr](#): > > Are you sure Chrome didn’t force you to update? > > What you’re describing sounds like the Chrome version I had a couple of years ago. No, I am not sure Chrome didn’t force me to update. See that’s why I asked, is it me? And what can I do to get it back? ---
**Author:** ![Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hilarity_n.suze/32/6223_2.png) [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hilarity_N.Suze)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2018, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-google-or-is-this-me/808954/7 "2018-02-16T23:49:18Z")
> [@Terminus\_Est](#): > > Check your Chrome settings. On upper right, you’ll see three dots one on top of another. Click on that and select “Settings”. In the “On Startup” section, select “Open the New Tab page”. You’re done! Did that. No change. ---
**Author:** ![Terminus\_Est](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terminus_est/32/3087_2.png) [@Terminus\_Est](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terminus_Est)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2018, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-google-or-is-this-me/808954/8 "2018-02-17T03:40:16Z")
Check for possible malware. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2018, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-google-or-is-this-me/808954/9 "2018-02-17T03:43:20Z")
I don’t want to see my six or eight commonly visited sites. I don’t want to see anything but the doodle and the search box. How do I get rid of them? I used to be able to, but I don’t see a way to do it any more. ---
**Author:** ![Terminus\_Est](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terminus_est/32/3087_2.png) [@Terminus\_Est](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terminus_Est)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2018, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-google-or-is-this-me/808954/10 "2018-02-17T04:07:30Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > I don’t want to see my six or eight commonly visited sites. I don’t want to see anything but the doodle and the search box. How do I get rid of them? I used to be able to, but I don’t see a way to do it any more. On Startup: Open a specific page or set of pages. Put in the Google home page and you should be good to go. ---
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2018, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-google-or-is-this-me/808954/11 "2018-02-17T04:39:41Z")
nm ---
**Author:** ![Crazyhorse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crazyhorse/32/31_2.png) [@Crazyhorse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crazyhorse)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2018, 5:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-google-or-is-this-me/808954/12 "2018-02-17T05:31:11Z")
> [@Terminus\_Est](#): > > On Startup: Open a specific page or set of pages. Put in the Google home page and you should be good to go. That would only prevent the most visited sites from appearing in the initial window after launching Chrome. They would still appear in new tabs that are opened once the browser is running. I don’t know of any direct way to turn off the most visited websites thumbnails. There are extensions that will prevent them from displaying like [New Tab Redirect](https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/new-tab-redirect/icpgjfneehieebagbmdbhnlpiopdcmna). As far as I know the only other way is to prevent Chrome from keeping any browser history at all, which there is also no direct way to do within Chrome. You can set Chrome’s history file to read only at the OS level and prevent it from updating it that way. If you clear all browsing history in Chrome then set that file to read only and restart Chrome no websites should ever appear in the new tab window. [This video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rtJNXbig9Uk) shows how to do that on Windows. To the OP, the reverse also holds true. There should be no direct way to prevent them from appearing so my first suggestion would be to disable all extensions in Chrome and see if they appear. Failing that it may be necessary to reset Chrome, or create a new user profile, or reinstall completely. ---
**Author:** ![Iggy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iggy/32/3364_2.png) [@Iggy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Iggy)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2018, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-google-or-is-this-me/808954/13 "2018-02-17T16:56:52Z")
It’s not the OP. My chrome recently changed from my 8 favorite sites to my top 4 only. If I zoom out then I can get the other 4 back. ---
**Author:** ![Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hilarity_n.suze/32/6223_2.png) [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hilarity_N.Suze)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2018, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-google-or-is-this-me/808954/14 "2018-02-17T23:23:29Z")
I would be okay with four. Not seeing any. I’m trying to figure out how to zoom out and see if that helps. ETA: Oh, wow, that did work. Except now everything is too small to read, including this post I’m typing. ---
**Author:** ![txjim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f07891/32.png) [@txjim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/txjim)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2018, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-google-or-is-this-me/808954/15 "2018-02-18T02:42:09Z")
> [@Iggy](#): > > It’s not the OP. My chrome recently changed from my 8 favorite sites to my top 4 only. If I zoom out then I can get the other 4 back. Same thing happened to me. Only had the 4 history icons as of a couple days ago. Swiched back to 8 earlier today with no action on my part. ---
**Author:** ![Terminus\_Est](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terminus_est/32/3087_2.png) [@Terminus\_Est](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terminus_Est)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2018, 5:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-google-or-is-this-me/808954/16 "2018-02-18T05:06:38Z")
> [@Crazyhorse](#): > > That would only prevent the most visited sites from appearing in the initial window after launching Chrome. They would still appear in new tabs that are opened once the browser is running. Yeah. I mostly just ignore the most visited sites anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Terminus\_Est](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terminus_est/32/3087_2.png) [@Terminus\_Est](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terminus_Est)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2018, 7:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-google-or-is-this-me/808954/17 "2018-02-18T07:04:37Z")
> [@Iggy](#): > > It’s not the OP. My chrome recently changed from my 8 favorite sites to my top 4 only. If I zoom out then I can get the other 4 back. > [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](#): > > I would be okay with four. Not seeing any. I’m trying to figure out how to zoom out and see if that helps. > > ETA: Oh, wow, that did work. Except now everything is too small to read, including this post I’m typing. > [@txjim](#): > > Same thing happened to me. Only had the 4 history icons as of a couple days ago. Swiched back to 8 earlier today with no action on my part. Check size of your browser window. I get 8 at maximum window size. If I shrink the size of my window, at a certain point it will go down to 6, then 4. If I shrink it even further the most visited sites disappear altogether, leaving only the Google Doodle and search box. Maybe the latter is the solution to **Colibri** ’s problem?