New Chrome browser problem

Factual Questions
1

The situation: When I open a New Tab in Chrome, it no longer goes to my Chrome homepage, which is Google. Instead it goes to another search engine, one that looks like a very generic page that uses Bing. There is no web address at all in the omnibox when it opens.

This all started suddenly this AM when I was forced to open Microsoft Explorer to link up with a site (necessary for my job) that will not work with Chrome. It’s the ONLY reason I use ME anymore. When I opened ME, I was overwhelmed with a bunch of ads, tried to install AdBlock for ME, and ended up having everything lock up. I rebooted, tried to Chrome, and found I could no longer connect to the internet.

I used system restore to unmuck things, resetting it to 3 days ago. It fixed my connectivity issue, but I had to go thru all the settings for Chrome, re-designating my default omnibox engine and home page to Google, but I can’t find anything that specifically addresses what a New Tab should default to.

So: How do I get my New Tabs in Chrome to default to Google (or any other page I want, for that matter)? And anything else I should be looking out for after this incident? I’m thinking I should uninstall my current ME, and try a re-installation (I truly need it at times for work, or I’d delete it and never return). My “Windows Defender” antiviral (yeah, I know, not the best choice) says nothing’s wrong.

Thanks in advance.

2

Have you checked that there are no unwanted extensions installed?

3

My only extension is Adblock Plus, which has been running for some time now.

4

You need to run Malwarebytesto see if you can clean up IE (Internet Explorer = the web browser, Windows Explorer = your files and folders, Microsoft Explorer = ??)

Sounds like you’ve gotten IE all full of malware, unbeknownst to you. Running an adblocker won’t fix the problem, only mask it.

Also go to Add/Remove programs and see if there’s anything there you don’t recognize, and uninstall it. You can use CCleaner to do this, or run CCleaner after to help clean up loose ends.

I know you’re asking about Chrome but you do need to clean up IE…there is something wrong, and you don’t want it getting out of hand.

5

Chrome, for whatever reason distinguishes between startup pages and home pages.

Under Settings, there’s the “On Startup” section, where you set the startup pages (mine’s set to “Open a Specific Page or Set of Pages”).

Under “Appearance” there’s the “Show Home Button” option, with the associated page.

My suspicion is that your home page is set, but not your start page.

6

Running Malwarebytes and rebooting solved the problem. Thanks, ZipperJJ!

Thanks for your time and thoughts, Quartz and bump.