How To Find Out Which App Is Causing Ads

Remove unwanted ads, pop-ups and malware

If you're seeing some of these problems with Chrome, you might have unwanted software or malware installed on your computer:

Pop-up ads and new tabs that won't go away
Your Chrome homepage or search engine keeps changing without your permission
Unwanted Chrome extensions or toolbars keep coming back
Your browsing is hijacked and redirects to unfamiliar pages or ads
Alerts about a virus or an infected device

In the future, avoid unwanted software by only downloading files or visiting sites that you know are secure.

Learn how to block or allow pop-ups in Chrome.

Change your default ads permissions

Remove unwanted programs (Windows, Mac)

Before you reset your browser settings on a Windows or Mac, check your computer for unwanted programs.

Remove malware from your computer (Windows)

Chrome can help you find suspicious or unwanted programs on your computer. If Chrome finds an unwanted program, click Remove. Chrome will remove the software, change some settings to default and turn off extensions.

You can also check for malware manually.

Open Chrome.
At the top right, click More Settings.
At the bottom, click Advanced.
Under 'Reset and clean up', click Clean up computer.
Click Find.
If you're asked to remove unwanted software, click Remove. You may be asked to reboot your computer.

Manually remove malicious programs (Mac)

You can remove malware and other programs on your computer that you don't remember installing.

Open Finder.
At the left, click Applications.
Look for any programs that you don't recognise.
Right-click the name of any unwanted programs.
Click Move to Bin.
When you've finished, at the bottom, right-click Bin.
Click Empty Bin.

Restore quarantined files (Windows)

Chrome can help you find suspicious or unwanted programs on your computer. If Chrome finds an unwanted program, Chrome will remove the software, change some settings to default and turn off extensions.

If you think Chrome removed a file that's safe or personal by mistake, you can restore the file.

On your computer, open the folder %USERPROFILE%\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome Cleanup Tool\Quarantine.
Open the folder Quarantine.
Click Continue.
Right-click the file that you want to restore and click Extract all.
Enter the password chrome_cleanup.

To find out more about what data is collected and how it's used, check the Google Chrome privacy white paper.

Reset your browser settings

If you removed unwanted programs or reset your browser settings, you might need to turn some extensions back on. To turn extensions on, at the top right, click More and then More Tools Extensions. Only turn on extensions that you trust.

If the steps above don't work, visit the Chrome Help forum.

More info about malware

How to spot malware (video, 1:42)

Three tips for spotting malware (1:42)

Learn what to look for when you have malware on your computer and how to stay safe online.

How to avoid malware in the future

Watch out for things that look too good to be true. Winning a contest or getting expensive copyrighted content for free is sometimes a trick to get you to download malware.
If you haven't recently run a virus scanner, be wary of warnings about viruses or infected devices. The site might be trying to scare you into downloading unwanted software.
Only download files or visit sites that you know are secure. Learn more about healthy browsing.
Use Safe Browsing in Chrome and set your protection level to Enhanced protection.

If a pop-up about updating or downloading a program looks suspicious, don't click on it. Instead, go to the program's official website to download it.

To identify unwanted software that's been installed and remove it, run a safety check:

In your address bar, enter chrome://settings/safetyCheck.
Select Check now.

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