A reader has a big problem with Chrome:
“I have a problem with Chrome. Every day when I boot up my computer and open maybe Word or sometimes even just my Gmail account, I don’t just get one page but a bunch of pages that just keep on coming open until I do a control, alt, del and bring up the Task Mgr.
I can then find the culprit and stop the process. Once stopped, it will not do it again until the next day. This is driving me crazy. I am pretty knowledgeable about computers and their programs but have never run into this before. Do you have any suggestions? “
Sounds like you’ve got a malware problem. Either an adware program is installed on your PC or an adware loving extension has hijacked your browser.
Let’s start by looking for recently installed programs. Type Add or Remove programs in your Windows search box and click on the results.
Apps and features will open.
Click the drop-down arrow next to Sort by. Choose Install date.
Look for recently installed apps.
If there’s one you don’t recognize, click on it and choose Uninstall. Even if there’s a recent app you did authorize, you may want to uninstall just in case it’s carrying the malware. You can always reinstall later.
You can also check Chrome for unwanted extensions. Click the 3-dot menu icon at the top-right and choose More tools. Then select Extensions.
Look for any extensions you don’t recognize and remove them.
This is also a good time to run a program like Malwarebytes to check for adware. If none of this helps, it may also be a good time to reset the Chrome browser.