You might have unwanted software or malware installed on your computer if you experience:
- 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
Tips:
- Use Safe Browsing in Chrome
- Avoid malware in the future
- Learn how to block or allow pop-ups in Chrome
Step 1: Remove problematic apps
- On an Android phone or tablet, press and hold your device's power button.
- On your screen, touch and hold Power off
.
- Confirm you want to reboot your device in Safe mode. When you restart, at the bottom, you can find "Safe mode."
- One by one, remove recently downloaded apps. Learn how to delete apps.
- Tip: To remember the apps that you remove so that you can add them back, make a list.
- After each removal, restart your device normally. See whether removing that app solved the problem.
- After you remove the app that caused the problem, you can add back the other apps that you removed. Learn how to reinstall apps.
Step 2: Protect your device from problematic apps
Important: Make sure Play Protect is on.
- On your Android device, open Google Play Store
.
- At the top right, tap your Profile picture or Initial
Play Protect
.
- Turn Scan apps with Play Protect on.
Step 3: Stop notifications from a certain website
If you're seeing annoying notifications from a website, turn off the permission:
- On your Android device, open Chrome
.
- To change notifications, go to the site that you want to stop notifications from.
- At the top left, tap Page info
- If you don't find "Permissions," the site doesn't have notifications turned on.
- Tap Notifications.
- Turn Show notifications off.
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.
- Beware of sites that may cause you to download unwanted software. For example, if you win a contest or get copyrighted content at no charge.
- Beware of encrypted archives, like .zip files with a password required, that may bypass antivirus detection scans.
- Beware of warnings about viruses or infected devices, especially if you haven’t recently used a virus scanner.
- Avoid insecure connections when you visit sites and don’t download files from sites that don’t start with HTTPS. Learn how to check if a site's connection is secure.
- Pay attention to Safe Browsing download warnings. To avoid antivirus detections, malicious actors may ask you to turn off or ignore warnings.
- If a popup about a program update or download seems suspicious, don't click on it. Instead, go to the program's official website to download it.