The page your browser opens has changed, and you didn’t change it.
It might be a homepage you’ve never seen, a search that lands somewhere odd, or windows that open when nobody is clicking anything. The browser updates itself, the computer has antivirus, and mostly that settles it.
A browser setting can be changed without a program being installed in the usual sense. An extension can rewrite the homepage and search engine, and a notification permission can put alerts on the screen from a site you left days ago. Each of those lives inside the browser, so each needs its own look.
Three ways a browser gets changed
- A program on the computer. Google’s help page lists a homepage or search engine that keeps changing, toolbars that return, and redirects to unfamiliar pages as signs of unwanted software, and tells you to remove the program before resetting the browser.
- An extension. Extensions can change the search engine and the new tab page. Removing the extension is the fix, not editing the setting it changed.
- A notification permission. At some point someone clicked Allow on a site’s “Get notifications?” prompt. The site can now put messages on the screen, including fake virus alerts. This is separate from the pop-up blocker.
Five checks, in this order
- Installed programs. In Windows, open Settings, Apps, Installed apps. Look for names nobody here recognizes. Uninstall one only after you’ve written down its name, because that name is useful to whoever helps you next.
- Extensions. In Chrome, open the menu, then Extensions, then Manage extensions. In Edge, type edge://extensions in the address bar. Turn off anything nobody can explain.
- Notifications. In Chrome, open Settings, Privacy and security, Site Settings, Notifications. Sites under “Allowed to send notifications” can put messages on your screen. Remove the ones you don’t know, and use Add under “Not allowed to send notifications” to block one by address.
- Homepage and search engine. In Edge, Settings, Start, home, and new tab page sets the homepage. The search engine is under Settings, Privacy, search, and services, then Address bar and search.
- Reset, in Chrome. Settings, Reset settings, Restore settings to their original defaults, Reset settings. Afterward, turn extensions back on one at a time and only the ones you trust.
When Edge says “managed by your organization”
Open edge://extensions and look for a briefcase icon beside an extension. Hovering over it shows that the extension is managed by your organization, which usually means a policy installed it. Edge also lists those policies at edge://policy.
If an IT provider or in-house person manages your browsers, that label may be exactly what they set up. Ask them before you change anything. If nobody manages your browsers and the label is there anyway, Microsoft says that can indicate malware. Run a full scan in Windows Security and keep the extension’s name.
What a reset does and does not tell you
A reset puts the browser’s settings back to their defaults and turns extensions off. Chrome also checks for changed settings each time it starts and restores defaults when it finds them. You may see a short notice on the search results page that says so.
That makes the browser look normal. It doesn’t tell you what changed the setting. If the homepage returns to the wrong page after a reset, something on the computer is making that change again, and the browser is the symptom.
If the pop-ups carry a virus warning and a phone number, stop here and read the page on pop-ups that tell you to call a number. A real warning never includes one.
What we look at with you
Installed programs and when each arrived, browser extensions and policies, notification permissions, and whether any remote-access software is present. The write-up lists what turned up and what didn’t, each with the date we looked.
You don’t need to be the person who can read this. We do the looking with you and you decide what stays.
What to write down first
- The wrong homepage or search address, exactly as it appears.
- The date you first noticed it, and what was open or installed around then.
- A photo of any warning, including the phone number on it.
- Which browser, and which person’s sign-in on the computer.
A setting that keeps changing back is the one clue pointing at whatever is making the change.
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Written by Craig Peterson, 35+ years successfully running IT and security for businesses. Last reviewed October 27, 2026.