I might have caught virus on Chrome? (keeps opening random new tabs)

[levmc]

Whenever I click on somewhere in the page to open a new tab, it first opens a website that I didn't want to go to: https://www.best-gamingrouter.com/

Maybe I agreed to something while installing something without looking at what it is. Not sure how to get rid of it.
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I tried this again and it's brining me to a different website each time. This time it opened this site without me actually making a new tab in the first place: http://independentsupports.com/
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What I clicked on Post reply on this page, this time it opened a new tab with Amazon.com.

 

[Fishrrman]

Download MalwareBytes and run it:

Official Site | Malwarebytes: Antivirus, Anti-Malware & Privacy

Malwarebytes offers real-time antivirus, advanced anti-malware and privacy protection for all your devices. Launched in 2004 as a free virus scan, we still offer a free basic version 20 years later. Learn more.

www.malwarebytes.com

IMPORTANT:
Select the "home" option.
It's a FREE download

IMPORTANT:
You DO NOT NEED TO BUY A SUBSCRIPTION to run MalwareBytes.
It will run FOREVER IN FREE MODE.
When you open it, IGNORE the button to "Upgrade Now".
Just click "Scan Now".
Again, you DO NOT have to buy the pay-for version!

 

[mj_]

Check your Chrome extensions, sounds like you accidentally installed some malicious browser extension.

 

[nambuccaheadsau]

And if need be there are other browser beside Chrome and Safari. Opera, Brave, Torch, Firefox etc.

 

[iemcj]

Best Private Web Browsers for Most Privacy in 2025

Protect your online privacy with the best private web browsers. Find out which browsers offer the most security and anonymity. Get started now.

www.privacytools.io

Really shouldn't be using Chrome, it's a privacy nightmare. May as well be using a computer literally sitting at a Google data center.

Get firefox, follow the instructions up top, and you can with a single click transfer all your old bookmarks and passwords. You'll be more secure online AND that problem will be left behind as well!

 

[honestone33]

Brave is an excellent browser. It eliminates just about all those ads one sees going from site to site. It's truly amazing how much white space I see on yahoo.com. And Brave is fast, real fast.

And just like others, it is easy to import all your bookmarks from another browser (and passwords too).

 

[russell_314]

Best Private Web Browsers for Most Privacy in 2025

Protect your online privacy with the best private web browsers. Find out which browsers offer the most security and anonymity. Get started now.

www.privacytools.io

Really shouldn't be using Chrome, it's a privacy nightmare. May as well be using a computer literally sitting at a Google data center.

Get firefox, follow the instructions up top, and you can with a single click transfer all your old bookmarks and passwords. You'll be more secure online AND that problem will be left behind as well!

This so much. Chrome is not only a memory hog but it's a privacy nightmare. I use Firefox on most things like social media or entertainment and Safari on banking or whatnot.

 

[mj_]

Funny how nobody, literally nobody, asked about anyone's opinions or beliefs regarding Chrome's privacy. Or recommendations for alternative browsers.

 

[levmc]

I still liked the opinions though.
What's your opinion, mj_? Is it really not private like people say?

 

[RyanFlynn]

charoma virus?

 

[iemcj]

Funny how nobody, literally nobody, asked about anyone's opinions or beliefs regarding Chrome's privacy. Or recommendations for alternative browsers.

Because we here to solve problems.

As a physician if I have a patient that comes in complaining that every time they eat 2 pounds of habanero peppers they have terrible stomach pains and diareah, I'm going to tell them that's foolish behavior and they need to stop doing that immediately. Their poor decision making is the root of the problem, it doesn't matter how much you want to do that, it's flat out bad for you.

If I didn't actually care about their well being and wanted to just mask the problem to get them out of my office? I'd start talking about H2 blockers, proton pump inhibitors, or good ol fashion Pepto.

Ultimately chrome is a TERRIBLE way to use the web. The single worst privacy nightmare you can have on your computer, it's a memory hog, the list goes on and on. So we would be doing OP a disservice to know they're doing something foolish yet to not present them with the logical and easy to follow solution.

 

[mj_]

I respectfully disagree with your analogy. In your analogy, the habanero peppers are clearly the cause of your patient's problems. In this case Chrome is not the cause because what happened here could have happened with every other browser out there as well, and we don't even know yet whether the malware has been installed at browser level (aka extension) or at OS level (aka application), in which case using a different browser will inevitably result in the exact same erratic behavior. Here's a better analogy: the patient came in saying that every time he puts on his right shoe he gets this stinging sensation on his big toe, but sometimes also on one of the other toes. Instead of inspecting the shoe in order to determine whether or not there might be a nail sticking through somewhere you've simply deducted, without even as much as glancing at the shoes, that the shoes must be crap because he's not using the brand of shoes you came to like and trust and want everybody else to use as well.

In my personal opinion Chrome is much less of a privacy nightmare than people make it out to be in the same way that the Corona virus is much less of a threat than people make it out to be: Everything gets blown completely out of proportion on the internet. In case of Chrome the fact that it's associated with Google is enough to blow people's minds and make them come up with the craziest conspiracy theories. Rule number one on the internet: don't believe everything you read on the internet

 

[iemcj]

In my personal opinion Chrome is much less of a privacy nightmare than people make it out to be

You are wrong. The people that know far more about this than you say you are 100% wrong. You can accept these facts and still chose to use a privacy nightmare because you're stubborn, but your opinion doesn't change anything. It's inexcusable since you have actual better options a few clicks away and it'll take a grand total of 10 minutes of your time to gain a considerable amount of security and privacy.

In the same way that the Corona virus is much less of a threat than people make it out to be

As someone who's been to medical school, while my specialty isn't as an infectious disease physician, I will say you are moooooostly right. Don't get me wrong, it's not a good thing and I'd like it to please stay out of my community. But you're right that it's diengenuous of the media to be whipping people into a panic. It's not "the big one" that we've been worried about for years, it's not even close.

Look I'm sorry to jump down your throat but man, it's just inexcusable for a halfway educated person to be using chrome. The gains are nothing and the downsides, even if privacy isn't a concern for you, are plentiful. It just doesn't follow logic.

 

[mj_]

At least we agree on something, that's a start 😄I was just on a business trip from TX to Birmingham last week, and the amount of people wearing face masks trying to "protect" themselves from a virus was staggering.

Anyway, I still can't help but wonder how exactly Chrome is supposed to be a privacy nightmare? No matter how much I search online I cannot find anything that proves without a doubt that all your browsing data is being transferred to Google no matter what. There's a lot of hearsay, and a lot of speculation, and lot of uncalled-for "boo Google are the bad guys", and the most common statement is something along the following lines:

Google’s Chrome browser is a privacy nightmare in itself, because all your activity within the browser can then be linked to your Google account. If Google controls your browser, your search engine, and has tracking scripts on the sites you visit, they hold the power to track you from multiple angles.

Source: https://hackernoon.com/data-privacy-concerns-with-google-b946f2b7afea

Two things I have to say about that. First of all, that is absolutely true and 100% correct. If you log into your Google account then Google can track you across the internet no matter what. Second, that is not only the case with Chrome but every other browser out there as well, be that Firefox, Edge, or Safari. True, Chrome has less restrictive default privacy settings but it does not mean they cannot be adjusted.

If you have more information regarding as to how and why Chrome is a privacy nightmare then I would love to hear about it, honestly. I would love to read a source code analysis, or a Wireshark PCAP dump analysis of somebody browsing the web with Chrome vs. browsing the web with Firefox but alas, these I cannot find. All I can find are the same highly speculative borderline conspiratorial arguments regarding how Google is mining your data because they are the bad guys over and over again, and how you should be using Firefox or some other privacy-oriented browser that nobody has ever heard of instead. Now don't get me wrong, I personally don't use Chrome for other reasons (mainly because it's a CPU- and memory-intensive resource hog), and I think there are much better browsers out there including Firefox, Edge, or even Safari. But Chrome is not even half as bad as many make it out to be.

 

[levmc]

Download MalwareBytes and run it:

Official Site | Malwarebytes: Antivirus, Anti-Malware & Privacy

Malwarebytes offers real-time antivirus, advanced anti-malware and privacy protection for all your devices. Launched in 2004 as a free virus scan, we still offer a free basic version 20 years later. Learn more.

www.malwarebytes.com

IMPORTANT:
Select the "home" option.
It's a FREE download

IMPORTANT:
You DO NOT NEED TO BUY A SUBSCRIPTION to run MalwareBytes.
It will run FOREVER IN FREE MODE.
When you open it, IGNORE the button to "Upgrade Now".
Just click "Scan Now".
Again, you DO NOT have to buy the pay-for version!

Thank you. I used it and the problem is gone now.

 

[doray]

Download MalwareBytes and run it:

Official Site | Malwarebytes: Antivirus, Anti-Malware & Privacy

Malwarebytes offers real-time antivirus, advanced anti-malware and privacy protection for all your devices. Launched in 2004 as a free virus scan, we still offer a free basic version 20 years later. Learn more.

www.malwarebytes.com

IMPORTANT:
Select the "home" option.
It's a FREE download

IMPORTANT:
You DO NOT NEED TO BUY A SUBSCRIPTION to run MalwareBytes.
It will run FOREVER IN FREE MODE.
When you open it, IGNORE the button to "Upgrade Now".
Just click "Scan Now".
Again, you DO NOT have to buy the pay-for version!

Malwarebytes's free version may run forever, but it will not protect you the way the paid version will. The paid version scans automatically and keeps your computer free of malware, whereas the free version only runs whenever you click on it. As Malwarebytes says: "Malwarebytes Free cleans up your device after an infection. Malwarebytes Premium stops infections before they happen."
So I would NOT use the free version. It's worth it to me to pay to avoid getting malware!

 

[honestone33]

Malwarebytes's free version may run forever, but it will not protect you the way the paid version will. The paid version scans automatically and keeps your computer free of malware, whereas the free version only runs whenever you click on it. As Malwarebytes says: "Malwarebytes Free cleans up your device after an infection. Malwarebytes Premium stops infections before they happen."
So I would NOT use the free version. It's worth it to me to pay to avoid getting malware!

I actually have ClamXAV, and it works good. Once in a while, I'll download Malwarebytes, run it, and then remove it.

 

[SaSaSushi]

As someone who's been to medical school, while my specialty isn't as an infectious disease physician, I will say you are moooooostly right. Don't get me wrong, it's not a good thing and I'd like it to please stay out of my community. But you're right that it's diengenuous of the media to be whipping people into a panic. It's not "the big one" that we've been worried about for years, it's not even close.

In my personal opinion Chrome is much less of a privacy nightmare than people make it out to be in the same way that the Corona virus is much less of a threat than people make it out to be: Everything gets blown completely out of proportion on the internet.

Wow, these didn't age well.

I do happen to agree about Chrome not being a major privacy risk though.

 

[ADGrant]

Personally, I don't understand why people don't just use Safari. It is more efficient, has far better privacy protections and doesn't seem as susceptible to Malware.