Question Chrome "housekeeping" pop-up blocks use ?

[Pimpom]

When I opened Chrome yesterday, I got a pop-up saying "We need to do some housekeeping. We're sorry for the interruption...bla bla...." It said something about migrating my bookmarks to a new format and wanted me to click a link to proceed. It had an option to click the link or "remind me tomorrow" I selected the latter.

Today the notice popped up again. but only after I'd been browsing for >1 hour and opened several tabs. Now the option to be reminded later is ghosted and the pop-up cannot be closed, blocking further use of the browser. I'm posting this via Firefox.

Is this a genuine notification?

 

[Colif]

have you updated chrome recently?

Is this "We need to do some housekeeping" popup about migrating my bookmarks legit from Google? - Google Chrome Community

was this you?

it looks like they say its fake. You might want to run Malwarebytes and check PC out.

 

[Pimpom]

Chrome is on auto-update. Right now I cannot even check the version. BTW I'm running Windows 10 , also on auto-update. I use Avira Free AV.

I've just finished installing Malwarebytes. I'll post the result.

 

[Colif]

SO I assume it looks like

as that is what other person got. They tried Google and Reddit so far.

its new, I can't see it elsewhere.

 

[Pimpom]

That's exactly what I got.
Malwarebytes found 4 infections - 3 PUPs and 1 malware named Generic....AI.DDS.
I quarantined those and restarted my computer. No difference. The pop-up still blocks the browser.

 

[Colif]

Did you run a scan of your AV? You might want to try this one instead, normally in top 2 AV out there... I use paid version - https://www.bitdefender.com.au/solutions/free

See if this helps - https://superuser.com/questions/822429/how-to-start-chrome-without-plugins

 

[PEnns]

Chrome is on auto-update. Right now I cannot even check the version. BTW I'm running Windows 10 , also on auto-update. I use Avira Free AV.

Go to: Help / About Google Chrome will get you this info and will update if required.

 

[Lusti]

I have the same problem. I use Speeddial 2.

 

[Pimpom]

I use SpeedDial 2 too.

 

[Pimpom]

I couldn't afford to spend any more time trying to get to the root of the problem, so I uninstalled Chrome after backing up Bookmarks and Speed Dial 2 settings. Then I restarted, downloaded the latest offline installer (v118) and installed it.

No problem so far. I'll install Speed Dial 2 again when I can spare the time and see if it's the culprit.

 

[Lusti]

Solution! It's Speeddial: https://www.speeddial2.com/page/migration

 

[Pimpom]

So that's the reason. Thanks for sharing that information.

Damn, the Speed Dial 2 people could have prevented a lot of anxiety and inconvenience simply by mentioning that the pop-up message is from Speed Dial 2, not Chrome.

I'm sure I'm not the only user who's gone to a lot of trouble over the issue. I spent literally hours on it, including 5 hours scanning everything in my computer for malware.

 

[Colif]

someone with a user account with them, needs to give them feedback saying the pop up should say its from Speed dial or otherwise more people will have the same reaction.

I would but their support page doesn't have any contact info... i guess there is twitter but I doubt they want this on social media