Hi everyone,
I'm not sure if this would be the proper subforum as it may not be a software issue entirely, but it appears to only happen within the Chrome browser and not others, so I thought this would be a good place to ask.
I'm running Windows 10 Home Edition on an ASUS X556UAK model.
I have two browser-related issues about which I'd like to ask for some advice. One has been going on for a long time and is basically just a small annoyance at this point and the other has been for just a few days and concerns me more. I'll lay them both out and talk a bit about what I've done to try to solve the issues.
The first issue is that, on Chrome, when I open a tab to some sites, a duplicate will top up by itself in another tab. This is the same site URL and the site looks the same but has some few differences in the strings that come after the main website (Amazon for example). I just ignore or close these tabs and use the one I opened originally as I assume there is some kind of adware that I can't seem to shake. This will typically only happen with retail-based sites. In some cases, the various blocker extensions I have on Chrome will block these from fully loading, but not in all cases.
I've run probably four different ad/malware detection tools to try to find and get rid of that. Some tools don't find anything. Others find a few things that I ask to quarantine or delete, but this does not solve the issue. I wonder if perhaps the way Chrome syncs profile data allows the stuff to return, but I do not know. I'm not sure how else to find and get rid of the stuff.
I tried a fully clean install of chrome, but that only worked for one evening, and it was back the next day. To be fair, the clean install still kept my profile info, and I wonder if keeping and restoring all the data made the process of a clean install moot as it simply also returned the adware as well. I'm not sure, and I would be willing to do a fully clean install, but I think it would involve having to create a whole new profile to use fresh, and I'd prefer not to have to resort to that.
The second issue has only been in the past few days. My antivirus software gives me several notifications that it has aborted a connection to a particular site due to what it calls "URL:Blacklist" concerns. It's one I've never used and it has one of those strange URLs full of odd combos of numbers and such. I wouldn't be as concerned about this, but the software catches and aborts attempts to connect here about every 15 minutes. This occurs even if the browser is just open at all, regardless of what tabs are open or if I'm even using it to browse the internet. There isn't even any usual indication of any attempt at a connection going on such as a tab opening or even a new window flashing briefly for a fraction of a second. The browser never shows signs of trying to open anything or go anywhere, but I get these notifications that a connection was blocked.
Neither of these issues happens if I use other browsers, leading me to believe that it is a Chrome issue. Again, a clean install did not solve the second issue either. But aside from doing that and runnning different softwares to try to catch things, I don't know what else to do.
I know I could just use another browser, and I guess I'm at the point where I might, but I'd still like to know what is going on and if I can solve it. I'd rather not let the antivirus just keep ending the connection simply because it feels a bit too much like testing the fortress walls every 15 minutes.
Would anyone have any suggestions where to look to solve this issue?
I've checked my Chrome settings, extensions, allowed sites, and everything I can think of and nothing seems out of place or changed without my consent.
Thanks for taking the time to read this, and I appreciate any help. I'll post more information if I've left something out that could be helpful.
I'm not sure if this would be the proper subforum as it may not be a software issue entirely, but it appears to only happen within the Chrome browser and not others, so I thought this would be a good place to ask.
I'm running Windows 10 Home Edition on an ASUS X556UAK model.
I have two browser-related issues about which I'd like to ask for some advice. One has been going on for a long time and is basically just a small annoyance at this point and the other has been for just a few days and concerns me more. I'll lay them both out and talk a bit about what I've done to try to solve the issues.
The first issue is that, on Chrome, when I open a tab to some sites, a duplicate will top up by itself in another tab. This is the same site URL and the site looks the same but has some few differences in the strings that come after the main website (Amazon for example). I just ignore or close these tabs and use the one I opened originally as I assume there is some kind of adware that I can't seem to shake. This will typically only happen with retail-based sites. In some cases, the various blocker extensions I have on Chrome will block these from fully loading, but not in all cases.
I've run probably four different ad/malware detection tools to try to find and get rid of that. Some tools don't find anything. Others find a few things that I ask to quarantine or delete, but this does not solve the issue. I wonder if perhaps the way Chrome syncs profile data allows the stuff to return, but I do not know. I'm not sure how else to find and get rid of the stuff.
I tried a fully clean install of chrome, but that only worked for one evening, and it was back the next day. To be fair, the clean install still kept my profile info, and I wonder if keeping and restoring all the data made the process of a clean install moot as it simply also returned the adware as well. I'm not sure, and I would be willing to do a fully clean install, but I think it would involve having to create a whole new profile to use fresh, and I'd prefer not to have to resort to that.
The second issue has only been in the past few days. My antivirus software gives me several notifications that it has aborted a connection to a particular site due to what it calls "URL:Blacklist" concerns. It's one I've never used and it has one of those strange URLs full of odd combos of numbers and such. I wouldn't be as concerned about this, but the software catches and aborts attempts to connect here about every 15 minutes. This occurs even if the browser is just open at all, regardless of what tabs are open or if I'm even using it to browse the internet. There isn't even any usual indication of any attempt at a connection going on such as a tab opening or even a new window flashing briefly for a fraction of a second. The browser never shows signs of trying to open anything or go anywhere, but I get these notifications that a connection was blocked.
Neither of these issues happens if I use other browsers, leading me to believe that it is a Chrome issue. Again, a clean install did not solve the second issue either. But aside from doing that and runnning different softwares to try to catch things, I don't know what else to do.
I know I could just use another browser, and I guess I'm at the point where I might, but I'd still like to know what is going on and if I can solve it. I'd rather not let the antivirus just keep ending the connection simply because it feels a bit too much like testing the fortress walls every 15 minutes.
Would anyone have any suggestions where to look to solve this issue?
I've checked my Chrome settings, extensions, allowed sites, and everything I can think of and nothing seems out of place or changed without my consent.
Thanks for taking the time to read this, and I appreciate any help. I'll post more information if I've left something out that could be helpful.
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