Why is my new tab Yahoo, Bing or blank? How to fix Chrome's new tab

Your new tab shows Yahoo, Bing or nothing because something changed a setting for you. Usually it is an extension, sometimes a program on the computer, occasionally a policy your workplace applied. Fix it by removing the extension, checking your default search engine, and then resetting Chrome. The order matters, because a reset alone rarely holds.

Last checked: 2 September 2026. Every Chrome step here was read back against Google's current help pages, and every claim about another product links to that company's own documentation.

First, work out which setting changed

Three settings get blamed for one complaint, and Chrome stores them separately. Telling them apart takes ten seconds and saves you from fixing the wrong thing.

• The new tab page. What opens when you press Ctrl+T or ⌘+T. An extension can replace it. Google's own documentation says extensions "can use HTML override pages to replace a page Google Chrome normally provides", and that each extension "can only override one page" from a list of three: Bookmark Manager, History and New Tab (Chrome for Developers).
• The default search engine. What the address bar uses when you type words instead of an address. Extensions change this through a different manifest key, chrome_settings_overrides, which covers "homepage, search provider, and startup pages" and is "available on Windows and Mac in all current versions of Chrome" (Chrome for Developers).
• The homepage and startup pages. What opens when you press the Home button, and what opens when Chrome launches. Same manifest key, different symptom.

Now diagnose. Open a new tab and look at it. Then click into the address bar, type a word, and press Enter. If only the new tab is wrong, one setting changed. If only the address bar sends you somewhere unfamiliar, a different one did. If both are wrong, one extension changed both, and Chrome Web Store policy treats that as a violation when the extension does not respect the search settings you already had.

The store's quality guidelines list, as an example of a policy violation, "New Tab Page extensions that alter the user's web search experience and don't respect the user's existing search settings" (Chrome Web Store program policies). A wallpaper page has no business touching your address bar. That is the line, and it is written down.

What is actually doing it

A handful of causes produce all of these symptoms, and each needs a different fix. Work down the table until a row matches what you are seeing.

Google's own list of symptoms is worth reading next to that table. It names "Pop-up ads and new tabs that won't go away", a homepage or search engine that "keeps changing without your permission", "Unwanted Chrome extensions or toolbars keep coming back", and browsing that "is hijacked, and redirects to unfamiliar pages or ads" (Chrome Help). If two or more of those describe your machine, the cause is a program, not just an extension.

Fix Chrome, in this order

Order matters here. Reset Chrome first and the extension simply reapplies its settings the next time you open a tab.

1. Open the extensions list and read it properly

   Type chrome://extensions in the address bar, or open the Chrome menu, then Extensions, then Manage extensions. Read every card. You are looking for anything you did not deliberately install, anything with a generic name like a search or tab helper, and anything installed on the day the problem started. Remove it with the Remove button and confirm. Google also documents the faster route: right-click the extension's icon next to the address bar and choose Remove from Chrome (Chrome Web Store Help).

2. Put your default search engine back

   Open Settings, then Search engine. Under Search engine, select Change and pick the one you want (Chrome Help). If the search engine you never chose is still listed, it is usually because the extension that added it is still installed. Go back a step.

3. Check the two settings nobody checks

   In Settings, open Appearance and look at the homepage address. Then open On startup and look at the list of pages there. A hijacker that survives everything else is often hiding in one of these, because most guides never mention them.

4. Uninstall the program that did it

   On Windows, open the Start menu, then Settings, then Apps, then Installed apps, find the program, and select Uninstall. On a Mac, open Finder, select Applications, right-click anything you do not recognise, choose Move to Trash, then right-click the Trash and choose Empty Trash (Chrome Help). Skipping this step is the single most common reason the problem returns.

5. Now reset Chrome

   Google's steps: "At the top right, select More and then Settings. Select Reset settings and then Restore settings to their original defaults and then Reset settings." That returns the default search engine, the homepage and tabs, the new tab page, pinned tabs, content settings, cookies and site data, and extensions and themes to their defaults (Chrome Help).

Two things to know about that reset. Google is explicit that "These steps won't provide a full reset. For example, some settings like fonts or accessibility won't be deleted." And bookmarks and saved passwords are not on the list of what it changes. It also runs per profile, so if you use more than one Chrome profile, you reset each one.

When Chrome says "Managed by your organization"

Open the Chrome menu and look at the bottom. Google's rule is one sentence: "If you see 'Managed by your organization,' your browser is managed. If you don't, your browser isn't managed" (Chrome Help).

Two addresses tell you the rest. Type chrome://management to see who manages the browser and what they have turned on. Type chrome://policy to see every policy applied, by name and value. If your new tab is being set by policy, it appears here, and no amount of resetting will change it.

On a work or school laptop, this is normal and the fix is a message to your IT team. On a personal machine it is not normal, and it is the reason a hijack can feel unfixable. A force-installed extension is exempt from the usual controls: Google's admin documentation states that "Users can't remove items that are force-installed", and that force-installed items "bypass any blocked apps and extensions" (Google Workspace Admin Help).

If you administer the machine yourself, the policies live outside Chrome. On Windows they are registry values under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Policies\Google\Chrome. On macOS they arrive as configuration profiles, which you review in System Settings under device management. Remove the one you did not authorise, restart Chrome, and check chrome://policy again to confirm it is gone.

Why the page is blank rather than wrong

An empty new tab is the same story with a quieter ending. Something still claims the page, but nothing renders it.

The usual cause is an override that no longer works: the extension was disabled, was pulled from the Chrome Web Store, or its page fails to load because it needs a server that is no longer answering. The extension is still installed and still holds the override, so Chrome hands it the tab and gets nothing back. Remove it at chrome://extensions and the built-in page returns immediately.

One quirk worth knowing: overrides do not apply everywhere. Google's documentation notes that "In incognito windows, extensions can't override New Tab pages" (Chrome for Developers). So if an incognito new tab looks normal and an ordinary one does not, you have just proved an extension is responsible without opening a single settings page.

The other cause is policy. If the new tab page is being set for you, chrome://policy shows the responsible policy by name and value, and one pointed at an empty address produces exactly the tab you are looking at.

Why it keeps coming back

If the wrong page returns a day later, one of three things is still true.

Sync is putting it back. Chrome syncs extensions between your signed-in devices, alongside bookmarks, passwords and settings (Chrome Help). Remove the extension while signed in, so the removal syncs too, and check your other computers before you declare victory.

The program is still installed. This is what step four of the fix is for. Google's unwanted software policy describes the pattern precisely: software that "tries to trick users into installing it or it piggybacks on the installation", that "doesn't tell the user about all of its principal and significant functions", and that "is difficult to remove" (Google Unwanted Software Policy). Software built to be difficult to remove does not give up after one uninstall of one extension.

A policy is reapplying it. Covered above. Check chrome://policy.

Worth doing once you are clean: open Chrome's Safe Browsing settings and consider Enhanced protection, which Google says gives you "warnings about potentially dangerous sites, downloads, and extensions, even ones Google didn't previously know about" (Chrome Help). Standard protection, the default, warns you only about threats already identified.

Microsoft Edge and Brave

The mechanics carry over, because Edge and Brave are built on the same engine as Chrome. Open the browser menu, then Extensions, and read that list exactly the way you read Chrome's. Administrators get the same levers too: Microsoft's policy reference lists one policy described as "Configure the new tab page URL" and another to "Control which extensions are installed silently" (Microsoft Learn). If a work laptop's new tab is set for you, that is usually how.

One cause on managed work machines is worth naming, because it is legitimate and it confuses people. Before 31 March 2025, an administrator could deploy an optional extension for Google Chrome, and Microsoft records what it did: "it set Bing as the default search engine for Google Chrome". Deploying it required a background service included with Microsoft 365 Apps for enterprise. Microsoft Search in Bing is no longer available, but the documentation adds that if the background service "was previously deployed, it isn't automatically removed". Uninstalling that service also removes the extension, and "Bing is no longer set as the default search engine". You do it in Control Panel, then Programs, then Programs and Features (Microsoft Learn). If Bing appeared on a work laptop without an extension you recognise, start there.

Now choose a new tab on purpose

Here is the part most guides skip. Once Chrome's own page is back, you are looking at a blank slate you did not choose either. That is how the hijack got in: an empty page is easy to take.

Pick something deliberately, and judge it by the same standard that caught the hijacker. Does it do one job? Does it leave your search engine alone? Does the Chrome Web Store listing say what it collects? The store's single purpose rule is the shortest version of this test: "An extension must have a single purpose that is narrow and easy to understand. Don't create an extension that requires users to accept bundles of unrelated functionality" (Chrome Web Store program policies).

Chrome's own page passes that test. If a search box and a row of shortcuts is all you want back, you are already done, and the rest of this section is for people who want the tab to carry more.

Dashy, which we make, is one option, and it is built around that line. It replaces the new tab page and nothing else. It does not touch your default search engine, your homepage or your startup pages. It opens with a wallpaper that changes with the time of day, ambient soundscapes like rain, ocean, forest, fireplace and cafe, and a clock, greeting and auto-located weather before you set anything up. Tasks, notes and a calendar are built in, with Google Calendar, Todoist and Google Tasks available when you want them. You can add, move, resize and restyle anything, starting from one of four templates: Focus, Productive, Curious and Aesthetic.

No account is needed for the local experience, and nothing leaves your device until you connect something. Sync across devices and connected services is part of the paid plan. Two versions exist, so be clear which one you would be installing. The original Dashy is on the store today with 10,000+ users, a 4.7-star average from 273 reviews and a Featured badge on its Chrome Web Store listing; it has wallpapers, soundscapes, 36 widgets and sign-in sync, and it is a 2023 design that shows its age. The rebuilt Dashy arrives in October 2026 on its own listing, with the original left running: the two side by side, or ask for early access. Both run on Chrome, Edge, Brave and other Chromium browsers.

It also runs an MCP server, so the AI assistant you already use can set the tab up for you: one approval per app, a log of everything it touched, and nothing it writes runs until you have read it. That is in early access now; the details are on the AI page. If you want the category explained before you choose anything, read what a new tab dashboard actually is, or compare the calm end of the field in our write-up of Dashy and Bonjourr.

The checklist, one more time

A new tab you did not choose is a setting, not an infection. Find the extension at chrome://extensions and remove it. Put your search engine back under Settings, then Search engine. Check your homepage and startup pages, because that is where the stubborn ones hide. Uninstall the program on the computer, then reset Chrome, in that order. If Chrome says it is managed by your organization, read chrome://policy and stop guessing.

Then pick a page you actually want. You open it more than any other page you will visit today, and the full guide to changing it covers every route Chrome allows.