The About:blank page appeared on your computer without any notice? After that, you’re faced with the fact that your web browser is now re-directed to other unwanted web-sites and filled with a variety of pop-ups and banners. The cause of all your problems with your PC is adware (also known as ‘ad-supported’ software) that has been installed on many systems around the world without users permission, so you’re one of many. Most likely, you do not even know how and where this adware has got into your machine. In the step by step guide below, we will explain all the general features of the adware and its typical behavior on the computer, as well as effective methods of removing About:blank pop-ups from your internet browser.
It is not a good idea to have an unwanted program like the adware that opens unwanted About:blank page. The reason for this is simple, it doing things you do not know about. The worst is, the ‘ad supported’ software can be used to gather lots of your confidential information that can be later sold to third party companies. You don’t know if your home address, account names and passwords are safe.
What is more, the adware related to About:blank pop-ups, may open ads depend on a web page that you are visiting. That is, it is clear that this adware, without your permission, steals personal info about you such as: your ip address, what is a web site you are viewing now, what you are looking for on the World Wide Web, which links you are clicking, and much, much more. The worst is, the ad supported software may monetize its functionality by gathering personal data from your browsing sessions. This confidential data, subsequently, can be easily sold to third parties. This puts your personal data at a security risk.
Instructions that is shown below, will allow you to clean your machine from the adware as well as delete About:blank intrusive popups from the MS Edge, Mozilla Firefox, IE and Chrome and other web browsers.
Remove About:blank page pop ups (removal steps)
The answer is right here on this page. We have put together simplicity and efficiency. It will help you easily to clean your system of ad-supported software that causes web-browsers to open intrusive About:blank pop-ups. Moreover, you can choose manual or automatic removal solution. If you are familiar with the machine then use manual removal, otherwise use the free antimalware utility developed specifically to get rid of ad-supported software. Of course, you can combine both methods. Read it once, after doing so, please print this page as you may need to shut down your browser or reboot your computer.
To remove About:blank pop-ups, perform the steps below:
- How to get rid of About:blank pop-ups without any software
- Run free malware removal utilities to completely get rid of About:blank popup
- Run AdBlocker to stay safe online
- How was About:blank redirect installed on PC
- Finish words
How to get rid of About:blank pop-ups without any software
The useful removal tutorial for the About:blank popups. The detailed procedure can be followed by anyone as it really does take you step-by-step. If you follow this process to remove About:blank popup let us know how you managed by sending us your comments please.
Remove questionable software using Windows Control Panel
First of all, check the list of installed programs on your machine and uninstall all unknown and recently installed programs. If you see an unknown program with incorrect spelling or varying capital letters, it have most likely been installed by malware and you should clean it off first with malicious software removal utility such as Zemana Anti-malware.
Make sure you have closed all web browsers and other applications. Press CTRL, ALT, DEL keys together to open the Microsoft Windows Task Manager.
Click on the “Processes” tab, look for something suspicious that is the adware responsible for redirecting your internet browser to About:blank page then right-click it and select “End Task” or “End Process” option. In most cases, malware masks itself to avoid detection by imitating legitimate Windows processes. A process is particularly suspicious: it is taking up a lot of memory (despite the fact that you closed all of your applications), its name is not familiar to you (if you are in doubt, you can always check the program by doing a search for its name in Google, Yahoo or Bing).
Next, uninstall any unknown and suspicious programs from your Control panel.
Windows 10, 8.1, 8
Now, press the Windows button, type “Control panel” in search and press Enter. Select “Programs and Features”, then “Uninstall a program”.
Look around the entire list of applications installed on your personal computer. Most probably, one of them is the ‘ad supported’ software that causes multiple intrusive popup. Choose the dubious program or the program that name is not familiar to you and remove it.
Windows Vista, 7
From the “Start” menu in Windows, select “Control Panel”. Under the “Programs” icon, select “Uninstall a program”.
Choose the suspicious or any unknown applications, then click “Uninstall/Change” button to uninstall this undesired application from your computer.
Windows XP
Click the “Start” button, select “Control Panel” option. Click on “Add/Remove Programs”.
Select an undesired program, then click “Change/Remove” button. Follow the prompts.
Remove About:blank from Firefox by resetting web browser settings
If your Mozilla Firefox browser is re-directed to About:blank without your permission or an unknown search provider shows results for your search, then it may be time to perform the internet browser reset.
Click the Menu button (looks like three horizontal lines), and click the blue Help icon located at the bottom of the drop down menu as on the image below.
A small menu will appear, click the “Troubleshooting Information”. On this page, click “Refresh Firefox” button as on the image below.
Follow the onscreen procedure to revert back your Firefox web-browser settings to its original state.
Remove About:blank pop up from Internet Explorer
By resetting IE browser you restore your web-browser settings to its default state. This is basic when troubleshooting problems that might have been caused by ad supported software that causes a large number of undesired About:blank popup.
First, run the IE, click 
) button. Next, click “Internet Options” as on the image below.
In the “Internet Options” screen select the Advanced tab. Next, click Reset button. The IE will display the Reset Internet Explorer settings prompt. Select the “Delete personal settings” check box and click Reset button.
You will now need to restart your PC system for the changes to take effect. It will get rid of adware that causes a large amount of intrusive About:blank popup, disable malicious and ad-supported internet browser’s extensions and restore the Internet Explorer’s settings like homepage, newtab page and search engine to default state.
Remove About:blank pop ups from Chrome
Reset Chrome settings is a simple way to get rid of the hijacker infections, harmful and ‘ad-supported’ extensions, as well as to recover the web-browser’s newtab, home page and search engine that have been modified by ad supported software which created to redirect your internet browser to various ad web-sites
- First, launch the Google Chrome and click the Menu icon (icon in the form of three dots).
- It will show the Google Chrome main menu. Choose More Tools, then click Extensions.
- You’ll see the list of installed extensions. If the list has the plugin labeled with “Installed by enterprise policy” or “Installed by your administrator”, then complete the following steps: Remove Chrome extensions installed by enterprise policy.
- Now open the Google Chrome menu once again, click the “Settings” menu.
- Next, click “Advanced” link, that located at the bottom of the Settings page.
- On the bottom of the “Advanced settings” page, click the “Reset settings to their original defaults” button.
- The Google Chrome will open the reset settings dialog box as on the image above.
- Confirm the internet browser’s reset by clicking on the “Reset” button.
- To learn more, read the blog post How to reset Google Chrome settings to default.
Delete unwanted Scheduled Tasks
Once installed, the adware can add a task in to the Windows Task Scheduler Library. Due to this, every time when you run your computer, it will display an undesired web site. So, you need to check the Task Scheduler Library and remove all harmful tasks that have been created by malicious program.
Press Windows and R keys on your keyboard at the same time. It will display a dialog box that titled with Run. In the text field, type “taskschd.msc” (without the quotes) and click OK. Task Scheduler window opens. In the left-hand side, click “Task Scheduler Library”, as shown on the screen below.
Task scheduler, list of tasks
In the middle part you will see a list of installed tasks. Select the first task, its properties will be open just below automatically. Next, click the Actions tab. Necessary to look at the text which is written under Details. Found something such as “explorer.exe http://site.address” or “chrome.exe http://site.address” or “firefox.exe http://site.address”, then you need get rid of this task. If you are not sure that executes the task, then google it. If it’s a component of the ‘ad-supported’ software, then this task also should be removed.
Further press on it with the right mouse button and select Delete as shown in the following example.
Task scheduler, delete a task
Repeat this step, if you have found a few tasks that have been created by unwanted applications. Once is finished, close the Task Scheduler window.
Run free malware removal utilities to completely get rid of About:blank popup
If you’re not expert at computer technology, then we suggest to use free removal tools listed below to remove About:blank pop up for good. The automatic method is highly recommended. It has less steps and easier to implement than the manual method. Moreover, it lower risk of system damage. So, the automatic About:blank removal is a better option.
Automatically get rid of About:blank pop ups with Zemana Anti-malware
We advise using the Zemana Anti-malware which are completely clean your computer of the ad-supported software. The tool is an advanced malicious software removal program made by (c) Zemana lab. It’s able to help you remove potentially unwanted programs, browser hijacker infections, malware, toolbars, ransomware and adware responsible for redirects to About:blank.
- Visit the following page to download the latest version of Zemana AntiMalware for MS Windows. Save it to your Desktop.
Zemana AntiMalware
164032 downloads
Author: Zemana Ltd
Category: Security tools
Update: July 16, 2019
- Once the downloading process is finished, close all programs and windows on your computer. Open a folder in which you saved it. Double-click on the icon that’s named Zemana.AntiMalware.Setup.
- Further, click Next button and follow the prompts.
- Once install is done, click the “Scan” button to perform a system scan for the ad-supported software that responsible for web-browser redirect to the annoying About:blank page. A scan can take anywhere from 10 to 30 minutes, depending on the count of files on your PC system and the speed of your machine. While the Zemana AntiMalware utility is scanning, you can see how many objects it has identified as being infected by malicious software.
- After the system scan is complete, Zemana will show a screen that contains a list of malicious software that has been found. You may move items to Quarantine (all selected by default) by simply click “Next”. When disinfection is finished, you can be prompted to reboot your PC.
Automatically remove About:blank popup with Malwarebytes
Remove About:blank pop-ups manually is difficult and often the adware is not completely removed. Therefore, we advise you to use the Malwarebytes Free that are completely clean your system. Moreover, the free program will allow you to delete malware, PUPs, toolbars and hijackers that your PC can be infected too.
Installing the MalwareBytes is simple. First you’ll need to download MalwareBytes Anti-Malware by clicking on the following link.
326384 downloads
Author: Malwarebytes
Category: Security tools
Update: April 15, 2020
Once the downloading process is complete, close all software and windows on your computer. Double-click the install file named mb3-setup. If the “User Account Control” prompt pops up as shown in the following example, click the “Yes” button.
It will open the “Setup wizard” which will help you install MalwareBytes Anti Malware (MBAM) on your computer. Follow the prompts and do not make any changes to default settings.
Once setup is finished successfully, click Finish button. MalwareBytes Anti-Malware will automatically start and you can see its main screen as displayed on the screen below.
Now click the “Scan Now” button to perform a system scan for the adware that causes tons of annoying About:blank pop up. This task may take some time, so please be patient.
When the scan get finished, a list of all threats detected is produced. All detected items will be marked. You can remove them all by simply press “Quarantine Selected” button. The MalwareBytes Free will delete adware that redirects your internet browser to intrusive About:blank site and move threats to the program’s quarantine. After that process is finished, you may be prompted to restart the PC.
We suggest you look at the following video, which completely explains the process of using the MalwareBytes Free to remove adware, hijacker and other malware.
If the problem with About:blank pop up is still remained
AdwCleaner is a portable tool that scans for and uninstalls undesired apps such as hijacker infections, adware, toolbars, other web browser addons and other malicious software. It scans your system for adware that causes multiple unwanted pop-up and prepares a list of threats marked for removal. AdwCleaner will only erase those unwanted software that you wish to be removed.
- Visit the following page to download AdwCleaner. Save it to your Desktop.
AdwCleaner download
225261 downloads
Version: 8.4.1
Author: Xplode, MalwareBytes
Category: Security tools
Update: October 5, 2024
- When downloading is done, double click the AdwCleaner icon. Once this tool is opened, click “Scan” button for checking your system for the ‘ad supported’ software that responsible for web browser redirect to the unwanted About:blank site. Depending on your system, the scan may take anywhere from a few minutes to close to an hour. When a threat is found, the count of the security threats will change accordingly.
- As the scanning ends, the results are displayed in the scan report. When you’re ready, press “Clean” button. It will show a prompt, click “OK”.
These few simple steps are shown in detail in the following video guide.
Run AdBlocker to stay safe online
The AdGuard is a very good adblocker application for the Internet Explorer, Microsoft Edge, Firefox and Chrome, with active user support. It does a great job by removing certain types of unwanted advertisements, popunders, pop-ups, annoying new tabs, and even full page ads and site overlay layers. Of course, the AdGuard can stop the About:blank pop-up automatically or by using a custom filter rule.
- Installing the AdGuard is simple. First you’ll need to download AdGuard from the following link.
Adguard download
26627 downloads
Version: 6.4
Author: © Adguard
Category: Security tools
Update: November 15, 2018
- When downloading is finished, launch the downloaded file. You will see the “Setup Wizard” program window. Follow the prompts.
- After the installation is complete, click “Skip” to close the install program and use the default settings, or press “Get Started” to see an quick tutorial which will allow you get to know AdGuard better.
- In most cases, the default settings are enough and you don’t need to change anything. Each time, when you start your system, AdGuard will run automatically and block pop ups, as well as other malicious or misleading pages. For an overview of all the features of the program, or to change its settings you can simply double-click on the icon called AdGuard, which can be found on your desktop.
How was adware installed on PC
The adware spreads bundled with various free applications, as a supplement, which is installed automatically. This is certainly not an honest way to get installed onto your personal computer. To avoid infecting of your system and side effects in the form of intrusive About1 pop-up, you should always carefully read the Terms of Use and the Software license. Additionally, always choose Manual, Custom or Advanced install option. This allows you to disable the setup of unnecessary and often harmful apps.
Finish words
Now your machine should be free of the adware that causes annoying About:blank popups. Delete AdwCleaner. We suggest that you keep AdGuard (to help you stop unwanted popup and unwanted harmful pages) and Zemana Free (to periodically scan your PC for new adwares and other malware). Probably you are running an older version of Java or Adobe Flash Player. This can be a security risk, so download and install the latest version right now.
If you are still having problems while trying to delete About:blank popups from the Edge, Firefox, Chrome and IE, then ask for help in our Spyware/Malware removal forum.
Thank you! I did everything on here for Chrome to get rid of myservice. In the end I had to uninstall Chrome and reinstall it. But now when I try to open a new tab it is now saying “about:blank” even though I have it set as google.com. This never happened before the malware. Any suggestions?
Open the list of installed extensions and disable all extensions, absolutely everything. Restart your browser and check which page opens when creating a new tab.