What is About Blank in Your Browser? Should You Remove It?
About:blank pages are empty pages or tabs within your browser and are common in popular browsers like Chrome, Firefox, Edge, and Safari. The title of the page and address bar both say about:blank in this case. You may be wondering what this page is and if it’s harmful to your computer. After all, it’s always smart to question strange browser behavior for security reasons.
What does about:blank mean, and does it mean you have malware or your computer is infected? There are various reasons why this page may show up on your computer, and we’ll explain some common questions regarding about:blank webpages.
What is About Blank?
The about:blank page is a type of Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) scheme used in most major web browsers to share information about the state of a webpage. Other URI schemes are about:about, about:plugins, about:cache, and more.
When you open a new tab, the title may show about:blank, which tells the browser that the page is empty. If you have no default homepage or new tab default page set, you will likely see this title on the new page or tab.
Browsers may use about:blank pages when you click a download link that opens on a new page. The scheme instructs the browser to open a blank page that redirects you to the download. You may also see this page when you open a new tab or open your browser for the first time.
Is about:blank a virus or malware?
People often mistake the about:blank page for some virus or malware, but it is usually not the case. As we mentioned, about:blank is a typical URI scheme used in browsers like Chrome, Mozilla, Internet Explorer, and Safari. However, there could be cases where browser files are missing or damaged from an existing virus, malware, or adware infection.
How to fix about:blank Popups
Continuously getting about:blank pages popup while browsing the internet may indicate some sort of adware on your computer. If you previously had malware or adware infecting your browser, it may cause browser files to be corrupt or missing. You can scan your computer and reinstall your browser to fix this issue.
The solution depends on the reason for the about:blank popups. First, run a virus scan with any reputable scanner or anti-virus. Windows has a built-in virus and threat protection service that does the trick. Open up your Start Menu and type in Virus & Threat Protection. You can perform a quick scan, but ensure your threat protection and security intelligence are up to date.
If you continue receiving about:blank popups but there is no virus, adware, or malware on your computer, it may be typical browser behavior and no cause for concern.
For users seeing about:blank pages when they launch their browser, you can try updating your homepage from the browser settings. Another final option is to restore your browser to the default settings. To do this in Chrome, you can hit the three dots on the top right and go to settings. Next, go to the default browser menu on the left side, show advanced settings, and restore settings to their original defaults.
