If you’ve experienced a new tab open in your browser with the URL handle “about:blank”, you might be concerned that this is some kind of strange virus or that there is something wrong with your browser.
But what is about:blank just and why would it exhibit up in your browser URL field? We have some excellent information and some negative information.
The good news is that the about:blank site is nothing dangerous. It’s a crafted-in web site most browsers have, very similar to about:cache, about:configurations, or about:about. The poor information is that in some unusual circumstances malware or viruses can induce the about:blank web page to be exhibited in your browser.
In this report you are going to find out far more about what about:blank is, how to configure it, and when you might will need to fear.
What Is about:blank?
The about:blank web page in a browser is not an real web site. As opposed to other constructed-in web pages like about:options or about:about, it’s nothing at all a lot more than a blank screen in your browser.
Why would Chrome or Edge want to include a blank screen? It is in fact useful in all of the following predicaments:
As you can see, most of these predicaments aren’t dangerous at all. The only risk comes from if you have clicked on some backlink that you should not have. Sometimes this will open up a new tab in the browser window, but due to the fact there’s no true page to display screen (only a file to obtain), the browser shows about:blank.
Why Do Browsers Have an about:blank Page?
It may well not make substantially sense to have a web site that does not exhibit something, but this element is essentially significant for any website browser.
For the duration of usual use, browsers operate as follows:
As you can see, during typical procedure, the about:blank web site is never ever needed, and normally you are going to in no way see it. Having said that beneath the problem below, an about:blank web site is needed.
This is an troublesome process world-wide-web builders use to code file download inbound links (simply because it opens an unwanted blank web page), but there’s very little nefarious or harmful about it.
On the other hand, if you have clicked a destructive url online, the file that gets downloaded could be malware or a virus.
The browser will also display screen the about:blank webpage if the code that the internet server returns to the browser is not formatted (or doesn’t use the accurate code) the way the browser understands. The about:blank page is a default site to display when this comes about (due to the fact it can not display screen the requested site).
When Is about:blank Useful?
Ordinarily, if you use the Chrome browser, the default start page is Google.com. It will be various for other browsers.
Several individuals decide to improve the start off webpage to about:blank to avert any website webpage from loading in the browser until finally they want it to. This helps prevent any variety of code or startup scripts from operating when you start the browser.
How to Set about:blank as Your Start out Web page
You can do this if you like, by location about:blank as your very own browser start off page.
In Chrome:
1. Paste chrome://settings in the URL discipline and push Enter.
2. Scroll down to the On startup segment and decide on Open up a unique web page or established of pages.
3. You will see the URL which is your present-day default start out web page. Select the three vertical dots on the correct and find Edit from the menu.
4. In the Web page URL area, sort about:blank. Pick Help save when you are performed.
Now, each time you open your browser, it’ll open up to the about:blank website page and won’t screen any net website page or operate any scripts. Quite a few individuals feel this speeds up the course of action of opening Chrome and other browsers.
In Firefox:
Be aware: You can also choose Blank Web page from the dropdown rather of Custom URLs and this will complete the exact same matter.
In Apple Safari:
In Microsoft Edge:
In World-wide-web Explorer (if you nonetheless use it):
How to Clear away about:blank as Your Get started Webpage
If you basically want to take out about:blank as your existing startup site, just repeat the method over for your browser but switch about:blank with the URL you want to use as your browser startup web site.
Do I Have Malware?
If you have about:blank established as your startup webpage but you hardly ever configured it that way, or your browser is routinely opening a new about:blank tab even even though you aren’t clicking something, you could most likely have malware or a virus on your computer.
If this is the circumstance, make confident to stroll by way of the measures to remove malware from your Windows Personal computer, or take out malware from your Mac.
If you’re looking at this challenge on your Android, there are apps that’ll assistance you remove malware on Androids as nicely. If you are applying an Apple iphone, you usually shouldn’t have to be concerned about malware or viruses.
