Upon investigating the issue, we realized that these symptoms can be caused by a wide array of different culprits. Most of the time, the issue is caused by a bad installation or a corrupted file, but it can also be a symptom of a browser hijacker. If you’re struggling with the same issue, the methods below will be of help. Below you have a collection of fixes that other users in a similar situation have used to resolve the issue. Please follow each potential fix in order until you encounter a fix that resolves the situation.
Method 1: Changing the startup settings of Chrome
Before we try anything else, let’s make sure that the issue is not caused by a Google Chrome setting. A lot of affected users have determined that this weird behavior has been caused by a startup setting. Here’s a quick guide on seeing whether this setting is causing your Chrome browser to open two identical tabs at every startup:
Method 2: Disabling all Chrome extensions
Extensions are often responsible for an odd behavior like this one. If you’re using a lot of extensions with Google Chrome, it’s entirely possible that some of them are conflicting and creating startup issue such as the one at hand. A couple of users have managed to identify the culprit in their extension list. To test whether the issue lies with one of your extensions, let’s disable them all at once. Here’s a quick guide on how to manage your extensions:
Method 3: Running a malware scan
If the issue is not caused by a Chrome setting or extension, let’s make sure that we’re not dealing with a browser hijacker. Some users have managed to eliminate the odd behavior after noticing their browser became infected by a malware. There are several ways in which you can make sure that your browser is clean of malware, but we recommend Malwarebytes for the best results. If you need further guidance, you can follow our step by step guide on using Malwarebytes (here).
Method 4: Updating or reinstalling Chrome
If none of the methods above have proven to be successful, there’s a high chance that some kind of file corruption is causing the problem. Google Chrome should update itself automatically, but just to be sure, click on the action button (top-right corner) and navigate to Help > About Google Chrome. If a new version is available, wait until the browser is available and restart the application. If Chrome shows that you already have the latest version, a browser reinstall might be the fix you need. Here’s a quick guide on how to do this:
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