{"id":4785,"date":"2016-12-05T23:45:21","date_gmt":"2016-12-05T18:15:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/198.58.113.91\/blog\/?p=4785"},"modified":"2021-05-23T10:40:29","modified_gmt":"2021-05-23T05:10:29","slug":"completely-reset-google-chrome-defaults","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/completely-reset-google-chrome-defaults\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Reset Google Chrome to Default"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>You may occasionally want to reset Chrome to the factory default settings for performance, or in the aftermath of malware attack and removal. This post tells you how to reset your Google Chrome settings and data.<!--more--><\/p>\n<div id=\"toc\">\n<p><strong>Contents<\/strong><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li><a href=\"#settings\">Reset Google Chrome via Settings<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"#completely\">Reset Google Chrome completely by renaming its data folder<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"#tool\">Reset Google Chrome Using Chrome Cleanup Tool<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/div>\n<h2><a id=\"settings\"><\/a>Reset Google Chrome via Settings<\/h2>\n<p>Start Google Chrome and click the More icon (with three lines or dots), and click Settings.<\/p>\n<p>Scroll down until you see the option named Reset settings. Click the Reset Settings button, and then click Reset.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-4788\" src=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/chrome-reset-1.png\" alt=\"completely reset chrome\" width=\"501\" height=\"216\" \/><\/p>\n<p><em>Alternatively, paste the following URL into the Address bar to access the Reset Settings dialog.<\/em><\/p>\n<pre>chrome:\/\/settings\/resetProfileSettings<\/pre>\n<p>The following settings will change back to the default:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Default search engine (set to Google)<\/li>\n<li>Homepage and tabs<\/li>\n<li>New tab page<\/li>\n<li>Pinned Tabs<\/li>\n<li>Content settings<\/li>\n<li>Cookies and site data<\/li>\n<li>Extensions<\/li>\n<li>Themes<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Src: <a href=\"https:\/\/support.google.com\/chrome\/answer\/3296214\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Reset Chrome settings to default &#8211; Chrome Help<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Only the settings for the Chrome profile you&#8217;re signed in to will be reset. And the new settings will be synced across all devices where you\u2019re signed in to your active profile.<\/p>\n<h2><a id=\"completely\"><\/a>Reset Google Chrome Completely<\/h2>\n<p>This method resets all Chrome settings to default and deletes your browser profiles, themes, extensions, bookmarks, history, cache, passwords, cookies, and web form auto-fill information.<\/p>\n<p>If you decide to perform this procedure, make sure you have appropriate backups of your bookmarks, passwords, and other data. You may save them locally as well as sync them online to your Google account.<\/p>\n<h3>Reset all Chrome Profiles<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>Close all instances of Google Chrome.<\/li>\n<li>Open File Explorer, type or paste the following folder path, and press Enter:\n<pre>%LocalAppData%\\Google\\<\/pre>\n<\/li>\n<li>Rename the folder &#8220;<code>Chrome<\/code>&#8221; to &#8220;<code>Chrome-old<\/code>&#8220;<\/li>\n<li>Start Google Chrome.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>Reset a particular Chrome Profile<\/h3>\n<p>To reset a particular profile, rename the profile folder only &#8212; e.g. <code>Profile 5<\/code>.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Close all instances of Google Chrome.<\/li>\n<li>Find your profile folder path by visiting <code>chrome:\/\/version<\/code> from that particular Chrome profile.<\/li>\n<li>Note down the profile path.<\/li>\n<li>Open the profile path in Explorer.\n<pre>%LocalAppData%\\Google\\Chrome\\User Data\\Profile 5<\/pre>\n<\/li>\n<li>Rename <code>Profile 5<\/code> to <code>Profile 5.old<\/code>.\n<div class=\"newline\">If an existing instance of Chrome.exe is running, you&#8217;ll see the &#8220;Folder in Use&#8221; error when renaming the folder. Open Task Manager to see if chrome.exe instances are running. If so, terminate them and then rename the folder.<\/div>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-24123\" src=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/folder-in-use-error.png\" alt=\"folder in use - delete folder\" width=\"449\" height=\"268\" \/><\/li>\n<li>Start Google Chrome.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>After resetting Chrome. the &#8220;first-run&#8221; or the &#8220;Welcome&#8221; screen appears on the next launch.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-24124\" src=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/chrome-welcome-first-run.png\" alt=\"chrome welcome screen first run\" width=\"693\" height=\"367\" \/><\/p>\n<div class=\"rp\"><strong>RELATED:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/transfer-chrome-profile-another-computer\/\">How to Transfer Chrome Profiles to Another Computer<\/a><\/div>\n<h2><a id=\"tool\"><\/a>Using the Chrome Cleanup Tool<\/h2>\n<p>Google also made available the Chrome Cleanup Tool which can scan for some &#8220;bad&#8221; programs and remove them from your computer. It then suggests resetting Chrome by launching the built-in &#8220;resetProfileSettings&#8221; page (as seen <a href=\"#settings\">above<\/a>).<\/p>\n<p>The &#8220;bad&#8221; programs are the ones that cause problems with Chrome, such as crashes, unusual startup pages or toolbars, and unexpected ads you can&#8217;t get rid of. This tool can come in handy if your browser settings or search pages get hijacked by one of the listed adware, or perhaps its variants.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_4786\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-4786\" style=\"width: 690px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-4786\" src=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/chrome-reset-3.png\" alt=\"chrome cleanup tool\" width=\"700\" height=\"335\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-4786\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/chrome\/cleanup-tool\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Download Chrome Cleanup Tool<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>For more information about this tool, check out page <a href=\"https:\/\/support.google.com\/chrome\/answer\/6086368?hl=en\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Scan a Windows computer with the Chrome Cleanup Tool<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><strong>See also<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/reset-firefox-completely-start-over-from-scratch\/\">Reset Firefox Completely and Start Over from Scratch<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>You may occasionally want to reset Chrome to the factory default settings for performance, or in the aftermath of malware attack and removal. This post tells you how to reset your Google Chrome settings and data.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[2],"tags":[241],"class_list":["post-4785","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general","tag-google-chrome"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":24048,"url":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/transfer-chrome-profile-another-computer\/","url_meta":{"origin":4785,"position":0},"title":"How to Transfer Chrome Profiles to Another Computer","author":"Ramesh","date":"May 14, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Google Chrome's synchronize feature stores a copy of your entire browser settings in the cloud and synchronizes it with your other devices. It can sync your Apps, Bookmarks, Extensions, History, Settings, Themes, Reading List, Open Tabs, Passwords, Addresses, phone numbers, payment methods, etc. With sync, all you need to do\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;General&quot;","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/category\/general\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"chrome transfer profile to another computer","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/chrome-corrupt-data-reset-prompt.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/chrome-corrupt-data-reset-prompt.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/chrome-corrupt-data-reset-prompt.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/chrome-corrupt-data-reset-prompt.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":6413,"url":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/google-chrome-high-disk-usage-100-percent\/","url_meta":{"origin":4785,"position":1},"title":"Fix Google Chrome High Disk Usage (100%) Problem","author":"Ramesh","date":"August 4, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Every once in a while you may have definitely encountered a problem where one particular application uses 100% disk usage (or CPU, or memory usage). Many users reported \"high disk usage\" problem on their systems when Google Chrome is launched. Chrome may totally stall your system showing the status \"waiting\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Utilities&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Utilities","link":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/category\/utilities\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"hand point icon","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/hand.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":4840,"url":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/reset-microsoft-edge-browser-defaults\/","url_meta":{"origin":4785,"position":2},"title":"How to Reset, Repair or Reinstall Edge Web Browser","author":"Ramesh","date":"December 16, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Sometimes, web browsers may need a complete reset -- to revert to the default settings especially in the aftermath and removal of a browser-based attack, search hijack, PUA, PUP or Adware infection. We recently saw how to reset Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox manually. This post tells you how to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Microsoft Edge&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Microsoft Edge","link":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/category\/edge\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"reset edge chromium","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/reset-edge-chromium-1.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/reset-edge-chromium-1.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/reset-edge-chromium-1.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":55484,"url":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/reset-winhttp-proxy-settings\/","url_meta":{"origin":4785,"position":3},"title":"Reset WinHTTP Proxy Settings in Windows 10 or 11","author":"Ramesh","date":"June 22, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Sometimes, you may have to reset the WinHTTP proxy, firewall or network settings to fix connectivity issues when using Windows Update, Microsoft Store, or other apps. WinHTTP provides the HTTP client APIs, which are used by desktop applications and Windows services. This article tells you how to disable or reset\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Windows 10&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Windows 10","link":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/category\/microsoft\/windows\/windows-10\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"internet options - connnections tab - proxy server","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/inetcpl-proxy-server.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":4935,"url":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/chrome-incognito-light-theme-change-dark\/","url_meta":{"origin":4785,"position":4},"title":"Apply a Light Theme for Chrome Incognito","author":"Ramesh","date":"December 23, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"With the implementation of Material Design in recent desktop versions of Google Chrome, the dark color scheme has been applied for incognito mode. Some users still prefer to have the usual, light theme for incognito mode, but there is no built-in option or chrome:\/\/flags setting for this. Using the Material\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;General&quot;","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/category\/general\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"chrome incognito light theme","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/chrome-incognito-dark.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/chrome-incognito-dark.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/chrome-incognito-dark.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":4516,"url":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/reset-firewall-defaults-restore-rules-advanced-security\/","url_meta":{"origin":4785,"position":5},"title":"How to Reset Windows Firewall Settings to Defaults","author":"Ramesh","date":"November 4, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"You may want to occasionally reset Windows firewall settings or rules to clear any unused entries there in the aftermath of malware attack and removal, or when some of the networking features don't work due to misconfiguration of the Windows Firewall. Windows Firewall has predefined Inbound and Outbound connection rules\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Windows&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Windows","link":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/category\/microsoft\/windows\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"reset windows firewall settings","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/firewall-rules-reset-0.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/firewall-rules-reset-0.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/firewall-rules-reset-0.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/firewall-rules-reset-0.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4785","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4785"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4785\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4785"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4785"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4785"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}