What Is About Blank Page And How To Remove It

If you see that you Web navigator opens to an about blank page and you're wondering what it is and how to remove it, you've come to the right place. In this article, we'll explore what the purpose of this page is, what the potential security risks are, and what you can do to make sure you never see this page again.

What is the About Blank page?

The page about: blank It is not specific to one browser or another. You will find it in Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Apple Safari, Microsoft Edge, Internet Explorer, Brave, Opera and the vast majority of other popular web browsers.

The hint is literally in the name: a page in white It's literally a blank page in your browser tab. You've probably seen it pop up from time to time when opening a new tab or when opening your browser for the first time.

However, as you will see below, a slightly modified version of the page about: blank It could also mean that you are infected by malware (probably a browser hijacker).

Reasons to use an About:Blank page

Even if you don't want to see a page appear in white every time you open a new tab, many people like this idea.

While it may seem impractical to have to go through a blank page before browsing, here are some of the most popular reasons why you might consider using a blank page:

• To avoid distractions
• To make sure your home page is always blank
• To regulate processes on an older PC and prevent your browser from hogging system resources
• To regulate bandwidth by opening your browser in a non-Internet tab every time you start a new session
• To ensure privacy at launch time (preferred in an open workspace environment)
• To prevent your browser from opening numerous tabs or windows cached from previous sessions

Of all the reasons mentioned above, the most compelling reason to use about:blank pages is CPU and memory usage.

On a low-end PC, you'll find that Firefox and Chrome (among others) will consume an absurd percentage of available system resources in the first few seconds of opening the browser; this could end up interfering with some applications and processes you have running at the same time.

This behavior can be avoided entirely by setting up an about blank page.

Possible virus infection

In the vast majority of cases, this blank page is not malware and should not be considered as something dangerous for your computer's security, especially if it is made sure your browser is updated to the latest version available.

However, in the past, we have seen some adware that leveraged the about:blank functionality to push users towards advertising offers.

Typically, browser hijackers will change your browser's homepage at some point, especially in situations where your antivirus identified a virus threat but was unable to clean the infection properly.

Common symptoms that will include this possibility include:

• Unwanted adware programs get installed on your PC without your explicit consent.
• You are seeing random web page text that is automatically converted into clickable hyperlinks.
• You are seeing pop-ups in your browser that often recommend fake updates or other software installations.
• You are seeing advertising banners that are injected with the web pages you visit most frequently.

If you experience any of the symptoms described above, the best course of action is to run a deep scan of Malwarebytes and clean your system from potentially unwanted malware and adware.

How to delete the about blank page

There is no permanent way to delete the page about blank . This is an integrated part of your browser and will always remain hidden under the hood of your browser.

However, there are ways to make sure you never see him again if you don't want to.

If you want to see the page New tab or any other web page when you open your browser, you can change the default behavior from your browser settings.

Of course, the instructions for doing this will be different depending on the browser you are using.

To make things easier for you, we've created a selection of sub-guides that will walk you through the process of doing this in all the popular browsers out there.

Google Chrome

If you are using Google Chrome, click the action icon (three dots) in the top left corner and click Settings in the context menu that just appeared.

From the next menu, go to the On startup tab section and select  Open new tab page  or simply remove the about:blank page from the list of web pages that are opened every time the browser starts.

Mozilla Firefox

If you are on Mozilla Firefox, click the action button (three dots icon), then go to Options > Home.

In the menu that just appeared, select the desired home page that will be used when opening the browser. Make sure that ' about: blank ' and Blank Page are not selected.

safari

If you are in an Apple ecosystem and are using Safari, go to Preferences, then click (or tap) on the tab General.

Once you're inside the general settings, delete the 'about:blank' page and replace it with the home page you want to use instead.

Microsoft Edge

If you are using Microsoft Edge or any derivative of this browser framework, you can remove the about:blank page by going to Settings > On startup.

From there, select Open a new tab or simply delete about: blank from the list of pages that Edge opens by default.