How to reset your web browser to its default settings

Chris Hoffman is Editor-in-Chief of How-To Geek. He’s written about technology for over a decade and was a PCWorld columnist for two years. Chris has written for The New York Times and Reader’s Digest, been interviewed as a technology expert on TV stations like Miami’s NBC 6, and had his work covered by news outlets like the BBC. Since 2011, Chris has written over 2,000 articles that have been read nearly one billion times—and that’s just here at How-To Geek. Read more.

Lori Kaufman is a technology expert with 25 years of experience. She’s been a senior technical writer, worked as a programmer, and has even run her own multi-location business. Read more.

Want to reset your web browser to its default settings? You can’t necessarily just uninstall it — your personal files will stay on your computer. And if your browser is Internet Explorer, it can’t be uninstalled at all.

Resetting your browser to its default state can often fix problems. For example, a program you install may change your search engine, install toolbars, and do other unwelcome things. Or you may have accidentally changed advanced settings on your own.

Google Chrome

Google Chrome has an option that will reset itself to its default settings. To find this option, click the menu button (three horizontal lines) in the upper-right corner of the browser window and select “Settings”. Start typing “reset settings” in the search box. Settings matching the search term start displaying. Click the Perform a search for “reset browser” and you’ll see the Reset browser settings button.

The Reset settings dialog box displays, telling you what resetting your settings will do. Click “Reset” if you’re sure you want to reset your Chrome settings.

NOTE: You could also just plug chrome://settings/resetProfileSettings into Chrome’s address bar to pull up the Reset Settings dialog box.

Use this option and Google Chrome will erase almost everything: your extensions, settings, cookies, history, home page, default search engine, and more. Chrome won’t delete your bookmarks, browsing history, or saved passwords, so your important personal data will be kept.

Learn more about troubleshooting Google Chrome crashes if resetting your Chrome settings didn’t solve your problem.

Mozilla Firefox

Firefox also allows you to return it to its default state. To do so, click the Firefox menu button in the upper-right corner of the browser window and click “Open Help Menu”.

Select “Troubleshooting Information” from the slide-out Help menu.

Click “Refresh Firefox” under Give Firefox a tune up in the gray box in the upper-right corner of the Troubleshooting Information page.

NOTE: You can also enter “about:support” (without the quotes) in the address bar to access the Troubleshooting Information page.

Click “Refresh Firefox” on the dialog box that displays. Firefox will erase your extensions and themes, browser preferences, search engines, site-specific preferences, and other browser settings. However, Firefox will attempt to preserve your bookmarks, browsing history, passwords, saved form history, saved passwords, cookies, and windows and tabs you had open.

The Refresh feature resets Firefox by creating a new profile for you and copying the important data from the old profile into the new one. Your old profile is placed on the desktop in a folder titled “Old Firefox Data.” If you lose important data in the reset, you can attempt to recover it from this folder. If you don’t need the folder, you’re free to delete it.

Firefox restarts and a message displays. Choose whether you want to restore all the windows and tabs you had open, or only the ones you want and click “Let’s go!”

Internet Explorer

Internet Explorer has the ability to reset its settings to the default ones. If you’re using Windows 8, resetting Internet Explorer on the desktop will also reset Modern Internet Explorer’s settings.

To do this, open the Internet Explorer desktop app, click the gear menu in the upper-right corner of the browser window, and select “Internet options” from the drop-down menu.

Click the “Advanced” tab and then click “Reset” at the bottom. Internet Explorer warns you that “You should only use this if your browser is in an unusable state.” but that’s just to dissuade you from wiping out all your personal settings unless it’s absolutely necessary.

Internet Explorer will disable browser add-ons and erase browser, privacy, security, and pop-up settings. If you also want to reset your home page and search providers, as well as delete temporary files, history entries, and cookies, select the “Delete personal settings” check box so there is a check mark in the box. Then, click “Reset”.

Your favorites and feeds won’t be erased. However, passwords you’ve saved in Internet Explorer will be deleted.

A dialog box displays showing the reset progress. Once it’s done, click “Close”.

After resetting Internet Explorer, you’ll have to restart your computer for your changes to take effect.

Read more about troubleshooting Internet Explorer crashes if you still experience problems.

Want to reset your web browser to its default settings? You can’t necessarily just uninstall it — your personal files will stay on your computer. And if your browser is Internet Explorer, it can’t be uninstalled at all.

Resetting your browser to its default state can often fix problems. For example, a program you install may change your search engine, install toolbars, and do other unwelcome things. Or you may have accidentally changed advanced settings on your own.

Google Chrome
Google Chrome has an option that will reset itself to its default settings. To find this option, open Chrome’s menu and select Settings. Perform a search for “reset browser” and you’ll see the Reset browser settings button.

You could also just plug chrome://settings/resetProfileSettings into Chrome’s address bar to pull up this page.

Use this option and Google Chrome will erase almost everything — your extensions, settings, cookies, history, home page, default search engine, and more. Chrome won’t delete your bookmarks or passwords, so your important personal data will be kept.

Mozilla Firefox
Firefox also allows you to return it to its default state. To do so, click the Firefox menu button, point to Help, and select Troubleshooting Information.

Click the Reset Firefox button on the Troubleshooting Information page.

Firefox will erase your extensions and themes, browser preferences, search engines, site-specific preferences, and other browser settings. However, Firefox will attempt to preserve your bookmarks, history, passwords, form history, and cookies.

The Reset feature accomplishes this by creating a new profile for you, copying this important data over. Your old profile will be placed on the desktop in a folder titled “Old Firefox Data.” If you lose important data in the reset, you can attempt to recover it from this folder. If you don’t need the folder, you’re free to delete it.

Internet Explorer
The desktop version of Internet Explorer has the ability to reset its settings to the default ones. If you’re using Windows 8, resetting Internet Explorer on the desktop will also reset Modern Internet Explorer’s settings.

To do this, open the Internet Explorer desktop app, click the gear menu, and select Internet options.

Click over to the Advanced tab and click the Reset button at the bottom of the Internet Options window. Internet Explorer warns you that “You should only use this if your browser is in an unusable state,” but that’s just to dissuade you from wiping out all your personal settings unless it’s absolutely necessary.

Internet Explorer will disable browser add-ons and erase browser, privacy, security, and pop-up settings. If you also want to reset your home page and search providers, as well as delete temporary files, history entries, and cookies, check the Delete personal settings box.

Your favorites and feeds won’t be erased. However, passwords you’ve saved in Internet Explorer will be deleted.

After resetting Internet Explorer, you’ll have to restart your computer for your changes to take effect.

Safari has no built-in feature that resets itself to its default state. You can click the Safari menu and select Reset Safari, although this will only delete your browsing data — not reset Safari’s browser settings to their defaults. You’d have to delete Safari’s configuration files by hand to entirely reset Safari.

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Overview

If you are noticing issues with your web browser, you may want to reset it to its default settings. In addition to resolving numerous other problems, resetting your browser to its default settings may help remove:

• Pop-ups
• Toolbars
• Search providers you don’t recognize
• Extensions you didn’t install

Keep in mind that resetting your browser will remove all of your settings (for example, saved passwords, history, your home page, and saved website-handling information). Your Favorites may not be deleted.

Microsoft Edge Legacy support ended on March 9, 2021. If you still have Edge Legacy, UITS recommends installing the new Chromium-based Microsoft Edge by running Windows Update.

Currently, there is no standard way to reset Microsoft Edge. If Edge is corrupted on your device, contact your campus Support Center for help.

Internet Explorer

For instructions on how to reset Internet Explorer, see Change or reset Internet Explorer settings.

Chrome

For instructions on how to reset Chrome, see Reset Chrome settings to default in Google’s Chrome Help documentation.

Firefox

For instructions on how to refresh (reset) Firefox, see Refresh Firefox – reset add-ons and settings on the Mozilla Support website.

Safari

For instructions on how to restore Safari back to its factory state, see How To Restore Safari’s Default Settings on the Lifewire website.

Restart your computer to complete the process.

This is document bexh in the Knowledge Base.
Last modified on 2021-12-21 10:19:00 .

Your browser often crashes and you have tried all possible solutions to fix it? It may be necessary that you restore it to its default values. Read on to discover how to restore the most popular web browsers to default settings.

• Internet Explorer
• Google Chrome
• Mozilla Firefox
• Opera
• Safari
• Microsoft Edge Chromium

How to reset Internet Explorer to default settings?

1. Close all open windows and programs.
2. Open Internet Explorer
3. Select Tools >Internet options.
4. Select the Advanced tab.
5. In the Reset Internet Explorer Settings dialog box, select Reset.
6. In the box, Are you sure you want to reset all Internet Explorer settings?, select Reset.
7. When Internet Explorer finishes applying default settings, select Close, and then select OK. Restart your PC to apply changes.

How to reset Google Chrome to default settings?

1. On your computer, open Chrome.
2. At the top right, click More (the three vertical dots at the top right corner) >Settings >Advanced (on the left panel).
3. On Windows: Click Reset and cleanup >Reset settings to their original defaults >Reset settings.
4. On Chromebook, Linux, and Mac: Click Reset settings >Restore settings to their original defaults >Reset settings.
5. Restart the browser.

How to reset Mozilla Firefox to default settings?

1. Open Mozilla Firefox.
2. Click on the Settings (the three horizontal lines located at the upper menu bar).
3. Select Help > Troubleshoot mode.
4. A new window will open, click on Refresh Firefox on the upper right menu
5. Confirm again, click on Refresh Firefox
6. Firefox may restart and list all the refreshed settings

How to reset Opera to default settings?

1. Open Opera.
2. Click on the Settings (the gear icon located at the left menu bar).
3. Scroll to the Advanced section, and click on it to expand the options.
4. Scroll to the bottom Reset Settings section.
5. Click on Restore settings to their original defaults option.
6. Click on the Reset button in the confirmation dialog box.
7. Restart the browser.

How to reset Safari to default settings?

To remove website data:

1. Open Safari.
2. Click on Safari > Preferences (on the upper bar).
3. At the top of the window, select Privacy
4. Click on Manage Website Data.
5. Confirm and click on Remove All.

To clear caches:

1. Enable the Develop mode, from the Safari menu bar, click on Safari > Preferences, and select the Advanced tab
2. Enable the checkbox to Show Develop menu in menu bar.
3. From the menu bar select: Develop > Empty Caches.

Use the latest browser recommended by Microsoft

Get speed, security, and privacy with Microsoft Edge .

Change Internet Explorer settings

There are many changes you can make to customize your browsing experience in Internet Explorer. To view all settings and options, open Internet Explorer on the desktop, select Tools > Internet options.

Reset Internet Explorer settings

You can reset Internet Explorer settings to what they were when Internet Explorer was first installed on your PC. This is useful for troubleshooting problems that may be caused by settings that were changed after installation. Be aware that this process isn’t reversible, and all previous Internet Explorer settings are lost after reset.

Close all open windows and programs.

Open Internet Explorer, select Tools > Internet options.

Select the Advanced tab.

In the Reset Internet Explorer Settings dialog box, select Reset.

In the box, Are you sure you want to reset all Internet Explorer settings?, select Reset.

When Internet Explorer finishes applying default settings, select Close, and then select OK. Restart your PC to apply changes.

If Internet Explorer won’t open, or pages won’t load.

If Internet Explorer won’t open, or if pages aren’t loading, there may be an add-on that is interfering with the process. To tell whether this issue is with an add-on or not, you can try the following:

Find your processor speed.

Select Start > Settings > System > About.

Under Device specifications, see System type.

Based on your processor speed, choose the appropriate line of code below and copy and paste or type the code into the Search box on the toolbar.

For 32-bit:
“C:\Program Files (x86)\Internet Explorer\iexplore.exe” -extoff

For 64-bit:
“C:\Program Files\Internet Explorer\iexplore.exe” -extoff

Internet Explorer will open and you can find out which add-ons were causing issues. To manage add-ons in Internet Explorer, see Manage add-ons in Internet Explorer 11.

Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Microsoft Edge, Apple Safari, Internet Explorer… When your web browsers misbehave, they can make your digital life much more frustrating! You could spend hours trying to figure out what the problem is. You may even give up and take your computer for a repair, but try resetting the settings first!

When your web browser is not doing what it is supposed to do, resetting it to factory defaults is usually the quickest way of resolving the issues. Note – we don’t mean resetting the operating system, just the browser!

Symptoms of a borked browser may include lock-ups, frequent freezes when scrolling web pages, annoying pop-ups and notifications.

Some pages will display with strange layouts or not at all, or redirects to scams and more ads.

Sometimes your search functions are also hijacked. You type something in the search bar and instead of getting the results you’d expect, you get completely different search results – usually illicit drugs, “get rich quick” scams, claims of lotteries won, and so on.

Generally, these problems start shortly after installing new software or add-ons. Most people don’t read what their computer says on the screen and just click Next, Next, Next… until the software is installed – only to realize it also installed unwanted junk on your computer!

Resetting the settings is the quickest way to remove the add-ons, reset the search engine and get rid of notifications. Sometimes a reset won’t help, and the malicious software will come back. This usually happens when your computer is actually infected with viruses – time to take it for a professional malware removal !

Not all borked settings are a result of viruses. Some people naturally like to tinker with their programs. Some do accidental changes, for example, zooming in and setting fonts to 200% size. Again, reset is the quickest way out.

Resetting the browser comes with some consequences though… If you set yours up precisely the way you want (with the search engine, add-ons, themes, and various settings), you will have to reconfigure it again.

Bookmarks and saved passwords will usually remain after the reset, but browsing history, cookies, and addresses will disappear. Some websites will ask you to log in again, so you better make sure you know your passwords! If you have trouble managing and remembering passwords, consider using a Password Manager .

As the best computer expert in Nelson, I usually try to research the various ways of solving the problems before attempting to reset the settings. Chances are, people had the same issue before, and a quick Google search can point you in the right direction.

Just be cautious about advice from self-proclaimed experts and “cousins who are good with computers” who will urge you to “try this and see if it works”. If you can’t find a credible answer, it’s time to reset the browser or call for help.

Hitting the Reset button

Unfortunately, there is no big red button that can magically fix everything. Settings vary based on what browser you are using but here are the ways of finding the reset button.

Reset Google Chrome

1. Click the Chrome menu (three vertical dots) in the upper-right corner
2. Click Settings, then “Advanced” in the left sidebar, and “Reset and clean up.”
3. From here, you can “Restore settings to their original defaults” and even perform a computer clean up. Obviously, this isn’t a comprehensive scan of your computer for viruses and malware, but it can solve many issues

Here is what happens when you perform the reset (from Google’s official documentation)

• Default search engine and saved search engines will be reset and to their original defaults.
• Homepage button will be hidden, and the URL that you previously set will be removed.
• Default startup tabs will be cleared. The browser will show a new tab when you startup or continue where you left off if you’re on a Chromebook.
• New Tab page will be empty unless you have a version of Chrome with an extension that controls it. In that case, your page may be preserved.
• Pinned tabs will be unpinned.
• Content settings will be cleared and reset to their installation defaults.
• Cookies and site data will be cleared.
• Extensions and themes will be disabled.

A word of caution… Google accounts syncronize all of your settings to the cloud. If you reset your settings on one computer, and then the malicious extensions come back, check your other computers to make sure your settings are reset properly.

Saved bookmarks and passwords will not be affected by a reset. Extensions and themes can be re-enabled; you don’t have to install them again.

Reset Mozilla Firefox

1. Click on the three-bar menu icon, then Help, then “Troubleshooting Information”
2. Click “Refresh Firefox” button in the upper-right corner.

That’s it! Resetting Firefox removes add-ons and customizations and restores your browser to default security settings. It will take a minute or two and then Firefox will ask you if you want to restore the previously open windows and tabs. If you use a Firefox account, your bookmarks and passwords won’t be affected.

Reset Microsoft Edge

Microsoft Edge is the default browser that comes with Windows 10. It’s a modern replacement for the old Internet Explorer.

1. Click the Windows button, then open the Settings app. Go to Apps then Apps & Features.
2. Scroll down to find Microsoft Edge and click it once, then click the “Advanced options” link. You will see two options here: Repair and Reset.
3. I recommend you try Repair first. If that doesn’t solve the problem, try a reset, which will return Edge to default settings. Your bookmarks will not be affected.

Internet Explorer

I won’t provide directions for resetting Internet Explorer. Unless you have a specific reason to use it, it’s best to move on and use a more modern browser, such as Google Chrome.

Apple Safari

Unfortunately, Apple Safari doesn’t have a button to reset its settings. If it’s too slow, acting strange, or keeps crashing, you can manually remove the extensions, history, cookies, cache, and plugins. Or you could just use another browser. Both Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox work on Apple Mac OS.
To summarize, if your web browser isn’t behaving right, reset is often the easiest and quickest way to fix it. If it doesn’t solve your issues, it’s time to call the professionals!

What to Know

• Launch Chrome and select Menu (three dots). Select Settings >Advanced >Restore settings to their original defaults.
• A confirmation dialog will appear, detailing the components that will be restored to their default state. Click Reset Settings to continue.
• After the reset, you’ll lose extensions, themes, custom home page URLs, custom startup tabs, your browsing history, website data, and more.

This article explains how to use Chrome Advanced Settings to reset the Google Chrome web browser to its default state. Instructions cover Chrome OS, macOS, Linux, and Windows platforms.

Advanced Settings: Reset Google Chrome

Follow these instructions to reset the Chrome browser to the state it was in when you first installed it.

First, open your Google Chrome browser.

Select Chrome’s main menu button in the upper-right corner of your browser window.

When the drop-down menu appears, select Settings.

Scroll to the bottom of the page and press Advanced.

Scroll down and select Restore settings to their original defaults.

A confirmation dialog will appear, detailing the components that will be restored to their default state, should you continue on with the reset process.

Click Reset settings to comtinue.

What Can Happen

If resetting Chrome makes you nervous, it’s with good reason. Here’s what can happen if you decide to reset:

• Extensions and themes will become inactive.
• If your home page button is currently visible on Chrome’s main toolbar, it won’t be after the reset.
• Chrome will delete custom homepage URLs.
• Changes made to Chrome’s default search engine, and any other installed search engines, will return to their original state.
• You will lose custom start-up tabs.
• Chrome will clear the New Tab page.
• The reset will delete your browsing history, cookies, cache, and other website data.

If you’re okay with these changes, press Reset Settings to complete the restoration process.

When resetting Chrome’s browser settings, it shares the following items with Google: locale, user agent, Chrome version, startup type, default search engine, installed extensions, and whether or not your home page is the New Tab page. If you don’t feel comfortable sharing these settings, remove the checkmark next to the Help make Google Chrome/Chromium better by reporting the current settings option prior to clicking Reset.

About Resetting Chrome

As Google’s Chrome browser continues to evolve, so does the level of control you have to modify its behavior. With dozens of customizable settings available, including tweaking its homepage functionality and utilizing web and prediction services, Chrome can provide a browsing experience tailored to your liking.

With all of this virtual dominion, however, come some inherent pitfalls. Whether the changes you’ve made to Chrome are causing problems or, worse yet, happened without your consent (for example, due to malware), resetting Chrome to its default state often solves these issues.

Resetting something—your router, your phone, your bad morning habits—is often an effective and relatively painless way of fixing a problem. The same trick works on web browsers, too. The apps we spend most of our computing time in tend to accumulate all kinds of cruft over time, and clearing that away can solve all manner of ills.

Some of the data your browser picks up is useful, like the usernames and passwords for your key accounts. Other stuff—your browsing history from this time last year, a third-party plug-in you haven’t used for months—is less valuable.

A regular reset can make your browser a less cluttered and speedier place to be, and most of the major programs in the field allow you to reset the software without too much trouble. You can choose which data gets wiped, and how that affects the other devices that you’re signed in on.

Another reason you might want to run a reset is to cut off the syncing that Google, Apple, Microsoft, Mozilla, and others insist on trying to foist upon you these days. Maybe you don’t want everything you do on your home computer syncing to the laptop you’ve got set up at work, after all.

It can also be an effective way of getting rid of malware or anything else you don’t want invading your browser, whether that’s a custom start page or a browser add-on that keeps redirecting your searches to an affiliate site.

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Chrome

You can do a partial clean-up of Chrome by picking Settings from the browser menu and then going to Clear browsing data. From there, you can clear your choice of browsing history, cookies, site settings, saved passwords, cached files, and more. If you’re signed into your Google account, this clears the selected data across all your synced devices (sign out first if you don’t want this to happen).

To put Chrome’s local settings back to their defaults while keeping the stuff you have synced to your Google account (like passwords and browsing history), go further down the Settings pane, select Advanced, then Restore settings to their original defaults. This resets your startup page, new tab page, pinned tabs, site permissions, and cookies, and disables any installed extensions and themes.

If you want to wipe all traces of your Google account and its synced data from Chrome, you need to click Turn off next to You and Google at the top of Settings. This disconnects Chrome from your Google account, and you get the option to wipe data such as bookmarks, browsing history, and passwords at the same time (all of this information stays in the cloud in this case, so it will come back if you sign in again).

Firefox

Choose Preferences then Privacy & Security from the Firefox menu, and you can reset certain parts of Firefox manually. You can clear cookies and site data, browsing history, or the various permissions that sites have built up (access to your microphone and so on) while you’ve been using the browser.

For a standard Firefox reset (which it calls a refresh), go to “about:support” in a blank browser tab, then click Refresh Firefox. This wipes out certain local changes you might have made to your browser, including extensions, themes, site permissions, and any preferences you’ve changed. A lot of key browser data, including saved passwords and saved cookies, isn’t affected.

To control which types of data are synced between the current computer and your Firefox account in the cloud (and the other devices you’re signed in on), you need to click Sync on the Preferences window. If you prefer, you can sync some types of data to the local computer but not others.

Safari

The reset options for Safari on macOS aren’t quite as accessible as they are on other browsers for whatever reason, and there’s no master reset button you can use. To clear cached files, for example, you need to first enable the Develop menu via Preferences and Advanced on the Safari menu, then choose Develop and Empty Caches.

Stored website data, including cookies, can be wiped by going to Safari, Preferences, Privacy, and Website Data. Click on an individual entry in the list then choose Remove, or click Remove All to get rid of all the data saved locally in one go. For each website, you can see the type of data that’s going to get removed.

Browser history and browser extensions are managed in two separate places, too. Select Safari and Clear History to wipe some or all of your browsing history—the available choices range from the last hour to all time, and cookies are included. To access your extensions and disable them individually, go to Safari, Preferences and Extensions.

Edge

The new and improved Microsoft Edge runs on Chromium, of course, so the available options here are somewhat similar to Google Chrome. Go to Settings then Privacy and Services from the browser menu, then click Choose What to Clear to wipe some or all of your cookies, cached files, browsing history, and more.

As with Chrome, if you’re signed in and syncing to Edge on other devices, this reset applies to those devices, too. You need to go to Profiles and Sync from the Settings pane to stop this from happening.

Also on the Settings pane, you’ll see an option called Reset Settings, which does exactly what you would expect: It resets local configuration settings, including the pages that appear when the browser starts and when you open a new tab, the search engine that’s used by default inside Edge, and so on. Temporary data like cookies gets wiped, but not stored passwords or your browsing history.

Opera

If Opera is your web browser of choice, then you can go to Advanced in Settings to access a variety of reset options. Click Site Settings to wipe cookies and reset site permissions for example, or Clear browsing data to get rid of your browsing and download histories, stored passwords, and more.

For managing whether your browsing data erasures affected the other places where you’re signed into your Opera account, find the Synchronization option further up the list in Settings. Here you can sign in or out of an Opera account, which in turn affects whether or not the actions you take on your local computer have any effect anywhere else.

Like Chrome and Edge, Opera is based on Chromium, so you’ll find the familiar Restore settings to their original defaults entry right at the bottom of the Settings pane. As in the other Chromium browsers, this resets local settings (like your default search engine), while leaving synced data such as passwords untouched.

Want your Windows PC to open links in Firefox, your Mac to load up Chrome, or your iPhone to favor Edge? Here’s how to change the default web browser on a PC or mobile device.

Every computer and mobile device comes with a default web browser. Windows 10 and 11 use Edge, while Apple devices run Safari. On Android, the default may be Google Chrome, Samsung’s Internet browser, or something else, like the stock Android browser prevalent in older models.

However, you don’t have to stick with that default. By changing it, any link or web-based file you select will open in your browser of choice. Here’s how to make the switch for each type of operating system and platform.

Set by Browser

Here’s the first step you should try. Before navigating to the application settings on your Windows or macOS computer, you can open your desired browser and set it as the default.

To do this in Google Chrome, click the three-dot icon in the upper right and go to Settings > Default browser. Click the button for Make default. In Firefox, click the hamburger icon in the upper right and select Settings. In the General section, click Make default. In Microsoft Edge, click the three-dot icon in the upper right and go to Settings > Default browser. Click the button for Make default.

The same trick works for other browsers. In Opera, click the hamburger icon in the upper right. Click the link for Go to full browser settings. Scroll down the page to the section for Default browser and click the button for Make default. In the Brave browser, click the hamburger icon and go to Settings. In the Get Started section of the Settings screen, click the button for Make default. And in the Vivaldi browser, click the settings icon in the lower left corner of the screen. In the General section, click the button for Set as default.

Windows 11

For Windows 11, Edge is the default. Initially, Microsoft made it difficult for people to change the default to a different browser. But after a slew of complaints, the company eased the process. To change the default, go to Settings > Apps > Default Apps. Scroll down the screen and select the browser you wish to set as the default. Click the button for Set default.

That action changes the default for most browser-related files, including HTM, HTML, HTTP, and HTTPS. However, some web-related files are still associated with Microsoft Edge. To fully switch, scroll down the screen and look for other extensions, such as SHTML, XHT, XHTML, and FTP. Click a specific extension among these and select your preferred browser from the list.

Windows 10

With Windows 10, Microsoft replaced Internet Explorer with Edge, which received a Chromium-based overhaul in 2020. Naturally, Microsoft recommends that you stick with its own browser, but you can change the default. Navigate to Settings > Apps > Default Apps. Scroll down the list of apps and click the one for Web browser. Choose from among Firefox, Chrome, or another program that’s already installed or that you can download from the Microsoft Store.

Windows 8.1

In Windows 8.1, you’re initially stuck with Internet Explorer as the default browser. Switch it out by opening the Charms bar and clicking the Settings icon. At the Settings pane, go to Change PC Settings > Search and apps > Defaults. From here, the process is similar to that in Windows 10. Select the current default for Web browser and change it to the browser of your choice.

Windows 7

Microsoft ceased offering security updates to Windows 7 in January 2020, so you should consider upgrading to a more modern and secure OS. Otherwise, Internet Explorer is the default browser, though the process for changing it is different than in Windows 10 and 8.1. Open Control Panel in icon view, go to Default Programs, and click the link for Set your default programs. Select the browser you want to use as the default. The status indicates that the new default browser currently has X of a certain number of defaults. Click Set this program as default, and the status should change to indicate that the browser has all its defaults.

MacOS

Changing the default browser on a Mac is quick and painless. On your Mac, click the Apple menu in the top left of the screen, open System Preferences, and click the General icon. On the General screen, click the drop-down box next to Default web browser and change the selection to your preferred program.

iOS and iPadOS

In the past, Apple prevented you from switching the default browser on your iPhone or iPad, but that was altered with iOS 14 and iPadOS. To switch the default from Safari to any other browser, go to Settings. Swipe down and select the browser you want—Chrome, Firefox, Edge, or something else. Tap the entry for Default Browser App and select the browser you wish to use.

Android

To set Google Chrome as the default web browser on Android, you’ll need to go through the phone’s settings. These settings will differ depending on the manufacturer, but you can generally swipe down from the top of the screen and tap the gear icon to enter the Settings menu. Look for an option that says Apps or Apps & Notifications. Tap the setting for Default apps. Tap the entry for Browser app entry and select Chrome as your new default.

To set Firefox as the default browser, tap the three-dot icon in the lower-right corner of the app and choose Settings. At the Settings screen, turn on the switch for Set as default browser. If a window pops up asking if you want to set Firefox as your default browser app, select Firefox and tap Set as default. Otherwise, tap the entry for Browser app and change the default to Firefox.

For Edge, tap the three-dot icon and select Settings. Swipe down the Settings screen and tap Set Microsoft Edge as default. A window appears asking if you want to set Microsoft Edge as your default browser. Tap the button for Yes, let’s do it. At the Default apps screen, select Browser app and choose Edge as the new default.

For other Android browsers such as Brave, Opera, Vivaldi, and DuckDuckGo, navigate directly to the Default apps screen under Settings. Tap the entry for Browser app and change the default to your preferred browser.

By Paul Wagenseil published 20 May 20

Here’s how to reset Google Chrome to swiftly get rid of browser-hijacking adware

If your Google Chrome Web browser suddenly has an unwanted toolbar, or its home page has changed without your permission, or your search results appear in a search engine you never chose, then it may be time to hit the browser-reset button.

Many legitimate pieces of software, especially freeware, that you download from the internet slap on third-party, browser-hijacking extensions when you install them. The practice is highly annoying, but it’s unfortunately legal.

Fortunately, there’s a fix for this in the form of a full browser reset, and Google Chrome makes it easy to perform.

• How to reset Mozilla Firefox
• How to download Google Chrome
• Make the most of your browser with a Chrome VPN extension

Resetting Chrome will restore your home page and search engine to their default settings. It will also disable all browser extensions and clear out your cookie cache. But your bookmarks and saved passwords will remain, at least in theory.

You may want to save your bookmarks before performing a browser rest. Here are Google’s directions on how to import and export bookmarks in Chrome.

Be aware that while your extensions will not be removed, you will have to turn each one back on manually by going to Menu –> More Tools –> Extensions. You will also have to log back into any websites that you normally stay logged into, such as Facebook or Gmail.

The steps below are identical for the Windows, macOS and Linux versions of Chrome.

1. Click the icon that looks like three vertical dots at the top right of the browser window.

2. Select “Settings” in the drop-down menu.

3. Click “Advanced” in the left-hand navigation bar in the resulting Settings page.

4. Select “Reset and clean up” at the bottom of the expanded menu.

5. Select “Restore settings to their original defaults.”

6. Select “Reset settings” in the confirmation pop-up window.

If you’ve performed the browser reset, but your search engine and homepage are still set to something you didn’t want, or they revert to unwanted settings after a short period of time, then you may have a potentially unwanted program (PUP) lurking in your system that is making the changes.

Like a browser-hijacking extension, PUPs are legal in most cases, which makes them no less irritating. But you’ll want to track down each PUP and kill it.

Start by running one of the best antivirus programs to try to get rid of the PUP, but be aware that some AV programs will not remove PUPs because makers of legal but unwanted programs may sue when that happens.

Then install and run Malwarebytes Free for Windows or macOS to zap anything the antivirus program missed. Malwarebytes Free isn’t antivirus software and won’t stop you being infected by malware, but it’s a great way to clean out unwanted files.

Microsoft Edge is the default web browser in Windows 10 when you upgrade, even if you had it set to Chrome or Firefox, and It’s simple to switch back, here’s how.

Update: Changing the default browser on Windows 10 is much easier these days compared to when the OS was first released.

Change Default Browser on Windows 10

Go to Start > Settings > Apps > Default apps. Click on what’s listed as your default browser — in this case it’s the beta version of Edge.

Then a list of installed browsers will pop up. Click on the one you want to set as the default.

That’s all there is to it!

Old Original Article…

Microsoft Edge is the default web browser in Windows 10 when you upgrade, even if you had it set to Chrome or Firefox. While the Edge browser is much faster and intuitive than Internet Explorer, features are missing. Namely, the ability to use popular add-ons or extensions that are available in other browsers like Chrome or Firefox.

So you might want to make your default browser something else until we get those abilities in Edge in future updates. It’s a lot easier than Mozilla’s CEO Chris Beard wants users to think in his recent open letter to Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella.

Regarding changing your browser back to Firefox, Beard writes:

It now takes more than twice the number of mouse clicks, scrolling through content and some technical sophistication for people to reassert the choices they had previously made in earlier versions of Windows. It’s confusing, hard to navigate and easy to get lost.

That’s a pretty strong statement and insults the intelligence of Windows users. In fact, you could say he’s insulting his own customers who want to use Firefox in Windows 10.

So, without further ado, here’s a look at changing your default browser after an upgrade to Windows 10.

Change Windows 10 Default Web Browser

In the search field type: default browser and hit Enter. Or just click Choose a default browser from the top of the search results.

That brings you directly to Settings > System > Default apps, where the Web browser option is already highlighted. As you can see, Edge is currently set as the default.

To change it click on Microsoft Edge and a menu of different browsers you have installed on your PC pops up. Choose the one you want, closeout of the screen, and you’re done!

Moving forward, any time you click any links in your email or other apps, your browser of choice opens up — not Edge.

I hope you didn’t get lost or confused by that.

A Few More Thoughts

The steps outlined above are mostly aimed at those of you who upgraded Windows 7 to Windows 10 or those who upgraded Windows 8.1 to 10. If you do a clean install of Windows 10, you’ll need to download your browser(s) of choice again. And, the first time you run Firefox, it asks if you want to make your default – just like it has always done.

And interestingly enough, the first time I launched Google Chrome, it displayed a video that showed you exactly how to make it your default browser (again, same steps as above.) If you’re curious, you can see the full video here.

It should be no surprise that Microsoft is going to change your default web browser to its own during the upgrade process. Microsoft wants to show you what it has to offer, and it wants you to use it. But changing it back to whatever you prefer is a simple affair.

Instead of going off on a rant about it being a step backward and insulting users, Mozilla’s CEO should do something similar to what Google does, or have a landing page with the instructions outlined above.

What’s your take on this? Leave a comment below and let us know your thoughts!

In Windows 10, Microsoft Edge is the default web browser. To change the default web browser in Windows 10, use one of the two methods available in this guide.

For the first time, in the history of the Windows operating system, a version of Windows has been shipped with two web browsers. In Windows 10, in addition to the well-known Internet Explorer, there is a new web browser called Microsoft Edge.

In Windows 10, the newly introduced Microsoft Edge is the default web browser. The Edge browser is developed from scratch and is bundled with some cool features. The ability to take notes on webpages and share with others is one of the highlights of the Edge browser.

While the Edge browser is certainly better than Internet Explorer, it’s not as feature-complete as Mozilla Firefox or Google Chrome right now. Microsoft plans to add new features in future versions, but, for now, many features are missing from the browser.

Since Edge is the default browser in Windows 10, you might want to set Firefox, Opera, or Chrome as your default web browser in Windows 10. Making your favorite browser as default in Windows 10 is not as easy as it was in previous Windows versions. When you click Make default option in Firefox or Chrome browser, you’ll see Settings app (or classic Default Programs).

To change the default web browser in Windows 10, you need to follow the directions mentioned in one of the two methods given below.

Method 1 – change the default browser in Windows 10 using the Settings app

Method 2 – change the default browser in Windows 10 using Default Programs

Method 1

Change the default browser in Windows 10 using Settings app

In this method, we are going to use the Settings app to change the default web browser in Windows 10.

Step 1: Open the Settings app by clicking the Settings icon on the Start menu or using the Windows logo, and I keyboard shortcut.

Step 2: In the Settings app, click System (Display, notifications, apps, power).

Step 3: On the left-side, click Default apps.

Step 4: Now, on the right side, scroll down to see the Web browser section.

Step 5: Click on the default entry, which is Microsoft Edge, to see Choose an app flyout, and then click on the browser that you want to make default. That’s it!

The newly set browser’s name should appear under the Web browser section now.

Method 2

Change the default browser in Windows 10 using Default Programs

Step 1: Type Default Programs in Start menu or taskbar search box and press Enter key to open Default Programs window.

Step 2: Here, click the first option labeled Set your default programs.

Step 3: On the left-side, under Programs, look for Firefox, or Chrome, or any other web browser that you want to make as the default browser.

Step 4: Click on the browser name that you want to set as default to see Set this program as the default option on the right-side. Click Set this program as default button to make it as the default web browser in Windows 10.

Step 5: Next, on the right side, click the other option titled Choose default for this program, check the box labeled Select all in the resulting window, and then click Save button.

What’s your primary web browser in Windows 10, and why?

– Last updated on February 13, 2021 by VG

SUMMARY: If you want to reset all modified preferences or values in About:Config page in Mozilla Firefox web browser, this tutorial will help you. After following this tutorial, you’ll be able to restore or revert all customized entries and settings in About:Config page to default in Firefox browser easily and quickly.

Recently an AskVG reader contacted me and asked how to reset all default settings in about:config page of Firefox? Actually he installed some 3rd party extensions in Firefox which started causing issues. He also modified many preferences in about:config page as mentioned on various websites claiming to speed up Firefox which were also causing weird issues while browsing websites. The reader uninstalled the extension but it didn’t fix the issue. Since he modified several preferences/flags in about:config page, he didn’t want to reset them one by one manually. He wanted a quick and easy way to restore all default preferences/settings in about:config page at once.

Actually it’s quite easy to reset all modified preferences/flags in about:config page to factory default without any need to restore them one by one manually. Today in this article, I’m going to share this trick.

If you are also facing issues after modifying preferences in about:config page (such as Firefox is no longer starting or crashing at startup) and you also want to reset about:config page in Firefox and want to restore all modified preferences to default, following steps will help you:

First of all, if you don’t know let me tell you. About:Config is an advanced configuration page present in Mozilla Firefox web browser which allows users to modify hidden secret preferences/flags which are generally not available in Firefox Options (about:preferences) page. About:Config page is an advanced tool developed for experts so that they can customize Firefox according to their requirements. Most of the times, About:Config page is used to enable or disable features in Firefox. We have shared lots of tutorials in past which utilize About:Config page in Firefox.

Whenever you modify any preference/flag using about:config page in Firefox, it actually stores the preference along with its value in Prefs.js file present in the user profile folder. When you install Firefox, it automatically creates a user profile folder for you to store your preferences, browsing history, bookmarks, passwords, etc.

Prefs.js file stores all default and user modified preferences of About:Config page and whenever Firefox launches, it reads this file to load features according to the preferences mentioned in the file.

Similar to Prefs.js, there is another file in Firefox called User.js. This file is not present by default but users can create this file to store their modified preferences. User.js file is used to override preferences mentioned in Prefs.js file.

To reset all modified preferences/flags in About:Config page, you just need to delete both files Prefs.js and User.js (if present). Once you delete these files, Firefox will restore all preferences/flags in about:config page to default.

Now the question comes, how to delete these files? Here are the steps:

1. Open Firefox and click on Firefox Menu (hamburger menu) button and select Help -> Troubleshooting Information option. You can also directly open it by typing about:support in addressbar as mentioned here .

2. It’ll open Troubleshooting Information page. Now click on “Open Folder” button given next to “Profile Folder” label.

It’ll open your Firefox profile folder directly which is usually present in “%appdata%\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\” folder.

3. This step is important! Close Firefox. If you don’t close Firefox and delete Prefs.js file, Firefox will restore the file with same values. So close Firefox.

4. Now look for Prefs.js and User.js files in profile folder. By default, you’ll only see Prefs.js file as it’s created by Firefox in all computers. User.js file needs to be created manually by the user, so if you didn’t create it manually, you’ll not see it in your Firefox profile folder.

PS: Before deleting Prefs.js and User.js files, make sure to take a backup of these files so that you can restore them in future if required or if you are not satisfied with the result. To take a backup, copy the files to some secure location such as Desktop or a different drive where you can easily access them.

5. Now select Prefs.js and User.js (if present) files and delete them.

PS: Firefox will automatically create a new Prefs.js file in profile folder for you as soon as you launch it.

That’s it. Now launch Firefox and open about:config page and all preferences/flags will reset to default. You’ll not see any modified setting.

In future, if you want to restore your previous customized settings in about:config page, replace new Prefs.js file with your old Prefs.js file (backup) in profile folder.

BONUS TIP:

If you want to full reset Firefox browser to default settings i.e. remove all extensions, restore factory settings, clear history/cookies/etc, you just want to fresh start Firefox, following tutorial will help you in resetting Firefox as well as other popular browsers to default:

TIP for Google Chrome Users:

Similar to Firefox, if you want to reset or restore all modified preferences/flags in Chrome://flags page in Google Chrome web browser, following tutorial will help you:

You are here: Home » Mozilla Firefox » [Tip] Reset or Restore About:Config Settings to Default in Mozilla Firefox

Published in: Mozilla Firefox

About the author: Vishal Gupta (also known as VG) has been awarded with Microsoft MVP (Most Valuable Professional) award. He holds Masters degree in Computer Applications (MCA). He has written several tech articles for popular newspapers and magazines and has also appeared in tech shows on various TV channels.

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Home » CSS » How to Delete Browser Default Settings with CSS

With the advancement of technology, we have come across using various browsers to browse the Internet. And all the browsers are made to be compatible across all the devices, including laptops, tablets, and mobile phones, with various screen sizes and resolutions. Every browser comes with its configuration settings configured to execute whenever a user uses it. But with the advanced tech users and individual users, it can be a headache or downright annoying. Hence, initially, people used to change the settings of a browser using various means. And sometimes, that worked perfectly. But other times, the settings were reset to default when the browser was opened after closing it down.

Here, in this blog, we are going to show you how you can delete the browser’s default settings using merely a CSS file. These browser settings include margin, padding, and border settings that vary from browser to browser.

1. Creation of an HTML file:

HTML stands for HyperText Markup Language, which lets you create web pages of a website. Once this website is hosted on a server, anyone using the Internet can visit and take a look at this website. HTML is a simple language that anyone can master because there are many tutorials available on the Internet. It is a powerful tool that lets you create what you can visualize and meet your requirements.

So, here we take a look at how we can create a basic HTML file that talks about first page of your website. The HTML code looks like this:

This is my first web page

In this page, you will find various information regarding usage of HTML and its implementation. You can create beautiful websites using HTML.

Spectrum prides itself in being one of the largest and most well-known high-speed internet providers in the United States. With a staggering 31 million broadband subscribers, you likely are one of their customers. If you have recently signed up for their internet services, and the initial setup is what is keeping you away from using the fast and highly reliable Spectrum internet, then you are at the right place.

This guide will help to install your equipment, accessing the Spectrum router easier than ever. Let’s get started!

Set Up The Router’s Hardware

First, you need to install the Spectrum router’s hardware. Plug the modem into a cable outlet in the wall using a coaxial cable. To connect the modem to the router, plug one end of the Ethernet cord into the internet port at the router’s back and the other in the modem. Turn on the router now.

Connect To Your Network

Before logging into your Spectrum router, you have to connect your mobile, PC, or tablet to your home network using your WiFi or Ethernet cable. You can not receive access to the router settings page without connecting your device to the network.

Type In the IP Address

Launch your web browser and type the router’s IP address into its URL bar. Spectrum routers work on either or Try both if you have trouble logging in with either one of them. You can find the default IP address can be at the back of the router. After entering the gateway address, hit “enter”.

Enter the Router’s Default Login Info

Each router is assigned a default username and password combination, which you may change later. After keying in your router’s IP address into the address bar, you will be directed to the router’s login page.

On the login page, use these standard credentials to log into your spectrum router:

• Username: admin
• Password: password
• If these do not work, you may try:
• Username: user
• Password: user

You can locate the router’s username and password at the back, next to its IP address. Note that this login information is specific to Wave 2 and Sagemcom Spectrum Routers. Login details slightly vary depending upon the brand and model of the router. If you have a Netgear router, type or routerlogin.com into the web browser and enter the default credentials.

• Username: admin
• Password: password

After entering the correct login details, you will now see the Spectrum router’s web interface.

From here on, you can configure your router and change its settings as you wish, including its default login details, WiFi password, the router’s network name, and more.

Resetting Your Spectrum Router

It may be likely that you encounter some problems with your router. If you face trouble with the Spectrum router login, then there is a high possibility that someone has changed the default login credentials of your router. In that case, factory resetting your router and reconfiguring it from scratch is likely to help. To hard reset your Spectrum router:

• Press the reset button at the backside with a pointed object, like a pen or paperclip.
• Hold it for a few seconds until its power light turns off, and then release it. Your router will reboot.
• When the router restarts and the LED lights stop flashing, open your internet browser, open the browser and log in again with the default credentials.

Changing Your Spectrum Router’s Password

All Spectrum routers have preconfigured settings, including the username and password, SSID (network name), and WiFi password. To secure your home network and minimize any security risks, it is in your best interest to change its default settings, more specifically the password, when you log in to the router. To do this, follow these steps:

• Login to the Spectrum router and click on the Advanced tab at the top of the menu bar.
• Select between the desired network, which would be either 2.4GHz or 5GHz.
• Tap onto the Basic tab and enter a new network name and password.
• Lastly, tap on Apply to confirm the new changes.

After applying the new setting, your network connection will disconnect, and you will have to reconnect the device with the updated credentials.

Logging in a Spectrum router is a straightforward task that does not require you to have a great deal of technical knowledge. We hope this information helps you better understand how to install and set up your Spectrum router and adjust its settings with the help of tech professionals

If you forgot your password or are having connectivity issues

I recently was asked by a friend how they could reset their wireless router back to its default settings since they no longer could remember the WiFi password. Ever happen to you? Me too!

There are a couple of reasons why you may need to reset your wireless router: 1) You used a hard to remember password, forgot it and don’t have the password stored anywhere or 2) It was setup by someone else and you don’t know the password or 3) You want to reset the router due to performance or connectivity issues or 4) You think your router may be compromised and want to reset it to block any unauthorized users.

Note that if you are simply having connection issues, you may not need to reset your router at all, but just need to reboot it. In order to reboot, just unplug the router from the wall, wait about 20 seconds and then plug it back in. It’ll take a minute or two for the router to restart, but most connection issues can be solved by doing this.

Once you reset the router, the password for logging into the web interface and the WiFi password will be reset to their default passwords. Check out my post on how to find the default password for your wireless router.

Hard Reset (Physical Button)

Resetting a wireless router is a fairly simple task, but the results are pretty serious, which means you’ll need to spend quite a bit of time setting everything back up. When you reset a wireless router, you will lose all settings including the following:

Just about every modern router can be reset by following a very simple procedure. Either flip the router upside down or look on the back for a small hole with the word RESET. All you have to do now is just find a small paper clip and stick one end into the hole while the router is turned on.

Normally, you will have to hold down the button for 10 to 15 seconds. At this point, you should see the wireless router lights flash, blink, or simply restart. Once it has fully rebooted, the router is back to its original factory default state.

That’s pretty much it! Some older routers may require you to turn off the router first, then hold down the reset button and then turn the router back on. If neither one of these two methods work, then you should probably take a look at the manual that came with the router or find the manual online.

Soft Reset (Web Admin)

The second way to reset a router is to restore factory defaults from inside the web admin interface. In order to do this, you have to know the IP address of your router and type that into your web browser.

Where you have to go in the web interface will vary wildly depending on which router you are using. The best places to check are under headings like Management, Administration, Advanced, System, Maintenance or something similar. I have Verizon FIOS and mine was located under Advanced for my Actiontec router.

There should be a button called Restore Defaults or Restore Factory Settings, which will do exactly the same thing as the physical reset button. The only difference is that most modern routers also have the option of backing up your settings to a configuration file that you can use to restore at a later point.

If you’re having issues with your router, you probably won’t want to restore the current settings, but it’s a very good idea to reset your router, setup everything and then save a backup of all your settings once you have it properly configured again.

Now that your router is back up and running, you are going to need to connect to it using your web browser to configure all the settings again. In order to do this, you need to find the IP address for your router.

If you are not able to follow the instructions from the previous link, you can also checkout a program called Router Detector from a website called Setup Router that basically finds the router for you.

Once you have logged in, you should do two things: change the default password for logging into your router and then setup your wireless settings.

If you are having any trouble resetting your wireless router or are having problems maintaining a connection to your wireless router, post a comment and I’ll try to help. Enjoy!

Founder of Online Tech Tips and managing editor. He began blogging in 2007 and quit his job in 2010 to blog full-time. He has over 15 years of industry experience in IT and holds several technical certifications. Read Aseem’s Full Bio

This article explains how to change your default Web browser to Firefox on Windows 10 or Windows 11. For other operating systems, see Make Firefox your default browser.

In the Menu bar at the top of the screen, click Firefox and select Preferences . Click the menu button and select Options Preferences . Click the menu button and select Settings .

Click the Make Default button.

If Firefox was not able to change your default browser, it will open the Windows Settings app, with the Default apps panel already open.

1. Open the Default apps panel in Windows Settings, if it isn’t already open. (In the Windows Start menu, click the Settings icon, click Apps and click Default apps .)
2. In the Web browser section of the Default apps panel, click on the browser that is currently listed.
3. In the Choose an app panel, click on Firefox to set it as the default browser.
4. In the Web browser section, you will see that Windows 10 has Firefox set as the default browser.

To make Firefox your default Web browser on Windows 11, you will need to change the default application for a number of file types and protocols:

1. Open the Default apps panel in Windows Settings (if it isn’t already open):
   1. Click Settings in the Windows taskbar.
   2. Click Apps from the options to the left.
   3. Click Default apps .
2. Find Firefox in the list that appears and click on it.
   • A list of file types will be shown under Set default file types or link types.

3. Click on a file type (for example, .htm) to change the default program that opens and set it to Firefox.
4. Do the same for each of the other file types you want to open in Firefox.

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Like an operating system reinstall , resetting your web browser can fix all kinds of problems and improve performance at the same time—squash annoying bugs, clear out dodgy and outdated extensions and get a browser that’s good as new with a hard reset. Here’s how to carry it out on all the major browsers.

Typically, this doesn’t affect your saved bookmarks or passwords: All the information you rely on to get stuff done on the web. Some browsers let you clear all of this data as well (usually associated with a linked user account), but we’ll explain where that’s the case.

Google Chrome

If you’re a Google Chrome user, you need to open up the Chrome menu (via the three dots icon in the top right), then choose Settings. Click Advanced to open up the second panel of options, then click Restore settings to their original defaults and Reset Settings.

The startup page goes back to the default, Google becomes your search engine again, and all pinned tabs are wiped from memory. Browsing data like cookies gets wiped (though your browsing history does not), and all your extensions are disabled, though not removed.

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To clear out an extension properly, open up the Chrome menu again and choose More tools then Extensions. Click Remove next to any extension you want to permanently see the back of to clear it out from Chrome—just remember to save any data you want to keep from it first, if necessary.

You can also clear out individual types of content from the Google Chrome browser as well: From the Settings pane you need to pick Advanced then Clear browsing data. You can wipe everything from your browsing history to the file cache without affecting anything else that the browser has stored.

Mozilla Firefox

Using Firefox? Open up the browser menu (the three horizontal lines to the top right), and choose Help and Troubleshooting Information. From the tab that opens up, pick Refresh Firefox to reset the browser.

Again, your passwords and bookmarks aren’t affected, and nor are your open tabs actually. All your installed add-ons and customizations are removed though, so you’re effectively back to square one with the browser, but with your account data intact. It’s like signing into a new install of Firefox on a new computer.

If you just want to deal with a troublesome add-on rather than resetting the browser entirely, you can find them under the Add-ons entry on the Firefox menu. Click Extensions then Remove next to any entries you want to get rid of.

You’ll notice there’s also a Restart with Add-ons Disabled option next to the Refresh Firefox button. This puts Firefox in a “safe mode” so you can troubleshoot problems that might be caused by a bad extension—add-ons can also be removed in safe mode using the process outlined above.

Apple Safari

Unfortunately, Safari doesn’t actually have a reset feature—though it did in older versions. You can either reset macOS completely , putting your entire Mac (and Safari) back to its factory state, or you can go through the individual parts of Safari to wipe them one by one.

So, open the Safari menu then click Preferences—this is where all the browser options are kept. Switch to the Extensions tab, for example, and you can remove any add-ons you think are causing problems or that you just don’t need anymore.

Besides extensions, browser resets usually clear out all local cookies and temporary data (so you have to log into Facebook, Gmail, and everything else again). For the cookies, head to Privacy in the Preferences dialog, click Manage Website Data, then choose Remove All on the subsequent screen.

As for getting rid of the cache of temporary files stored on your computer by Safari, you need to first open the Advanced tab in Preferences, then tick Show Develop menu in menu bar, then open the aforementioned Develop menu (which has magically appeared), then pick Empty Caches. With that done, you’re more or less back to where a standalone reset function would put you.

Microsoft Edge

When it comes to Microsoft’s new browser, again there are separate reset and repair options, but they’re not actually in the browser. You need to open the Windows 10 Settings panel, then choose Apps, Microsoft Edge, and Advanced options.

Use Repair if you can’t actually start Microsoft Edge, or Reset to clear out Edge data stored on the device you’re currently using—in the case of Edge, your browsing history does get wiped, and you’ll be kicked out of sites you’re logged into (so you have to log in again). Extensions aren’t removed, but they are reset and appear as if they’ve just been added.

As usual, you can address these various elements individually if you want to. Open the Edge browser menu (three dots, top right) and choose Extensions to see all the browser extensions you’ve got installed. Each one can be disabled with the relevant toggle switch, or you can click the cog icon and choose Uninstall.

When it comes to browsing data and cookies, you need to choose Settings from the Edge menu, then Privacy & security, then Choose what to clear. Make your choices using the tick boxes (cookies and cached data for example), then click Clear.

Opera Browser

If you’ve got Opera installed, your reset option is actually referred to as recovery, but it does the same job—putting the browser back to its default state. You get more control over the process than some other browsers give you as well.

Click the Opera button up in the top left of the browser interface, then choose Update & Recovery. Click Recover, and you can see your choices: Pinned tabs, cookies, and temporary data will all be removed, extensions will be disabled, but you can choose whether or not to preserve your bookmarks, history, and saved passwords.

If you do decide to wipe everything rather than keeping your personal data, extensions get uninstalled rather than disabled. To remove extensions manually from the browser, you need to open the Opera menu then choose Extensions and Extensions.

For more control over what gets deleted and what doesn’t, open the Opera menu and pick Settings. Click Advanced and Clear browsing data to remove specific types of data from the browser, including your browsing history, cached files, cookies, autofill form data, and so on.

Many video streaming sites are geo-restricted. For instance, Hulu, Pandora, Spotify, Sling TV etc, are only available in the US, while BBC iPlayer is only available in the UK.

Now, there are 2 ways, any website find out where you are browsing from – your IP address and your browser’s location.

While you can easily change your IP address, by using any VPN, it’s not easy to change browser location.

For example, the other day, I was browsing CBS with a VPN, and everything worked fine. But, when I decided to watch local channels on CBS, it showed me a popup asking for my browser location. When I clicked on Allow, it says the content is not available in my location.

Change Browser Location Country on Chrome

Up until now, I was using “Manual Geolocation” Chrome extension to fix this problem, but after the new “HTML 5 Geolocation API” update, none of those extension seems to work. But here is a simple fix using Chrome Developer Tools

To test this, you can use mylocation.org and there you’ll see two types of location – public IP address and browser geolocation. The public IP address can easily be changed with the VPN. For instance, if I turn ON any VPN and switch to the US server, the IP address switched to that of the US.

Next, click on the Browser Geolocation tab and click on Start Test. You’ll notice, even though you have the VPN running in the background, your browser location will still show you your original location.

To fix that, we’ll use the Developer Console or Inspect Element. To open Chrome developer tools in Google Chrome, click on Customize chrome ( ⋮ ) > More tools > Developer tools. You can also right-click on the page you want to edit and choose Inspect. I like to use the keyboard short Ctrl + Shift + I (Cmd+Option+I for Mac).

Click the three vertical dot button on the top right corner, and then click the “Sensors” option from More tools option.

A new Sensor window will open at the bottom half of the developer console, Under Geolocation, select “Custom location.”

Now enter your location based on latitude and longitude, if you don’t know these values, you can always use Google maps. Or just select the name the of the city like Mountain View by clicking on the box next to Geolocation. Now, Reload the page, allow location data in the pop-up window, and you’ll see that the map zeroes into the location you selected.

Before you test it on the streaming website, make sure you log out of your previous session or open the website in incognito. Next change the browser GPS location with the same workaround. And now if I refresh the page, and click on allow location, This time, you’ll be able to stream local stations. Change GPS location on Android

Change Browser Location Country on Firefox

To change location on Firefox, you can use the browser addon – Location Guard. It’s available for Firefox 38.0 and higher. Simply install the addon and restart the browser.

Once installed, click the Location Guard extension icon in your browser and select Option.

This will open the options menu in a new tab. Click extension options (3 horizontal lines) and select Fixed Location. Click on the map or drag the marker to set a new fixed location. Now, the extension will always show a predefined fixed location that never changes (instead of generating a fake location which is made to do by default).

Close the options menu tab and return to the page where you would like to change your location. Refresh the page and your location should change now.

Change Browser Location Country on Android

The same workaround works for Android as well, For example, I’m not able to completely use Sling TV app outside the US, if I don’t give it location permission. Simply, download a Fake GPS app from Play Store, give it permission from the developer settings. Set the location to California and run it. Now, if I open the Sling app and give it location permission, everything should work fine.

Hopefully, this will help you to stream your fav local channels or access your favorite service from any part of the world. Unfortunately, there is no permanent way to change location in Chrome, the extension used to make it easy, but they don’t work now. So, I guess, you’ll have to do this manually each time.

By Sarah | Follow | Last Updated September 18, 2020

Summary :

Although you can open a browser quickly by clicking on the program icon, it’s better to set the web browser you often use as the default one. Please follow the guide below to change default browser in Windows 7 and other Windows systems.

There is a lot of MiniTool software provided for you to backup system, recovery data, solve disk problems, and do other things.

When you need to search something online, you can open a browser and type keywords into the search box or go to a specific website directly by typing the URL into the address bar. Though this is a very easy task even for inexperienced users, you’d better go to change default browser Windows 7, Windows 8.1, or Windows 10.

What’s the benefit of setting your preferred web browser as the default one? The most obvious advantage is that the specific browser will be opened automatically when you click links on the internet, in the email or document. After all, some users said it’s a bad experience to see the wrong browser loading after clicking a link.

Change Default Browser Windows 7

In Windows 7 and 8.1, the default browser is Internet Explorer. If you would like to search the internet by using another browser like Google Chrome, you need to change the default browser manually.

How to Change Your Default Browser

Please follow this guide to set default browser easily in Windows 7.

1. Open the Control Panel.
2. Click on the Programs link.
3. Select Default Programs.
4. Click on the Set your default programs link.
5. Browse the programs in the left pane and select the browser you want to set as default.
6. Click Set this program as default and then click OK.
7. Click Choose defaults for this program -> select the file types you want to open -> click Save. (This is optional.)

Two commonly used ways to open the Control Panel in Windows 7.

• Use Start Menu: click Start in the lower left corner -> choose Control Panel from the list.
• Use Run: press Windows + R to open Run -> type control into the dialog box -> click on the OK button or press Enter.

Microsoft has already announced the end of Windows 7 support. Do you think this move will really affect you?

Change Default Browser Windows 8.1

Also, you can follow the steps mentioned in the previous part to change default browser in Windows 8.1.

Open Control Panel -> click Programs -> click Default Programs -> click Set your default programs -> select the target browser -> click Set this program as default.

Besides, you can set default browser by following steps:

1. Click on the Settings icon to open Charms bar.
2. Click Change PC settings at the bottom.
3. Select Search and apps.
4. Select Defaults.
5. Click on the current default browser and change it to the browser you want to use.

Change Default Browser Windows 10

Microsoft replaced the old Internet Explorer with the new Edge in Windows 10. You are also allowed to set default browser Windows 10.

How to Change Default Browser Windows 10

Windows 10 change default browser steps:

1. Open Windows 10 Settings by pressing Windows + I or other ways.
2. Select Apps (Uninstall, defaults, optional features).
3. Select Default apps in the left sidebar.
4. Look for Web browser under Choose default apps in the right pane.
5. Click on the current default browser and choose an app (another browser) you want to set as default.

There’s another method for changing default browser in Windows 7/8.1/10 (take Google Chrome as an example).

1. Open Google Chrome on your computer.
2. Click on the three dots icon in the top right corner.
3. Select Settings from the drop-down menu.
4. Look for the Default browser section in the Chrome settings pane.
5. Click on the Make default button.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Position: Columnist

Sarah has been working as an editor at MiniTool since she graduated from university. Sarah aims at helping users with their computer problems such as disk errors and data loss. She feels a sense of accomplishment to see that users get their issues fixed relying on her articles. Besides, she likes to make friends and listen to music after work.

With iOS 14 and iPadOS 14 and later, you can change which app opens when you click a website link or an email address as long as the app supports it.

Before you begin

• Make sure that you have iOS 14 or iPadOS 14 or later, and that you have the app properly installed on your device.
• Make sure that the web browser app or email app supports this feature. If you aren’t sure, contact the app developer.

How to change your default web browser or email app

1. Go to Settings and scroll down until you find the browser app or the email app.
2. Tap the app, then tap Default Browser App or Default Mail App.
   
3. Select a web browser or email app to set it as the default. A checkmark appears to confirm it’s the default.

If you don’t see the option to set a web browser or email app as your default, the developer might not support it. Contact the app developer to learn more.

If you delete a web browser app, your device will set Safari as the default browser app. If you delete the Safari app, your device will set one of your other web browser apps as the default. To use the Safari app again, you’ll need to reinstall it on your device.

If you delete an email app, your device will set the Mail app as the default. If you delete the Mail app, your device will set one of your other email apps as the default. To use the Mail app again, you’ll need to re-install it on your device.

Похоже, Google уже сделан поиском по умолчанию.
Сделать Google стартовой страницей?

Войдите в аккаунт и сразу начинайте поиск.

Вводите запросы прямо в адресной строке, находясь на любом сайте.

Отправляйте поисковые запросы прямо из окна поиска, находясь на любом сайте.

no text here please

Your shiny new Windows 8 operating system has tiles and apps on a Start Screen, and it has the original desktop that looks like the Windows you’re used to.

To make Google your default search engine, you just need to switch from apps to the desktop.

Here two options to help you switch to the desktop:

The quick way: If you see a black bar at the bottom of the screen saying “The site uses add-ons that require Internet Explorer on the desktop”, click the blue Open button to switch to desktop mode.

Now the button to make Google your search provider should work. Aww yeah.

Вводите запросы прямо в адресной строке, находясь на любом сайте.

Выберите первый вариант

Нажмите “Добавить”

By Anders Smith

Wednesday, August 04, 2021

This post will show you how to reset Safari to default on Mac. The process can sometimes fix some errors (you may fail to launch the app, for example) when trying to use the Safari browser on your Mac. Please continue to read on this guide to learn how to reset Safari on Mac without opening it.

When Safari keeps crashing, won’t open or doesn’t work on your Mac, how do you fix Safari on Mac? You may reset Safari to default to fix the problems. However, as Apple has removed Reset Safari button from the browser since OS X Mountain Lion 10.8, one click to reset Safari is no longer available on OS X 10.9 Mavericks, 10.10 Yosemite, 10.11 El Capitan, 10.12 Sierra, 10.13 High Sierra. To reset Safari browser on Mac, there are two methods you can use.

Content

• Method 1: How to reset Safari on Mac without opening it
• Method 2: How to manually restore Safari to default settings

Method 1: How to reset Safari on Mac without opening it

Generally, you have to open Safari browser to reset it back to default settings. However, when Safari keeps crashing or won’t open, you may need to figure out a way to reset Safari on Mavericks, Yosemite, El Capitan, Sierra, High Sierra without opening the browser.

Instead of resetting Safari on the browser, you can reset Safari to factory settings with Macube Cleaner (opens new window) , a Mac cleaner to clear unwanted files on Mac, including Safari browsing data (caches, cookies, browsing history, autofill, preferences, etc.). Now, you can follow these steps to reset Safari on macOS Sierra:

Step 1 Download Macube Cleaner on your Mac. After installation, open the top Mac cleaner.

Step 2 Choose System Junk and click Scan. When the scanning is done, choose App Cache > find Safari caches > click Clean to clear cache on Safari.

Step 3 Choose Privacy > Scan. From the scanning result, tick and choose Safari. Click Clean button to clean and remove all browser history all (browsing history, download history, download files, cookies and HTML5 Local Storage).

You have restored Safari to its default settings. Now you can open the browser and see if it is working right now. Also, you can use Macube Cleaner to clean up your Mac and free up space: remove duplicate files/image, clear system caches/logs, uninstall apps completely and more.

Tip: You can also reset Safari on iMac, MacBook Air, MacBook Pro by using Terminal command. But you should not use Terminal unless you know what you are doing. Otherwise, you may mess up the macOS.

Method 2: How to manually restore Safari to default settings

Although the Reset Safari button is gone, you can still reset Safari on Mac in the following steps.

Step 1 Clear history

Open Safari. Click History > Clear history > all history > Clear History.

Step 2 Clear cache on Safari browser

On Safari browser, navigate to the top left corner and click Safari > Preference > Advanced.

Tick Show Develop menu in menu bar. Click Develop > Empty Caches.

Step 3 Remove stored cookies and other website data

Click Safari > Preference > Privacy > Remove All Website Data.

Step 4 Uninstall malicious extensions/disable plug-ins

Choose Safari > Preferences > Extensions. Check the suspicious extensions, especially anti-viral and adware removal programs.

Click Security > untick Allow Plug-ins.

Step 5 Delete Preferences on Safari

Click Go tab and hold down Option, click Library. Find the Preference folder and delete files named with com.apple.Safari.

Step 6 Clear Safari window state

In the Library, locate Saved Application State folder and delete files in com.apple.Safari.savedState folder.

Tip: Safari on your iMac, MacBook should start working after the reset. If not, you may reinstall Safari by updating macOS to the latest version.

We all rely on web browsers to get us through the day, so a problem with your browser of choice can have a serious impact on productivity (or Netflix binges ).

The good news is that troubleshooting browser problems isn’t too difficult—the process is similar for a lot of the issues you’re going to come across. Today’s browsers come with a variety of built-in tools for self-repair, too, so you should be able to get everything running smoothly again within a short space of time.

Here are some of the most common problems you might come across in your browser, and what you should do to fix them.

1. Slow performance and page loads

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Assuming your internet connection speed isn’t too blame (which you can check here ), sluggish browser performance and page loading can have a number of root causes.

You should already be running the latest version of your browser, but just check anyway: Help then About Google Chrome from the Chrome menu; About Firefox from the Firefox menu in Firefox for macOS; Help then About Firefox from the browser menu in Windows; Help & Feedback then About Microsoft Edge from the Edge menu; or About Safari from the Safari menu in Safari for macOS.

Is an extension dragging down the performance of your browser? Disabling add-ons one by one is something you can try to see if it has any effect—More Tools then Extensions from the Chrome menu; Add-ons from the Firefox menu; Extensions from the Edge menu; and Preferences then Extensions from the Safari menu.

If it’s not an extension that’s slowing everything down, it might be a corrupted cache of data. You can easily blitz these temporary files and give your browser a fresh start—you’ll have to log in everywhere again, so keep those passwords handy.

In Chrome, open up Settings from the menu then pick Clear browsing data. In Firefox, you want Preferences from the menu, then Privacy & Security and Clear Data. For Edge, it’s Settings, Privacy and Services, and Choose What to clear under Clear browsing data on the menu. And in Safari, open the Safari menu and pick Preferences, Privacy, and Manage Website Data.

In all cases it’s the cache and the cookies you want to focus your attention on. In Safari, the cache option is hidden—you need to go to the Advanced tab in the Preferences pane, then tick Show Develop menu in menu bar. Then open up the newly revealed Develop menu and pick Empty Caches.

If you’re still experiencing problems, uninstall and reinstall your browser—if a clean reinstall doesn’t work, something besides the browser might be affecting performance. That something could be malware, which we discuss in more detail below.

Chrome, Firefox, and Edge all have a single reset settings option, though it’s missing on Safari. In Chrome, Restore settings to their original defaults is at the bottom of the main settings pane; in Firefox, choose Help then Troubleshooting Information from the menu to find the reset option; and in Edge, pick Reset Settings from the main settings menu.

When you upgrade to Windows 10 from another version of Windows, the operating system pulls a nasty trick that could confuse non-techies that don’t know how to go digging around in system settings. The express installation option—a.k.a. the one non-technical users will choose—automatically sets your default web browser to Microsoft’s new Edge, even if you defaulted to Chrome, Firefox, Opera, or another web browser in Windows 7 or 8.

Simply put, the way Windows 10 upgrades handle browser settings don’t respect the previous choices you’ve made, which has prompted vocal complaints from the CEOs of Firefox and Vivaldi. And Edge has a nasty habit of resetting itself as the default if you update Windows 10 or even try to install another browser, as Vivaldi’s Jon von Tetzchner points out:

“I understand that Microsoft is concerned with the low usage of Edge, but instead of building a better browser, Microsoft is forcing its product onto people in the most unapologetic manner.

Every time Windows 10 upgrades, it changes the default browser to Edge. Same thing tends to happen when a new browser is installed – for some reason, it leads to restoring Edge as the default option. Not the new browser, and not even the browser that was there as a default one previously. ”

Fortunately, Windows 10 doesn’t uninstall your previous browser of choice, and it’s easy-peasy to change the operating system’s default web browser back again—if you know where to look.

Here’s how to do it.

How to change Windows 10’s default browser

First, open the Start menu and select Settings, then click on the System option.

In the options that appear, select Default apps in the left-hand pane, then scroll down and click on Web browser, which likely has Edge’s icon showing if you just upgraded from a previous version of Windows.

A list of browsers installed on your system will pop up. Select the browser you’d like Windows 10 to use by default. If you don’t see your browser of choice, that means it isn’t installed on the system, so go download it and walk through this simple process again.

Boom! That’s it. From now on, all web links will open in Chrome, Firefox, Opera, or whatever other alternative browser you’ve selected. And von Tetzchner has a point: power users may indeed want to check out Vivaldi.

By Elizabeth Palermo published 5 February 14

Browser taken over by ads and weird toolbars? Here’s how to get rid of them in Google Chrome.

Worried about the security of your Web browser? A new addition to Google Chrome alerts you if software has hijacked your browser settings.

Settings hijacking occurs when application updates or browser extensions — such as free games or screensavers — contain software that secretly changes a user’s browser settings.

Victims may find home pages changed, favorite sites suddenly displaying pop-up ads, search results leading to strange places or new browser toolbars.

In a blog post outlining the new fix, Linus Upson, vice president of engineering at Google, said settings hijacking was the company’s “No. 1 user complaint.”

These pesky bits of malware— such as Sendori or TheBflix adware, or the Conduit toolbar — can be difficult to remove with antivirus software. Users often must download specific clean-up tools or follow step-by-step online tutorials.

Most settings-hijacking malware is merely annoying, but Threatpost, Kaspersky Lab’s security blog, warns some may also render users more susceptible to click-fraud schemes that lead to compromised websites.

What the Chrome reset does

Chrome’s latest fix not only alerts you when your browser has been hijacked, but also makes it easy to retake control.

“Reset altered Chrome settings?” a pop-up window will read. “Chrome detected that your browser settings may have been changed without your knowledge. Would you like to reset them to their original defaults?”

Clicking the big “Reset” button will purge Chrome of all extensions and restore the browser to what Upson called a “factory-fresh state.”

This upfront warning is a modification to a reset feature Google added to Chrome’s “Advanced Settings” menu in October.

Resetting Chrome won’t necessarily rid a PC of any malware already accumulated. Users may still have to manually uninstall programs.

Resetting Chrome will also disable any desired customizations a user has knowingly activated. Users will have to re-enable them by visiting their Chrome settings or typing “chrome://extensions/” into their address bars.

How to reset Chrome

Here’s how to use Reset to clear your browser settings.

If you get a pop-up window asking you to “Reset altered Chrome settings?” click on “Reset.”

If you suspect that your settings have been altered without your knowledge, first visit “chrome://extensions/” and see if there are any extensions that you don’t remember adding. Uncheck those.

If that doesn’t clear up the problem, you’ll have to reset settings manually:

1. In the top right corner of the Chrome window, click on the icon that looks like three stacked horizontal lines. If you hover your mouse over it, it should read “Customize and control Google Chrome.”

Alternately, type “chrome://settings/” into your address bar and hit “Return.”

2. Scroll down to the end of the page and click the link that reads, “Show advanced settings.”

3. Scroll to the end of the page again and click the button labeled “Reset browser settings.”

4. You’ll get a pop-up window explaining what will happen if you reset browser settings. If you’d still like to do it after reading the explanation, click the “Reset” button. If not, hit “Cancel.”