Malware is one of the biggest evils of cybersecurity space. It comes in many forms, and the scale of the attack depends on the complexity of the malware. In a nutshell, a malware is mostly bad news and removing malware from your PC is not that easy. Google Chrome is arguably the most popular web browser and the unknown to many of us it comes baked in with a pretty effective malware scanner.
It is striving hard to protect Chrome users from malware, and a large part of this effort has shaped up the Chrome malware scanner. Google claims that this malware scanner will protect users from ransomware, hijackers and other cyber attacks. The best part is that this malware scanner will scan not only your browsing data but also your entire computer for malware and other malicious programs.
How to Unlock Chrome’s Built-In Malware Scanner?
- First you should click the three-dot Menu button in the upper-right corner of Chrome and choose Settings.
- Scroll down to the bottom of the list and click Advanced to show all options.
- Continue scrolling down until you see the Reset and clean up header at the bottom of the list. Now you should click Clean up computer.
- Inside is the Find and remove harmful software option, which is Chrome’s malware scanner. Click Find to run a scan.
- Once complete, Chrome will let you know if it finds anything harmful on your PC. If so, you can proceed with removing it.
- Next time, you can get to this menu quickly by entering chrome://settings/cleanup into the address bar.
If you don’t see this option, make sure you’ve updated Chrome by visiting Menu >> Help >> About Google Chrome.
Note that
This isn’t a general-purpose malware scanner. It only checks for harmful software related to Chrome. Thus, you still need to keep a trusted antivirus installed.
It’s a good way to weed out any browser hijackers. So give it a try if you see a barrage of popups, unfamiliar search pages, or alerts about viruses. If Chrome seems slow and the scanner doesn’t help, something else could be slowing down your browsing.
If you are interested in learning more about Chrome, you can read our article about Chrome lock for having more security while browsing.
