What Is about:blank? How Do You Remove It?

Did you spot “about:blank” in your web browser’s address bar? If so, you are viewing an empty page built into your web browser. It is a part of Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Apple Safari, Microsoft Edge, Internet Explorer, as well as other browsers.

There is nothing that could be considered problematic about about:blank. Like other people you might just choose to use about:blank as the home page, ensuring that the web browser always opens with an empty white screen. Say, your web browser does always open with about:blank, but you don’t like it, how do you change it? Don’t worry I will show you how to remove about:blank.

What exactly is about:blank?

Essentially this is a blank page built into the web browser. The “about:” section of the address is to tell the browser to show internal, built-in web pages. For example, in Chrome, you can enter about:settings into the address bar to open the Settings page. You could also try about:downloads to view Chrome’s file downloads list.

Following the same pattern, when you enter about:blank into the address bar and press Enter, the web browser will load an empty page with nothing on it. This page is not from the internet; this is built into the web browser.

Is about:blank of any Use?

A lot of people use about:blank as their home page, doing so gives you an empty page each time you open your browser.

To avail this service, all you have to do is go into your browser’s settings, then tell it to open with “about:blank” instead of another web page.

Web browsers might also open this blank about:blank page if they are launched and do not know what else to display. A browser always has to display something, and loading about:blank is a way of displaying a blank page.

How to remove about:blank?

To be put simply, you can’t actually get rid of or remove about:blank completely. It is part of your web browser, after all, and it will always be there under the hood. However, you could make an arrangement so that you never have to see it again if you do not want to.

If you would rather see your browser’s New Tab page or any other web page, you can do so by changing your web browser’s home page.

For Google Chrome –

Navigate to menu > Settings. Scroll until you find the “On startup” section, then click on either “Open the New Tab page.” Or, delete about:blank from the web pages that open on startup, then choose your favorite web page.

For Mozilla Firefox –

Navigate to menu > Options > Home. Click on your desired home page for new windows as well as new tabs. Make sure that “about:blank” or “Blank Page” is not selected.

For Apple Safari on a Mac –

Navigate to Safari > Preferences > General. Under Homepage, click on remove “about:blank,” then enter your desired home page.

For Microsoft’s Chromium-based Edge browser –

Navigate to menu > Settings > On startup. Click on “Open a new tab” or remove about:blank from the list of pages Edge opens when it is launched.

For Internet Explorer –

You can change this by visiting the Internet Options window. If you are still using Internet Explorer, you should stop. Even Microsoft recommends you leave IE. 

Click on the gear-shaped menu button and select “Internet Options.” Remove “about:blank” from the home page box, this is situated at the top of the General pane. Then, enter the address of your desired home page.

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