Edge: How to stop new tabs opening randomly

Brian Glanville 21 Reputation points
2021-03-11T14:06:54.593+00:00

Hi

I have an unusual problem whereby if I have Edge open, a new tab opens at random without any prompting whatsoever.

If it happens, it won't open another new tab unless I close the first tab that randomly opened, so only one new tab is ever open at a time. It's getting quite frustrating because it happens every single time I use Edge.

I would be grateful for any suggestions as to how I might be able to stop it from happening. I tried re-installing Edge but it didn't make any difference.

Microsoft Edge
Microsoft Edge
A Microsoft cross-platform web browser that provides privacy, learning, and accessibility tools.
2,130 questions
Accepted answer
  1. Yu Zhou-MSFT 12,056 Reputation points Microsoft Vendor
    2021-03-29T02:32:44.96+00:00

    @Brian Glanville You can try cooldadtx's suggestion. Besides, you can try to open Edge with InPrivate window and all extensions disabled to see if the issue still exists.
    I also suggest that you can try to reset Edge browser according to this article and repair Edge browser according to this doc to see if can fix the issue.

    If the response is helpful, please click "Accept Answer" and upvote it.
    Note: Please follow the steps in our documentation to enable e-mail notifications if you want to receive the related email notification for this thread.

    Regards,
    Yu Zhou

    1 person found this answer helpful.

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  1. Michael Taylor 48,046 Reputation points
    2021-03-11T14:52:58.897+00:00

    First thought is malware. This would be especially true if you literally open Edge and walk away and come back a while later and a new tab is open. I'd be interested in knowing what the tabs contain, if anything. The URL or page source could provide info.

    Another thought is that Edge is the default browser and something else is trying to open an HTML page which triggers a new tab.

    If you're interacting with Edge when it is opening new tabs then another thought is that you're accidentally clicking a hotkey that is configured to open a new tab in Edge. But I don't know what that hotkey sequence would be for your machine.