Hey folks, I just got a new MacBook M4 and I noticed something strange: there are searches appearing in my Google Chrome history that I didn't make at all. It's kinda freaky because this has never happened to me before. I've already done a thorough cleanup—I logged out of my Google account on all devices, changed my password, factory reset the MacBook twice, and cleared my history, cookies, and cache. I even have two-factor authentication set up! I'm really worried that I might have some sort of malware causing this. Any ideas on what might be going on? I'm almost considering just trading this thing in for a new one!
1 Answer
It sounds like you might not have malware after all. I’ve never come across malware that shows its activity in Chrome history like that. One thing to check: are you logged into a Chrome profile with sync enabled? If so, you might just be seeing search history from another device that’s linked to your profile. What exactly are these searches looking like? Are they from legitimate sites or just random URLs?
Yeah, my Chrome is synced across three devices, but I’m the only one using them. The searches are kinda odd, like last night there was 'car accident attorney el paso texas [firm's name]'. I definitely didn't search for that and I live in NJ, so it’s pretty strange!