
Normally, if you use the Chrome browser, the default start page is. The about:blank page is a default page to display when this happens (since it can’t display the requested page). The browser will also display the about:blank page if the code that the web server returns to the browser isn’t formatted (or doesn’t use the correct code) the way the browser understands. On the other hand, if you’ve clicked a malicious link online, the file that gets downloaded could be malware or a virus. This is an annoying method web developers use to code file download links (because it opens an unnecessary blank page), but there’s nothing nefarious or dangerous about it. It may not make much sense to have a page that doesn’t display anything, but this feature is actually important for any web browser. Why Do Browsers Have an about:blank Page? Sometimes this will open a new tab in the browser window, but since there’s no actual page to display (only a file to download), the browser displays about:blank. The only danger comes from if you’ve clicked on some link that you shouldn’t have. Clicking a malicious web link that opens a new tab before downloading a script or app.Īs you can see, most of these situations aren’t dangerous at all.Clicking on a link that opens a new browser tab to download a file or some other purpose.The browser can’t understand what to display so displays the about:blank page.To prevent the browser from using excessive computer or network resources when starting.When users want to launch their browser without loading an actual web page as the start page.Why would Chrome or Edge want to include a blank screen? It’s actually useful in all of the following situations: Unlike other built-in pages like about:settings or about:about, it’s nothing more than a blank screen in your browser. The about:blank page in a browser isn’t an actual page. Also, be sure to check out our short video on YouTube where we summarize the article. In this article you’ll learn more about what about:blank is, how to configure it, and when you may need to worry.
