Can't stop Opera from starting on PC startup or login

[Jerry12302]

Jerry12302 last edited by

I have the latest version of Opera One, Stable, on Windows 11. Lately it has been starting on its own when I start or unlock my PC, and it loads Bing.com.

I never set anything to have it load Bing.

I just went into settings and had it update to the latest version, which it did fine. It didn't help.

I went to Opera Settings, On Startup; the "Run when my computer starts" option is disabled.

The option "Open a specific page or set of pages" is selected, and it is set to my company's website.

I also went to the Windows 11 Task Manager, Startup apps; Opera does not appear in the list at all.

I don't want Opera to open automatically, and I especially don't want it to load Bing.com.

When I close Opera and open it again myself it does not load Bing, it loads my company website, which is how it should be.

It only opens Bing when it starts automatically when I login or unlock my PC.

The only suggestions I can find online are the ones I already tried noted above, so please do not respond with those suggestions, I've tried them repeatedly.

[burnout426]

burnout426 Volunteer last edited by

I would scan your system with the free version of Malwarebytes and AdwCleaner. Sounds like you have some malware that's loading bing on Windows startup in either Opera specifically or the default browser in general.

You can open up regedit and look in "HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run", "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run" and "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run" to see if you can find any shady startup entries. You can also look in "C:\Users\yourusername\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Startup" and "C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Startup" in File Explorer for shady startup entries there.

You can also open up the Windows Task Scheduler, select "Task Scheduler Library' and look for a shady task in the list. You can start at the top of the list, switch the task to the "Action" tab and use the down arrow to go through each task to see if you see a task with an action that's like "path to opera.exe" "https://www.bing.com/" or just something with "bing.com" in it.

In Opera itself, make sure you don't have any shady extensions at the URL opera://extensions.

On the startup tab in the Windows task manager, if you see "browser_assistant.exe", that's Opera's browser assistant that will sometimes show an Opera icon in the systray. It should be unrelated to your issue, but right-click it and choose "disable" if it's there.

[Jerry12302]

Jerry12302 @burnout426 last edited by

I tried a Malwarebytes scan, it didn't find anything. I use Webroot, so I'm not surprised.

I opened regedit and looked where you mentioned. Nothing in HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run.

In HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run I saw entries for Adblock and Musehub. I didn't change anything in the Registry, but I went into their folders and disabled them with exe file name changes.

In HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run there are legitimate entries, but there is also a subfolder named OptionalComponents. In there are three subfolders, IMAIL, MAPI, and MSFS. They each have an entry for Installed, and MAPI also has an entry for NoChange. There are no paths and filenames indicated in either of them.

The C:\Users\yourusername\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Startup folder is empty.

The C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Startup folder just contains a shortcut to my printer monitor.

I looked in the Windows Task Scheduler Library, there were a few tasks but none indicated Bing. I disabled a couple of Opera tasks, and the other two that didn't need to run.

In Opera itself, at the URL opera://extensions, there was an Opera adblocker. I disabled that.

On the startup tab in the Windows task manager I did not see "browser_assistant.exe". Anything in there that is enabled appear to be legitimate.

I usually only lock my PC, I seldom shut it down, so this is happening when I unlock the PC. I tried shutting down entirely, then turning it back on. Opera did not start automatically at all, and when I opened it my business web page was all that opened, as it should. Then I locked the PC, and when I logged back in I had the problem again, Opera starts and opens the Bing page.

Any other thoughts?

@burnout426 said in Can't stop Opera from starting on PC startup or login:

I would scan your system with the free version of Malwarebytes and AdwCleaner. Sounds like you have some malware that's loading bing on Windows startup in either Opera specifically or the default browser in general.
You can open up regedit and look in "HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run", "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run" and "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run" to see if you can find any shady startup entries. You can also look in "C:\Users\yourusername\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Startup" and "C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Startup" in File Explorer for shady startup entries there.
You can also open up the Windows Task Scheduler, select "Task Scheduler Library' and look for a shady task in the list. You can start at the top of the list, switch the task to the "Action" tab and use the down arrow to go through each task to see if you see a task with an action that's like "path to opera.exe" "https://www.bing.com/" or just something with "bing.com" in it.
In Opera itself, make sure you don't have any shady extensions at the URL opera://extensions.
On the startup tab in the Windows task manager, if you see "browser_assistant.exe", that's Opera's browser assistant that will sometimes show an Opera icon in the systray. It should be unrelated to your issue, but right-click it and choose "disable" if it's there.

italicised text

[burnout426]

burnout426 Volunteer last edited by

If Opera is set as your default browser, temporarily set a different browser as the default and see if that browser opens when unlocking your computer instead.

For Opera, you can delete the "Sessions" folder in "C:\Users\yourusername\AppData\Roaming\Opera Software\Opera Stable\Default". It'll wipe out all your open tabs, but it my fix the issue.

[burnout426]

burnout426 Volunteer @Jerry12302 last edited by

@Jerry12302 said in Can't stop Opera from starting on PC startup or login:

I usually only lock my PC

While Opera is still running?