Vivaldi Browser

[Drake]

Can you elaborate? ...

I've never, ever had a third party app install itself in Chrome without my consent. However I've seen many freeware apps that use underhanded techniques to get that "consent" in order to install unrelated bloatware. Java updates are notorious for doing this. uTorrent is currently in hot water with users as well. And then there are non-official sites that wrap bloatware (if not malware) around legitimate freeware, e.g. CNET's download.com. Is it possible you're a victim of any of this?

Yes I am a victim frequently of java updates, but Chrome specifically allowed silent third party installs that would lead to pop ups galore. I would need to not only disable them from the browser's settings, I would also go into the Windows control panel to see what got installed today and nuke it from there. Your other suggestions are also possibilities however I have stopped using torrents.

I consider myself to be an intermediate user and I am not heading off to weirdo websites. Perhaps I was not fair to blame Chrome for these issues however when I ditched chrome, those problems went with it.