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Contact a Website to Get Unwanted Information Removed & Off Search Results
posted Nov 6, 2015, 11:27 AM by Joe C [ updated Apr 29, 2019, 1:50 PM]Having content removed from a website you do not own, typically requires that you reach out to the webmaster of the site, i.e. the person who owns the website or is responsible for managing it. Even if you found the content using Google Search, Google has no control over the web pages content. Why Contacting the Website is the Best Way to Remove Negative Search ResultsEven if the content is deleted from Google search results, the page will still be present on the site. This means it can be found through the URL to the site, social media sharing, or other search engines. Reaching out to the website's webmaster is the best way to remove information because the webmaster can remove the page and its content entirely by deleting it from the server where he or she is hosting the site. This will remove the content from the results of all search engines, social media sites and other places it might appear online. How to ask a webmaster to remove unfavorable content from a siteThere are several ways to contact the owner of a site:
After the webmaster has removed or changed the content in question, you can get Google to remove the outdated information by sending a removal request here. |
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There are situations in Windows 10 when you experience messed up or distorted thumbnails for different files such as images, videos. And in order to resolve this problem, you need to delete and reset the thumbnail cache. In this article, you will learn 3 ways which will delete and reset thumbnail cache in Windows 10.
There are at times, Windows 10 displays you the messed up or crumpled thumbnails for distinct file types. Suppose, you have accessed to a folder where there is a list of images and videos. You choose to view them in thumbnails like small, medium or large icons. Now, File Explorer will start forming thumbnails for all the images and videos present in the particular opened folder. Instead of quickly showing you the thumbnails, you experience a messed up look. This problem arises when thumbnail cache gets corrupted.
What does Thumbnail Cache mean?
What does Thumbnail Cache mean?
Windows 10 itself stores a copy of all your image, video, document, and folder thumbnails in a cache because they can be produced quickly at any time when needed without any delay. To store all the thumbnails, Windows 10 automatically establishes thumbnail cache file. In simple words, whenever you open a folder, Windows 10 displays you the copied thumbnails without any delay instead of manually and slowly searching them each time. And when this thumbnail cache gets corrupted you face problems with the thumbnails of all file types.
You may like to read:
How to Delete and Reset Thumbnail Cache in Windows 10
We represent here three different ways to delete and reset thumbnail cache in Windows 10. Read all the methods and try out the one that suits you.
Method 1: Disk Cleanup
- Click the search box on the taskbar which leads to pop up Cortana.
- Type, cleanmgr in the text field and hit Enter button.
- A Disk Cleanup: Drive Selection small wizard pops up on the screen. Click the drop-down menu and choose the drive where your operating system is stored. Generally, users store it in “C” drive.
- Select the drive and click Ok button.
- It will take some time to open the main window of Disk Cleanup for the drive.
- In the Disk Cleanup window, under the section Files to delete uncheck all the option except Thumbnails.
- So, select the Thumbnails option and click Ok.
- Again the small window to select the drive prompts. Select the drive again and click OK button. After a while, Disk cleanup for the opted drive will appear. Check only Thumbnail option and hit OK. A confirmation pop-up displays. Again choose OK.
- This will delete the thumbnail cache and force Windows to reset it later automatically.
Method 2: Command Prompt
Tip: Using the Command Prompt to Delete and Reset Thumbnail Cache in Windows 10 is quite a long process. The thumbnail cache is hidden and you can find it in the following location:-
C:Users{user-name}AppDataLocalMicrosoftWindowsExplorer (Replace the “user-name” with your actual user name of Windows 10)
As mentioned above, the thumbnail cache is hidden and you need to enable the hidden files and folders to navigate the above location. In case you don’t know how to enable hidden files and folders, follow the link and see how it is done in Windows 10.
Read the below steps to delete and reset the thumbnail cache using Command Prompt –
- Launch the Command Prompt using your preferred way.
- Here, with the help of cd command, navigate to the folder where the thumbnail cache is stored. To do so type the following command –
cd C:UsersUser-nameAppDataLocalMicrosoftWindowsExplorer (Substitute the “user-name” with your Windows 10 user-name)
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Example: cd C:UsersAUM SAI RAMAppDataLocalMicrosoftWindowsExplorer
- Now, you need to check whether you are into the correct folder or not. So, type dir at the end of the folder path and hit Enter.
Example: cd C:UsersAUM SAI RAMAppDataLocalMicrosoftWindowsExplorer>dir
- You can view the list of thumbnail cache files in that folder.
- Before you delete all the thumbnail cache files, you need to close everything which includes File Explorer also. To close File Explorer use the below steps –
- Make a right click on Taskbar and choose Task Manager.
- Go to the Details tab of Task Manager.
- Find exe and execute a right click on it and click End Task.
- This will remove everything from your desktop and taskbar.
- Remember to close all the programs you have opened.
- You can see nothing on your screen except the Task Manager and Command Prompt you have opened in the above steps.
- Only the Command Prompt should be opened. If you are unable to see Command Prompt, go to the Task Manager -> Processes tab -> Apps section -> Double click cmd. The running Command Prompt will pop up on your screen.
- Now, close the Task Manager window also.
- Get back to the running Command Prompt line and type del thumbnailcache* (the star mark after the command indicates all the thumbnail cache files should be deleted).
- Again take help of the dir command and see if any of the thumbnail cache files is still present or not. If you see any thumbnail cache still presents, it means any program is still left open whose thumbnail cache cannot get deleted.
- Now, jointly press Ctrl + Alt + Del keys. You can see few options listed.
- Click Sign out option.
- Get back to Windows 10 and see the thumbnails are repaired.
Method 3: BAT File
- You can quickly Delete and Reset Thumbnail Cache in Windows 10 file from the downloadable bat file.
- Click on the Download button below and download the bat file.
- After the download gets completed, double-click on the file to open and the Thumbnail cache will be automatically deleted and reset. After running this file, the file explorer will disappear. Restart File explorer with the help of this article How to Restart File Explorer Using Task Manager in Windows 10
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In my previous post, I have mentioned about the news that chrome removed Instant Extended API Flag from the latest version. If you are one of the them who use that option to remove Google search box from the new tab page, then here is a chrome extension called “Replace New Tab Page” to remove this new tab design.
Replace New Tab Page:
I’m one of the user who used Instant Extended API Flag to remove that search box from the new tab. But due to the new update by chrome, we don’t have that option anymore. Here is a small workaround to fix this issue. This tip was given by Shane Kirk on Google forum.
Replace New Tab Page is a Google chrome extension to replace new tab page with any other page that you want. For example, you can place any of the website URL that you wish to open every time you open a new tab, or you can set any chrome flags.
In my case, I just set chrome apps flag (chrome://apps) to open chrome apps page in a new tab instead of that Google search box tab. If you wish to set that to any other domain, then you set that too.
To remove that Google search box form new tab, first install Replace New Tab Page extension. Once you install, you will get an option to fill a web page. Here you can fill any web page that you want to see every time you open a new tab. You can also use Google Chrome flags in that address. For example, place chrome://apps flag to open Google Chrome apps page every time you open a new tab or new window. Thus you can get rid of that Google search box with thumbnail images on the new tab.
To be frank, I’m still not happy with the result what I was getting from this workaround tip. Why because every time you open a new tab you’ll see some small delay in loading that tab. If you don’t mind about this delay, then you try this tip.
Update 2: As one of our commenter added a new option to display completely blank page with this extension. To display the blank page when you open a new tab, set URL to display:none and save it.
Update 1:
Empty New Tab Page
I just came across a new extension called Empty New Tab Page. I highly recommend this extension over the above method. What this extension will do is, it completely removes the new tab page design (Google search box with a thumbnail of visited websites) and replaces it with complete blank/empty page.
The only thing you need to do is, just download and activate this extension. There is no option to configure anything. Once you activate this extension, the default new tab page design will completely remove and replaced with the empty page.
I also noticed that there is no delay in opening a new tab, which is happened in the previous extension. So if you are annoyed with the Google Chrome new tab feature, then you must try this extension. This extension works almost similar to Extended API Flag method to remove that new tab page design.
Google Chrome is a powerful browser used as a marketing tool by Google. When you open the browser or open a new tab, by default it will show a page with the title as “New Tab”. This new tab page shows Google search box, links for many Google products like Gmail and list of thumbnails or favicons of the websites you have recently viewed. This thumbnail history may look good option so that you can easily access the pages. But it will be annoying in many situations like screen sharing or showing your desktop to others. Anyone can clearly see those thumbnails which is a direct intrusion in your privacy.
Can I Remove Those Annoying Thumbnails / Favicons?
The answer depends on the Chrome version you use.
- Google updated the Chrome browser on version 69. Now you will see the circular favicons of recently visited sites on new tab page instead of large rectangle thumbnails. Now that these are called shortcuts which you can remove at your wish and restore them at one click.
- On version lower than 69 Chrome shows bigger rectangular thumbnails on the new tab pages. And there are no default settings to switch of the thumbnails history. Even complete deletion of history will still show empty thumbnail boxes. These boxes will again start showing website preview when you browse sites. But there are some indirect ways that you can use to delete these thumbnails.
Google Chrome Thumbnails History on New Tab Page
Also check out how to remove thumbnails on Firefox Quantum, Mac Safari and iOS Safari to protect your privacy.
How to Remove Thumbnails from Chrome New Tab Page?
Let us discuss the following options and you may try the suitable one for you.
- Deleting favicon shortcuts [on version 69 or higher]
- Restoring deleted shortcuts [on version 69 or higher]
- Adding custom shortcuts [on version 69 or higher]
- Deleting single thumbnail [on version 68 or lower]
- Deleting complete history [All versions]
- Changing the start up page settings [All versions]
- Opening complete blank new tab page [All versions]
First we would recommend you to upgrade to the latest Chrome version so that you can easily remove the favicons on the new tab page.
1. Deleting Favicon Shortcuts [Version 69 or Higher]
Remove Info From Google Search
Launch Google Chrome and hover your mouse over one of the shortcut favicon image. Click on the three dots button called “Edit Shortcut”.
On the popup that appears, click “Remove” button to delete the shortcut icon from the new tab page.
Remove Shortcuts from Chrome New Tab Page
Once you have removed the shortcut icon, it will not appear again. This will help you to remove those annoying favicon images from the new tab pages. However, you need to delete the shortcuts one by one. We don’t see any option to delete all the shortcuts in one click.
2. Restoring Deleted Shortcuts [Version 69 or Higher]
After you delete a shortcut, Chrome will offer two options – undo and restore default shortcuts. Undo will only restore the last deleted shortcut while restoring will put back all the annoying favicons.
You can also restore all the shortcuts by clicking on gear icon shown on the lower right corner of the browser. Choose “Restore default shortcuts” to bring back all the history records on your new tab pages.
Restore All Favicons Shortcuts
3. Adding Custom Website Shortcuts [Version 69 or Higher]
You have an additional option to add your own custom shortcuts to new tab pages. Click on the “Add shortcut” button on home or new tab page.
Adding Shortcuts in Chrome New Tab Page
Enter website name, URL and click on “Done” button. This will add the favicon of the entered website on the home and new tab pages. This is an easy way to keep all your favorite websites on the new tab page to access them quickly.
4. Deleting Single Thumbnail [Version 68 or Lower]
![Thumbnails Thumbnails](/uploads/1/2/3/7/123701326/472040813.jpg)
Open Chrome and hover your mouse over the thumbnail preview image. You will see an “X” mark on the image with the description as “Don’t show on this page”. Click on the “X” mark to delete the site thumbnail.
Delete Thumbnail on Chrome New Tab Page
Remember, deleting thumbnail will remove the history of the site from the browser.
5. Deleting Entire History [All Versions]
Press “Command + Shift + Delete” on Mac or “Control + Shift + Delete” in Windows. Delete all browsing history.
This will delete all thumbnails from the new tab page. Learn more about clearing browser history in different browsers. However, the thumbnails or favicons will start appearing when you start browsing websites and accumulating the history.
Related Searchesremove Page From Google Search
6. Changing Startup Settings [All Versions]
In both of the above methods, there will be still empty thumbnail placeholders shown on new tab page of Chrome version 68 or lower.
Chrome Showing Empty Thumbnails on New Tab Page
On version 69 or higher, you will still see a “Add shortcut” button. Though you can’t remove this on new tab page, changing the startup page to a blank page will help to open a blank page when you launch the browser. Go to the command URL “chrome://settings” and scroll down to “On startup” section. Choose the option “Open a specific page or set of pages” and click on “Add a new page. Enter “about:blank” as site URL and click on “Add” button.
The “On startup” section should look like below:
Adding Blank Startup Page in Chrome
Close all open windows and reopen Chrome. It will show a blank page as a startup page. But clicking on a new tab will again show the page with Google search and site’s thumbnails from history or add shortcut button.
Changing startup page is very useful in Windows in which closing all open browser windows will close the browser. So when you launch Chrome again, it will show a blank page as startup page. But this will not be much useful on Mac. Because closing all windows will not close the browser. It will be still running on the dock and launching again will open a new page tab with history thumbnails or add shortcut button.
7. Open Completely Blank New Tab Page [All Versions]
This is a proper solution to remove all those annoying thumbnails or shortcuts from Google Chrome new tab page completely. But you need to install an extension from Chrome Web Store for that. Go to the store and search for “empty page”. Use filter as “Extensions” to restrict the results to only extension.
There are lots of empty new tab page extensions available in Chrome Web Store. Click on the “Add to Chrome” button and install the “Empty New Tab Page” extension. You will see an empty page whenever you open a new tab or new window.
Chrome Blank New Tab Page Using Extension
Remember the extension will also change the startup page as an empty page. But you can go to settings and change the startup page as per your need, if you want different or default startup page.
Final Thought
Modern browsers have lots of features for saving favorites, bookmarks, history to help users to quickly access websites. Almost all browsers show thumbnails on the home and new tab pages from history and favorites. Though this is useful, it also affects the privacy. In our opinion, the main purpose of the web browsers is to surf the internet and all other features should be optional with the ability to turn on or off. Fortunately Chrome version 69 or higher offers limited freedom of removing the shortcuts one by one. Unfortunately Chrome version 68 or lower does not allow this while other browsers do. Using third party extensions should help to remove the thumbnails from Chrome new tab page completely. But we strongly believe there should be an option provided for users to enable or disable this feature entirely using default browser’s settings.