Questions about browser settings

  1. Will the browser have a “home page”?
  2. What happens when browser settings are reset?
  3. How does the browser protect its settings?
  4. Which search engine is used by default?
  5. How does the browser protect the default search engine?
  6. How can I disable the browser update in the background?
  7. Problems viewing files
  8. How to reset Zen and change your preferences

Will the browser have a “home page”?

Instead of showing a start page when launching, Yandex.Browser shows either the Tableau with the most frequently visited pages, or tabs that were left open the last time. To select your preferred option, click  → Settings → Launch on startup.

What happens when browser settings are reset?

As the result of resetting browser settings, the original settings will be restored:

To reset the browser settings:

  1. Click   → Settings.
  2. In the lower half of the Settings page, click Show advanced settings.
  3. In the Reset settings section of the browser, click Reset settings.
  4. Click Reset.

How does the browser protect its settings?

Some programs (such as chat programs, extra browser panels, and so on) may change your browser settings without asking you.

Yandex.Browser tracks these changes and automatically restores the default settings. You'll see a message about this at the top of the settings page (just click  → Settings):

Which search engine is used by default?

The Yandex search engine is used by default. You can change it in the browser settings.

How does the browser protect the default search engine?

Certain programs may change the default search engine without telling you.

To prevent this, the browser asks you to confirm the changes (you will need to enter the security code from an image):

How can I disable the browser update in the background?

Yandex.Browser updates automatically irrespective of whether you use it or not. This is for security reasons: new threats and vulnerabilities constantly arise in the internet and the browser gets new and better protection methods.

We do not recommend disabling automatic update in the background, but if you need to:

  1. Click   → Settings.
  2. In the lower half of the Settings page, click Show advanced settings.
  3. In the System section, disable the Update browser even when it's not open option.

Now automatic update in background is disabled. However, as soon as you open the browser, it immediately checks for updates and will do so regularly in the future when running.

It is not possible to completely disable automatic update in the browser. We recommend using the latest browser version to get maximum protection against internet threats.

Problems viewing files

Check whether previewing files in Yandex.Browser is disabled:

  1. Open the downloads page (for example, you can use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl + J).
  2. Find a downloaded file in the format you are trying to view.
  3. Open the context menu for the file.
  4. Check the option Disable quick view for. If this option is selected, deselect it.

How to reset Zen and change your preferences

Reset Zen

Completely clear your browsing history and reset Zen.

To clear the browsing history:

  1. Use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl + Shift + Del.
  2. In the Obliterate the following items from list, select the beginning of time.
  3. Select cookies and other site and plugin data (disable all the other options if you only want to delete cookies).
  4. Click Clear browsing data.

After this, you can personalize Zen:

  1. Go to the Zen page.
  2. Choose the items that interest you (at least five).
  3. Click Continue at the bottom of the page to create your content feed.
  4. Open a new tab in the browser.
Note. Websites usually use cookies for “recognizing” the user (for example, to avoid asking for the username and password of a user who was recently on this website). You will be logged out of sites after clearing cookies.
Change preferences after seeing content you don't like

You can personalize the recommendations shown in your content feed. To do this, just mark your preferences:

  • If you like a certain publication, click in the lower left corner of your recommendations and Zen will recommend more similar materials.
  • If you don't like a certain publication, click in the lower left corner and Zen will not recommend as many similar materials.
  • If you don't want to see materials from a given site, click in the lower left corner of your recommendations, and then click the Block this source link.

Zen will continually adjust your content feed based on your browsing history.