Getting rid of Google Chrome's 'speeddial' (aka Most Visited sites)

[The CyberShot]

Hi everyone!

For most intents and purposes, you won't need this hack, but if you are one of those few people who don't like Google Chrome's 'Most visited sites' feature that looks like Opera's Speeddial, then here's how you can get rid of it:

First of all, it could actually be a useful feature for normal users who don't surf the web much other than to often visit their favorite social networking websites.

But if you're into web developing or anything else that requires you to access the same local site that you're hosting on your computer again and again, chances are you don't want Google Chrome to peg your local webserver as one of your most-visited sites.
You could always click the 'X' button on the site's thumbnail to get rid of it, but in my case, it always crops up again sooner or later.

So, after looking for some solutions online; none of which actually worked, I found out that Google Chrome saves the history information, saved passwords, preferences, etc. at this location [Windows 7]:

C:\Users\<USERNAME>\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default

For WinXP users, it's probably under

C:\Documents and Settings\<USERNAME>\Local Settings\Application Data\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default

So anyway, you'll find a file named Top Sites (without an extension) in there. That file holds the URLs of the websites to show in Chrome's speeddial. Now, if you analyzed the file with TrID, you'll find that it was a SQLite database file. So, to read it, you need a SQLite database reader program like the SQLite Database Browser. Download the program and open the file using it.

NOTE: Make sure that Google Chrome is not running when you do this because if it is, you won't be able to edit the values in the database.

Now, you could look around and modify/delete any entries you want and save the modified database but Google Chrome would fix the anomalies when you start it again the next time.

So, what you need to do to fix it permanently is this:

STEP 0. Make sure Google Chrome is not running!

STEP 1. Make a back-up copy of the History, Top Sites, Archived History and Visited Sites files present in the Google directory in the Application Data folder. Open up the History file found in the same folder using SQLite Database Browser

STEP 2. Switch to the 'Execute SQL' tab and run this SQL query:

SELECT * FROM urls WHERE url LIKE ('%SITE_URL_TO_REMOVE_HERE%')

or, if you're sure that there's only one entry for your site, try this query

SELECT id FROM urls WHERE url LIKE ('%SITE_URL_TO_REMOVE_HERE%')

For instance, if you had 'google.com' in the most visited sites list and you wanted to remove it, your query would look like this:

SELECT * FROM urls WHERE url LIKE ('%google.com%')

In any case, you need to look for the ID of the site that you wish to remove.
Once you've found that, go to step 3

STEP 3. Execute another SQL query that removes the site entry from the browsing history. Your query could look like this:

DELETE FROM urls WHERE id=[ID_OF_SITE_URL_TO_REMOVE]

For instance, if 'google.com' had the id of 123456 then the query would look like this:

DELETE FROM urls WHERE id=123456

STEP 4. Now, save the changes made to the database. Click
You also need to delete a few files from the folder as well, before you start Chrome again.
The files you need to delete are Top Sites, Visited Links and Archived History. I'm not sure if all those files need to be deleted, but deleting them sure worked for me.

You're done! Start Google Chrome and wait for a few seconds as it rebuilds the most visited sites list. And hopefully, your site wouldn't be on the list anymore.

NOTE: This hack also seems to disable the box that used to contain the thumbnail of site you remove. I never really cared about them so it doesn't bother me, but if you feel you might have broken something, just navigate back to Google's directory in the Application Data folder and remove the files Top Sites, History, Archived History and Visited Links. Replace History with your back-up copy of the file and you're good to go.

[mrintech]

Great Man... very nice tutorial.... I just got rid of Speed Dial

Awesome work

[The CyberShot]

Thanks MrIntech
It works, but it's still not perfect enough. I need to find a way to *not* make Speed Dial unusable after the hack is applied. Lol.

If anyone finds out a way to remove a site from the Most Visited sites list without actually making it's box unusable, do let me know

[dashing.sujay]

Nice hack CyberShot

btw see my chrome (I also wanted to get rid of Speed dials and ability to use apps on one click which I am able to do now)

Spoiler:

[himadri_sm]

Nice hack CyberShot

btw see my chrome (I also wanted to get rid of Speed dials and ability to use apps on one click which I am able to do now)

Spoiler:

Trying out the incredible start page now.

[dashing.sujay]

Trying out the incredible start page now.

Share your views after you use it.

[doomgiver]

this is awesome!!!
+ rep, man