How can I hide the most visited sites on Chrome?

Since the last update it has been impossible to hide the most visited sites. I don't know if it's some temporary sick joke by the chrome team but I need to remove it.

I have tried changing my home to something other website, this works for when you first launch chrome but not for opening news tabs.

Currently, the only simple solution is to use an extension.

Before Chrome version 33, released 20th February 2014, this solution was possible:

• Enter chrome://flags/ into the address bar
• Search for "Enable Instant Extended API"
• Set it to Disabled
• Restart Chrome

You may have to click on the 'x' on the right of each cached thumbnail to get rid of it.

At the time of writing, September 2013 this worked.

There's an extension called Empty New Tab Page. Does exactly what it says on the tin.

To remove any of the 8 most visited sites, hover your mouse cursor over the 'thumbnail' until a X appears at the top right hand corner. Click that. However your next most visited site will replace it.