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Chrome Cleanup Tool
- smegel 11y agoGot rid of something called Conduit Toolbar for me. Although I politely declined it's offer of disabling all my extensions and resetting everything back to default.
- danielki 11y agoI want a tool that cleans up my bookmarks. I'll often bookmark a page to look at it later, but then never get back to it or forget I bookmarked it. After a few years of using Chrome, I've got a crapload of bookmark bloat. Here's what I'm looking for in such a tool (I might try to build this unless there's something out there already that does this): * Surface bookmarks I haven't visited in the past N days/months, give me the option to delete them * Identify groups of bookmarks that are similar (share most of the URL path or one page links to the other) or duplicates. * Suggest folders to place the bookmarks in based upon what Google knows about the websites (Sports-related, WebDev-related, etc), and/or time (I bookmarked five pages about similar topics on the same day, it's probably part of research I was doing for something) * Remove dead links or offer to convert them to the Google-cached version
- tedmiston 11y agoI used to do this before I found OneTab. Now "do later" bookmarks go there. I exported my old Chrome bookmarks for reference (but very rarely actually open them), and switched to Pinboard for reference bookmarks. I still use the bookmarks bar for bookmarklets and very frequently visited sites though.
- tdkl 11y ago> * Remove dead links I use Bookmark Checker New for this from time to time : https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/bookmark-checker-new/lnboppjpcdnckcklbmjmdahfkpmgglec https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/bookmark-checker-n...
- tbrock 11y ago"For Windows" no surprises there.
- nitinreddy88 11y agoWhats joke in that. Android platform has more such things than Windows currently
- bt3 11y agoI think it may be that Chrome resource problems, as well as crashes are more traditionally seen on the Mac. Of course, I could be biased with that conjecture.
- jolux 11y agoThe joke is that Windows doesn't do self-cleaning like the Mac does and Windows machines often come installed with bloatware that is frequently harmful to the correct functioning of a personal computer. Also Macs don't get viruses as frequently. I'm not saying they're less susceptible but it does happen less often. (see: any recent COTS Windows PC, especially Lenovo)
- nitinreddy88 11y agoso it's not Windows that's bloated. It's the Manufacturers or your product is bloated. No one stops you from installing clean Windows OS without bloatware. Can you tell me one single product in Apple which is sold by other than Apple. Seems like you are comparing Oranges n Apples.
- tbrock 11y agoWe all buy computers and re-install the OS immediately but your mom doesn't, and neither does mine. That's the problem.
- 11y ago
- bt3 11y agoJudging on the verbiage of that splash page, it sounds like this is a utility that does nothing more than reset one's settings back to normal, while deleting, or at least disabling a majority of add-ons that may be primary contributors to the crashing, erroneous start pages, and "ads you can't get rid of".
- niclupien 11y agoInteresting, I understood something completely different. I thought it would detect and remove malware installed on the user's computer that affect chrome behavior.
- redwards510 11y agoHeh, when I read it, I took it to mean they are looking for malware exe's that are lodged on your system that affect Chrome. I guess you could go either way on it, but how is this different than just doing the "Reset All Settings" function available in the Chrome settings? Text: "This application will scan and remove software that may cause problems with Chrome, such as crashes, unusual startup pages or toolbars, unexpected ads you can't get rid of, or otherwise changing your browsing experience."
- derefr 11y agoMaybe helpful for things that prevent you from even getting to Chrome's settings.
- joenathan 11y agoI've seen malware add-ons that add themselves via the Windows registry and are near impossible for a normal user to remove, I've also seen some modify internet behavior by setting malicious DNS servers via group policy. A simple reset of settings will do nothing against these threats.
- paulirish 11y agohttp://chrome.blogspot.com/2015/05/new-research-ad-injection-economy.html http://chrome.blogspot.com/2015/05/new-research-ad-injection... describes why such a tool must exist. AFAIUI, the cleanup tool addresses with the many Windows executables that can compromise the core Chrome experience and user profile settings in order to inject bothersome advertisements. A paper on this Ad Injection ecosystem was published last year: http://research.google.com/pubs/pub43346.html http://research.google.com/pubs/pub43346.html
- nchelluri 11y agoFor Firefox users, I recently did the following: follow the instructions here http://forums.mozillazine.org/viewtopic.php?p=8494865&sid=37716948be49cf50feaf56acf0cd7946#p8494865 http://forums.mozillazine.org/viewtopic.php?p=8494865&sid=37... and run SpeedyFox, which on Mac is I think just a SQLite cleanup tool. But, it made a huge difference. Deleting all of my history older than six months pegged one of my CPUs and made FF unusable for about 20 minutes, but that, deleting all my cookies, clearing the recent download list, removing a couple of rarely/never used addons, and running SpeedyFox seems to have helped a lot. So speedy now.
- 746F7475 11y agoI gotta try this. Just last night I was doing some light browsing while hanging on irc and I think my Firefox crashed twice. I haven't had issues since I moved back to Firefox few months back and it started to shake my "commitment"
- adouzzy 11y agoYou can just create a new profile folder.
- nchelluri 11y agoThis is true, but it always takes me a long time to get my setup just right: bookmarks, search keywords, extensions, preferences, getting the address bar history primed...
- r00fus 11y agoIsn't there a way to copy a profile? This would be great for archival - so I can search - I want to know last year when I was on Project X about some things that would be useful right now....
- nchelluri 11y agopretty sure the Rescue Profile thing or Reset Profile mentioned above makes a backup copy and puts it on your desktop. Its in the usual profile dir for your OS either way, ~/Library/<something> on OS X and wow it's been forever since I used windows but under your user dir.
- nitinreddy88 11y agoWindows defender says - Malware Detected and Download failed. Ouch!!
- ChrisClark 11y agoProbably because the tool contains definitions of the malware it's trying to get rid of.
- ggreer 11y agoThat's odd. The tool downloaded and ran just fine for me. Even manually scanning with Windows Defender results in nothing. I'm using Windows 10, version 1511. My virus & spyware definitions are up to date.
- jaflo 11y agoHas anyone actually tried it (I haven't)? Sounds like another step against malware that targets Chrome. It's nice to know that Google cares about safety and all, but what do they gain financially?
- freshyill 11y agoThey gain confidence from their users that Chrome is a safe and secure browser. I don't understand why this should be confusing.
- JoBrad 11y agoThe article does a good job of explaining this, I thought. In addition to their reputation as a browser maker, they have the integrity of their ad network to maintain. Wins all around, if you ask me.
- zhiqiangf 11y agowindows only? exe file
- aidanlister 11y agoDoes anyone else get a "webpage screenshot - this extension has been automatically disabled" pop up every time they start chrome on OSX? I get that it's now spyware, but just remove the extension already, not just disabling it each time. It doesn't show in chrome://extensions either.
- jordanthoms 11y agoYou may have something installed on your computer which keeps on reinstalling it into Chrome.
- roflchoppa 11y agoconsider running adware medic to attempt to remove it.
- roflchoppa 11y agoconsider running adware medic to attempt to remove it.
- paulirish 11y agoI found a number of threads about this, many in the Google Support forums. The best solution I could find is: * Disconnect your Google profile from Chrome. * Close Chrome * Re-open Chrome * View chrome:extensions. You should see it there. You can delete it. * Reconnect your Google profile Let me know if that works, and I'll try to update our docs on it.
- awqrre 11y agoDoes it remove the Google app that always runs even when your are not using Chrome?
- dwightgunning 11y agoI was expecting a OS X app to remove all the old versions of Chrome that get left inside the application package folder after each evergreen update. NFI why the updater doesn't clean out versions that are > than, say, 3mths old.
- ggreer 11y agoOn OS X, Chrome keeps the last two versions around. If you have more old versions, it's likely a bug or a problem with permissions. My mother's mac had the same issue as you. After I deleted Chrome.app and downloaded a fresh copy from Google, it never returned.
- Splendor 11y agoFurther evidence that the browser is becoming the new OS.
- vlunkr 11y agoI don't really see how. This type of malware has been going on in browsers for a long time.
- cavisne 11y agoBeen around for a while. Works great for getting rid of malware that hijacks chrome.
- chinmaydesai 11y agoI shall try this!
- max_ 11y agoMy PC was infected with the Snapdo adware...... this thing did not help. I recommend Malwarebytes.
- DanBC 11y agoI'm surprised when people recommend clean-up tools, rather than wiping and reinstalling.
- chippy 11y agoIt's easy to understand if you consider time and effort. Time and effort installing and running something recommended (e.g. Google's tool) versus time and effort wiping and reinstalling. Now, the first install and run task may or may not work. If it does, horray for efficient choices. If it doesn't then the user can wipe and reinstall.
- rplnt 11y agoIt would be nice if it could clean up the crap Chrome produces. Just few weeks ago I was wondering why my drive is so full, and yep, Chrome was almost 12GB of that. It was cache, so somewhat legitimate (unlike what they used to do - leave 20 chrome copies on your drive), but chrome couldn't clean it (clear cache did nothing). I had to delete it manually (and of course it caused some problems). Few days later I was at 10+GB mark again, Chrome not being able to clean it.
- timlyo 11y agoDoes ccleaner help with that stuff?
- thecatspaw 11y agois ccleaner a legitimate product? when I tried it years ago it seemed kind of shady
- Numberwang 11y agoI've been using it for years. It is brilliant.
- simi_ 11y agoIf I have to use a Windows machine, CCleaner is one of the first tools I install, it's fantastic. On OS X I use App Cleaner (I run it in parallel with `brew cask rm` just to be safe). PS: That's numberwang! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjOZtWZ56lc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjOZtWZ56lc
- hk__2 11y agoDon’t forget to run `brew cleanup` as well.
- jugbee 11y agoit's one the tools they teach you in forensics course, when they speak about "nasty anti-forensics done by criminals". Source: attended some courses ;)
- estomagordo 11y agoRan it, said it found nothing. But now all of a sudden I'm getting some sort of ad e-mails in my gmail inbox?
- estomagordo 11y agoOh, and I can no longer send tweets in Tweetdeck. Good times.
- Houshalter 11y agoWhy is this necessary? Google already disabled third party extensions.
- dingdingdang 11y agoWhy is this not a part of Chrome? This is starting to resemble the Norton Way(tm). For a number of years Norton have been distributing special tools to help clean up and remove their own products, making them a 100% un-user-friendly.
- surreal 11y agoI might be wrong, will try to dig deeper, but to me it seems like this is for removing third party crapware that might affect your Chrome experience (toolbars, ad-injectors etc), not for removing Google's own stuff. So kind of makes sense to be an optional standalone tool.
- roelvanhintum 11y agoAll this trouble to get rid of the Ask.com toolbar. ;)
- arbabu 11y agoIt would be nice if the title contains "for Windows" as I couldn't find an option for Mac/Linux anywhere.
- xd1936 11y ago99% of the kinds of malware that would cause these issues won't target Mac/Linux
- ilamparithi 11y agoFinally! We get lots of complaints from out customers about these ads. Some are not tech savvy enough to remove malware and add-ons. We had to help them in removing these. Ideal solution would be Google alerting the users and removing these malware after getting users' permission.
- wdmeldon 11y agoI will be sending this to everyone I've had to help "remove viruses" from their computer in the last two years. This tool is a godsend.
- whatever_dude 11y agoBeware as it tries to reset your preferences to default.
- TazeTSchnitzel 11y agoChrome installs in Application Data, which doesn't require admin privileges to modify. That probably makes it an easy target for malware.
- treenyc 11y agoWhy Can't Google just build that into Chrome?