6 ms·

"For Windows" no surprises there.

by tbrock 11y ago

nitinreddy88 11y ago
Whats joke in that. Android platform has more such things than Windows currently
- bt3 11y ago
  I 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 ago
    The 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 ago
      so 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 ago
        We all buy computers and re-install the OS immediately but your mom doesn't, and neither does mine. That's the problem.
        nitinreddy88 11y ago
        Agree that. Its consumer problem. They always have choice to buy something and use.
        jolux 11y ago
        Wiping the OS is an extreme measure only employed by power users. It's not their fault that it's a required step before using a new PC.
      - ptaipale 11y ago
        > No one stops you from installing clean Windows OS without bloatware. Except if your BIOS has WPBT which provides for installing such bloatware. Like Lenovo has done. https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20150812/11395231925/lenovo-busted-stealthily-installing-crapware-via-bios-fresh-windows-installs.shtml https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20150812/11395231925/lenov...
      - jolux 11y ago
        Yes well Microsoft allowed that fraud to be perpetuated on the user and has done so for a very long time. It's actively detrimental to the user experience, and for the most part, they know it. But due to commoditization their manufacturers are dependent on it. They aren't though, any PC you buy in a Microsoft store comes bloat free. >No one stops you from installing clean Windows OS without bloatware. Ah sure, that's every average PC user's first step after unboxing their shiny new laptop. Wipe it with DBAN and do a fresh install. Just kidding, it's pretty obviously not. Most people don't even know what wiping a computer entails, or how to do it, or that it would actually get rid of the bloat. These things seem simple to us but most people don't understand the first thing about computers. No one stops you from buying a Mac because you're sick of dealing with bloatware either. Just sayin'. >Can you tell me one single product in Apple which is sold by other than Apple. No clue what you're trying to say there.
- notatoad 11y ago
  Android's crapware problem is manageable. Everything belongs to an app, apps can be uninstalled and then the crap is gone. The problem on windows is the insidious third-party apps that inject their extensions into chrome and re-create them when you try to remove them so the only way to actually get rid of them is a specialized tool.
  - 0xFFC 11y ago
    Not true about removable memory.
cfcef 11y ago
That does surprise me. Chrome is a cross-OS application, it runs on Windows/Mac/Linux, right? And things like extensions are all internal to the browser. Why is a scanner for bad settings and bad extensions bound to a single OS?
- jordanthoms 11y ago
  It's technically possible for Chrome to have this problem on other operating systems as well, but in practice their telemetry shows the vast majority of malware which installs things into Chrome is on Windows.
- derefr 11y ago
  Chrome provides hooks to allow Windows to force extensions into it through Group Policy et al. Good for corporate IT, bad for protecting yourself against malware. The key insight is that Chrome itself is programmed to have quite-limited permissions—it not only heavily sandboxes itself, but it also does what it can to avoid requesting any powers from the OS that could be used to do damage in the first place, if one were to break out of the sandbox. (This also has the side-benefit that Chrome doesn't need any of those "scary" UAC elevation prompts during installation, which probably helps their funnel to an extent.) This means that Chrome actually doesn't have any of the permissions required to weed out the GPOs responsible for feeding it malware extensions. Even if the Chrome process wanted to reach out and blow them away, it couldn't. So they created this separate program, that does do "scary" UAC-elevation things, to help out. (What they could have done is package this program into the Windows Chrome install, make it headless, and make a button in the Chrome settings that would spawn it and then interact with it over IPC, displaying the UI on the Chrome side. They could have, further, made it just-in-time download the component—as, IIRC, Firefox does with its Hello component—which would have eliminated any install-time size overhead to this approach.)
ChrisClark 11y ago
Because this tool is to get rid of malware that installed toolbars or injects ads. That's pretty much a Windows exclusive 'feature' at the moment.
- ocdtrekkie 11y ago
  Nonsense. The Chrome Web Store is full of shady new tab pages and ad injectors. Google is just now finally trying to police it.
  - oneeyedpigeon 11y ago
    Utterly anecdotal, but I have never personally experienced this kind of thing on OSX since switching ~ 4 years ago. At that time, I found Windows PC essentially unusable because of the likelihood of infection which only seemed to increase when using the very tools that advertised themselves as tackling the problem. Of course, I mean the 'reputable' ones like symantec, mcafee, and avg.
  - derefr 11y ago
    Chrome app/extension malware can be handled from within Chrome itself, though. You only need a separate tool for OS-level malware.
- deleted 11y ago
  [deleted]
JohnTHaller 11y ago
Fun fact, third party apps can't modify Chrome on Windows. If any third party app injects a Chrome extension into Chrome or alters a single Chrome setting... even just the homepage... Chrome will delete all extensions, all extension settings, reset the homepage to default, and reset the search engine to Google on next launch. A big downside is that your Chrome settings are basically tied to a specific PC, so forget about moving them to a new PC unless you sign in and sync to Google.
- derefr 11y ago
  > A big downside is that your Chrome settings are basically tied to a specific PC, so forget about moving them to a new PC unless you sign in and sync to Google. Even then. I'm not sure why extension config-data isn't transparently replicated between hosts, but it's a really noticeable problem when you have an extension installed that's as complex as XKit or RES. Even for uBlock, you have to copy-and-paste your whitelist rules between hosts, rather than having them just follow you around.
  - AgentME 11y ago
    Chrome allows extensions to have automatically synchronized settings. Blame the extension if it doesn't use the feature.
- arthurfm 11y ago
  > Fun fact, third party apps can't modify Chrome on Windows. AVG managed to. [1] > When a user installs AVG AntiVirus, a Chrome extension called "AVG Web TuneUp" with extension id chfdnecihphmhljaaejmgoiahnihplgn is force-installed. I can see from the webstore statistics it has nearly 9 million active Chrome users. > This extension adds numerous JavaScript API's to chrome, apparently so that they can hijack search settings and the new tab page. The installation process is quite complicated so that they can bypass the chrome malware checks, which specifically tries to stop abuse of the extension API. [1] https://code.google.com/p/google-security-research/issues/detail?id=675 https://code.google.com/p/google-security-research/issues/de...
  - 11y ago
pjmlp 11y ago
Of course, it is after all the number one desktop platform, regardless of several "Year of desktop on" attempts. Also Chrome installs on the user $HOME, thus avoiding some of the security mechanisms that would be place, if Google would do it properly.
- kozukumi 11y ago
  Chrome has installed the Program Files like a "good" application for a while now. It did used to install to AppData\Local which was "bad" as yes it did skirt around some security things at the time.
spyder 11y ago
Eh... https://productforums.google.com/forum/#!topic/chrome/m-TgJol4iQU https://productforums.google.com/forum/#!topic/chrome/m-TgJo...

"For Windows" no surprises there.

by tbrock 11y ago

"For Windows" no surprises there.

nitinreddy88 11y ago

Whats joke in that. Android platform has more such things than Windows currently

bt3 11y ago
I 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 ago
  The 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 ago
    so 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 ago
      We all buy computers and re-install the OS immediately but your mom doesn't, and neither does mine. That's the problem.
      - nitinreddy88 11y ago
        Agree that. Its consumer problem. They always have choice to buy something and use.
        jolux 11y ago
        Wiping the OS is an extreme measure only employed by power users. It's not their fault that it's a required step before using a new PC.
    - ptaipale 11y ago
      > No one stops you from installing clean Windows OS without bloatware. Except if your BIOS has WPBT which provides for installing such bloatware. Like Lenovo has done. https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20150812/11395231925/lenovo-busted-stealthily-installing-crapware-via-bios-fresh-windows-installs.shtml https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20150812/11395231925/lenov...
    - jolux 11y ago
      Yes well Microsoft allowed that fraud to be perpetuated on the user and has done so for a very long time. It's actively detrimental to the user experience, and for the most part, they know it. But due to commoditization their manufacturers are dependent on it. They aren't though, any PC you buy in a Microsoft store comes bloat free. >No one stops you from installing clean Windows OS without bloatware. Ah sure, that's every average PC user's first step after unboxing their shiny new laptop. Wipe it with DBAN and do a fresh install. Just kidding, it's pretty obviously not. Most people don't even know what wiping a computer entails, or how to do it, or that it would actually get rid of the bloat. These things seem simple to us but most people don't understand the first thing about computers. No one stops you from buying a Mac because you're sick of dealing with bloatware either. Just sayin'. >Can you tell me one single product in Apple which is sold by other than Apple. No clue what you're trying to say there.
notatoad 11y ago
Android's crapware problem is manageable. Everything belongs to an app, apps can be uninstalled and then the crap is gone. The problem on windows is the insidious third-party apps that inject their extensions into chrome and re-create them when you try to remove them so the only way to actually get rid of them is a specialized tool.
- 0xFFC 11y ago
  Not true about removable memory.

cfcef 11y ago

That does surprise me. Chrome is a cross-OS application, it runs on Windows/Mac/Linux, right? And things like extensions are all internal to the browser. Why is a scanner for bad settings and bad extensions bound to a single OS?

jordanthoms 11y ago
It's technically possible for Chrome to have this problem on other operating systems as well, but in practice their telemetry shows the vast majority of malware which installs things into Chrome is on Windows.
derefr 11y ago
Chrome provides hooks to allow Windows to force extensions into it through Group Policy et al. Good for corporate IT, bad for protecting yourself against malware. The key insight is that Chrome itself is programmed to have quite-limited permissions—it not only heavily sandboxes itself, but it also does what it can to avoid requesting any powers from the OS that could be used to do damage in the first place, if one were to break out of the sandbox. (This also has the side-benefit that Chrome doesn't need any of those "scary" UAC elevation prompts during installation, which probably helps their funnel to an extent.) This means that Chrome actually doesn't have any of the permissions required to weed out the GPOs responsible for feeding it malware extensions. Even if the Chrome process wanted to reach out and blow them away, it couldn't. So they created this separate program, that does do "scary" UAC-elevation things, to help out. (What they could have done is package this program into the Windows Chrome install, make it headless, and make a button in the Chrome settings that would spawn it and then interact with it over IPC, displaying the UI on the Chrome side. They could have, further, made it just-in-time download the component—as, IIRC, Firefox does with its Hello component—which would have eliminated any install-time size overhead to this approach.)

ChrisClark 11y ago

Because this tool is to get rid of malware that installed toolbars or injects ads. That's pretty much a Windows exclusive 'feature' at the moment.

ocdtrekkie 11y ago
Nonsense. The Chrome Web Store is full of shady new tab pages and ad injectors. Google is just now finally trying to police it.
- oneeyedpigeon 11y ago
  Utterly anecdotal, but I have never personally experienced this kind of thing on OSX since switching ~ 4 years ago. At that time, I found Windows PC essentially unusable because of the likelihood of infection which only seemed to increase when using the very tools that advertised themselves as tackling the problem. Of course, I mean the 'reputable' ones like symantec, mcafee, and avg.
- derefr 11y ago
  Chrome app/extension malware can be handled from within Chrome itself, though. You only need a separate tool for OS-level malware.
deleted 11y ago
[deleted]

JohnTHaller 11y ago

Fun fact, third party apps can't modify Chrome on Windows. If any third party app injects a Chrome extension into Chrome or alters a single Chrome setting... even just the homepage... Chrome will delete all extensions, all extension settings, reset the homepage to default, and reset the search engine to Google on next launch. A big downside is that your Chrome settings are basically tied to a specific PC, so forget about moving them to a new PC unless you sign in and sync to Google.

derefr 11y ago
> A big downside is that your Chrome settings are basically tied to a specific PC, so forget about moving them to a new PC unless you sign in and sync to Google. Even then. I'm not sure why extension config-data isn't transparently replicated between hosts, but it's a really noticeable problem when you have an extension installed that's as complex as XKit or RES. Even for uBlock, you have to copy-and-paste your whitelist rules between hosts, rather than having them just follow you around.
- AgentME 11y ago
  Chrome allows extensions to have automatically synchronized settings. Blame the extension if it doesn't use the feature.
arthurfm 11y ago
> Fun fact, third party apps can't modify Chrome on Windows. AVG managed to. [1] > When a user installs AVG AntiVirus, a Chrome extension called "AVG Web TuneUp" with extension id chfdnecihphmhljaaejmgoiahnihplgn is force-installed. I can see from the webstore statistics it has nearly 9 million active Chrome users. > This extension adds numerous JavaScript API's to chrome, apparently so that they can hijack search settings and the new tab page. The installation process is quite complicated so that they can bypass the chrome malware checks, which specifically tries to stop abuse of the extension API. [1] https://code.google.com/p/google-security-research/issues/detail?id=675 https://code.google.com/p/google-security-research/issues/de...
- 11y ago

pjmlp 11y ago

Of course, it is after all the number one desktop platform, regardless of several "Year of desktop on" attempts. Also Chrome installs on the user $HOME, thus avoiding some of the security mechanisms that would be place, if Google would do it properly.

kozukumi 11y ago
Chrome has installed the Program Files like a "good" application for a while now. It did used to install to AppData\Local which was "bad" as yes it did skirt around some security things at the time.

spyder 11y ago

Eh... https://productforums.google.com/forum/#!topic/chrome/m-TgJol4iQU https://productforums.google.com/forum/#!topic/chrome/m-TgJo...