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> 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 Tune
by 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...
- JohnTHaller 11y agoRelated fun fact: AVG tries to install Chrome as bundleware by tricking the user using dark patterns as part of upgrades and is paid by Google to do so. Addendum: In checking, I confirmed AntiVir and Avast both trick users into installing Chrome as I have screenshots of it (as well as Java, Adobe Flash, etc). I recall AVG doing it as well but don't have the associated screenshots.