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How to block the Chrome Software Reporter Tool (2018)

39 points by rahuldottech 7y ago

jtylr 7y ago
> A Google community specialist mentioned that the tool scans folders related to Chrome only, but its scope is not exposed to the user in any way. The title seems a bit of a leap.
- finnjohnsen2 7y ago
  Click bait indeed. It does in-fact not scan your PC for _all_ executables.
Cougher 7y ago
This is a basic example of Google's treatment of its users. They could have offered this to users as an option to help their browsers run more smoothly, while informing the users of the extra CPU drain. Better yet, since what they're monitoring could increase user awareness of what their computers are doing, they could offer to "cc" the reports to the users. This transparency would also put a better face on Google. But this is not what they did. I don't know what their reasoning was, but I'll perceive it as a callous disregard for the user at best. And you gotta love the comments section. Within the first five comments, we have Google described as being a nefarious organization created by the US government, the Russians, and the Jews.
endijs 7y ago
I usually use only Firefox, but when I need to launch Chrome to test something, this reporter tool creates a very significant load one the system in terms of SSD and CPU usage. For the last few times I have simply killed the process, but will see if any of permanent ways to disable this reporter tool really work.
- leppr 7y ago
  Does that also happen if Firefox is closed when you launch Chrome ? I ask because for a long while I had a bug where launching Chromium while Firefox is running would show similar symptoms, on top of freezing Firefox. This didn't happen if I closed Firefox before launching Chromium. Not sure if this is related.
- pieter_mj 7y ago
  Deleting it doesn't work since it is recreated on startup of chrome. I modified the folder acl '\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\User Data\SwReporter' to not be able to run the executable. That seems to stick (at least when run as a limited user).
patient_zero 7y ago
I'm not defending the practice, but 'scanning for all executables', is false. 'Scans all folders related to chrome' is true. Title is flat out wrong.
dtech 7y ago
Is this a defense against malware and problematic chrome plugins?
- rvoje 7y ago
  I was wondering which executables is this hunting aswell. What else does chrome run besides itself? Is it flash and the likes of it?
apexalpha 7y ago
Alternative title: every random binary still has full file system acces in Windows.
- teh_klev 7y ago
  That is in fact incorrect. Windows NTFS permissions are strictly enforced and depending on the identity the executable was launched under and that identity's group membership (and perhaps some additional "user rights assignments"), the executable can only access drives, files and folders where permissions are granted. Now sure if you allow that executable to launch as SYSTEM then it's game over (much in the same way launching a binary as root is game over).
tomashubelbauer 7y ago
The title is missing (2018) or (2019) - not sure if the title should have the created or the updated date actually. Anyway, nothing indicates this is current, so the title should have some year Also the title is total clickbait and while the topic is interesting, it would be great to have a less biased/reaching submission on it.
mirages 7y ago
Not a flag for me. As I have an old HDD, reading can be slow. And sevral times I found out that the software_reporter_tool was scanning everything (it was when it was reading all steam games folder) Since then I stopped beliving what google said about it and I made a scheduled job to kill and delete SWRT folders every hours Oh and the registry value doesn't disable it in any way
dplgk 7y ago
Related: about a month ago, Google auto updater which runs in the background, really started going crazy recently tripping up my little snitch many times a day. Previously, little snitch never mentioned it.

39 points by rahuldottech 7y ago

> A Google community specialist mentioned that the tool scans folders related to Chrome only, but its scope is not exposed to the user in any way. The title seems a bit of a leap.

finnjohnsen2 7y ago
Click bait indeed. It does in-fact not scan your PC for _all_ executables.

Cougher 7y ago

This is a basic example of Google's treatment of its users. They could have offered this to users as an option to help their browsers run more smoothly, while informing the users of the extra CPU drain. Better yet, since what they're monitoring could increase user awareness of what their computers are doing, they could offer to "cc" the reports to the users. This transparency would also put a better face on Google. But this is not what they did. I don't know what their reasoning was, but I'll perceive it as a callous disregard for the user at best. And you gotta love the comments section. Within the first five comments, we have Google described as being a nefarious organization created by the US government, the Russians, and the Jews.

endijs 7y ago

I usually use only Firefox, but when I need to launch Chrome to test something, this reporter tool creates a very significant load one the system in terms of SSD and CPU usage. For the last few times I have simply killed the process, but will see if any of permanent ways to disable this reporter tool really work.

leppr 7y ago
Does that also happen if Firefox is closed when you launch Chrome ? I ask because for a long while I had a bug where launching Chromium while Firefox is running would show similar symptoms, on top of freezing Firefox. This didn't happen if I closed Firefox before launching Chromium. Not sure if this is related.
pieter_mj 7y ago
Deleting it doesn't work since it is recreated on startup of chrome. I modified the folder acl '\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\User Data\SwReporter' to not be able to run the executable. That seems to stick (at least when run as a limited user).

patient_zero 7y ago

I'm not defending the practice, but 'scanning for all executables', is false. 'Scans all folders related to chrome' is true. Title is flat out wrong.

dtech 7y ago

Is this a defense against malware and problematic chrome plugins?

rvoje 7y ago
I was wondering which executables is this hunting aswell. What else does chrome run besides itself? Is it flash and the likes of it?

apexalpha 7y ago

Alternative title: every random binary still has full file system acces in Windows.

teh_klev 7y ago
That is in fact incorrect. Windows NTFS permissions are strictly enforced and depending on the identity the executable was launched under and that identity's group membership (and perhaps some additional "user rights assignments"), the executable can only access drives, files and folders where permissions are granted. Now sure if you allow that executable to launch as SYSTEM then it's game over (much in the same way launching a binary as root is game over).

tomashubelbauer 7y ago

The title is missing (2018) or (2019) - not sure if the title should have the created or the updated date actually. Anyway, nothing indicates this is current, so the title should have some year Also the title is total clickbait and while the topic is interesting, it would be great to have a less biased/reaching submission on it.

mirages 7y ago

Not a flag for me. As I have an old HDD, reading can be slow. And sevral times I found out that the software_reporter_tool was scanning everything (it was when it was reading all steam games folder) Since then I stopped beliving what google said about it and I made a scheduled job to kill and delete SWRT folders every hours Oh and the registry value doesn't disable it in any way

dplgk 7y ago

Related: about a month ago, Google auto updater which runs in the background, really started going crazy recently tripping up my little snitch many times a day. Previously, little snitch never mentioned it.