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At installation Chrome, Edge browser and Acrobat Reader all silently add multiple background tasks to Windows startup which will then run at every boot and log
by mrandish 2y ago
At installation Chrome, Edge browser and Acrobat Reader all silently add multiple background tasks to Windows startup which will then run at every boot and log on. Those tasks check for updates, pre-load and ensure their usage analytics get dutifully reported.
Because I only use those apps on rare occasion, I go remove all those tasks. And each of those apps checks to see if its tasks are still there on every run or update and, if not, re-adds them. I've even tried getting clever and leaving the tasks in place but just changing the run frequency to once every month or something, but they check for that too and change it back.
Anyone know of a way to override this so I can decide if apps I don't use for weeks at a time need to be always silently running, updating and phoning home?
- milch 2y agoAdobe is the worst offender. I just checked and I have no less than 8 Adobe processes running on my macOS machine, without any Adobe apps running, and with all of the settings to run in the background or sync stuff turned off. I even have a script to nuke all of the services they install that I run every once in a while, but they just come back after a while. It's literally malware. If Photoshop and Lightroom weren't the best at what they do I'd be gone, but sadly they are.
- amarcheschi 2y agoAt least with a fuji camera, and for my tastes ofc, I prefer capture one over lightroom
- SietrixDev 2y agoI never was a pro at Adobe stuff, but recently I bought Affinity Suite and it seems nice. The only downside for me is lack of Linux support.
- eviks 2y agoI'd also like an app that ran on schedule and reverted everything to the state you want. Don't know the solution, but one idea - is it possible to change task permissions so that those Chrome update processes will fail to update tasks?
- mrandish 2y agoInstallers seem to run with the permission level of "Trusted Installer" which is even higher than admin as far as I can tell.
- mistercheph 2y agoNot to be that guy, but at some point, if you ever decide that fighting a war with Microsoft to have control over your own computer and not be surveilled stops being worth it... linux. Yes, there's an upfront cost you pay to learn, and there are ongoing costs as defaults and tools change over the years.. but at least the relationship is not adversarial.
- ZunarJ5 2y agoUse FOSS alternatives.