A cleaner, safer web with Chrome Cleanup

[Brink]

Unwanted software impacts the browsing experience of millions of web users every day. Effects of this harmful software are often quite subtle—search results are modified to redirect users to other pages or additional ads are injected in the pages that users visit. But in some cases, the changes are so severe that they can make the web unusable—people are redirected to unwanted sites full of ads, and it can be next to impossible to navigate away from these pages.

Chrome already has tools to help people avoid unwanted software. For example, Safe Browsing prevents many infections from taking place by warning millions of users. But sometimes harmful software slips through.

Recently, we rolled out three changes to help Chrome for Windows users recover from unwanted software infections.

Hijacked settings detection

Extensions can help make Chrome more useful—like by customizing tab management. But some extensions may change your settings without you even realizing it. Now, when Chrome detects that user settings have been changed without your consent, it will offer to restore the modified settings. In the past month, this feature has helped millions of people recover from unwanted settings.

You can also reset your profile settings at any time by visiting chrome://settings/resetProfileSettings.

A simpler Chrome Cleanup

Sometimes when you download software or other content, it might bundle unwanted software as part of the installation process without you knowing. That’s why on Chrome for Windows, the Chrome Cleanup feature alerts people when it detects unwanted software and offers a quick way to remove the software and return Chrome to its default settings. We’ve recently completed a full redesign of Chrome Cleanup. The new interface is simpler and makes it easier to see what software will be removed.

A more powerful Cleanup engine

Under the hood, we upgraded the technology we use in Chrome Cleanup to detect and remove unwanted software. We worked with IT security company ESET to combine their detection engine with Chrome’s sandbox technology. We can now detect and remove more unwanted software than ever before, meaning more people can benefit from Chrome Cleanup. Note this new sandboxed engine is not a general-purpose antivirus—it only removes software that doesn’t comply with our unwanted software policy.

We’ve begun to roll this out to Chrome for Windows users now. Over the next few days, it will help tens of millions of Chrome users get back to a cleaner, safer web.

Source: A cleaner, safer web with Chrome Cleanup

See also: Latest Google Chrome Released for Windows

 

[Lady Fitzgerald]

That article was so hypocritical, it's unbelievable. For example, "Chrome already has tools to help people avoid unwanted software." Yet Google pays many free and some paid for software providers to include Chrome in their software installers, usually hidden so one is not aware it is there unless one knows where to look for it. It's like having the fox guard the henhouse. Chrome has been known to hijack user settings (such as making itself the default browser when it has been clandestinely installed), one of the things it is claiming to prevent.

 

[mrjimphelps]

The last people I will believe that they want a "cleaner web" is Google. I run Firefox with NoScript. EVERY WEBSITE I VISIT runs Google tracking scripts in the background. In fact, I have found that if I block scripts from Google.com, there won't be many websites which will work.

Google has their tentacles in every nook and cranny of the Web, spying on everything we do. It is laughable that they would claim to want to provide a "cleaner, safer web".

 

[Layback Bear]

I just updated Speccy on my other computer using advance. No extras chosen and I still got Chrome. It took me over a hour to clean out Chrome in the registry.

Jack

 

[Lady Fitzgerald]

Have you tried using Unchecky?

 

[Layback Bear]

No I have not.
Their was no Chrome to check or uncheck. It just popped up on my desktop after updating Speccy.

Would 'Unchecky' work with those conditions?

Jack

 

[ThrashZone]

Hi,
lol possibly use speccy/ ccleaner to clean out chrome :roflmao:

 

[Layback Bear]

I use Revo and still had to do a self cleaning of the registry.

Next time I will try Ccleaner.

Jack

 

[Lady Fitzgerald]

No I have not.
Their was no Chrome to check or uncheck. It just popped up on my desktop after updating Speccy.

Would 'Unchecky' work with those conditions?

Jack

Usually. Unchecky runs in the background and looks for program "offers" in program installers and unchecks them if they are there. You can usually find those "special offers" when you use the custom, advanced, etc. install.

Where did you download Speccy from? Speccy's website gives a choice of FileHippo.com and Piriform.com; I always recommend downloading from the software developer's site, in this case, Piriform.

I just downloaded the latest version of Speccy directly from Piriform (I was due for an update anyway), used the custom install, and never saw any offer to install Chrome (or its good buddy, Google Toolbar). I do have Unchecky running and I'm not going to try to do an install with it shut down.

 

[Layback Bear]

I used Piriform.com and also used custom. Their was no Chrome offered but I got it anyway.

Jack

 

[Golden]

Nice work Chrome - other browsers could and should do better. No wonder its one of the most popular browsers

 

[lehnerus2000]

Chrome has been known to hijack user settings (such as making itself the default browser when it has been clandestinely installed), one of the things it is claiming to prevent.

I believe that Google means, once they have hijacked your system, they'll prevent others from doing it.

 

[Lady Fitzgerald]

I used Piriform.com and also used custom. Their was no Chrome offered but I got it anyway.

Jack

Curious. Maybe it was Unchecky that kept misbegotten Chrome off my computer, despite the installer not visibly offering it. Normally, I will get a pop-up informing me Unchecky has blocked something but I didn't this time.

Unchecky loads at boot, runs in the background, and has a very light footprint. You'll never know it's there except when it does its job and blocks a PUP.

 

[Lady Fitzgerald]

I believe that Google means, once they have hijacked your system, they'll prevent others from doing it.

Methinks you have hit the head on the nail (or something like that; I'm barely awake right now).

 

[Lady Fitzgerald]

Nice work Chrome - other browsers could and should do better. No wonder its one of the most popular browsers

Actually, I think it is the most prevalent (not necessarily popular) browser because of Google's practice of paying software companies (Adobe Flash installer is probably the most prevalent) to include a PUP in their software installers that tries to sneak Chrome (and, usually, the Google Tool Bar) onto people's computers, where it then sets itself up as the default browser. The average (and most numerous) computer users don't know how to avoid it, don't know how to get rid of it once they get stuck with it, and don't even know they can get rid of it (or why) so, once it gets stuck onto their computers, they just live with it.

Propagating Chrome via PUPs is a despicable practice and is one of the three reasons I don't like it (the other two are Google is too darned nosy and Chrome's cookie handling is vastly inferior to IE).

 

[Golden]

I've never had Chrome install onto a system when I didn't mean it too. The reason people end up with an unintended Chrome installation is because they can't be bothered reading what's in front of them on the screen properly. There isn't any trickery involved, as much as people want it to be, in order to to save face.

Modern society is all about a lack of responsibility - it's easy just to blame someone else for misfortune, instead of holding oneself accountable. You see it here too - aka "Chrome sneaked on my system", "I was forced to install Windows 10" etc. etc. etc. take your pick.

 

[mrjimphelps]

I use Revo and still had to do a self cleaning of the registry.

Next time I will try Ccleaner.

Jack

Watch out for CCleaner - it got hijacked about a month or two ago:

https://www.pcworld.com/article/3225407/security/ccleaner-downloads-infected-malware.html

 

[Lady Fitzgerald]

I've never had Chrome install onto a system when I didn't mean it too. The reason people end up with an unintended Chrome installation is because they can't be bothered reading what's in front of them on the screen properly. There isn't any trickery involved, as much as people want it to be, in order to to save face.

Modern society is all about a lack of responsibility - it's easy just to blame someone else for misfortune, instead of holding oneself accountable. You see it here too - aka "Chrome sneaked on my system", "I was forced to install Windows 10" etc. etc. etc. take your pick.

Even though it hasn't happened to you (and I no reason to doubt you), that doesn't mean it hasn't happened to others. Take Jack, for example. He's smarter than the average bear user and knows far more than most of us (he didn't get all that rep just by being cute and cuddly) yet even he got bit.

I had Chrome and Google Toolbar sneak onto my computer once, even though I was using an advanced installation setting on a program I was installing and saw no option to not install it (I was looking for it so, if the opt out was there, I would have seen it). I haven't been bit since I installed Unchecky.

Not everyone has the aptitude to understand computers, same as not everyone has the aptitude to be a doctor, a lawyer, or an auto mechanic. Keep in mind most computer users are not as knowledgeable about computers as most of us are and are easily fooled by deceptive practices that most of us can see right through. What seems obvious to geeks is not obvious to most people. The GWX campaign had the most deceptive series of attempts to trick people to download and install an unwanted program or OS just barely short of virus infections. It was buried in security updates and the popups it generated were often very misleading, the worst being the one that gave no option to opt out and, if you clicked on the X in the upper right corner of the popup, which pretty much everyone would assume would just close the popup, it would trigger the install. Even experts were often fooled by one attempt or another. MS even later admitted the GWX campaign was a huge mistake.

 

[Lady Fitzgerald]

Watch out for CCleaner - it got hijacked about a month or two ago:

https://www.pcworld.com/article/3225407/security/ccleaner-downloads-infected-malware.html

As long as one now has the latest version of CCleaner, it is malware free. I never liked CCleaner anyway (too invasive) and only used its drive wiper (and even then, I would uninstall it after using it).

 

[CarlSD]

Actually, I think it is the most prevalent (not necessarily popular) browser because of Google's practice of paying software companies (Adobe Flash installer is probably the most prevalent) to include a PUP in their software installers that tries to sneak Chrome (and, usually, the Google Tool Bar) onto people's computers, where it then sets itself up as the default browser. The average (and most numerous) computer users don't know how to avoid it, don't know how to get rid of it once they get stuck with it, and don't even know they can get rid of it (or why) so, once it gets stuck onto their computers, they just live with it.

Propagating Chrome via PUPs is a despicable practice and is one of the three reasons I don't like it (the other two are Google is too darned nosy and Chrome's cookie handling is vastly inferior to IE).

Not to mention the almost unbelievable situation where Google Chrome and Google Toolbar are bundled and ticked to install by default ("Recommended" lol) with the motherboard driver discs from Gigabyte.

I have 2 Gigabyte motherboards, one bought in 2015 (H81M-PLUS) and the other bought earlier this year (B250M-D3H) and both boards' driver discs have Chrome and Toolbar so they've been doing it for at least 2 years.