Why you should switch from Google Chrome

The Google Chrome browser is used by hundreds of millions of people worldwide, it’s the most popular browser in the world. But it comes with some trade offs like most Google products. You can have the convenience of an easy to use powerful web browser but you have to give Google all of your data and online behaviours for their data centre or not use Google Chrome.

There have been a lot of concerned developers highlighting that Google Chrome browser downloads with some commands that make it a risk to your privacy

Chrome includes one such extension labelled software_reporter_tool.exe that will scan your hard disk for executables to analyse, basically, its checks what software you have installed on your device. This also reports EVERYTHING back to Google HQ.

Google’s defence was that the software only reported back results of the analysis, but we all know that’s a PR smokescreen and data is the new oil. Say just enough to make it sound like you are not doing anything wrong. Its like spy ware in my opinion.

What is the Chrome Software Reporter Tool?

The Software Reporter Tool forms part of the Chrome Cleanup Tool. This tool is responsible for monitoring crashes, browser modifications, and malware that may have infected the browser. Anything that interferes with the user’s browsing experience may be removed. The Chrome Software Reporter Tool is part of this utility and scans the computer’s drive and reports these scans to Google. Google Chrome uses the scan results to determine whether it should prompt the user to remove unwanted software from the computer as it impacts the browsing experience.

Google Chrome users may have two main issues with the Software Reporter Tool:

It may cause a high system load when it scans the system. User reports range from it using 30% and more CPU while running. Since it may run for as long as 20 minutes, that is something that may interfere with other activity on the computer.
The tool informs Google about the scan results which some users may dislike because of privacy concerns.

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.

What Is software_reporter_tool.exe, And Where Can I Find It?

If you are searching through your files to find this tool, the file name software_reporter_tool.exe represents the executable file for this tool.

You find the Chrome Software Reporter Tool under the following path on Windows 7 and newer versions of Windows: C:\Users\USERNAME\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\User Data\SwReporter\VERSION\software_reporter_tool.exe

How to block the Chrome Software Reporter Tool (software_reporter_tool.exe)

Block the Software Reporter Tool By Removing Permissions

Note: Blocking access to the program may prevent Google from removing problematic software from the system or informing you about it. You may use other software, antivirus software for instance, to remove threats or potentially unwanted programs from the system.

While you can delete the content of the entire folder or rename the executable file itself, doing so offers a temporary recourse only as Google will push the Software Reporter Tool to the system again when the web browser is updated.

A better option is to remove permissions so that no user (or Google) may access the folder or run the Software Reporter Tool.

Right-click on the folder SwReporter and select Properties from the menu.
Switch to the Security tab.
Select Advanced on the page that opens.
Click on “Disable inheritance” and select “remove all inherited permissions from this object.”
Select apply and in the Windows Security prompt “yes.”
Select ok.
Select ok again.

No group or user should have access anymore to the Software Reporter Tool.

The advantage of this method is that the tool cannot be run anymore and that updates cannot be applied to it anymore either as long as its folder or names don’t change.

Using Chrome Policies Through Registry Entries

Google introduced support for policies that administrators may use to configure certain Chrome features; one of the available policies manages the Software Reporter Tool of the browser.

Open the Registry Editor on Windows, e.g. by opening the Start Menu, typing regedit.exe, and selecting the item from the list of results.
Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Google\Chrome.
- Note: if one of the keys does not exist create it with a right-click on the previous key and the selection of New > Key.
Right-click on the Chrome key and select New > Dword (32-bit) Value.
Name the new Dword ChromeCleanupEnabled.
Make sure its value is 0.
Right-click on the Chrome key again and select New > Dword (32-bit) Value.
Name it ChromeCleanupReportingEnabled.
Make sure its value is 0.

ChromeCleanupEnabled’s value determines whether the Software Reporter Tool may run on the system.

A value of 0 means the tool is disabled and won’t be run.
A value of 1 means the Software Reporter is enabled and will be run by Chrome.

ChromeCleanupReportingEnabled’s value determines whether the results are reported to Google.

A value of 0 means the reporting is disabled.
A value of 1 means the reporting is enabled.

and then finally

Disable From Within Chrome

Another way to disable reporting can be found directly within Chrome. This is also the best option to use if you don’t want to make any significant changes to your system.

In Chrome, click on the three vertical dots to open the Chrome menu and click on ‘Settings.’
Scroll down and select the ‘System’ settings.
Under system settings, you will see different options with toggles. Make sure to disable the toggle for ‘Continue Running Background Apps When Google Chrome is Closed.’
Scroll down to the ‘Reset and Cleanup’ section and click on ‘Clean Up Computer.’
On the next menu, make sure that you deselect the option to report details to Google.

Replacing the Executable File

Another way to altogether remove this tool is by replacing the software_reporter_tool.exe file.

Select the folder where the software_reporter_tool.exe file is located.
Copy any other executable file to this location. A simple example is to use notepad.exe.
Now you can delete the software_reporter_tool.exe file.
Rename the file you copied (in this case, notepad.exe) to software_reporter_tool.exe.

Wrapping Up

Unless you run into problematic third-party software regularly that interferes with Chrome, you may not need the Software Reporter Tool. Its disadvantages, high CPU load or privacy implications, may be reason enough to block it from running. By using any of the above methods, you can easily keep this tool from scanning your folders and reporting back to Google, eliminating this drain on system resources.