With version 111 of the Chrome browser, Google is removing the built-in malware protection Chrome Cleanup Tool. It hardly ever finds unwanted software.
The Chrome web browser now has to do without the Chrome Cleanup Tool. Introduced in 2015, the component scanned the web browser and the user directory for potentially unwanted software and eliminated it if necessary. Malware protection has recently been rather useless – only 0.06 percent of all scans in February 2023 detected unwanted software.
The Chrome Cleanup tool was created in cooperation with the antivirus manufacturer Eset. It should check the computer weekly for malware and unwanted software. One run of the tool should take about 15 minutes. If it discovers a pest, it points this out in a dialog. Finally, with one click, it removes the malware. It runs in the browser sandbox, without admin rights, isolated from other software, and examines the typical gateways for browser hijacking, as Google and Eset explained.
Chrome Cleanup Tool is often helpful
In the announcement of the Chrome Cleanup Tool, Google’s developers write that it has cleaned more than 80 million unwanted programs over its lifecycle to date. However, complaints about such parasitic software have decreased significantly over the years. They accounted for only three percent of all complaints last year. In addition, only 0.06 percent of all scans this February detected any malware at all.
Google points out the other security mechanisms of the web browser, such as Google Safe Browsing and the often installed antivirus software. These blocked file-based unwanted software much more effectively than it used to. The unwanted programs were increasingly migrating into browser extensions, and here substantial investment in the Chrome Web Store review process would have helped fish out malicious extensions.
Google also states that IT security researchers are observing the trend that malware is increasingly using techniques such as cookie theft. The defense mechanisms against this have been strengthened. Authentication workflows have hardened the company, and improved heuristics to block phishing and socially engineered emails, as well as malware landing pages and downloads.
Chrome 111: Turned off Cleanup tool
With the update to Chrome 111 delivered on Wednesday this week, a scan of the Chrome Cleanup Tool can no longer be triggered via the browser’s security check. chrome://settingsIt is also no longer possible to reset the settings and cleanup by calling. The component that Windows regularly examines and, if found, suggests a cleanup to users, will be removed.
However, this sends browser data to the company.
Safe Browsing already provides good protection, Google’s developers explain, chrome://settings/securitybut Extended Safe Browsing can be activated under if required. However, this sends browser data to Google.
In 2018, a security expert complained about the browser’s function. At the time, she explained that users were not even aware that the web browser also regularly searched for malicious software in the local user folders.
