Because of all that we mentioned above, the developers of Google Chrome have been trying to improve the security of their browser by adding new features which could help the user detect and intercept unwanted and potentially hazardous software. Here, we will give you a general outlook on what those features do and how they function.

Built-in Chrome CleanUp

The Chrome CleanUp tool has been around for a while but up until now it was available only as a separate software utility for the browser that users could manually download and use. Now, however, the CleanUp tool would be available as a built-in feature that would work automatically.

The idea of this utility is that it detects any potentially unwanted software on the computer that might interfere with the browser’s work and which might try to alter its previous settings. Whenever the tool detects such software, the user gets notified and also given the option to uninstall and remove the said software. It is also said that the API of the utility would be simplified and made more intuitive to use.

Hijacker warnings

Browser Hijackers that seem to work as simple extensions but in reality seek to hijack your browser’s settings are very common and Google Chrome might have the answer for dealing with them. The next security feature that the browser will now have would be an improved warning pop-ups for add-ons that try to alter browser settings such as the starting page, the new tab page, the default search engine or the toolbar configuration. If Chrome detects any application which tries to mess with the browser’s settings, it would warn you by displaying a pop-up which also includes a button for removing the intrusive app.

Also, if the pop-up gets dismissed by the user or if more than one settings were changed at once, one could bring their browser back to its previous state by visiting this page chrome://settings/resetProfileSettings and resetting Chrome.

ESET detection

The thing that would allow Google Chrome to detect potentially unwanted software is the implementation of ESET’s detection engine. This is what would enable the browser to spot any programs that might do something undesirable or that could be a potential security risks. However, Google’s product manager for Chrome, Philippe Rivard points out that this wouldn’t make Chrome an all-purpose detection tool for malware as the programs that would get detected by it will be only ones that fall under the unwanted software category according to Google’s policy alone. Still, though, this is a solid security improvement, at least on paper, its effectiveness is yet to be put to the test.

On the flip side, some users are dissatisfied by the changes, claiming that now Google Chrome would be able to scan each program that you are downloading and installing on your PC and collect that data, further increasing the level and amount of personal information that Google Chrome would have access to. In the end, it is up to the individual user to decide whether or not Chrome is for them and if those new improvements are actually a step forward towards better online security or just another way to boost Google’s telemetry.

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Chrome Cleanup Tool

If you are a Google Chrome user, the you’d likely be happy to hear that the developers at Google have developed a little neat tool to help customers find and remove undesirable programs from their Chrome browser. The application is free and requires no installation – it is a simple executable file that you run and it does the whole job for you.

How it Works

The tool can be downloaded from this link – once it downloads, you simply need to run it and an automatic scan would commence. The program would examine and evaluate the browser add-ons that you have on your Google Chrome browser and if there’s any sort of suspicious and possibly dangerous program there, you will be notified at the end of the scan. If anything gets detected, the tool would provide you with the option to remove the shady software from your browser. After the process is finished and anything which might have been detected has been removed, the user is supposed to click on the Continue button in order to exit the Cleanup Tool. This will close the program until the next time you launch it. After you click on Continue, Chrome will open and a dialogue window will appear asking you whether you want to Reset the startup page, the new tab page, the search engine and the pinned tabs. In addition, it is also said that all extensions will get disabled after the reset. This window appears even when no shady programs are detected which can be useful in cases where there’s still an undesirable application that needs to be disabled. If you don’t want to Reset anything, simply click on Cancel.

A sidenote that we must make is that there is an optional clause in the Cleanup Window where you can choose whether to allow the tool to send information about your computer to Google in order to help the improvement of the application. Since it is an opt-out clause, you’d need to remove the tick from it before you click on Continue if you don’t want to have information from your PC getting sent to Google.

When to use the Cleanup Tool?

Normally, you wouldn’t need to run the program everyday as long as you aren’t frequently downloading new browser applications. We would advise users to use the Cleanup utility if they notice some sort of unwanted change to their Chrome browser which might have been potentially caused by some undesirable add-on.

One other thing to note here is that as of recent, Chrome has a built-in setting that detects undesirable changes to the browser that are caused by unauthorized applications. You can read more about this feature here. Combining the Cleanup tool with the newly released detector for unwanted browser changes can significantly help you with improving the safety of your Chrome browser and, by an extension, of your whole PC system. However, do not forget that the best protection that you can offer your computer is your own vigilance and common sense. After all, as long as you are careful not to download any potentially dangerous software applications, no harm should come to your system.

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