As someone who uses a computer on a daily basis to do my work (you tend to do that as a computer engineer and consultant), I have various Operating Systems installed and I also have various browsers installed. One of those browsers happens to be Google Chrome. Admittedly I rarely use it as I most frequent IE – and no it’s not because I’m a Microsoft “Fan Boy” or an MVP, I just find it easier to use, not to mention most websites are designed for it (for whatever reason)…Anyways, today I went out to get a new mouse mat as my new desk is reflective and my infrared mouse won’t track anywhere on it…Upon my return home, I was greeted with the following in my system tray:
Hmm, “There’s a new version of Google Chrome available…Try it out (already installed)”. Ok, bells and whistles. New version, but it’s already installed you say…Did you install it or did I? If I did, is there really a new version? Is this from Google or is it some sort of Malware/Spyware and maybe my Security Essentials definitions are out of date…Let’s try the link and see what that returns (for those wondering, the link points to http://www.google.com/support/chrome/bin/answer.py?answer=150752). Essentially that page says:
When Google Chrome hasn’t been used for an extended period of time, you may see a little pop-up appear on your screen, asking whether you want to give the latest version of the browser a try or whether you want to uninstall the browser from your computer. Since Google Chrome updates itself automatically, you’ll have a new and improved version of the browser waiting for you to try if you select the first option. If you decide that you’d rather not use Google Chrome, you can uninstall it. We hope you’ll tell us why in the survey you’ll get as part of the uninstall process.
Wow, so essentially that means Google has installed code on my system (even though when I installed it I wasn’t made aware of this nor did I have a choice to disable what is the “Google Update Service (gupdate)”). So similar to a time bomb, just waiting to go off, as it has today they have installed a service…Interesting as these guys are the ones who say Internet Explorer is doing wrong by being part of the Operating System…Last time I checked, I had options with Internet Explorer as to what it did, how often it did things and least of all, when it was running (and moreover, what data it is sending and when)…
So, Google, want to tell us what else your “Google Update Service (gupdate)” might be doing? I know one thing’s for sure…You won’t be getting any more data from my machine, as there is no more Chrome on it…
Oh, by the way, I uninstalled Chrome, yet guess what, you’re “Google Update Service (gupdate)” service is still there, albeit in the definition of it, it clearly states:
Keeps your Google software up to date. If this service is disabled or stopped, your Google software will not be kept up to date, meaning security vulnerabilities that may arise can’t be fixed and features may not work. This service uninstalls itself when there is no Google software using it.
Aah, how marketing companies like to lie, lie and lie again.
In my quest to try everything – keeping an open view on things, I’m going to give Google Chrome a shot on my personal PC for a week…let’s see how I get on. I must say there will be a few hurdles as some of the apps I use require ActiveX, but aside of those, will it work like IE has for me all these years?
[