General Discussions

[black_zion]

I've been noticing that, for no reason, my CPU will get hit with a load, causing my fans to spin up. Happened to be looking at the task manager at the time, and found the source: Chrome Software Reporter, Google's scanner that scans your computer and reports back to Google, and is housed in %AppData%\Local\Google\Chrome\User Data\SwReporter\VERSION\software_reporter_tool.exe

https://www.ghacks.net/2018/01/20/how-to-block-the-chrome-software-reporter-tool-software_reporter_tool-exe/

Also, don't forget to disable Google's automatic update services, they check for updates literally every few minutes, sapping bandwidth, data, and resources.

[goodplay]

Just a bump/reminder.

Had to do a OS repair install for a looping appx bug, and SWReporter popped up again.

[qwixt]

I fixed this by removing chrome and never using it. I switched to FireFox and Opera. I tried all variations of preventing it from being installed, but that updater would put it back, then it would eventually get reinstalled.

Furthermore, I don't think my browser should be scanning my entire system, and removing whatever it decides is harmful. So buh-bye to chrome.

Opera even has user-agent string plugin to mimic many different browsers and versions.

The best solution is to give google the middle finger and uninstall chrome.

[black_zion]

I use Firefox as my daily browser, and only use Chrome when I will be accessing sites which may be broken by multiple NoScript reloads.

On a related and funny note, don't open 6000 tabs on Google Chrome, not even on a Mac Pro...It crashes.

https://www.tweaktown.com/news/70507/apple-mac-maxed-out-with-over-6000-tabs-of-chrome-uses-1-4tb-ram/index.html