Blocked! Google Chrome updates are no more.

[Useful]

 

[russell_314]

Using a browser without updates is asking for serious trouble….

Every browser is going to have frequent security updates to patch exploits. If you’re not comfortable with Google then try a different browser.

 

[FreakinEurekan]

Yeah I'd be a lot more !@#$ed at them NOT updating, than updating too often 🧐

 

[ipaqrat]

@russell_314 and @FreakinEurekan are 100% correct. 🏆 Browsers are demonstrably the single most widely used, most often used, for the longest sessions, of any app on the modern desktop. Even seemingly "local" apps might actually be using the browser's core code. That means browsers:

• provide hackers the broadest, deepest attack surface, and
• provide the greatest opportunity for user mistakes

And Google is barely adequate at coding for security/privacy. Apple is decent but too opaque. Firefox is decent, but their logo was better when the fox had a paw clicking on the world. Microsoft is, well, Microsoft. The other bit players are patchy, haven't been around long enough to profile.

Where I work, we allow browsers to run on end-user computers, but only in a sandbox. And we have processes running to block and delete any non-enterprise browser apps, regardless of how users might try to sneak them. Oh, they still try, and then we fire them.

This isn't to say that one must engage counter-intelligence grade security on personal home computers. The point is that browser apps are THAT WEAK AND VULNERABLE, partly by coding, partly by user behavior.

Browser updates are a cheap, easy security precaution. Good for you. Good for everyone within your sphere of influence. Yeah, we all get burned by bad code releases time to time - sometimes despite delaying rollouts for lab testing. There's no scenario in IT that doesn't involve regular folks getting burned - that's what "user agreements" MEAN.

Heck, sometimes Firefox gets updated several times a week, which makes me all warm and happy inside. No, no, sorry, that's from making my wife laugh, and then from hugging horses. But browser updates are right up there.

 

[BrianBaughn]

Yes…Safari should also be updated this often…but it ain't.

 

[MikB]

Using a browser without updates is asking for serious trouble….

Every browser is going to have frequent security updates to patch exploits. If you’re not comfortable with Google then try a different browser.

Maybe some of us use many browsers for testing and need them to not update, unless we want to.

 

[russell_314]

Maybe some of us use many browsers for testing and need them to not update, unless we want to.

In a controlled environment on a system that is not logged into personal accounts for testing purposes I can see this. There’s always a use case for something. I’m not sure the OP was doing this type of testing, but it’s possible. The default setting is meant for the common use, which would be browsing the web.

I know people that get annoyed by frequent software updates like they get annoyed with operating system updates. The solution is to not shut down the system when not using it so it can update while it’s not being used.

I don’t use Chrome, but Firefox updates are fairly easy. I close the browser and then it reopens 30 seconds later updated.

 

[NoBoMac]

I don’t use Chrome, but Firefox updates are fairly easy. I close the browser and then it reopens 30 seconds later updated.

Back in the Stone Age, Google and Adobe updaters were resource hogs. The machine would really slow down while they phoned home. I only use Chrome for Google Drive and occasionally Gmail for changing filter, past history and little use of Chrome, I too fall into the "stop it camp" as well.

(But agreed, Firefox is a no pain update)

Anyone not using Little Snitch or similar app, simple enough to stop the Google updater.

cd ~/Library/Google/GoogleSoftwareUpdate
rm -rf *
cd ..
chmod 0 GoogleSoftwareUpdate
cd ~/Library/Application\ Support/Google/SoftwareUpdates
rm -rf *
cd ..
chmod 0 SoftwareUpdate

Stops Google Updaters to load anytime a Google app updates.

(In the past, there were other locations where Google updaters installed and would need to do above to each location, but since Chrome is only Google program I have on my Macs, only place I know of currently, so YMMV)

 

[ipaqrat]

Maybe some of us use many browsers for testing and need them to not update, unless we want to.

No maybees about it. Definitely, obviously, testing is crucial. When testing is truly the use case, do so on lab rats, or on sandboxed VMs (which are cheap, easy and about the limit for average concerned users.) Never test on any device with exposure to personal or financial data.

On a daily-use device, in a live internet environment, simply configuring/defeating upgrade mechanisms is spurious - at best. That might feel like control, but it's wishful thinking. OS creators are fully capable of forcing/sneaking upgrades, regardless of local settings - they built the thing and all the settings in it; they don nee no steenkin' badges.

OS and App creators' primary existential purpose is to extract money from customers, not to be your secure reliable internet pal. Though Apple has been demonstrably good at both, over the long haul, and might get better at the masquerade with its rented cadre of larval OpenAI-lets.

Stay skeptical out there.

 

[bogdanw]

Anyone not using Little Snitch or similar app, simple enough to stop the Google updater.

cd ~/Library/Google/GoogleSoftwareUpdate
rm -rf *
cd ..
chmod 0 GoogleSoftwareUpdate
cd ~/Library/Application\ Support/Google/SoftwareUpdates
rm -rf *
cd ..
chmod 0 SoftwareUpdate

A few more, for complete clean-up

rm ~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.google.*.plist
sudo rm -rf /Applications/Google\ Chrome.app/Contents/Library
sudo rm -rf /Library/Google/GoogleSoftwareUpdate
sudo rm -rf /Applications/Google\ Chrome.app/Contents/Frameworks/Google\ Chrome\ Framework.framework/Versions/Current/Helpers/GoogleUpdater.app
sudo rm -rf /Library/Application\ Support/Google/GoogleUpdater
sudo rm -rf /Library/Google/GoogleSoftwareUpdate
sudo rm /Library/LaunchAgents/com.google.*.plist  
sudo rm /Library/LaunchDaemons/com.google.*.plist

 

[NoBoMac]

Thanks for that @bogdanw. Forgot about some of these, though think the key ones are the launch agents/daemons. I've made those zero length files with permission mask of 0 to prevent them from being updated/changed, ergo no launching of the updaters.