10/7/2019 Update Google For Mac
Also, it is recommended to manually update Google Chrome every now and then, just to be on the safer side. I will tell you how you can manually check for updates at the end of this article. All it takes is one command on the Terminal, and Chrome automatic updates will get disabled on a Mac.
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If you’ve ever downloaded Chrome, even for just a trial (guilty!), you might not be aware that Google have slipped a little bit of hidden software into your Library. This software is called Google Updater, and it secretly “calls home” on a regular basis and downloads updates to your Google software without either asking before, or notifying you after, doing so.
In Developer circles, this is considered very shady practice. Users should be asked for consent and informed when software makes changes to either itself or the user’s computer, and ideally those notifications should tell the user what has been changed and how the changes could impact them. Before I beat this drum any harder, however, I owe you at least the other side of the story. If I worked for Google, I’d probably come up with this response: “Hey look, a major source of computer virus and malware infections is that users are often using out-of-date software that hasn’t been patched to combat newly-discovered exploits. No matter how much we tell users to keep ther software up-to-date, the truth is the majority don’t. We provide an automatic updater so that users don’t have to worry about it, and can be assured they’re always using the latest and safest version of our software”.
I’ve heard this argument so many times, I don’t doubt it’s something close to what Google would actually argue. My problem with this is that while automatic updates can be a good thing if they’re security related, it’s not at all clear why an app should be updating itself automatically for any other reason, or why it’s updating itself without providing notifications about when and what updates were made. If an independent developer did that, they’d almost certainly find their software labelled as “suspicious” at best, and “dangerous” at worst.
The fact that Google is a multinational, global enterprise with a stranglehold on the internet, and which is often tangling with the law in countries throughout the world, may make you feel more or less confident that they can be trusted more than independent developers, whose income depends very much on their reputation. I’ll leave that one for the reader to decide. ? Do I have Google Updater? To see if you’ve got Google Updater hiding on your system, try this quick test in Terminal. Triple click the line of code below to highlight it.
Defaults read com.google.Keystone.Agent If you’ve previously installed, just hit control-opt-cmd-T or right/control click and choose “Services Run in Terminal” from the contextual menu. Alternatively, if you have my free utility app, the Analyser’s Profile view will show you if Google Updater is installed (see ‘Locate Google Updater’ below for the locations to check in the profile view). Elsewise, manually copy and paste it into a Terminal window. If the result comes back as Domain com.google.Keystone.Agent does not exist you’re fine. Google Updater has not found its way into your system.
Anything else and you’re going to need to decide whether you want to remove it or not. If you’re a regular Chrome user, keeping Updater might prove convenient, though you’ll have to live with the idea that the app is updating itself in ways over which you have no control. If you rarely or never use Chrome, there’s no reason to have this hidden process regularly calling home to Google every time you’re connected to the net. How do I remove it? You have two options.
You can either disarm it or you can nuke it. Disarming it is simplest, it’s a one-line Terminal command: defaults write com.google.Keystone.Agent checkInterval 0 This command tells the Updater how often to “call home”. A value of 0 basically means ‘never’. Disarming it is probably better than nuking it if you still keep Chrome on your system and use it occasionally.
You can temporarily set it back to something like ‘once a week’ from time to time to check for security updates with defaults write com.google.Keystone.Agent checkInterval 604800 Nuking the Google Updater is a bit more complex. You’ll want to run some uninstaller commands, and then you’ll want to go and clear up the crud that is still left behind.
And before you can do either of those, you need to find out where it’s hiding. So, we have a three-step process.
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Locate Google Updater Triple click the first of these two lines, and choose ‘Services Reveal in Finder’ from the contextual menu (that’s another right-click or control-click on the selected line), and then repeat for the second line: /Library/Google /Library/Google You will likely get the error message “The operation can’t be completed because the item can’t be found” from one of these lines, but not the other. Note that the difference is all in the presence or absence of the tilde. Make a note of which one worked, and run the appropriate commands in step 2. I had already found com.google.keystone etc. In Launch Agents, but didn’t know what it was.
Looking because of annoying pop-up to update Google Earth which I don’t even have on my Mac. Figured out that it was somehow related to downloading Chrome a day ago and had deleted Chrome, but your article and solutions answered all my questions and helped me clean this nasty out. TIP: Tell people to look in their “Preference Panes” as well as “Preferences” and also in “Launch Daemons” as well as “Launch Agents.”.
Based on your much appreciated indirect recommendation, I did deeper Vivaldi research. I’m now using Vivaldi as default browser.
Prior to today, my lack of interest was based on the fact that it was too small a niche as of yet, maybe not mature enough, and how can they survive especially with Desktop browser direction and future becoming more murky as Mobile continues to dominate. But, reading their blogs,forum and better understanding their history, commitment, and the friendly mutual loyalty that exists between the developers and global users, I came to appreciate that Vivaldi might be sustainable if it can continue to grow sufficiently.
It’s refreshing to be a supporter of this browser effort to preserve proven common sense features, good feature combination, and innovation to boot. On another NOTE: I am using a couple of your numerous products (DetectX purchase and also FastTrack 2), and will be looking further at some of your other tools, in time. And thanks for your assistance related to my concerns/questions.
Fyi, I saw the blog donate button at bottom and will be donating. I had just stumbled on your site/blog when I first I made contact, and much appreciate your time/help. I really liked Opera’s ad blocker as well. With Vivaldi I still have access (albeit an extension) to Ublock Origin which I like, though maybe it does not do precisely the same thing(s). Regarding ‘Opera’: (1) Of course you do not have to answer this, but am curious how new company ownership would not seem to be a concern for you. If Vivaldi does not sustain itself (I still don’t know how they can monetize being so small), I may be looking again at.
(2) I initially used Opera Developer, but later switched to Opera Stable (Opera Beta of course being the other option). ‘Developer’ worked flawlessly, but I was concerned that it might be more prone to security holes by just virtue of its being ‘Developer’ mode. And at those points when Developer has security fixes in it (probably in every iteration), I would hope/think they would push it out asap, and maybe they do. But from what I read, it seems that they infrequently update Opera Stable. What are your thoughts? Hi Steve I understand your concerns.
Security is becoming an increasingly bigger issue, and it’s only going to become more so moving forward. I think everyone has to answer the security question for themselves. In relation to browsers, what does the user use the internet for and what kind of threats do they realistically face?
I think when you have solid answers to those questions, you can make informed choices and take appropriate actions. So, if I look at my own case, I can answer your questions, but my answers might not be applicable to other people’s situations.
What do I use the browser for? Mostly light browsing, news, blogging, but I also manage a small software business primarily via a browser. Which leads to: 2.
Do I visit any secure sites? Yes the sites related to my software business and this blog require a certain level of trust, but I don’t use the browser (any browser’s) built-in password manager to store passwords. I use a trusted 3rd party password manager (1 PassWord). The level of intrusion I need protection against is criminal hackers. I don’t need protection against State actors / government agencies.
Do I worry about privacy concerning the sites I browse? My browsing behaviour is fairly mundane, and you don’t need to hack my browser to find it out: ArsTechnica, Apple, Guardian and a few tech sites. English football, that’s it.
I don’t do online banking, but again if I did I’d see that as a threat from criminal hackers rather than state actors. Am I worried about Opera being owned by ‘the Chinese’. TBH, I hadn’t heard of this before you mentioned it, and I haven’t had time to look into it yet (I will do, though). I don’t know whether that means the Chinese state or some private Chinese company. Either way, I don’t fear the Chinese gov’t snooping on me any more (or less) than the American or British gov’ts snooping on me. I do think that if you use Opera Developer’s built-in VPN, you’d be foolish to put anything through it that you think is ‘sensitive’.
I don’t entirely trust ssh, and I certainly don’t trust private VPN companies to deliver anything other than speed. Security is not what they’re offering, no matter what they say in their promo material. I do worry about powerful entities censoring or manipulating information, but I don’t think that’s a live issue with browsers at the moment.
Google, Facebook and a number of large political lobbying forces have certainly been influencing social media for some years now. I don’t think my choice of browser makes much difference here. Am I worried about security bugs in Developer releases? I worry about bugs in public releases too. In fact, I worry about bugs in software all the time.
Again, though, the security threats I think I face are from criminal hackers. I let my browser handle as little of my security as I can, but of course, there’s no knowing what you don’t know till its too late (it’s why I also use my own products, especially DetectX, on a daily basis — apologies for the shameless plug there!). Although Developer releases may well contain bugs that public releases don’t, it’s unlikely criminal hackers will be focused on finding and exploiting those simply because the user base is too small to provide a good return on their investment of time. In short, my attitude to browsers and the internet in general post-Snowden is to assume that everything I do online is transparent to someone. But I also assume that 99% of the time that someone is a different someone from one time (or even one url request) to another, and with neither the time nor interest to care what I’m doing.
I take is as an intrinsic and unavoidable risk that if a powerful someone (like a nation-state spy agency) wanted to know what I was doing online, there’s little I could do to stop them. At the same time, I try to minimise my exposure to being exploited by significantly less-powerful but nonethelss dangerous criminal gangs or hackers.
In that regard, I don’t see any reason at the moment to think Opera is less safe than any other browser. Hi Phil – Piggybacking on this same thread regarding browsers, would appreciate your thoughts on matured browser sandboxing (or lack there of) in the various browsers. Background, as I understand it: (A) Browser sandboxing (i.e., separate spawned child process) for (1) separate process for UI and for web page content, (2) sandboxing multiple open tabs, and, especially (3) sandboxing add-ons (of which I usually limit to just 3) into separate child processes. Interesting question. My understanding is that Safari, Vivaldi and Opera all sandbox pages and/or tabs that pages are in, while the parent app itself isn’t sandboxed, but doesn’t need to be, since the app’s runtime shouldn’t be vulnerable to a child process that’s spawned and isolated in a sandbox of its own.
You can see this if you take a look at what’s going on in Activity Monitor. With Vivaldi, each ‘helper app’ is a separate tab (Opera shows the same thing) and is sandboxed: You can see a similar thing in Safari, where each page gets its own process and identifier: That said, I’m no expert in this area, so if you or anyone else has got a deeper understanding feel free to share! EDIT: Incidentally, Safari seems to be much more efficient at this than Vivaldi or Opera, whose child processess seem to burn up a fair bit more CPU time than Safari’s do.
Thanks for the tip! I had never noticed Activity Monitor’s ‘sandbox’ Viewable Column. I take it at face value (knowing that sandboxing spawns multiple processes) and feel much better about Opera and Vivaldi. I’ll just have to assume that the sandboxes are sufficiently comprehensive. As a safety net, I still do one-at-a-time logins using single tab: then close browser, clear it out, and re-open browser for next login.
What was interesting to me is that (as far I could tell) Opera and Vivaldi sites do not point out the ‘sandbox’ security feature(s) as do, as I recall, the major browsers confirmed by the fact that search efforts for the minor browsers did not yield any meaningful sandbox-related results the only thing I found was at Opera or Vivaldi forums and seeing user comments on one of them, about the user-side ‘bootlegging’ idea that I earlier commented on. Even Mozilla’s Firefox Wikipedia entry gives considerable space to its full-featured progression in this area. But then they are playing catchup just to survive. Hope it’s not too late. Although the security implications of not updating Google apps in a timely manner is probably minimal, there is one component that can cause major security issues if it’s not kept up-to-date and that’s the so called “Pepper” Flash Player built into Google Chrome. Coincidently there is at least a proof-of-concept threat in circulation that required an emergency update to it as well as Apple’s XProtect system this week. I wish there was a way that Google would keep that updated without having to accept auto-updating for all Google apps.
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Get more done with the new Google Chrome on iPhone and iPad. Now more simple, secure and faster-than-ever, with Google Smarts built-in. FASTER BROWSING - Chrome’s address bar uses Google Search to make any fact-finding mission fast and simple.
It also searches your Google Drive, so diving into next week’s vacation plan is just that much easier. ARTICLES FOR YOU - Chrome surfaces articles, blogs, and content that we think you might like. The more you use Chrome, the more personalized it gets. So you’ll always have what’s most relevant to you at your fingertips. GOOGLE TRANSLATE - No matter where you are on the web, or the globe, Chrome lets you translate an entire site in a single click with Google Translate built-in. Chrome also automatically prompts translation when you need it.
MANAGE YOUR TABS - open as many tabs as your heart desires and manage them in the new grid shapes to easily view and compare websites. SYNC ACROSS DEVICES - Signing into Chrome automatically syncs across your laptop, tablet, or on your phone. You get the same experience – no matter where you go. AUTOFILL FORMS & PASSWORDS - Remembering p4$$w0rd$ is a thing of the past. Chrome can store your address and payment details, so you can fill out forms with just one click. VOICE SEARCH - use the magic of Google voice search to find answers on-the-go without typing.
PRIVACY - use Incognito mode to browse without saving your history (learn more at http://goo.gl/WUx02). A completely new and redesigned Chrome is gradually being rolled out! Please give us your feedback on any bugs that you encounter or ways that we can make Chrome even better. We’re interested in any issues that you notice, regardless of whether you see the new design.
Here are the highlights of the new features:. Update to accommodate new iPhones. New bottom toolbar: easier to reach frequently used functions, such as Back, Search, tabs and the menu. To discover some shortcuts, press and hold different buttons on the toolbar, or swipe on the toolbar. New tab grid: see bigger previews of your tabs, including tabs open on other devices. Drag tabs to reorder them. Features such as Bookmarks and Reading Lists are now easily accessible on the New Tab Page.
Press firmly on the app icon to see shortcuts (3D Touch). Credit cards that you enter on your device are now securely synced to Google Pay for use on other devices (if enabled). A fix has been provided for crashes when launching external applications. 69.0.3497.91 Sep 11, 2018. A completely new and redesigned Chrome is being gradually rolled out! Please give us your feedback on bugs you encounter or ways we can make Chrome even better. We’re interested in any issues you notice, regardless of whether or not you see the new design.
Here are the highlights of the new features:. New bottom toolbar: easier to reach frequently used functions, like Back, Search, tabs, and the menu. To discover some shortcuts, press and hold different buttons on the toolbar, or swipe on the toolbar.
New tab grid: see bigger previews of your tabs, including tabs open on other devices. Drag tabs to reorder them. Features like Bookmarks and Reading Lists are now easily accessible on the New Tab Page. Press firmly on the app icon to see shortcuts (3D Touch). Credit cards you enter on your device are now securely synced to Google Pay for use on other devices (if enabled).
Performance improvements and bug fixes. 69.0.3497.71 Sep 4, 2018. A completely new and redesigned Chrome is being gradually rolled out!
Please give us your feedback on bugs you encounter or ways we can make Chrome even better. We’re interested in any issues you notice, regardless of whether or not you see the new design. Here are the highlights of the new features:. New bottom toolbar: easier to reach frequently used functions, like Back, Search, tabs, and the menu. To discover some shortcuts, press and hold different buttons on the toolbar, or swipe on the toolbar.
New tab grid: see bigger previews of your tabs, including tabs open on other devices. Drag tabs to reorder them. Features like Bookmarks and Reading Lists are now easily accessible on the New Tab Page.
Press firmly on the app icon to see shortcuts (3D Touch). Credit cards you enter on your device are now securely synced to Google Pay for use on other devices (if enabled). 68.0.3440.83 Aug 1, 2018. Z.S.S., Great browser, poor tab system with the new update The tab system with the new update is rather clunky and difficult to navigate around, rather than a file folder like layout, it has a set of tiles in two columns, each of which display in full, needlessly closing the screen when you’re looking for one tab amongst many. I’ve also experienced problems with webpages freezing if I got to the tabs screen, and then crashing the app, the tabs that freeze to not respond in any way, not to attempts to close them, renter them, and they don’t allow you to enter other tabs when this happens either, only to scroll around the tabs screen or close all tabs. In short this new system seems poorly thought out and poorly rolled out as well, with many bugs and a less dense information display, requiring more time and hassle to use, I don’t object to this “tile display as an option for the less utilitarian user, but as someone who values their time I don’t require the addition of a feature whose only apparent purpose is to take up valuable screen space and increase loading and down times in the app. Z.S.S., Great browser, poor tab system with the new update The tab system with the new update is rather clunky and difficult to navigate around, rather than a file folder like layout, it has a set of tiles in two columns, each of which display in full, needlessly closing the screen when you’re looking for one tab amongst many.
I’ve also experienced problems with webpages freezing if I got to the tabs screen, and then crashing the app, the tabs that freeze to not respond in any way, not to attempts to close them, renter them, and they don’t allow you to enter other tabs when this happens either, only to scroll around the tabs screen or close all tabs. In short this new system seems poorly thought out and poorly rolled out as well, with many bugs and a less dense information display, requiring more time and hassle to use, I don’t object to this “tile display as an option for the less utilitarian user, but as someone who values their time I don’t require the addition of a feature whose only apparent purpose is to take up valuable screen space and increase loading and down times in the app. Apfitzg2, Great update with one major flaw: Cannot copy images! I love Google's design overhaul. It's very aesthetically pleasing now and very seamless to go from the rounded corners of the home screen apps or messages to Chrome! I'm very sensitive to visual aesthetics being that I have sensory-processing sensitivity and it helps me a ton!
It's just very gorgeous overall, too, and everything is meticulously designed to be in the most efficient place, in my opinion, especially the search button right in the middle as most of us go straight to Google for so many things first! Now onto the issue.
I can no longer simply copy an image, which is very odd. I can only save an image now. I very frequently use Safari's ability to copy images. I'm not sure if this is due to Google's issue with Getty Images and taking away the 'view image' feature-which I myself found a way around-a purposeful intention to prevent direct copying of images, or a design flaw, but either way it makes me have to continue using Safari for the time being because of how often I use that simple feature. Apfitzg2, Great update with one major flaw: Cannot copy images! I love Google's design overhaul.
It's very aesthetically pleasing now and very seamless to go from the rounded corners of the home screen apps or messages to Chrome! I'm very sensitive to visual aesthetics being that I have sensory-processing sensitivity and it helps me a ton! It's just very gorgeous overall, too, and everything is meticulously designed to be in the most efficient place, in my opinion, especially the search button right in the middle as most of us go straight to Google for so many things first! Now onto the issue. I can no longer simply copy an image, which is very odd.
I can only save an image now. I very frequently use Safari's ability to copy images. I'm not sure if this is due to Google's issue with Getty Images and taking away the 'view image' feature-which I myself found a way around-a purposeful intention to prevent direct copying of images, or a design flaw, but either way it makes me have to continue using Safari for the time being because of how often I use that simple feature. GsidesFinest, Phenomenal, but with one downside. This iOS version of Chrome was once the perfect browser, but recent updates have removed one simple thing that I, until now, had taken for granted - the 'Save Image' feature. By that, I don't mean that one can no longer save an image - you can; What I'm referring to was the ability to save from an 'image-only' tab (not sure if there's an actual name for them) and save it in its highest quality.
Now, the best I can do is save the thumbnail images from the link that leads to the new tab, but these are of such poor quality as they are not intended to be saved. If there is any image I want to save in its highest quality, I'm resorting to other apps to accomplish this. This may sound like a back-handed compliment, but the reason I still use Chrome as my go-to browser is because I see no flaws within it aside from the issue mentioned above and it's worth the hassle.
I do hope that the option to save an image from its own tab by pressing and holding isn't gone for good, because it's the last piece to the puzzle of a flawless iPhone browser (in my subjective opinion). GsidesFinest, Phenomenal, but with one downside. This iOS version of Chrome was once the perfect browser, but recent updates have removed one simple thing that I, until now, had taken for granted - the 'Save Image' feature. By that, I don't mean that one can no longer save an image - you can; What I'm referring to was the ability to save from an 'image-only' tab (not sure if there's an actual name for them) and save it in its highest quality. Now, the best I can do is save the thumbnail images from the link that leads to the new tab, but these are of such poor quality as they are not intended to be saved.
If there is any image I want to save in its highest quality, I'm resorting to other apps to accomplish this. This may sound like a back-handed compliment, but the reason I still use Chrome as my go-to browser is because I see no flaws within it aside from the issue mentioned above and it's worth the hassle. I do hope that the option to save an image from its own tab by pressing and holding isn't gone for good, because it's the last piece to the puzzle of a flawless iPhone browser (in my subjective opinion).
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