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”. No matter how much we tell users to keep ther software up-to-date, the truth is the majority don’t. 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up with this response: “Hey look, a major source of computer virus and malware infections is that users are often using out-of-date software that hasn’t been patched to combat newly-discovered exploits. 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.īefore I beat this drum any harder, however, I owe you at least the other side of the story. In Developer circles, this is considered very shady practice. 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.
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.
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