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Google Open Sources Updater
Jamie noticed the news that Google Update is now Open Source. The article acknowledges the privacy and security concerns of an application that is always running in the background of your machine, and authorized to install new software. And Google made the logically obvious conclusion that releasing the source code would alleviate those concerns.
Here's a wild and crazy idea. You could disable the Google Updater Service via Control Panel\Administrative Tools\Services. I know.... I know.... radical, but it actually works. Imagine that.
"When you see a unixer brainwashed beyond saving, kick him out of the door." - Xah Lee
Google has already provided instructions on how to uninstall the updater.
/Library/Google/GoogleSoftwareUpdate and ~/Library/Google/GoogleSoftwareUpdate folders to 000, and Google Earth no longer reinstalls the updater or asks me to do so. I never gave GE my password. I'm not sure what the workaround is for Windows.
Of course, it will be reinstalled within a few hours if you run another Google program. On my Mac I just changed permissions on the
And don't forget to turn off the scheduled event to turn the service back on. And don't forget to do it all over again every time you install/update anything by Google. Also, the instructions to kill it don't seem to be the same all the time. Maybe it depends on exactly what app you're installing. Maybe it's just Google trying to screw with my mind. Google Update needs to die.
I never gave GE my password. I'm not sure what the workaround is for Windows.
Similar. Using the CACLS command line tool, or the Security dialog in file properties, remove all file permissions for all users except the "delete" and "read attribute" permissions.
Read attribute might be able to go too, I haven't tested - but the above will make it so that the file can't be updated, can't be executed, but can still be deleted when you want to.