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Google can go F* themselves with their “GoogleUpdate.exe”

05/09/2008 9:27 | Internet, Windows, rant | 19 replies | 5586 views | RSS

Recently I installed Chrome (just like all the other nerds on teh interweb), played around with it a bit, but there is no click like there was with FF.

Anyway, I was checking my system and found out that GoogleUpdate.exe was running. Killed the task and searched from where the task started. I found *nothing*, not in the common startup, not via the registry, not in services.msc, not when starting or closing Chrome, … Tried HijackThis, msconfig, StartupList but GoogleUpdate.exe was nowhere to be found. And even stranger, if I killed the task, after a few minutes it was back up and running again! Argh! Help!

Turns out that this GoogleUpdate.exe starts via a scheduled task. This is its description:

Google Update Task keeps your Google software up to date. If Google Update Task is disabled or stopped, your Google software may not be kept up to date, meaning we can’t fix security vulnerabilities that may arise, and features in your Google software may not work. Google Update Task uninstalls itself when there is no Google software using it. It may take a few hours for Google Update to detect it is time to uninstall.

Yah rite, I don’t believe it’ll suicide itself when there is no Google software anymore, c’mon!

If you want to get rid of GoogleUpdate.exe you’ll have to do it manually.

  • Make sure GoogleUpdate.exe is not running via task manager
  • Delete the following directory: C:\documents and settings\username\Local Settings\Application Data\Google
  • Remove the task via Scheduled Tasks in the control panel

Oh and what ever happened to “c:\program files“? Why does Google install Chrome and GoogleUpdate in “c:\documents and settings/profile/local settings/application data/google” ? I searched for *.exe in that application data directory and found 2 executables … Chrome.exe and GoogleUpdate.exe, bah.

Thank you Mr. google for all these things.
Thank you very much for designing your software in a way that makes me feel that you know my PC better than myself.

I mean, what is the point? People downloading, installing, trying out Chrome are not the same people who have a hard time updating their system. A button “check for new version” would be greatly appreciated, and no thankyou to malware-a-like programs in directories where they shouldn’t be.

Bah.

Uninstalling Chrome as we speak and never going back to it.

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  1. On 5 September 2008 at 16h09, Zeon wrote

    The google task does remove itself after a few hours. It is the only positive thing about the entire chrome browser.

  2. On 10 September 2008 at 17h29, anonymous wrote

    Thanks for posting this. I used it to get rid of GoogleUpdate.exe myself.

  3. On 10 September 2008 at 20h56, AGREEEEEEEEEEED wrote

    CANT FIND WORDS FOR THE ANNOYANCE OF GOOGLEUPDATER.EXE

  4. On 19 September 2008 at 03h36, anonymous wrote

    Chrome sucks! It’s just repackaged FF! I don’t know why they bothered!
    Thanks for this post, googleupdate was driving me crazy too!
    Thanks again!

  5. On 24 September 2008 at 11h25, anonymous wrote

    I think Chrome is alright but fuck this GoogleUpdate bullshit.

  6. On 1 October 2008 at 19h31, Dios wrote

    Google f*ck their own reputation

  7. On 8 October 2008 at 19h57, Eurynomos wrote

    googleupdate is like Starforce, it shows how little they are thinking about the end user.

  8. On 10 October 2008 at 21h13, pcp88888 wrote

    I have a lot of those auto-update background processes crammed unwantedly in my pc for applications I rarely use. In their futile efforts to force the idiot user to keep upgrading, they are taxing not only the individual desktops but the entire internet cloud as well. They added another background process to f*uck up with all the other background processes already there slowing down your pc, assuming that users are too moronic to know when to click that “upgrade now” button. If users are too stupid to click upgrade, then they do not really need to upgrade and such users should be saved the angst of being given another background process they need to remove by fooling around with their PCs.

  9. On 31 October 2008 at 04h19, anonymous wrote

    Command Confirmed

  10. On 13 December 2008 at 23h21, Bram wrote

    You should know google updater from shizzle like Google pack, google web accelerator and other google soft (ever heard about Earth? or Picasso?)

    Google updater installs with anything google-based, but I don’t bother, it’s not like it’s eating cpu or memory, and 2.5Ghz core2duo and 4GB memory will handle it smoothly

  11. On 13 December 2008 at 23h30, Selder wrote

    That would be “googleupdater.exe” and not “googleupdate.exe”

  12. On 14 February 2009 at 11h19, cho wrote

    i am looking for how to remove googleupdate.exe and found solve problem here. Thanks

  13. On 2 March 2009 at 13h16, kay wrote

    started using chrome the first day it got out, still loyal to it not thinking about going back to FF. buth let me say just this and please dont censor it ;) FUCK GOOGLEUPDATE.COM (thats what i google before i got to this site)

    I have it proven that googleupdate.com process is NOT letting me get my laptop to standby mode. As well (althought not sure for 100%) it’s responsible for not letting me getting back from this state when the monitor turns off automatically after x minutes.

    i found them, repeat … FUCK GOOGLEUPDATE.COM

  14. On 21 March 2009 at 06h03, anonymous wrote

    I found this blog after searching my registry, after that sh*tty process re-emerged, and it’s at least 24 hours since I tried Chrome. It registers a COM class. It’s very rotten, nasty, suspicious: hidden files and hidden re-activation when killed. Grr. Trust in Google /seriously/ reduced.

    - Alf

  15. On 25 March 2009 at 16h38, anonymous wrote

    googleupdate.exe

    This really is more of a malware, perhaps a SPYWARE!!!

    grrr

    since i have installed chrome, firefox slowed down!
    but wait… tried it on chrome, browsing was fast

    who knows this may be is the reason why it is so slow to browse through yahoo and almost an instant to go to google

    what a great way to prove how good they are!
    slow down the competition on purpose, we are faster

    FUCK GOOGLE

  16. On 5 November 2009 at 10h15, Quodlibet wrote

    For some reason they also change the registry value of “PreventIndexingOutlook” to 1 (”HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Windows Search”) when you install google apps sync. That doesn’t make ANY sense at all.

  17. On 8 January 2010 at 19h34, benoit wrote

    google chrome is the biggest shit i have never saw, and I have travel 4 continents :p

    ALL google software are ban for my computer because of this f*cking googleupdate… just too bad because google earth is great…

  18. On 26 August 2010 at 22h43, me wrote

    completely agree.. I hate googleupdate.exe and Google Chrome.. I am now switching away from gmail.

  19. On 8 March 2011 at 06h35, anonymous wrote

    I no longer even use google’s search engine. They have become -as microsoft large enough to ignore the end user. Google Update is BULLSHIT! I removed Google Chrome (I don’t use it) and Google earth ( use it some) and Google Update is still there.LIke microsoft I have my updates set to notify me before downloading. I have a satellite connection and a download cap. Both the Google Updater and microsoft updater ignore my settings putting me over my limits at times. I have no use for invasive software.