HN Explorer

Ask HN: Why is Google Chrome covertly scanning my Hard Drive?

14 points by winternett ↗ HN
Many don't know this because of (quietly running) solid State Drives now, but Google Chrome usually shows a high level of disk usage whenever I start it on my legacy desktop.

I regularly hear a lot of noise from the drive. It is likely something that does damage because of the frequency with which it is run. It seems very invasive and there is no warning that it's occurring nor a way to disable it.

Is it supposed to be some sort of anti-virus scan? It seems to be a strange trojan app running within Chrome browser. I also wonder what data is being sent to Google based on that activity, as I don't use their cloud storage or any other active services.

19 comments

[ 4.3 ms ] story [ 38.0 ms ] thread
dTal
What makes you think it's scanning, and not e.g. preloading items from disk cache into RAM? Maybe run it under strace and see what it's accessing?
WhatsName
Agree, without some solid syslog/trace evidence there is no reason to believe thid wild claim.
LightHugger
The evidence is that chrome scans and uploads data about all the processes on your computer, and they tell you about this via a hidden setting in your browser options. Go check if you use chrome! It's enabled by default.
winternett
I'm not talking about the HD running on startup... It runs when the browser is not doing anything at all, for stunningly long periods of time... There is no way that much data could be loading into RAM.

Chrome also used to do this under a separate process called "Software Quality Monitor", but now it does not show in task manager as a separate process.

I'm not hallucinating nor BS-ing, it's a real thing.

jitl
You can answer all of these questions by running a filesystem or system call trace on Chrome processes, which will be more accurate than listening for the file access with your ears. Without such evidence you are jumping to wild conclusions.

On macOS, use Activity Monitor to inspect the process and it will show you a list of open files. You can also use lsof, strace, dtrace, depending on your OS. I don’t know about Windows.

You could also try defragging your hard drive.

Thoreandan
On Windows, the Resource Monitor will let you watch most filesystem activity, filtered by process.

Some types of I/O show up as being by the 'System' (pid 4) process as well.

sebazzz
The best way is Sysinternals Procmon, as it literally lists every registry and file I/O call.
winternett
If my car engine started running in the middle of the night in my garage when I expect the car to be off, naturally I'd assume it was a plot hatched by automakers in conjunction with gas suppliers in order to increase profits on gas consumption, either that or a plot to kill me with carbon monoxide poisoning while I sleep... Call me a cynic I guess.

If Chrome in task manager shows a lot of disk usage when nothing is being done in the browser I'd naturally think the worst of them. Call me cynical, but hey, there are countless stories of Google not exactly behaving itself as a company.

avinassh
> by running a filesystem or system call trace on Chrome processes

how do you do this?

jitl
I gave some pointers in the next paragraph.
johnea
There's an old, vulgar, southern aphorism that answers almost all of these "why" questions.

It's in the form of a retorical question:

Question: Why does a dog lick his balls?

Answer: Because he can...

Why "can" chrome scan your disk? Because you installed it.

Stop using that shit...

[deleted]
(comment deleted)
dole
if it's Windows, it's probably Software Reporter Tool (not part of Chrome on Mac or Linux?) which looks like it sits there, running and eating disk performance after starting and sitting idle on one about:blank tab. [edit: only extension I have installed in Chrome is Google Docs Offline. Software Reporter Tool is the same as the "Cleanup" tool/malware scanner noted by id_404 in this thread.]

https://geekflare.com/google-chromes-software-reporter-tool/

Open Task Manager, expand the Chrome task and look towards the bottom, and Disk column.

Yoric
Possibly simply checking its own cache?
r721
"Google Chrome and ESET collaborate in fight against online threats

As applied in Chrome Cleanup, ESET’s technology is used by Google to alert users about unwanted or potentially harmful software attempting to get on users’ devices through stealth—for example, by being bundled into a download of legitimate software or content. Google Chrome, using ESET’s security technology, then provides users with the option to remove the unwanted software. Chrome Cleanup operates in the background, without visibility or interruptions to the user. It deletes the unwanted software and notifies the user once the cleanup has been successfully completed."

https://www.eset.com/sg/about/newsroom/press-releases1/event... (2020)

LightHugger
Chrome developed a "security feature" where it scans and phones home about every program on your computer by default.

Please stop using chrome. When other software does this, that software is labelled spyware.

However, it can be disabled in the settings, but only after you notice it when it's already scanned and uploaded for quite awhile...

ashwagary
Uninstall Chrome and install Firefox, see if it stops.