Among platforms, Chrome is notorious for consuming resources, draining battery and ultimately affecting performance. We even wrote a detailed guide on ways to speed up Chrome on PC to fix this issue. What if I told you that there is a hidden tool called the Chrome Software Reporter Tool that spikes the CPU abnormally? Google protects to protect users from malware and malicious extensions. However, many users reported that it continues to run in the background and severely impacts performance. So if you’re wondering what the Chrome Software Reporter Tool is and what its exact purpose is, you’ve come to the right place. In this article, we explain the problem in detail and also provide two easy ways to disable Chrome Software Reporter Tool permanently.
What is the Chrome Software Reporting Tool?
While geeks can manage and control their computers on their own, it often happens that consumers are tricked into downloading malware from the internet. As a result, Chrome is affected by malicious extensions and software changing the search engine, adding a malicious toolbar, replacing the new tab with a custom web page, and bringing in a slew of ads and redirects from every corner. All these changes prevent Chrome from working properly. That’s why we have a special explainer on how to improve Google Chrome security for general consumers. Anyway, to combat this issue, Chrome comes with a Software Reporting Tool that background scans your computer and removes harmful ones. Basically, the Chrome Software Reporter Tool works like an antivirus, but its scope is limited to just Chrome running smoothly.
Having said that, users have reported that the Chrome Software Reporter Tool is constantly running in the background and consuming significant CPU resources. Many reported that usually takes about 30-60% of the CPU Even when the PC is idle. A user raised the issue on Twitter and found that Chrome was even scanning files in the Documents folder. It turned out that the Chrome Software Reporter Tool was scanning the entire hard disk, including personal files and the Windows Registry, which eventually increased CPU usage.
I was wondering why my canarytoken (a file folder) was triggered and discovered that the culprit was chrome.exe. going out @Google Chrome started silently running AV scans on Windows devices last fall. wtf m8? It’s not a system directory either, it’s in Documentation pic.twitter.com/IQZPSVpkz7
– Kelly Shortridge (@swagitda_) March 29, 2018
To allay concerns, Justin Schuh, Chrome Safety’s director of engineering, responded to the same Twitter thread:all local scans” and Chrome does not upload metadata of files and folders to the cloud. While this is reassuring, Chrome must explicitly ask the user for permission before scanning the entire hard disk. Apart from that, high CPU usage by Chrome Software Reporter Tool is a big problem for many users, even those with beefy PC specs. At least Chrome should have an option to disable background scanning for users who can manage their computers on their own. However, now that we have learned the problem in detail, let’s disable the Chrome Software Reporter Tool manually.
Disable the Chrome Software Reporting Tool
There are two ways to easily prevent the Chrome Software Reporter Tool from running in the background. First, we can remove the elevated permission of the Software Reporter folder so that Chrome loses access. And the second method, of course, is a Registry hack. After saying this, the first method should be enough to stop the background scan.. Now, without wasting any time, let’s move on to the steps.
Note: I wouldn’t recommend disabling the Chrome Software Reporting Tool for general consumers unless it seriously impacts performance.
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Remove Inherited Permissions
1. Firstly, open File Explorer and switch to “C” drive. Next, click on the “Appearance” tab and Enable “Hidden items”. It allows you to access hidden folders.
2. Now open the “Users” folder and move it to your user folder. After that follow the below path.
AppData -> Local -> Google -> Chrome -> User Data
3. Once you are here, Search for the “SwReporter” folder and right click on it. Next, open “Properties”.
4. Now go to the “Security” tab and select “Developed“.
5. Here, Click on “Disable Inheritance” and then click on “Remove all inherited permissions from this object”.
6. Finally, Click “Apply” and then press the “OK” button. Now that you have successfully disabled the Chrome Software Reporter Tool from running in the background, it will not spike your CPU again.
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Modify the Chrome Registry
1. Press the “Windows” key once and enter “registry” in the search box. Now, click “Run as administrator”.
2. Copy the following path and Paste Enter the registry address bar and press enter.
Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Google\Chrome
3. Once in the Chrome folder, right-click the open pane and Choose “New”. Here select “DWORD (32-bit) Value”.
4. Name it after that ChromeCleanupEnabled. After doing that, double click on it and enter “0” in value data. Now, click the “OK” button.
5. Again create a new “DWORD (32-bit) Value” similar to step 3 and give your name ChromeCleanupReportingEnabled. Here too, enter “0” in the Value data field.
6. Now, close the Registry and restart the computer. This time, Chrome Software Reporter will be disabled and won’t start in the background keeping the CPU calm and quiet.
Block Chrome Software Reporter Tool and Regain Performance
This was all about the Chrome Software Reporting Tool. You can learn about this tool in the first section and then choose to disable it from the second section. We’ve introduced two ways to permanently block it from running in the background. As I said above, the tool is there for a reason, and it’s there to protect your web experience. So if it doesn’t affect performance, I suggest you let it run.
If you liked this article, you’ll also like our article on Chrome extensions, Chrome flags, and Chrome settings. They will help you use Google Chrome effectively. Anyway, that’s it for us. If you found the article helpful, comment below and let us know.
