Why does Chrome let an extension from Developer A disable or uninstall one from Developer B? Uninstall and disable other extensions? Are you kidding me? Why does Chrome even allow this? Web browsers do not allow a page on one website to interact with a page on another. On top of this, they can also 'Manage your apps, extensions and themes.' What exactly does that mean? According to Google, it means the extension 'can enable, disable, uninstall or launch themes, extensions, and apps you have installed.' Michael HorowitzĬhrome warnings, in Windows 7, when installing the 'Your Speed Test Now' extension When installing, Chrome warns that each of the extensions above can 'Read and change all your data on the websites you visit.' Pretty much the very definition of spyware. Some speed test apps in the Chrome web store As shown below, there are at least four of them. I didn't record the name of the extension at the time, but later looked for speed test extensions in the Chrome web store with a similar icon.

Removing it restored everything to normal operation. Knowing this person, I am confident they did not install a speed test extension on purpose.įortunately, like any Chrome extension, it was was easy to find and delete. The Chromebook owner, a total non-techie, does not know what browser extensions are. Hovering the mouse over the extension icon, produced a pop-up about a speed test. Also, there was a new extension icon, one that I didn't recognize. The new tab page opened to a website that I had never heard of, rather than to a blank page. I was about to look for the Chrome settings regarding the Bookmarks bar, when I noticed a couple other things were off.

Malicious software often gets installed by tricking end users and, although I didn't it see it for myself, I'm pretty sure that's what happened here. This happened after the Chromebook owner had to answer a bunch of questions from Chrome, questions they didn't understand and couldn't remember. More technically, the Bookmarks bar was not being displayed. The Chromebook is owned by a non-technical person who asked me to look at it because the browser home page no longer showed their bookmarks. Recently, I ran across a Chromebook running what a reasonable person might consider spyware.

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