The Chrome Software Reporter Tool, also known as software_reporter_tool.exe, helps keep your browser in a healthy state. It scans your PC for issues that could affect your internet use and reports those to Google. These scan results are then used to determine whether you should remove certain unwanted software that could negatively impact your browsing experience.
The idea behind the Chrome Sofware Reporter Tool, then, is a good one. In practice, however, it can be problematic. For starters, Chrome Software Reporter Tool has high CPU usage when it scans. This can result in up to 30% CPU usage for up to 20 minutes. If you're playing a game or have a slower PC, this is likely to negatively affect your experience.
The other, of course, is that the tool sends your data to Google. Worse, it may search folders outside of its install location, scanning anything it deems “relevant” to Chrome. This can include your documents folder. Admittedly, the tool is still less invasive than your typical cloud-based anti-virus, but it certainly isn't what users signed up for when they installed Chrome.
As a result, in this guide we'll show you how to disable the software reporter tool by blocking its permissions or disabling it via a registry entry. Here's how:
How to Disable the Software Reporter Tool in Windows 10
There are a couple of ways to remove Software Reporter Tool from your PC, but users tend to have the most success with a simple permissions block.
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- Navigate to Chrome's User Data directory
Open File Explorer and paste the following into the address bar:
%localappdata%\Google\Chrome\User Data. If this throws up an error, your folder may be in a slightly different location. Try navigating to%localappdataand finding it manually instead.Once you've found the User Data folder, look for a sub-folder called “SwReporter”. Right-click it and select “Properties”.
- Open Advanced Security settings
Click on the “Security” tab, then click “Advanced” down the bottom.
- Click “Disable inheritance”
- Press “Remove all inherited permissions from this object.”
- Press “Apply” in the Advanced Seucirty Settings screen
- Agree to the Windows Security Prompt
- Press “OK” in Advanced Security Settings
- Press “OK” in SwReporter Properties
We have now removed the service from all user group permissions. This will effectively disable Software Reporter Tool, as nobody on your PC will be able to update or run it unless the folder or names change.
- Navigate to Chrome's User Data directory
How to Disable Chrome Software Reporter Tool via Regedit
If changing the folder permissions doesn't work, you may have some success modifying your registry. Google introduced policies that admins can use to change Chrome features, and one of them disables the Software Reporter Tool. Here's how you can enable it:
- Open the Registry Editor
Press Start and then type “Registry Editor” click the top result.
- Navigate to the Chrome Policies key and create a new DWORD
In your Registry Editor search bar, paste the following:
Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Google\Chrome. If one or more of the keys does not exist, you can create it yourself by Right-clicking on its parent folder in the folder tree and selecting “New > Key”.Once you've opened the Chrome key, right-click the empty space in the mane pain and select “New > DWORD (32-bit) Value”. Name the DWORD
ChromeCleanupEnabled - Modify the value data
Double-click your new DWORD and change its value data to
0to disable the Chrome Cleanup Tool. Press “OK”.
- Create a ChromeCleanupReportingEnabled DWORD
Following the same process as the previous entry, create a new 32-bit DWORD and name it
ChromeCleanupReportingEnabled.
- Change the value data to 0
Press “OK” when you're done.
With that, the Software Reporter Tool disable should be in effect. However, you may want to make further tweaks to your Chrome, such as disabling autoplay videos and disabling the built-in adblocker.
Last Updated on February 14, 2022 7:45 pm CET
