O.T. Google Crome

[Mark Twain]

I need to try out Google Chrome for
a short period of time.

If your reading this Paul I would appreciate
a clean download source. Then once through
with it I can delete it.

What are the risks of Google Chrome and
will it install other unwanted programs
as well?


Thanks,
Robert

[Paul]

Chrome support for WinXP ends in April.

Blue download button is a stub installer,
and the first downloaded file is "ChromeSetup.exe"
987,728 bytes.

https://www.google.com/chrome/

https://dl.google.com/tag/s/appguid%3D%7B8A69D345-D564-463C-AFF1-A69D9E530F96%7D%26iid%3D%7B16A0BD7B-2E7A-9836-CA30-E9647D1A770D%7D%26lang%3Den%26browser%3D3%26usagestats%3D0%26appname%3DGoogle%2520Chrome%26needsadmin%3Dprefers/update2/installers/ChromeSetup.exe

Unbelieveably, that file is "personalized". I
tried scanning it on virustotal.com and the
checksum had not been seen before. That tells
you each copy receives some sort of personal
identifier (like an Advertising ID or some
sort of equivalent function). I've never seen
a stub installer customized in this manner before.

Inside it (the stub installer file), I can
see it includes GoogleUpdate.exe . Something with
a name like that, was once hidden in a SVCHOST.

*******

OK, here's another page. This one claims to offer
a standalone installation file (bigger, but no stub).
And when I click the download button on this page,
the page loops and produces nothing. Neato...

https://www.google.com/chrome/browser/desktop/index.html?standalone=1

OK, I changed to a second browser, and tried the page
again, and a 46,590,880 byte file started to download.
This is the link I got for the download, but I expect
some part of this link is custom for each visitor.

https://dl.google.com/tag/s/appguid%3D%7B8A69D345-D564-463C-AFF1-A69D9E530F96%7D%26iid%3D%7B21EC48F1-5A14-AD9D-831C-DCABDD3FA3D1%7D%26lang%3Den%26browser%3D3%26usagestats%3D0%26appname%3DGoogle%2520Chrome%26needsadmin%3Dprefers/update2/installers/ChromeStandaloneSetup.exe

So if the first browser you use to visit the standalone
link doesn't work, try a more modern browser.

Now, scanning that file, the same thing is happening.
Virustotal pretends it has never seen the file before,
which tells you some sort of unique ID must be jammed
into it somewhere.

Anyway, I installed it in a test OS, and there was no apparent
attempt to install Ask Toolbar :-) Seems to work OK.

I also tried it in Linux WINE. And the install phase finished,
but it crashed and burned at runtime. Looks like the GPU code
it uses, may be at fault. I also tried something like

chrome.exe --disable-gpu

and that still didn't make it run under WINE.

But running in a real Windows OS, it worked fine.

*******

As for the ability to exploit Chrome, Chrome
tries hard to contain exploits, but due to the
popularity of Chrome, the bad guys target
Chrome for their worst attempts at exploits.

Just like the bad guys focus on the Yahoo News
site, or any other web sites which receive more
than 100,000,000 visitors per day. The bad guys focus
on the high runner sites, the ones with the most traffic,
or they focus on the popular browsers. So if they need
to bust something, they'd rather bust a copy of Chrome,
than a copy of Opera.

HTH,
Paul

[JAS]

You might try a portable version
http://portableapps.com/apps/internet/google_chrome_portable

[Mark Twain]

Thanks Paul,

I just needed to check something
and have uninstalled it.

back to the replacement Dell back-up
with Win7 Pro. I haven't forgotten
about it but a few things came up
and will get back to you on it asap.

Thanks,
Robert