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  3. Google Chrome Has the Most Effective Updater

Google Chrome Has the Most Effective Updater

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  • K Kevin McFarlane

    Google Chrome Has the Most Effective Updater[^] OK, this will get many of you going... A paper published last week titled "Why Silent Updates Boost Security" showed that Google Chrome is the browser that has the most effective updating mechanism. Google Chrome's updater works automatically, it requires no user interaction and it can't be disabled from the interface.

    Kevin

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    Rama Krishna Vavilala
    wrote on last edited by
    #2

    That is Christopher Duncan's favorite Chrome feature.

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    • K Kevin McFarlane

      Google Chrome Has the Most Effective Updater[^] OK, this will get many of you going... A paper published last week titled "Why Silent Updates Boost Security" showed that Google Chrome is the browser that has the most effective updating mechanism. Google Chrome's updater works automatically, it requires no user interaction and it can't be disabled from the interface.

      Kevin

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      Dan Neely
      wrote on last edited by
      #3

      ... according to a paper sponsored by Google. And in other news: Water is wet. The Sun rises in the East.

      It is a truth universally acknowledged that a zombie in possession of brains must be in want of more brains. -- Pride and Prejudice and Zombies

      K 1 Reply Last reply
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      • K Kevin McFarlane

        Google Chrome Has the Most Effective Updater[^] OK, this will get many of you going... A paper published last week titled "Why Silent Updates Boost Security" showed that Google Chrome is the browser that has the most effective updating mechanism. Google Chrome's updater works automatically, it requires no user interaction and it can't be disabled from the interface.

        Kevin

        R Offline
        R Offline
        Rama Krishna Vavilala
        wrote on last edited by
        #4

        Actually the proper way to read this paper will be: Most users prefer to disable automatic updates where they can,

        S 1 Reply Last reply
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        • K Kevin McFarlane

          Google Chrome Has the Most Effective Updater[^] OK, this will get many of you going... A paper published last week titled "Why Silent Updates Boost Security" showed that Google Chrome is the browser that has the most effective updating mechanism. Google Chrome's updater works automatically, it requires no user interaction and it can't be disabled from the interface.

          Kevin

          S Offline
          S Offline
          Shog9 0
          wrote on last edited by
          #5

          As Rama notes, Christopher Duncan ranted about this[^] a while back... IMHO, it's one of those things that has become near-essential for software targeted at average home users, who really can't be bothered to manually install updates for all their applications. But it does tend to send the more tech-savvy users into fits...

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          • K Kevin McFarlane

            Google Chrome Has the Most Effective Updater[^] OK, this will get many of you going... A paper published last week titled "Why Silent Updates Boost Security" showed that Google Chrome is the browser that has the most effective updating mechanism. Google Chrome's updater works automatically, it requires no user interaction and it can't be disabled from the interface.

            Kevin

            N Offline
            N Offline
            Nemanja Trifunovic
            wrote on last edited by
            #6

            Funny enough, Chrome's update mechanism is the very reason I never installed Chrome on any of my machines.

            Programming Blog utf8-cpp

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            • R Rama Krishna Vavilala

              Actually the proper way to read this paper will be: Most users prefer to disable automatic updates where they can,

              S Offline
              S Offline
              Shog9 0
              wrote on last edited by
              #7

              Rama Krishna Vavilala wrote:

              Most users prefer to disable automatic updates where they can

              mmm... Firefox, which does allow you to easily disable automatic updates, still has 85% of its userbase updated within 21 days. That's a sizable majority. Personally, the only browser I have automatic updates disabled for is IE, due WU's habit of requiring me to reboot after installing updates. Of course, IE stats aren't included in this study, so who knows how many users are doing the same...

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              • D Dan Neely

                ... according to a paper sponsored by Google. And in other news: Water is wet. The Sun rises in the East.

                It is a truth universally acknowledged that a zombie in possession of brains must be in want of more brains. -- Pride and Prejudice and Zombies

                K Offline
                K Offline
                Kevin McFarlane
                wrote on last edited by
                #8

                Regardless of whether it is most effective what are your own views of the feature?

                Kevin

                D 1 Reply Last reply
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                • K Kevin McFarlane

                  Google Chrome Has the Most Effective Updater[^] OK, this will get many of you going... A paper published last week titled "Why Silent Updates Boost Security" showed that Google Chrome is the browser that has the most effective updating mechanism. Google Chrome's updater works automatically, it requires no user interaction and it can't be disabled from the interface.

                  Kevin

                  E Offline
                  E Offline
                  Electron Shepherd
                  wrote on last edited by
                  #9

                  Sounds ideal for 10,000 seat corporates. Every machine on the network checking every 5 hours... :doh:

                  Server and Network Monitoring

                  1 Reply Last reply
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                  • R Rama Krishna Vavilala

                    That is Christopher Duncan's favorite Chrome feature.

                    K Offline
                    K Offline
                    Kevin McFarlane
                    wrote on last edited by
                    #10

                    In theory all software should be silently updated with security/bug fixes (but not features, as the Google article says). In practice since virtually all software has bugs I like to have control. For example setting silent update with the possibility of rolling back to an earlier version in light of regressions would be nice.

                    Kevin

                    1 Reply Last reply
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                    • K Kevin McFarlane

                      Google Chrome Has the Most Effective Updater[^] OK, this will get many of you going... A paper published last week titled "Why Silent Updates Boost Security" showed that Google Chrome is the browser that has the most effective updating mechanism. Google Chrome's updater works automatically, it requires no user interaction and it can't be disabled from the interface.

                      Kevin

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                      Y Offline
                      Yusuf
                      wrote on last edited by
                      #11

                      This may be ok for typical user, but not for me. I need to have full control as to what goes on. While having auto-update is nice, but it can break havoc as well. There are times I need to delay update for sometime, for example, at the time of release.

                      Yusuf May I help you?

                      K 1 Reply Last reply
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                      • S Shog9 0

                        As Rama notes, Christopher Duncan ranted about this[^] a while back... IMHO, it's one of those things that has become near-essential for software targeted at average home users, who really can't be bothered to manually install updates for all their applications. But it does tend to send the more tech-savvy users into fits...

                        K Offline
                        K Offline
                        Kevin McFarlane
                        wrote on last edited by
                        #12

                        I have nothing against setting it as the default. But we should be able to control it.

                        Kevin

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                        • N Nemanja Trifunovic

                          Funny enough, Chrome's update mechanism is the very reason I never installed Chrome on any of my machines.

                          Programming Blog utf8-cpp

                          K Offline
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                          Kevin McFarlane
                          wrote on last edited by
                          #13

                          I dislike non-configurable auto-updates. But I have Chrome installed nonetheless. However, it's not my default browser.

                          Kevin

                          1 Reply Last reply
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                          • K Kevin McFarlane

                            Google Chrome Has the Most Effective Updater[^] OK, this will get many of you going... A paper published last week titled "Why Silent Updates Boost Security" showed that Google Chrome is the browser that has the most effective updating mechanism. Google Chrome's updater works automatically, it requires no user interaction and it can't be disabled from the interface.

                            Kevin

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                            T Offline
                            Todd Smith
                            wrote on last edited by
                            #14

                            Google can afford to do that atm since they aren't a key system component like IE. Updating IE automatically could screw up a lot of businesses.

                            Todd Smith

                            1 Reply Last reply
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                            • K Kevin McFarlane

                              Google Chrome Has the Most Effective Updater[^] OK, this will get many of you going... A paper published last week titled "Why Silent Updates Boost Security" showed that Google Chrome is the browser that has the most effective updating mechanism. Google Chrome's updater works automatically, it requires no user interaction and it can't be disabled from the interface.

                              Kevin

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                              G Offline
                              Gary Wheeler
                              wrote on last edited by
                              #15

                              Now we know why every Google product stays in beta. They have a corporate policy against even the most basic configuration management principles. Of course, their 'silent updater' will remain so until someone hacks it and uses it to deliver a malicious payload...

                              Software Zen: delete this;

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                              • K Kevin McFarlane

                                I have nothing against setting it as the default. But we should be able to control it.

                                Kevin

                                S Offline
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                                Shog9 0
                                wrote on last edited by
                                #16

                                To be fair, you can, if you know what you're doing. The updater is fired up by a scheduled task - Windows provides a standard UI for modifying or removing those from the Control Panel. It's not like it's really hidden away somewhere. Heck, you could download the source and modify the updater to prompt you if you really want...

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                                • Y Yusuf

                                  This may be ok for typical user, but not for me. I need to have full control as to what goes on. While having auto-update is nice, but it can break havoc as well. There are times I need to delay update for sometime, for example, at the time of release.

                                  Yusuf May I help you?

                                  K Offline
                                  K Offline
                                  Kevin McFarlane
                                  wrote on last edited by
                                  #17

                                  I agree. Google seem to be quite stubborn about this. I would have no objection to their setting it as a default, so long as I could override it. Even if it was only offered via something like FF's about:config that would be an improvement, although not ideal.

                                  Kevin

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                                  • S Shog9 0

                                    To be fair, you can, if you know what you're doing. The updater is fired up by a scheduled task - Windows provides a standard UI for modifying or removing those from the Control Panel. It's not like it's really hidden away somewhere. Heck, you could download the source and modify the updater to prompt you if you really want...

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                                    Kevin McFarlane
                                    wrote on last edited by
                                    #18

                                    There should be a regular way of doing it though.

                                    Kevin

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                                    • G Gary Wheeler

                                      Now we know why every Google product stays in beta. They have a corporate policy against even the most basic configuration management principles. Of course, their 'silent updater' will remain so until someone hacks it and uses it to deliver a malicious payload...

                                      Software Zen: delete this;

                                      Y Offline
                                      Y Offline
                                      Yusuf
                                      wrote on last edited by
                                      #19

                                      Gary Wheeler wrote:

                                      Now we know why every Google product stays in beta

                                      Gary Wheeler wrote:

                                      Of course, their 'silent updater' will remain so until someone hacks it and uses it to deliver a malicious payload...

                                      That will complete Beta testing and mark the start of ver 1.0 shipment. :doh:

                                      Yusuf May I help you?

                                      1 Reply Last reply
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                                      • K Kevin McFarlane

                                        There should be a regular way of doing it though.

                                        Kevin

                                        S Offline
                                        S Offline
                                        Shog9 0
                                        wrote on last edited by
                                        #20

                                        Control Panel -> Scheduled Tasks -> Right-click, delete If such a thing as a "regular way" of disabling periodic tasks could be said to exist under Windows, this would be it. It's not like there's some "application updates" applet that all the other browsers hook into.

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                                        • K Kevin McFarlane

                                          Regardless of whether it is most effective what are your own views of the feature?

                                          Kevin

                                          D Offline
                                          D Offline
                                          Dan Neely
                                          wrote on last edited by
                                          #21

                                          Software that tries to patch my system without telling me does not get installed on it. The only thing I agree with is that Opera needs to get a more light weight patch system than a full up installer. (O10.0 alpha has one, but who knows when it'll be final.)

                                          It is a truth universally acknowledged that a zombie in possession of brains must be in want of more brains. -- Pride and Prejudice and Zombies

                                          OriginalGriffO K 2 Replies Last reply
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