All modern browsers can be targeted by hackers who invent simple yet effective malicious programs that infect the browser. Chromium, the engine Chrome uses, is vulnerable to such threats. However, the developers thought about the dangers of threatening modern internet users and created a special way of getting rid of annoying adware and other forms of infectious software.
Chrome’s Malware Removal Tool
Chrome comes with a special feature that can clean-up the system (to some degree). It is a flexibly, multifaceted instrument that can detect and quickly remove any malware in the databases. The scanner is running all the time in the background without disturbing other processes. The tool will try to remove anything that resembles malware.
Google came up with an idea after working together with ESET. The latter is a huge development company focused on creating powerful antivirus software and other protective technologies. Now, the tool is not developed to be a special antivirus that will find every single threat hiding on your PC. The main goal of the tool is to assist with the removal of problematic apps that can harm the browser.
Using the tool
If you think that your browser is infected, you should definitely run a manual diagnostic. You can do it following the steps below:
1. Start the browser and launch the menu.
2. Go to the section labeled “Advanced”.
3. In the new tab, look for the block called “Reset and Clean up”.
4. In the Clean up section, you will see the feature called “find harmful software”. Click the button next to it and wait.
This function launches the extension developed by the ESET team. It will scan the system and search for programs related to Chrome. If any malicious software is found, the component will attempt to delete it. The issue can be in the extent to which the browser is allowed to affect the system. Some threats will require you to delete them manually or to install additional third-party antivirus software.
The report will have all the information about removed, identified, or suspicious files. You can share the report with Google to allow it to analyze it and successfully prevent it from spreading. However, if you value your privacy, you can disable sharing with Google.
When should you use it?
There are several symptoms that should warn you about possible infections. Below we will describe such symptoms:
– The changes to the homepage and default search engines. If you find yourself using an unknown or weird search engine system, it may be malicious software doing its job. If your homepage is changed to something new, it can also be a symptom that you’ve got a virus.
– You see too many ads and pop-ups. Some adware will force you to look at as many ads as possible making it a very annoying and even harmful threat. If you see too many ads, it may be a cyber threat that you should get rid of.
– The performance dropped noticeably. Your browser may work much slower when it is infected with malicious software. You will notice that the speed is slower and that some pages take quite some time to react to your inputs.
The main takeaway
Google is a company that always tries to innovate and come up with new products. One of its biggest products is definitely Chrome. A very popular, relatively light, and flexible browser used by millions across the globe. While many of their other products failed to acquire an audience, this one is definitely a big achievement. Their anti-malware tool is definitely a project that took a lot of resources and it shows! It is good all-around protection for your browser.
