The Chrome Cleanup Tool is being killed off because Google Safe Browsing is better

Google announced today that it’s discontinuing its Chrome Cleanup Tool which was released in 2015 to help Windows users uninstall unused software and recover from unexpected changes to their systems. The tool performed over 80 million cleanups and was instrumental in creating a cleaner and safer web, according to a statement the company put out on its Security Blog. However, the advent of Google Safe Browsing has rendered the Chrome Cleanup Tool obsolete – something I agree with entirely.

To make the distinction unmistakable, Google Safe Browsing is the current and modern toolkit that provides protection against phishing sites, malware, and other malicious content by detecting them and warning users before they visit or download files from these locations. It’s a proactive and preventative system and a pretty good one at that – at least, for regular users.

With the majority of people now using web applications for their day-to-day productivity among other reasons, the need for the Chrome Cleanup Tool has apparently diminished. Google says that only 0.06% of users still use the tool to find and uninstall old or unused or unwanted software.

If you still have this tool installed to date, you should know that starting with Chrome 111, you’ll no longer be able to request a scan through the Safety Check or use the “Reset Settings and cleanup” option in chrome://settings on Windows devices.

However, you can still use many Enhanced Protection settings offered by Chrome, and while the Chrome Cleanup Tool is being discontinued, Google still has plenty of measures in place like the aforementioned Safe Browsing as well as sandboxing, and site isolation to keep yourself and your systems safe! Be sure to check out the Safety with Google website to learn more.