Do you know what the Software Reporter Tool is? This article will give you related explanations, why you need to disable it and how to disable this tool on your Windows 10 operating system. If you want to learn more about the Chrome Software Reporter tool, check out our article here.
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What is Software Reporter Tool?
Software Reporter Tool is a standalone process of Google Chrome. This is the part of the Chrome Cleanup Tool that monitors your Chrome installation and reports if any additional components interfere with the normal operation of this web browser. This tool is not connected to the network but is mainly used by browsers to identify programs that may be causing conflicts with it.
It’s a 54KB executable called software-reporter-tool.exe. You can search for the Software Reporter Tool by following the following path:
C:\Users\USERNAME\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\User Data\SwReporter\VERSION\software_reporter_tool.exe.Unless you intentionally search for the Google Chrome Software Reporter Tool, you may be completely unaware of its existence. The Chrome Software Reporting Tool runs once a week and reports the scan results to Chrome. Strictly speaking, this tool scans the system to check for unnecessary software applications that can adversely affect Chrome’s browsing experience.
This tool will scan the system for unwanted software applications that may affect Chrome’s browsing experience during the scanning process. In addition, the tool also reports Chrome when there are issues such as unwanted ads or when the website crashes. Based on this report, Chrome will prompt the user to run the Chrome Cleanup tool during the scan.
See more: What is a Software Reporter Tool? How to turn off Software Reporter Tool in Windows 10
Why do you need to disable Google Chrome Software Reporter Tool?
Based on the above explanations, Google Software Reporter Tool is a very handy tool for Chrome users. But why would Windows users want to turn off the Software Reporter Tool? Is it malware or not? Is it safe to use it? I know you’re worried now, but the Software Reporter Tool is entirely safe to use.
This tool is safe because it does not have any network communication. The only job of this tool is to report to Chrome about software that may not work properly with the Google Chrome browser.
Although the Software Reporter Tool helps users remove barriers that can adversely affect the browser experience, many users are concerned with the huge CPU consumption when it runs the tool in the background.
This tool may run for about 20 minutes, which may slow down other operations in your system. Some users encounter a 100% Full Disk error during the scan, making the computer extremely slow.
So, if the CPU usage of this process is too high and you often see the message that Google Chrome Software Reporter Tool has stopped working, you can disable or remove it. And the next part of this article will show you how to turn off the Software Reporter Tool step by step in detail.
How to disable Google Chrome Software Reporter Tool
You can uninstall, uninstall, or delete the contents of an entire folder or change the executable to disable the Software Reporter Tool. However, this is only a temporary fix as Google will reinstall the Software Reporter Tool into the system again when you update your web browser.
So it’s better to disable the Software Reporter Tool by removing permissions so that no user has access to the folder. Here are the detailed steps:
Step 1: Right-click on the SwReporter folder and select Properties from the Menu. You can find the SwReporter folder by following this path:
C:\Users\USERNAME\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\User Data\SwReporterTip: If you can’t find the SwReporter folder, you can do it on the CrashReports folder. Please right-click on it and follow the same steps.
Step 2: Find the Security tab and select Advanced.
Step 3: Select the option Disable inheritance.
Step 4: Select the option Remove all inherited permissions from this object from the pop-up window. After that, all permissions will be removed.
Step 5: Finally, select Apply and press the OK button.
If you’re using Windows 7, the process may be a little different. After you click the Advanced button in the Security tab, you will see a Change Permissions… button instead of the Disable inheritance option. Please click it.
On the new window, uncheck the Include inheritable permissions from this object’s parent option and select Remove on the dialog from the pop-up dialog box. After that, the Software Reporter Tool will be disabled on Windows 7.
By following the steps above, no other users can now access the Software Reporter Tool, and no updates will be applied to it.
Note: Blocking access to a program may prevent Google from removing problematic software from your system or notifying you of it. You can also use similar software, such as anti-virus software, to remove unwanted software and threats.
Suppose you are experiencing high CPU issues by Google Chrome Software Reporter Tool and want to disable it. In that case, you can follow the steps in this article to disable the Software Reporter Tool in Windows 10 by removing permissions access.
Software Reporter Tool and related questions (FAQ)
Question 1: Is Software Reporter Tool a virus or not?
Google Chrome uses the Software Reporter Tool to scan your computer for malicious applications, which is why you often find it running in the background. It also identifies programs that can create problems for Chrome. Please note, this tool is by no means anti-virus or anti-malware software.
Question 2: Can I delete Software_reporter_tool EXE?
Yes, you can delete it manually, where you can delete the Software_Reporter_Tool.exe file from your computer, it will make the Software Reporter Tool stop running on your PC.
Question 3: Is the Software Reporter Tool essential?
If you regularly encounter third-party applications with problems interacting with Chrome, you may not need the Reporter Software Tool.
Question 4: Why does Reporter Software Tool use so much CPU?
Google Chrome users will encounter two main problems with Reporter Software Tool: when searching for files, it can cause High device load errors. User reports differ from it when running at 30% CPU or more. And since it can run as long as 20 minutes, it can affect the operation of the computer.
