How to Disable or Remove Chrome Software Reporter Tool in Windows
In previous article we told you what is Software_Reporter_Tool.exe executable app running in Task Manager and why does it run in your computer. The Software Reporter Tool (SRT) (also known as Chrome Cleanup Tool and Software Removal Tool) is installed by Google Chrome web browser. It is a part of Google Chrome’s Clean up Computer feature which scans your computer for harmful software. If this tool finds any harmful app or extension which can cause problems, it removes them from your computer.
What is Software_Reporter_Tool.exe Causing High CPU Usage?
Following is a screenshot of Software_Reporter_Tool.exe running in our Windows 10 PC:
Although the tool is useful but sometimes it may cause issues in your computer. Sometimes Software Reporting Tool consumes lots of memory and causes high CPU usage and disk usage issues. It may slow down your computer and may crash other programs. Also many privacy concerned users may not want to allow this tool to run in their computer as it may send the scan result report to Google.
In past it was possible to uninstall Software Reporter Tool app using “Control Panel -> Add/Remove Programs or Programs & Features” page. But now Google has integrated the tool into Chrome browser, so you can’t uninstall it anymore. But there are other ways/workarounds to disable or remove the tool.
If you also want to disable or remove Google Chrome’s Software Reporter Tool in your Windows PC, this tutorial will help you.
In this tutorial, we are going to share several methods to permanently block Software Reporter Tool from running in your computer.
You can try following methods to get rid of Software Reporter Tool in your Windows machine:
NOTE: Disabling or removing Software Reporter Tool will block Google Chrome from finding and removing harmful software such as unwanted extensions from your computer. In such case, you should install a good antivirus and anti-spyware program in your computer.
METHOD 1: Disable Software Reporter Tool Using Google Chrome Settings
This is the 1st step which you should definitely follow to disallow Software Reporter Tool from running in background and sending scan report details to Google:
1. Open Google Chrome, click on the 3-dots icon (main menu) present at the top-right corner of the window.
2. Now select “Settings” option from the main menu.
3. It’ll open Chrome settings page. Scroll down to bottom and click on “Advanced” option.
4. Again scroll down to bottom and under “System” section, set the option “Continue running background apps when Google Chrome is closed” to OFF.
5. Now under “Reset and clean up” section, click on “Clean up computer” option.
It’ll open Chrome Cleanup Tool page. Now set the option “Report details to Google” to OFF.
It’ll prevent the Software Reporter Tool from sending scan results to Google.
PS: If you don’t want to try Registry methods, you can jump to METHOD 5 and METHOD 6.
METHOD 2: Disable Software Reporter Tool Using Registry Editor (Tip 1)
You can also block Software Reporter Tool (including Chrome Cleanup) using Registry Editor. We’ll use official Google Chrome policies to restrict/prevent Software Reporter Tool and Chrome Cleanup feature from running in our computer system.
1. Press “WIN+R” key combination to launch RUN dialog box then type regedit and press Enter. It’ll open Registry Editor.
2. Now go to following key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREPolicies
3. Under Policies key, create a new key and set its name to Google
4. Under Google key, create a new key and set its name to Chrome
So the final key path will be:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREPoliciesGoogleChrome
5. Now select Chrome key and in right-side pane, right-click and select “New -> DWORD (32-bit) Value” option. Set the new DOWRD name as ChromeCleanupEnabled
Again create a new DWORD and set its name to ChromeCleanupReportingEnabled
Keep both DWRODs value to 0
“ChromeCleanupEnabled” will prevent Chrome’s Software Reporter Tool from scanning your computer.
“ChromeCleanupReportingEnabled” will prevent Software Reporter Tool from sending scan result report to Google.
NOTE: If you are not familiar with Registry editing and want a ready-made Registry script to do the task automatically, download following ZIP file, extract it using 7-Zip or any other file archive utility and run the extracted REG file. It’ll ask for confirmation, accept it:
Download Ready-Made Registry Script
This ready-made registry script will create the required registry key automatically.
PS: In future, if you want to re-enable Software Reporter Tool, delete both DWORDs created in Step 5.
METHOD 3: Disable Software Reporter Tool Using Registry Editor (Tip 2)
Following is another Registry tweak to disallow Software Reporter Tool from running in your computer. We’ll take help of DisallowRun key to prevent running of Software Reporter Tool. We shared details of this method long time back in our exclusive “Ultimate List of All Kinds of User Restrictions for Windows” tutorial (See point 24).
1. Press “WIN+R” key combination to launch RUN dialog box then type regedit and press Enter. It’ll open Registry Editor.
2. Now go to following key:
HKEY_CURRENT_USERSoftwareMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionPolicies
3. Under Policies key, create a new key and set its name to Explorer
4. Under Explorer key, create a new key and set its name to DisallowRun
So the final key path will be:
HKEY_CURRENT_USERSoftwareMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionPoliciesExplorerDisallowRun
5. Now select DisallowRun key and in right-side pane, right-click and select “New -> String Value” option. Set the new String name as 1
6. Double-click on 1 string and set its value to Software_Reporter_Tool.exe
That’s it. You may need to restart your computer to take effects. It’ll now block Software Reporter Tool from running in background.
NOTE: You can download a ready-made Registry script to do the task automatically from following link:
Download Ready-Made Registry Script
PS: In future, if you want to re-enable Software Reporter Tool, delete 1 string created in Step 5.
METHOD 4: Disable Software Reporter Tool Using Registry Editor (Tip 3)
Here is another Registry trick to disable Software Reporter Tool in your computer. We’ll take help of “Image File Execution Options” key as mentioned in this tutorial.
1. Press WIN+R keys together to launch RUN dialog box. Now type regedit in RUN and press Enter. It’ll open Registry Editor.
2. Now go to following key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMicrosoftWindows NTCurrentVersionImage File Execution Options
3. Under Image File Execution Options key, create a new key and set its name to Software_Reporter_Tool.exe
4. Now select Software_Reporter_Tool.exe key and in right-side pane, create a new String and set its name as Debugger
5. Now the final step! Double-click on Debugger string and set its value to the full path of any desired program’s EXE file which you want to run in place of the Software Reporter Tool program.
For example, set the value of Debugger to calc.exe to run Calculator instead of Software Reporter Tool.
The best option would be set Debugger value to SysTray.exe which will launch System Tray i.e. Taskbar Notification Area whenever Software Reporter Tools needs to run and we know that System Tray is already always running in Windows.
NOTE: You can download a ready-made Registry script to do the task automatically from following link:
Download Ready-Made Registry Script
PS: In future, if you want to re-enable Software Reporter Tool, delete Software_Reporter_Tool.exe key created in Step 3.
METHOD 5: Delete Software_Reporter_Tool.exe Executable File
If you don’t want to take help of Registry methods, you can manually remove the Software_Reporter_Tool.exe file from your computer which will stop the Software Reporter Tool running in your computer.
1. Press WIN+R keys together to launch RUN dialog box. Now type following in RUN box and press Enter:
%localappdata%GoogleChromeUser DataSwReporter
It’ll open SwReporter folder.
2. Double-click on the version number folder such as “35.180.200” and you’ll see software_reporter_tool.exe file present inside the folder.
3. Select the EXE file and press Delete key on your keyboard to delete it.
If you don’t want to delete the executable file, you can rename the file by changing the file extension from .exe to .bak or .old or anything else.
But this solution is temporary. As soon as Google Chrome web browser is updated to newer version, it’ll automatically re-create the Software_Reporter_Tool.exe in above mentioned folder.
METHOD 6: Replace Software_Reporter_Tool.exe Executable File
You can also replace the Software_Reporter_Tool.exe file present in above mentioned folder with some other EXE file.
For example, copy calc.exe, notepad.exe or any other exe file in above mentioned folder which contains Software_Reporter_Tool.exe file. Then delete Software_Reporter_Tool.exe file. At last rename the copied calc.exe or notepad.exe file to Software_Reporter_Tool.exe.
Now whenever Software_Reporter_Tool.exe executable will try to execute, the other exe file will launch. It’ll prevent the Software Reporter Tool from scanning and sending reports.
METHOD 7: Remove All Permissions on Software Reporter Tool Folder
This is the permanent solution to disable or block Software Reporter Tool from running in your computer. We’ll remove all group and user permissions from SwReporter folder which contains Software_Reporter_Tool.exe file. Once we revoke all permissions, Google Chrome will be unable to access and run the executable. Also no newer versions of the tool will be able to install in your computer since you have removed all permissions from the parent folder.
To remove permissions, follow these steps:
1. Press WIN+R keys together to launch RUN dialog box. Now type following in RUN box and press Enter:
%localappdata%GoogleChromeUser DataSwReporter
It’ll open SwReporter folder.
2. Right-click on SwReporter folder and select Properties option. It’ll open SwReporter folder properties.
3. Go to Security tab and click on Advanced button.
4. It’ll open advanced security settings for SwReporter window. Click on “Disable inheritance” button given at the bottom of the window as shown in following screenshot:
Windows will show “Block Inheritance” dialog box asking for your choice whether you want to convert inherited permissions into explicit permissions or you want to remove all inherited permissions. Click on “Remove all inherited permissions from this object” option.
It’ll remove all users and groups assigned permissions to access the SwReporter folder. Click on Apply button. Windows will show another dialog box asking for confirmation. Click on Yes button. At last click on OK button in all dialog boxes.
That’s it. Now Software Reporter Tool will be unable to run in your computer.
If you try to manually run it using Google Chrome web browser as mentioned here, you’ll get following error message:
Search failed
An error occurred while Chrome was searching for harmful software
Now you have successfully disabled Chrome’s Software Reporter Tool in your computer system.
PS: In future if you decide to allow Chrome’s Software Reporter Tool to run in your computer, you can grant permissions on SwReporter folder again using above mentioned steps 1-3. In 4th step, click on “Enable inheritance” button.