If you click 'OK,' you're back to what you've always been doing.
The first time you open Chrome on your Mac, you may see a notification asking if you want to run GoogleSoftwareUpdater.app, noting that Google installed it at a previous time. With the new Catalina security settings in place, updaters you may not have even known were there are being spotlighted, asking if you're OK with what they're doing. Recently, it's been rearing its ugly head again with the update to macOS Catalina. Unfortunately, it also grabs your computer's hardware information, usage frequency, the number of active profiles on your computer, and more. Unfortunately, it's also an apex predator often accused of mining and collecting personal data in questionable ways.Ī case in point is the GoogleSoftwareUpdate.app file that gets installed on Macs in the presence of Google apps such as Chrome and Google Earth.įirst discovered by Wired a decade ago, the pesky file runs in the background and supports software patching and updating. There are a lot of great things Google has brought to the table over the years, including Search, Maps, and the Google Pixel smartphone (its cameras, anyway).
