Chromebook Security

[alarmguy]

Ignore anything unexpected on a computer and get rid of it without clicking on it

Sometimes the safest route is to power down the device without doing anything and hope it’s not there when you turn it back on

And go into settings and clear all your browsing history, cookies, and cache

 

[y_p_w]

Exactly. The machine is less than a year old. Not 12. It was bought for my 12yo, who also uses chromebooks in school.

How old it is may not even correlate that well with how long it receives updates. There are some models/revisions that are available for a few years, but the earliest ones in the series may receive updates as long as the last ones in the series.

I bought an Acer Chromebook in 2022 just because it was cheap and can do a bunch of things well enough that I don't need a more powerful machine. That being said, I've charged it inconsistently and perhaps the battery life has been pretty poor as a result. I looked up the stats and it's showing 87% battery after less than 20 cycles. But I don't use it that much on battery, so that may not be that much of an issue. There are replacement batteries available, but some of them seem way too much considering I bought it for $100 new at Target (but on sale). I still can't figure out how it was that cheap given it's got a decent (Lite-On) 45W USB-C power supply with a 11.6" display, processor, case, etc.

I won a used Dell Chromebook in a drawing back in 2019. Kind of sad (dim portion of the backlighting) but it worked. However, it stopped receiving updates around 2021 I think and finally failed around 2022.

 

[JHZR2]

https://bobistheoilguy.com/forums/threads/help-computer-infected.390853/post-7107726

That’s windows though.

I wish I understood what this symbol is:

As others have noted, those messages are nothing more than "alerts" from a web site. In this case, they are very scammy-looking. You'll be able to disable alerts from that web site easily enough in settings at either the browser or device level.

So is the symbol above the Chromebook browser?

Sorry I’m doing this remotely. I thought there was a way to review browsing history through the Google family app. It has all the settings, but doesn’t seem to give the url history.

 

[Hall]

those messages are nothing more than "alerts" from a web site

I've had various websites ask me if they can send me notifications. I've never allowed it and I can't imagine the point or benefit of ever enabling this.

 

[Nukeman7]

That’s windows though.

I wish I understood what this symbol is:

View attachment 265385

So is the symbol above the Chromebook browser?

Sorry I’m doing this remotely. I thought there was a way to review browsing history through the Google family app. It has all the settings, but doesn’t seem to give the url history.

That symbol looks like a poor copy of the Chrome browser which actually looks like this:

 

[Pew]

Whatever that icon is, it's not listed under web browser in the Google store, I just checked the entire store.

I just checked my Play Store history, only paid apps and subscriptions came up; no free apps showed.

You should be able to find an app list, kind of like the add/remove programs on windows.

 

[Mainia]

I thought the ChromeOS places a NEW image of the OS on every reboot. So, unless there is a so called Ring-0 rootkit in the Chrome OS world. I doubt it is infected other then some form of persistent pop-up or some form of default screen was changed, like say a google search default page that is always 1st up defaults “ to what every you have as a default screen.But in this case an India scammer site.

 

[Bottom_Feeder]

That’s windows though.

It's still the Chrome browser that's the problem.

 

[rszappa1]

How old it is may not even correlate that well with how long it receives updates. There are some models/revisions that are available for a few years, but the earliest ones in the series may receive updates as long as the last ones in the series.

I bought an Acer Chromebook in 2022 just because it was cheap and can do a bunch of things well enough that I don't need a more powerful machine. That being said, I've charged it inconsistently and perhaps the battery life has been pretty poor as a result. I looked up the stats and it's showing 87% battery after less than 20 cycles. But I don't use it that much on battery, so that may not be that much of an issue. There are replacement batteries available, but some of them seem way too much considering I bought it for $100 new at Target (but on sale). I still can't figure out how it was that cheap given it's got a decent (Lite-On) 45W USB-C power supply with a 11.6" display, processor, case, etc.

I won a used Dell Chromebook in a drawing back in 2019. Kind of sad (dim portion of the backlighting) but it worked. However, it stopped receiving updates around 2021 I think and finally failed around 2022.

I have a Acer 315 that I purchased in 2014 and it is still working fine...except it does not get the auto updates from Google anymore...

 

[uc50ic4more]

I've had various websites ask me if they can send me notifications. I've never allowed it and I can't imagine the point or benefit of ever enabling this.

The use case - and the only small handful of times I've allowed this - would be, for example, messaging sites. Other than that I have used a lot of language I'll not repeat here when helping folks who've inattentively allowed these from sites that begin ***flooding*** their notifications with all manner of [more language I'd rather not use].

 

[uc50ic4more]

That symbol looks like a poor copy of the Chrome browser which actually looks like this: View attachment 265386

Yes it's just a stylized icon to let you know which app is sending the notification.

 

[Hall]

The use case - and the only small handful of times I've allowed this - would be, for example, messaging sites.

What examples do you mean ? Not 100% certain what you mean by messaging sites, unless you mean like messenger.com (FB), What's App's web version, Outlook for web (??), etc ?

 

[uc50ic4more]

What examples do you mean ? Not 100% certain what you mean by messaging sites, unless you mean like messenger.com (FB), What's App's web version, Outlook for web (??), etc ?

That's exactly what I mean: Sites where notifying me of a new instant message, email, etc. is appropriate and expected behaviour.

 

[Hall]

That's exactly what I mean: Sites where notifying me of a new instant message, email, etc. is appropriate and expected behaviour.

Okay - I use multiple sites like those and have never enabled their notifications.

 

[JHZR2]

Ok we had a chance to look at it tonight. It had wifi turned off and powered down for the last few days. Too much other stuff going on.

Immediately after turning on:

Then they started really coming.

Hundreds of these notifications just kept coming. Fast.
I restarted a few times, each time something new.

I found that the os hadn’t been updated, but it will get updates until 2033.

There were a lot of cookies. And a lot of game sites. Nothing else questionable. 6.5GB?!? Couldn’t find the smoking gun though, besides that one from crazy games.

The browser isn’t the latest version per the chrome site. But there is no option to update it further. The popular kept coming after the os update.

What next??

 

[JeffKeryk]

Powerwash.

 

[kschachn]

Powerwash.

Yes. I thought that was the plan? And change the Google password.

All the files should be on Google Drive and should still be available after the Powerwash.

 

[Bottom_Feeder]

Again, this:

Copy/paste this into Chrome and hit Enter:

chrome://settings/content/all

Hit the Delete All Data button.

 

[rszappa1]

When you do a powerwash on a chromebook do you loose all the data you gave saved and also documents you have saved???

 

[Wheel]

Someone has allowed notifications from websites in the browser. These can be shut off under settings, site settings, then under permissions, notifications.
They're just crap from someone clicking on 'OK' or 'Allow'