OldChromeRemover – Remove Obsolete Google Chrome Versions

[Shane Gowland]

Google Chrome has addressed this issue and this tool is no longer needed. Google Chrome’s updater now correctly removes previous versions.

OldChromeRemover is a simple console program that checks for any redundant versions of Google Chrome left behind by the updater. It will quickly remove all except the newest version when prompted by the user, allowing you to free up valuable disk space. OldChromeRemover also supports Chrome ‘Canary’ builds. This tool is for Windows users only, however a similar app (by somebody else) for Mac OSX users can be found here.

Microsoft .NET 3.5 must be installed to use. System Ninja contains the functionality of this program build into the scanner, and is recommended over OldChromeRemover. Windows Vista/Windows 7 users must use “Run As Administrator.”

Download OldChromeRemover

Now over 100,000 downloads!

Do not use if you have multiple Chrome channels installed simultaneously!

Advanced usage

You can silently run OldChromeRemover using the “/AUTO” command line argument. This will silently perform the scan, remove any detected directories and files, then exit the program.

Changelog

Version 0.1: Initial release
Version 0.2: Added ‘\AUTO’ commandline switch support
Version 0.3: Added removal support for old_chrome.exe file and Chrome Canary builds.
Version 0.4: Improved detection on x64 Windows.
Version 0.5: Fixed ‘Version string length’ error for most users.

[Merijn]

Works like a charm, thanks Shane!

A GUI would be nice of course, but this works fine too. 🙂

[Igor]

This program and system ninja are so effective…after running the program and deleteing over 1.5Gb of junk and dump files,i have a faster response from my pc,thank you alot!

[ice]

I hate to spoil it but what if I’m running a portable version of Chrome?

Is there anyway I can tune the program a bit so it CAN look for files in my chosen directory when its detecting Chrome installation?

[Mad_Serg]

When “Run As Administrator“ Windows 7 asks a password for Administrator and really removes old Chrome but only for Administrator, not for user!

[David Lynch]

Thanks for the update, it’s perfect for scripts with the /auto switch.

Cheers! 🙂

[Kahlil Moonwalker]

Neat idea, but it’s much more effective to install Chrome system-wide (i.e. in Program Files and not each individual user’s App Data folder).

[Shane Gowland]

Kahil: Chrome will (sometimes) still store previous versions; even if you install to %ProgramFiles%. For what it’s worth; OldChromeRemover will also work in those situations.

[ayrtonf1]

VirusTotal is a free service that analyzes suspicious files and URLs and facilitates the quick detection of viruses, worms, trojans, and all kinds of malware.

OldChromeRemover at VirusTotal

[Shane Gowland]

These are just false positives. OldChromeRemover uses programming techniques frequently utilized by malware to achieve its goal; so it sometimes gets flagged by low quality scanners. (Emsi/Ikarus are notorious for false positives)

[Author]

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