How to Completely Disable ‘Software Reporter Tool’ (High CPU) in Google Chrome

If your computer fans suddenly spin up to maximum speed while you are browsing the internet, and you check your Task Manager only to see a process called software_reporter_tool.exe consuming 50% to 100% of your CPU, you are witnessing Google Chrome’s built-in cleanup utility in action.

Google bundles this background scanner with every installation of Chrome. Its purpose is to scan your hard drive once a week looking for malware, aggressive adware, or conflicting software that might crash the browser. While its intentions are good, the scanner is notoriously unoptimized. It aggressively scans the entire disk, causing massive CPU spikes, severe battery drain on laptops, and freezing older computers entirely. Because Windows already has built-in antivirus (Windows Defender), this redundant Chrome scanner is largely unnecessary and can be completely disabled to save system resources.

Disabling the Chrome Cleanup Utility via Settings

The easiest way to stop the Software Reporter Tool from running its weekly scans is to turn off the feature directly within Chrome’s advanced privacy settings.

1. Open the Google Chrome web browser.
2. Look at the top-right corner of the window and click the three vertical dots (the menu button).
3. Select Settings from the dropdown menu.
4. In the left-hand navigation sidebar, click on System.
5. (Note: In older versions of Chrome, you may need to click “Advanced” first, and then click “Reset and clean up”).
6. Look for a toggle switch labelled Clean up computer or a similar setting that mentions finding harmful software.
7. Click the switch to turn it Off.
8. Additionally, ensure that the setting to “Report details to Google about harmful software” is also unchecked.

Blocking the Executable via Windows Registry (Advanced)

If turning it off in settings fails to stop the CPU spikes (as Chrome sometimes re-enables it after major updates), you can use the Windows Registry to forcibly block the executable from ever launching.

1. Press the Windows Key + R to open the Run dialogue box.
2. Type regedit and press Enter to open the Registry Editor (click Yes on the UAC prompt).
3. Navigate to this exact path:
   HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Google\Chrome
   (If the “Google” or “Chrome” folders do not exist, right-click the previous folder, select New > Key, and create them).
4. Right-click on the Chrome key, select New, and then select DWORD (32-bit) Value.
5. Name the new value exactly ChromeCleanupEnabled.
6. Double-click the new value and ensure the “Value data” is set to 0.
7. Create a second DWORD (32-bit) Value and name it exactly ChromeCleanupReportingEnabled.
8. Ensure its value is also set to 0.
9. Close the Registry Editor and restart your computer.

With these registry policies in place, the operating system will legally forbid Chrome from launching the Software Reporter Tool, permanently solving the sudden background CPU spikes.