For those of you out there that use Google products, you may have noticed Google recently released a Google Updater. This is software that will update Google products on demand.

I’m writing this to alert people who use this that the software does install a resident service in Windows XP. It is not harmful whatsoever, but at least you now you know what it is if you spot it.

This is what Google Updater app looks like. Click the images below for larger versions.

Above: When you launch Google Updater you get this screen first. Google products you use will be listed here. Updates, if any, can be applied directly from this software.

Above: The preferences tab. If using this software, you might as well have “Notify me about new software” checked. And if you run Windows updates automatically, you can set this software to automatically update Google products as well.

Above: This is what is installed behind the scenes after you install Google Updater. If you launch the Windows Task Manager then sort by Image Name you will see it. The Google Updater itself when running has a very small “footprint.” The Google Updater Service has an ultra-tiny footprint. It is not a memory-sucker whatsoever.

I do credit Google for having a system service with such a small footprint. This will work on even the slowest of computers.

You will also notice in the preferences section you can eliminate the “Big Brother” stuff by setting the software to send no usage statistics or Google searches you make to Google.