Chrome supports enterprise policies on Windows, Linux, and MacOS that allows you to specify allowed extension IDs via ExtensionInstallAllowlist.

https://support.google.com/chrome/a/answer/7517624?hl=en

https://chromeenterprise.google/policies/#ExtensionInstallAl...

This, unlike the "chmod 444," solution will let extensions update.

You can also allow safe extensions that aren't currently installed (but may be later) and the user can remove extensions in the Allow list if so desired (although there is a ExtensionInstallForcelist to stop that too).

Thank you for that!

How do I make my copy of Chrome "enterprise" managed?

Sounds like a great way to get your browser to crash unexpectedly.

Even better way to discover which browsers don't handle pretty normal situations (read-only) in a normal way. If Google Chrome is forcing people to allow installation of extensions, it's much better to move to a different browser, than to either live with crashes or live with poor security (in this, parental case).

Yep. I was tired of coming home and seeing a million malware search engines and fake VPNs extensions installed. I'm always puzzled as how they manage to get in there. I'd rather crash the browser than allow this garbage which usually takes a full reinstall to get rid of.

Your comment made me chuckle.

Back in 2008 Chrome was the breath of fresh air, with absolutely spartan look, total lack of extensions and amazing speed, while IE was the opposite. There was good reason for its initial popularity.

And now, looks like Chrome lived long enough to see itself become a villain...

I'm curious which is the new Chrome these days? Personally for me, qutebrowser has taken that spot, but it's a tool geared towards professionals, not exactly for casual users.

I think Firefox. It’s continuously getting faster and uses way fewer resources in my experience. You can make it pretty minimalist like the good old days of Chrome.

Arguably that's better than the alternative, where they get scammed or hacked. I usually edit their desktop shortcut to disable extensions, personally, but I like the parent's solution better.

how about security updates? i would advise against blocking updates. you're fixing an issue and creating another one.

the chmod isn't recursive, so I'm assuming the subdir for uBO is writable.