That 4 GB File You Never Downloaded

In the last newsletter, I told you about Facebook’s incursion into our privacy.

Well, Google has just launched a new incursion into your hard drive. Many use Chrome as their primary internet browser. Now Chrome (Google’s browser) is installing a 4 GB file onto hard drives, hogging up a chunk of space.

Google defends this because the file, weights.bin, supports Gemini Nano, Google’s AI which powers features like page summaries, smart paste, scam detection, tab organization, and the special “Help me write” option.

Did you give permission for this? Probably you did if you did not read the initial permission document. I mean, who does? I’ve wondered if I’m signing away my firstborn when I agree, but do I read it? Nope.

So this is largely on us. But this new file is causing a lot of uproar on the internet because Google installed it without notice. And if you delete it, Google will quietly re-install.

Do You Want It?

It isn’t malware or spyware.

You’ll need to decide if your disk space matters more than Google’s AI features.

If you’re OK with Chrome’s AI features and you have plenty of hard drive space, you can move on to my next article.

But if Google’s process bugs you, I have some suggestions.

First Try This

First, identify your hard drive free space. You’ll want to know that to be sure that weights.bin has been deleted.

Then try this (on both a Mac and Windows):

1. Open Google Chrome.
2. Click the three dots in the top right corner.
3. Click Settings.
4. On the left side, click System.
5. Find On-device AI and turn the switch off. (You may have to search for this inside Chrome. This setting may not yet appear on all Mac versions of Chrome.)

This often makes Chrome delete the big file by itself. Close Chrome completely, reopen it, and check if your storage space increased.

Notice I said often because this doesn’t always work. If your storage space has not changed, then you’ll need to go deeper. If you’re ready to dive in, here are more instructions:

On a Windows Computer

1. Close Chrome completely (check Task Manager if needed: right-click the taskbar, click Task Manager, end any Chrome tasks).
2. Press the Windows key + R on your keyboard.
3. Cut/paste or type the line below into the window. Then press Return:

   %LOCALAPPDATA%\Google\Chrome\User Data

4. Look for a folder named OptGuideOnDeviceModel

5. Right-click that folder and choose Delete.

On a Mac Computer

1. Quit Chrome.
2. Open Finder.
3. In the top menu, click Go, then click Go to Folder.
4. Cut/paste or type the line below into the Go to Folder window. Then press Return:

   ~/Library/Application Support/Google/Chrome/

5. Look for a folder named OptGuideOnDeviceModel

6. Drag that folder to the Trash, then empty the Trash.

Or Switch Browsers

Or you can uninstall Chrome and switch to another browser.

I use Firefox. Other safe browsers are Brave, Vivaldi, LibreWolf and Tor. Some (like Tor, for example) are harder to install but lock down your internet browsing.

Let me know if you have another browser that is focused on privacy. There might be a future article about that.