What does Your Browser is Being Managed by Your Organization Mean?

How much do you understand Google Chrome? 

Well, Chrome provides a simple and straightforward user experience for regular users. Most people don’t even try getting into the technical depths Chrome can offer.

One such feature is the control over Chrome by some other policy. In other words, if you see “managed by your organization” in your Chrome, then most probably some other app can limit your browser use.

The feature is available for Chromebooks, PCs, and Mac. 

Some of you might be seeing the phrase “managed by your organization” all of a sudden on your browser. Or, you can encounter it if you are using a company-provided system.

If you are curious about what the statement means, we got you covered.

We will discuss the probable reason why you are seeing “managed by your organization” and if you should do something about it.

So, without any further ado, let’s get started.

What is Management in Chrome?

Management is a feature that allows a system administrator to set several policies for your Chrome browser. If you are using a company system, your employer might set some rules to limit the browser features. 

For instance, your administrator can set a homepage that you can not change, restrict you to take a printout or visit a website, and much more. These are a few examples of the numerous other possibilities.

Chromebook offer much more flexibility for admins to control the browser. For instance, they can force install a plugin, choose which web apps can use storage space, and more. An administrator can have complete control over your Chromebook remotely.

The management feature is not exclusive to Chrome. Admins can manage your Windows features using group policy, which is often the case in large-scale organizations. Similarly, you can manage your iPhone using the mobile device management (MDM) software.

So, if your company or school has provided you the device, you can expect they might be setting some rules. It is common to see “your browser is managed by your organization” on your Chrome browser in this case.

What if I don’t have an Organization?

Apart from your company using a Google admin account, some other apps can also affect how Chrome works. 

Fortunately, Google started showing the notification message alerting you about the browser being organized by some policy after the version 73 update in March 2019. Therefore, if a software program on your computer has an enterprise policy affecting Chrome’s behavior in any manner, then you can expect this message to appear.

A genuine software can prompt the message if it somehow controls Chrome’s features. However, that is not often the case.

Usually, if malware infects your system, then you will start seeing this message suddenly. Management is a feature of Chrome, and you can use it as an alert if you are sure of not providing such permissions to any application.

Therefore, if you install a software, plugin, or opened any file causing the message to appear in Chrome, it is because a malware infection has entered your system.

How to Check Whether Chrome is Managed

You can quickly check if Chrome is managed by accessing the menu in your browser. 

Click on the three vertical dots button to open Chrome’s menu. Here, you will find the statement “managed by your organization” at the bottom, i.e., below the “Exit” option. A similar message stating “your browser is managed by your organization” is available on the “About” page.

Chrome menu saying it is managed by your organization

You can get more information about management by visiting the “chrome://management” address from your browser. Copy-paste this address in your Chrome’s Omnibox (address bar) to quickly open the page.

Here, you will find if your organization manages the Chrome browser on your device using the admin console panel. If not, then it will show that your organization does not manage Chrome. However, it might be possible that your settings are restricted using the policies.

Chrome's management page

If your company or organization is not managing Chrome and you still see this message in the menu and about page, some software controls the settings for sure. In most cases, it turns out to be a malware program.

Therefore, we suggest using a robust antimalware program like MalwareFox to remove any malicious program. It can check and remove if there is any malicious software on your system. 

How to See Which Settings are Being Managed

To see if any policy settings interfere with Chrome’s default process, you can open the policy page. Copy-paste the following address in Chrome’s Omnibox.

chrome://policy

Chrome's policy page

Here, you can find all the settings related to any policy control over Chrome. It can include any policy set by software or your organization as well. You can click the name of each policy to find the associated technical details. If there is nothing assigned, you will see “no policies set” in the description.

Apart from that, there is nothing much to look at here. I believe Chrome will soon bring more information for the user and ways to remove Chrome’s policies.

Currently, if you find any policy set for an action, you can use tools provided by individual developers. However, I will not recommend using a file from someone’s Google Drive. Meanwhile, some users have also mentioned the tool not helping remove any policy.

The Bottom Line

If you find “your browser is being managed” text all of a sudden in Chrome, take quick action and install an antimalware application. You don’t have to worry about it if you are using a company-provided system or a public computer like in your institute.

Using the policy page, you can check which settings are controlled and take the appropriate option.

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