Google Chrome – Any Good?

There is high probability that you are reading this article through either Internet Explorer (IE) or in FireFox, well if Google have their way that is set to change.

On Tuesday evening Google Chrome hit the internet. Perhaps this was released slightly sooner than Google would’ve liked due to an accidental blog post, but the new kid on the browser block is out in Beta for everyone to have a look at.

Chrome has been built with web users in mind, from the ground up. We all like media rich content and web based applications and Google have recognised this. In doing so, they have built a browser designed for us. It loads quickly, you can have quick access from one screen to your most viewed sites, it offers extra protection against spyware and malware, it runs multi process applications making it more stable, it offers an incognito mode so no trace of you browsing activity is left on your computer, you can stream video without slowing down your other windows. And it does all of this whilst being quicker than the competition

Although Chrome has not been built on entirely new technology, the way it has been designed is new. By using a multi processor approach, Google have been able to crank up the download speeds and stability of Chrome. Each element of the webpage is assigned its own section of memory, in essence, this allows a page to load even if there is a dodgy piece of javascript running or a video hogging too much resource – in fact it goes further. You have a specific ‘task manager’ for Chrome so you can highlight the process hungry plug-in or page and close it down.

Probably the most stand out difference with Chrome is the way you navigate and search. Google has done away with the separate address and search boxes that the other browsers have and replaced them with OMNIBOX. If you know the url, put in the box and off you go. The box will bring up suggestions from your history as you would expect. However, put a search term in and watch what happens – Chrome pulls up suggestions for you, and this time it’s not just from your history and favourites. Omnibox presents information from Google’s most popular searches for the terms you have entered. It took me a couple of goes but I like it.

Perhaps more importantly, Google have made Chrome safer than most browsers. Each tab is ‘sandboxed’ meaning that what ever happens on that tab, stays on that tab and cannot affect your computer. It also means no pop ups, or pop unders, ever. Not even javascript ones. This also contains any malware or spyware that may be lurking on the site. Chrome automatically updates from Google’s ever growing list, making sure you are always up to date.

Chrome has another couple of cool features including

Incognito Mode: which allows you surf the net without leaving any evidence on your PC – no cookies, no history, no footprint, no nothing.

I’m not sure what this would be called but I also like that you can pull the tabs out of you current Chrome window and they form there own window, not happy with it being on it’s own? You can put it back in with the rest of the group

It is worth noting that Chrome is still in Beta and therefore not really production ready, it lacks any add ons including the popular social bookmarking buttons but I am sure they will be along soon enough

The future is shiny, the future is chrome

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