Google Chrome Browser

As of 2nd September 2008, the Google Chrome browser became available for download. Although it is the beta version there are some very positive reviews widely available on the web.

The general consensus of opinion appears to be in favour of the Google Chrome browser with some pretty reverend folk making numerous mentions to its speed and streamlined style.

The actual interface of Chrome is somewhat different from what everyone is used to seeing in internet browsers.

The tabs have been put across the top in place of the usual toolbar. The other distinct advantage Chrome is providing is the incredible speed at which things are brought up, including PDF’s.

When a new tab is opened, Chrome does not take you directly to your homepage but gives a thumbnail view of sites which have been most frequently visited such as recent bookmarks as well as a search history box, making the Chrome browser very user friendly and uncomplicated to use and, with a little further tweaking from Google will provide an excellent browser for more advanced users.

The usual web browsers only run one process at a time, whereas Google Chrome gives each tab its own process. Not only does this speed up the performance of browsing websites, it also stops the whole browser crashing when one tab causes a problem.

Although the multi-process initially requires more memory it uses less over time as the majority of users have a tendency to multitask. This also helps to prevent a computer from slowing down when browsing is carried out for long periods of time and lots of tabs are opened and closed.

The Google Chrome task manager can be used to inform folk how much memory tabs and plug-ins are being used and effectively close any which have the potential to cause any problems.

Omnibox is the name Google Chrome is using for the address bar which is intended to make helpful yet unobtrusive suggestions. A feature, similar to Internet Explorer 8.0 (IE8) which is commonly know as ‘porn mode’ has also been included in Chrome. This is Google’s version of ‘Incognito’ and like IE8, does not record anything that users do in there. This, according to Google is the ideal mode for when presents are bought online to prevent the recipient from accidentally finding out.

Google Chrome continues its theme of being completely user friendly as it continually downloads lists of phishing and malware sites and informs site owners when they have been added to either of these lists so that false positives can be remedied.

All in all, it appears that folk are advising users to download the Google Chrome browser and try it for themselves before making any judgments to its capabilities and design. The ‘people in the know’ are saying that once the beta version is replaced with the amended version browser – then Microsoft’s Internet Explorer browser, Mozilla Firefox browser, the Opera browser, Apple’s Safari browser and many more will all have some pretty heavy competition on their hands.