Google has just unleashed a new Chrome update that includes notable performance improvements for its fast Web browser. Current Chrome beta users will automatically receive the new beta release over the next few days, Google Chrome Program Manager Mark Larson said.
Beyond introducing a number of fixes the company previously rolled out to its development channel, Chrome beta 0.4.154.25 adds features such as a new bookmark manager. Users will be able to “search bookmarks, create folders, and drag and drop bookmarks to new locations,” Larson added.
Enhanced Privacy Control
Other notable Chrome changes are intended to give users better control of Web privacy. A new privacy section is accessed by opening the wrench menu, clicking on “options” and selecting the “under the hood” tab. “It groups together all of the configuration options for features that might send data to another service,” Larson said.
Google also has improved Chrome’s pop-up blocker, which had minimized pop-up windows on the lower right corner of the browser window, creating one “constrained” window for each pop-up, Larson said.
“Now Google Chrome displays one small notification in the corner that shows the number of blocked pop-ups,” Larson explained. “A menu on the notification lets you open a specific pop-up, if needed.”
Additionally, the latest beta release fixes a design flaw that allowed downloaded HTML files to read other files on the user’s PC, and even send them to sites on the Internet. “We now prevent local files from connecting to the network and also prompt you to confirm a download if it is an HTML file,” Larson said.
Plotting Strategies
This week’s beta upgrade is Google’s latest step toward preparing Chrome, which currently runs only on Windows, for an official release in early 2009. Last week, Google Vice President Sundar Pichai told The Times newspaper, based in London, that…