Google Chrome 131.0.6778.140 / 132.0.6834.46 Beta / 133.0.6876.4

Winner of Best Browser in 2017 and 2014.

Overview

Google Chrome is the web browser that revolutionized the web browser market with his minimalist design, clean interface and not long after his release it got into top 3 most used browsers. The three things that Google Chrome focus the most are speed, simplicity and security, but the browser has many other features like customizable themes, account syncing, incognito mode, support for extensions, dynamic tabs, Chrome web store.

Installation

Installation is very easy and only takes 2 minutes depending on your hardware, and at the end of it gives you the chance of customizing settings regarding importing bookmarks, passwords and other settings from your other browser, adding Google Chrome shortcuts to your desktop, quick launch bar and start menu.

Interface

The interface is really clean and simple, with the tabs on top and new tab button of the right of the last tab, the address bar or the omnibox as Google refers to it below and bookmark bar below that. On the left of the address bar are found the “back” “forward” and “refresh” buttons and on the right side the “bookmark” and “customize and options” buttons.

Google Chrome breaks the gray platonic looks of web browsers by introducing the theme support for the browser. You can find a large variety of themes on Chrome Web Store and not only, the Web Store is the place where you can find useful application and extensions for your Google Chrome web browser.

The dynamic tabs allows you to change and order of how tabs are displayed only by dragging, and you can even drag a tab to open it in a new windows. Also Google chrome keeps the key shortcuts from other popular browsers; Ctrl+T for opening a new tab, Ctrl+N for opening a new window, Ctrl+W for closing a tab, Ctrl+F for the “Find” tool, and additionally to those Ctrl+Shift+N for opening a new incognito window which will allow you to browse in stealth mode, webpages and downloads you make while incognito mode will not be recorded in the history and all new cookies will be deleted as soon as you close your incognito windows.

Another very useful feature that Google Chrome brings is the account sync that allows you to have your apps, bookmarks, extensions and themes anywhere using your gmail account. You can access that in the “option” menu under the “personal stuff” tab.

Google Chrome includes security features such Safe Browsing, that warns you when about to enter a website contain malware or phishing threats, sandbox-ing, negating the installation of any malware, and auto-updates, that ensure you to have latest security updates, which helps you against malware and phishing threats.

Pros

• Clean interface
• Customizable themes
• Account sync
• Incognito mode browsing
• Support for extensions
• Dynamic tabs with mute audio functionality

Cons

• Less customizable then Firefox
• Monitored by Google

Alternatives

Firefox, Pale Moon, and more.

Conclusion

Google Chrome managed in a short time to be one of the most popular web browser on the market that is a good competitor for Internet Explorer or Firefox. Based on the clean minimalist look, fast and easy installation process, the speed, security and simplicity along with all those other useful features that Google Chrome brings, I give it 5/5 stars.

Worth reading:

• Browser Hijacking Signs and How To Clean-up
• How to use Private/Incognito Mode on your Browser
• How to Start Chrome, Firefox, Opera, Internet Explorer in Private Mode
• Alternatives to Google Search Engine That Do Not Store User Data

While you're at it, here's a theme for Chrome from Download3k - do let us know if you like it or not. Here's how to download and apply themes in Google Chrome. Bonus: Earth View is a cool Chrome extension from Google Maps.