Following the competitors, Google has finally started implementing a much requested and widely anticipated, “Do Not Track” feature. According to one of the Google’s spokesmen, the search giant has “undertook to honor an agreement on DNT that the industry reached with the White House early this year. To that end we’re making this setting visible [...]

Chrome: If you tweak Chrome's privacy settings pretty often (like cookies, autofill, history, and others), Privacy Manager puts every single on of those settings in a simple dropdown, with on/off toggles for each one. More »

I have not really noticed any crashes or hangs in Google Chrome, or other web browsers for that matter, in recent time. That said, I do know of a few users who are experiencing crashes in the browser, either because they emailed me asking for help, or because I know them personally and they have mentioned issues to me.

Even though Chrome is running fine for the majority of users, it too has issues of its own. From too high memory usage to sound issues and ads in the browser to the dreaded Oops! Google Chrome could not connect to error.

Chrome users may experience crashes when they are running third party software that is not compatible with the web browser. It can be that an older version is outdated, or that even the latest version of an application is not compatible with the browser.

Software incompatibilities are the primary reason for crashes and hangs in the Chrome browser. Many of the issues can be resolved with updates, but since you do not know which program to update, it is recommended to update them all. Try a program like the software updates monitor Sumo to find out which of your programs need updating.

Usually it is an app that is running at the time Chrome is running or an app that is somehow integrated into the browser. This can be a security software, a download manager, or a desktop app that runs all the time on the computer.

The following list highlights applications that may cause Chrome to crash or hang.

• Internet Download Manager (IDM) – This issue is caused by outdated versions of Internet Download Manager. If you are running IDM 6.02 or earlier, you may experience crashes in the Google Chrome web browser. To resolve, update the program to the latest version (at the time of writing that is 6.12). You can alternatively disable advanced browser integration under Options > General in IDM.
• Asus EeePC print crash – Asus EeePC owners that have Asus WebStorage installed my experience print crashes in Chrome. This too is caused by an outdated program version which you can resolve by updating Web Storage to the latest version.
• Stopzilla (iS3 Anti-Spyware) may cause Chrome to crash. Google suggests to update the program to the latest version to see if it resolves the issue. If not, disabling or uninstalling is an option.
• NVIDIA Network Access Manager is incompatible with Chrome. Suggested actions are to temporarily disable the software
• The performance optimization and monitoring application NVIDIA nTune is incompatible with Google Chrome. Temporarily disabling may resolve the issue.
• NVIDIA Desktop Explorer is also incompatible with Google Chrome. This is caused by the nvshell.dll which you may want to remove from the system. Alternatively, disable or uninstall the desktop manager.
• ESET Nod32 Antivirus – Earlier versions of the antivirus software are incompatible. If you are running version 2.7 or earlier you may notice crashes in Chrome. Solution: update to the latest version or disable Internet monitoring.
• Hide My IP may cause crashes in Google Chrome. Disable for the time being or check for updates to see if it resolves the crash issues.
• Venturi Firewall can crash Chrome as well. Try updating the desktop firewall to see if it resolves the issue. If not, disabling or uninstalling may be the only option if you want to continue using Chrome.
• WinMount, a program to compress and decompress archives and to mount archives on the system, appears to be incompatible with Chrome. You may try and update the software, or if that does not work, disable it instead.
• PPLive, a live video streaming software, may cause Chrome to hang or crash. To resolve, update to the latest version. If issues remain, disable the integration in Chrome.
• Folder Size
• Profile corruption. If Chrome crashes seconds after opening, or get “Aw Snao” error messages all the time, your profile may be corrupt. Follow the instruction posted here to create a new default profile to see if it resolves the issue.
• Other software that may crash Google Chrome: Safe Eyes Parental Control Software, ContentWatch, Microsoft Office XP Input Method Editor,Naomi Web Filter,Trusteer Rapport. Try updating first, if that does not help, disable or uninstall.

If you can’t find a solution and do not want to or can’t uninstall or disable the application causing the issue, you may want to post in the official Chrome support forum to get help with the issue.

Chrome: If you want to quickly glance at a link within a news article but don't want to click on it, SwiftPreview is a simple way to do it. When you hover over a link, SwiftPreview shows a graphic preview of the page linked, and the extension is fully customizable so you can keep it from being annoying. More »

Suggests you to ditch the Internet Explorer. Well, here is something to kick start your morning. According to one of the redditors, the New York Public Library suggests its uses to ditch IE and use Google Chrome instead.

Today is Labor Day in the United States. It's a federal holiday dedicated to the American workforce, celebrating, as the U.S. department of labor puts it, the "contributions workers have made to the strength, prosperity, and well-being of our country."

Every year, the Labor Day holiday falls very closely to the anniversary of Google's launch of the beta version of the Google Chrome Web browser. Released on September 1, 2008, Google Chrome is now four years old, and I am taking the opportunity on this holiday to celebrate the workhorse that is Chrome.

Chrome is my pickup truck

The first graphical Web browser I ever used was Netscape Navigator. This was in 1994, and it was on X11-based SGI workstations at the UMBC computer lab where my older brother was studying Computer Science. After eighteen years and two so-called browser wars, I can say with a certain amount of confidence that I no longer derive any personal identity from the browser I use.

For many, browsers are like cars. They serve not only as a tool for transportation, but they also serve as an identity for the driver. The appearance of the vehicle, the style in which he uses the vehicle, and the aftermarket customizations are all points of pride for drivers and browsers alike. Yet at this point in my life, the browser I use is purely utility, and if it can't do what I need, I am not even going to try to fix it. I'm just going to use something else. It's a pickup truck.

That is why I'm still using Chrome today. Four years ago, when I started testing the beta of Chrome, my daily browser was Opera and I was more or less satisfied with it. Of course, it couldn't do everything, and I had to keep both Internet Explorer and Firefox installed for those occasions where I encountered something Opera couldn't handle.

The beta of Chrome also encountered things it couldn't handle, and it lacked a lot of the shortcuts that I'd gotten used to in Opera. Yet the simplicity of the UI, omnibox, settings management, and built-in security of Chrome were all appealing. In Chrome's public beta period between September and December 2008, I found that I still had to open other browsers to get my work done, but Opera wasn't one of them. Chrome simply slid in as the default window through which I'd view the Web. It wasn't until recently that I've found I can get by without ever opening another browser. I've stuck with Chrome, and my behaviors have been molded to it.

Four more years

In addition to being near Labor day, this particular Chrome Anniversary falls in an election year, so It's a good time to see what Google has done for Chrome in the first four years.

In the first year, Google provided a grand total of 51 developer updates, 21 beta updates and 15 stable updates to Chrome, and pushed some 3,505 bug fixes. In July 2009, Google announced the concept of Chrome OS. Then, upon Chrome's first anniversary, Google introduced an overhauled UI with skinnability, a refreshed "new tab" page, and new HTML5 capabilities.

In the second year, Google finalized and released Mac and Linux versions of Chrome, debuted side-by-side view, autofill, password manager, bookmark and preference sync, and nearly 6,000 browser extensions. Upon Chrome's second anniversary, Google released a version with an even further stripped-down UI.

Moving into the third year, we got to actually see Chrome as a full operating system, first with the CR-48 pilot program, and then with Samsung's Chromebooks and Chromeboxes. During Chrome's third year, Google added a new settings interface, a new Javascript engine, "Print to PDF" functionality, the Chrome Web App store and in-app payments, hardware-accelerated browsing, and much more.

As we have reported earlier, Google has decided to create a yet another JavaScript benchmark and after publishing some preliminary browser results from other sources, we have decided to do a test of our own. Web Browsers Internet Explorer 10 Release Preview (Build 10.0.8400.0) Firefox 14 (Version 14.0.1) Firefox 15 Beta 5 Google Chrome 23 [...]

Good news for the Google Chrome and especially Windows 8 users as the latest beta version of the search giant’s web browser has some neat goodies in store.

Chrome has a great feature that lets you select text and right-click it to search that term on Google. Drag & Drop Search is an extension that does something similar: You select text, then drag it somewhere on the page to search up to 16 different web sites. More »

Chrome/Firefox/Internet Explorer: Facebook Chat now includes a feature that lets you know when a friend has read your message—or when you've read theirs. If you'd prefer to keep that information under wraps, Chat Undetected will do it for you. More »

Or more… Even though Google has already paid more than $1 million dollars for bug reports, the search giant has recently announced that they will be increasing the budget for its Chromium Vulnerability Rewards Program. According to the official blog post, bug hunters will now receive a bonus of $1,000 or more for every security [...]

This man is safe, for now…

Windows and Linux only. Thanks to a sharp focus, Google Chrome engineers are able to work just on a few, rather than dozen features at the same time, delivering stable rather than clunky web experience. Now, according to the recent blog post, the latest final build of the Google Chrome 21 web browser improves something [...]

Our favorite tool for finding the right apartment, PadMapper, is taking a little hiatus to retool. In the meantime, Chrome users have CLMapper, an extension that simply plots the location of Craigslist apartment ads onto an adjoining map.More »

Well, here is something to cheer you up: a new Google Chrome build. As we reported earlier, the following release includes a couple of new features, such as: - Support for the getUserMedia API, which allows web sites to access your mic and camera, high-resolution screens.

Chrome: DeadMouse is a Chrome extension that allows you to surf the web with only your keyboard. The idea is simple: if you want to click a link, just start typing it. DeadMouse will show you that you've selected it by making it wiggle on the page. All you have to do is press enter to choose it, tab to select the next option, or delete to cancel your selection. More »

Chrome and Google TV: I recently discovered that Google TV is actually pretty great, and ever since I've been hearing about cool stuff people are doing with the platform. One such example is Chromemote, a Chrome extension that can control your Google TV. More »

Putting aside the issue of Apple not allowing other browsers to bring their own engines to the table in iOS, there's more to a great browser than just its engine, and there are plenty of great browsers for the iPhone and iPad. Deciding which one is the best for you is a matter of taste, but we asked you last week which ones you thought were the best. Then we tallied your nominations and took a look at the top five iOS web browsers and put them to a vote. Now we're back to highlight the winner. More »

Includes some new goodies. Chrome’s developer channel pushed “Packaged Apps” to the v22 builds recently, which allows applications to be launched separately from Chrome (use its own window). Moreover, Packaged Apps have quite a few capabilities as they can interact with network and hardware devices, as well as media apps.

Safari may be the default browser for iOS, but it's far from the only one. There are plenty of great web browsers for the iPhone and iPad, and depending on the features you want—whether it's third-party plugins or tab syncing with your desktop, you have options. Last week we looked at the five best Android browsers, and this week we're going to look at the five best for iOS. More »