Choose the best Web browser - Part 2

Choose the best Web browser - Part 1

Michael Muchmore

Google Chrome 2

The second version of Chrome has added many features already in other browsers such as zoom capabilities, auto-fill forms, autoscroll, . and a smart innovation, the ability to drag tabs to be able to view the side-by-side windows, like a feature of Windows 7. More impressive, this new version also improves JavaScript speed, the strength that the browser is leading, improves. 35% performance according to Google's statement.

Chrome installation also shows many interesting. After agreeing to the user registration and deciding whether you want to share the data used with Google, an installer of about 560K will be executed. The browser will automatically upgrade whenever you run it, so there are no extra steps required for the upgrade. The installer will import your bookmarks from other browsers such as Internet Explorer or Firefox.

New interface features

This Chrome 2 version has some differences compared to the version that was previously released, but you really won't see significant differences like between Firefox 2 and 3 or Internet Explorer 7 and 8. Site The download does not specifically announce that this is version 2.0 that you can only see in the browser's About dialog box. Google only added three interface features, two of which are autofill and autoscroll forms .

The third addition is how to put browser windows side by side by dragging them - a feature similar to what you can see in Windows 7. It allows you to place two browser windows side by side by dragging. tab of the current window.

The auto-fill feature is one of the convenient features that no browser does not have - this is a weakness of Chrome to this day. However, Chrome is now equipped with this feature and it works quite well. The ability to wipe form data for privacy protection is an important issue with this type of feature, so the "Clear Browsing Data" dialog box appears to perform that task.

Google Chrome 2

Company: Google Inc

Website: http://www.google.com

Technical details:

Chrome also has an autoscrolling feature, which Firefox has been around for many years and has a number of mouse drivers that are independent of the application. In order for this feature to work, click the middle mouse button (usually the mouse wheel) when the mouse pointer is in the middle of the web page, then move the mouse down a bit and you'll drag the whole slide. page down. The speed of sliding will depend on your movement speed. Chrome also allows you to scroll up, down or sideways, the ability to traverse is a feature that Firefox does not have. This is a very useful feature for wide HTML documents, such as multi-column tables.

Zoom feature is another new feature that all of Chrome's main rivals have. Safari, one of the most impressive browsers in this feature, allows you to retain better definition of fonts and images when zooming in comparison to competitors.

Chrome also allows you to use multiple profiles for multiple user settings - bookmarks and the like - and it can import Google Bookmarks online.
However, Chrome still lacks some convenient features available in other browsers, such as RSS reader and sidebar to search, feeds and history. There is also no real download manager, but it is a weakness that IE8 has. In addition, there are other issues we encountered in Chrome that could not read the title bar of the page.

Performance and compatibility

With Chrome, we can use words fast, fast, and fast and are the leading browsers for JavaScript rendering performance. To test Google's assertion when claiming a 35% increase in performance compared to the previous release, we ran the SunSpider JavaScript benchmark on a 2-GHz dual-core Athlon system with 1GB of RAM. Chrome produced 1.503ms in several tests, resulting in a 44% increase over the previous result of 2.689ms when done with Chrome 1.0.

However, in the process of testing site compatibility, Chrome had some problems. Sometimes its display of Yahoo! Mail is quite good, but sometimes errors appear. We were surprised to discover that with Google's own Gmail sometimes there were errors. Some users have reported that they have logged into Citibank accounts but the account summary shows a blank page.

Privacy and privacy

Chrome 2 maintains all the features available in version 1, which are not yet leading compared to other browsers, but they also have quite a few strengths. Google developers have confirmed that SafeBrowsing is now faster, more reliable and uses less disk space. To protect against crashes due to malicious or poorly written sites, Chrome ran each tab in separate processes. So if a site on a particular tab crashes, this crash will not entail the collapse of the entire browser. IE8 also has this feature, but Google's browser shows them a little deeper. Chrome not only isolates tabs but it does the same with plug-ins such as Flash and provides a Task Manager for open tabs and add-ins. This is something we may not have seen in any other browser.

In addition to isolating tabbed processes simultaneously, Chrome also shows its continuity: When you switch to another domain within a tab, the browser will push the previous tab process and start a new process. , like a previous site precaution can consume memory. It is likely that you will think this will affect the Back button because the application does not remember the session information from the previous site, but the truth is not. We tested and could check webmail with the Back button after switching to another site.

The Safe Browsing feature provides additional malware and phishing protection that you can see in Firefox 3. You can even see a red warning page if you try to surf a bad site. The browser supports SSL and can display Extended Validation SSL information, but does not support SSL client authentication, this is the authentication mechanism that allows users to authenticate users to access the server. by exchanging guest certificates. Chrome also doesn't have the ability to protect against cross-site scripting and clickjacking like IE. This browser is not the primary goal of hackers like IE but that is not the reason for not enforcing strict security.

It is a fact because there have been reports of holes and exploitation of Chrome. For example, carpet-type malware can attack the weaknesses of WebKit and Windows machines and leak between broken tabs to break the entire browser. This can happen when you download and double-click a Java archive file. Unlike regular programs, they do not create standard Windows warnings about running download programs. Some security experts have also pointed out that a mix of components between Firefox and WebKit of Chrome has created many opportunities for hackers to hack into the browser.

Security issues are quite important in today's era. The browser's Incognito mode (like IE8's InPrivate feature) allows you to access the web without leaving traces of your actions. However, Chrome's feature has one advantage - you have a tab in Incognito mode while still viewing or accessing other tabs in public mode. The only thing that the browser does not have control functions for parents, so you must have a separate policy for your child's web use.

Like any Google product, there is always a question for them, so is Chrome: Is Chrome a way for this company to gather more detailed information about its actions or habits? friend? Each copy of Chrome has a number of identifiers to tighten up any data Google collects.

However, one thing worth noting about Chrome is speed, if speed is your number one priority, installing the browser will perfectly fit your needs.