Home opinion-and-analysis Core Dump Chrome 16 arrives - did you notice?

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Automatic updating has its advantages, but it can conceal feature changes.

Google's approach to automatically updating the Chrome browser makes a lot of sense if the objective is to get security patches onto as many computers as possible as quickly as possible. And Chrome 16 does deliver multiple security fixes - 15 of them, with six given a rating of high.

But the update process is so silent that feature changes may go unnoticed. Unless you read the Google Chrome Blog, there was no obvious clue that Chrome now allows different users to sign in.

Previously, signing in to Chrome (to sync bookmarks, apps, history, etc) only worked conveniently with one Google account. Chrome 16 delivers a mechanism for quickly and easily changing the signed-in user.

As Google points out, this isn't a substitute for using separate accounts at the operating system level, but it would be convenient in situations where you're happy to give a 'guest' (eg your spouse or child) access to their Chrome settings on your computer.

So how do you use this feature? Click Add New User in the Personal Stuff section of Options or Preferences (depending on the operating system). Each user you create can sign into their own Google account to retrieve their Chrome settings.

Someting gained, something lost - see page 2.

 

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Stephen Withers

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Stephen Withers is one of Australia¹s most experienced IT journalists, having begun his career in the days of 8-bit 'microcomputers'. He covers the gamut from gadgets to enterprise systems. In previous lives he has been an academic, a systems programmer, an IT support manager, and an online services manager. Stephen holds an honours degree in Management Sciences, a PhD in Industrial and Business Studies, and is a senior member of the Australian Computer Society.

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