Google Chrome just got a big upgrade that will speed up your browsing

Google Chrome but got a big upgrade that will speed upwardly your browsing

(Image credit: Footage Vector Photo/Shutterstock)

Google has pushed out a major update to its desktop Chrome browser, just a day after a previous update that fixed two serious security flaws, and the same mean solar day that a 3rd serious Chrome security flaw was disclosed on Twitter.

The new version, Chrome 90.0.4430.72, patches 37 more security vulnerabilities, although probably not the 1 disclosed yesterday. Just it too makes encrypted spider web connections the default, which should speed upwardly functioning. Plus, it Chrome 90 adss support for videoconferencing services.

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HTTPS past default = faster load times

The shift to encrypted web connections by default is perhaps the virtually of import modify introduced in Chrome xc.

From now on, if a user types in a regular web address such as "foofoo.com" into the address bar, Chrome will first try to connect to that domain using the encrypted HTTPS protocol instead of the older, plaintext HTTP protocol. (The "Due south" in "HTTPS" stands for "secure.")

Google says this change will speed up loading times of websites (like Tom'due south Guide) that support HTTPS because before yesterday, HTTP was tried starting time and browsers needed to be redirected to the HTTPS protocol.

Here'south an animated GIF that Google fabricated to demonstrate how this works.

An animated illustration of how the default HTTPS feature works in Chrome 90. — (Image credit: Google)

How to update to Chrome 90

To update to Chrome 90.0.4430.72 in Windows or macOS, click the three vertical dots at the top correct of the browser window, scroll down to and click Help, so click About Google Chrome in the fly-out menu.

A new tab will open up informing you either that your browser is up-to-date or that a new update is downloading and the browser needs to be relaunched to install the update. Most Linux users will have to look for the new build to be incorporated into their distribution updates.

Every bit of this writing, other Chromium-based desktop browsers, including Microsoft Edge and Brave, had not been updated to match Chrome. [Update: Border is supposed to exist updated later today , Apr 15.] The open-source Chromium browser project is maintained by Google staffers and volunteer coders.

Chrome 90 security updates

Chrome 90's security fixes run the severity gamut from "High" to "Low," with six vulnerabilities in the one-time category. At to the lowest degree one is quite old, having been reported to Google in Nov 2019; its finders got a issues bounty of $xx,000 from Google.

We civilians tin't see the details of the flaws yet, though; Google restricts access to their workings until most users have their systems patched.

Chrome xc: AV1 back up built in

Chrome xc too adds back up for AV1, a fairly new video-encoding format that was developed past a consortium of Big Tech companies — Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Google and Microsoft amid them — to avoid the royalty and licensing issues that had bedeviled before encoding formats.

The addition of AV1 should make videoconferences using Google'southward own Duo and See platforms, too as Cisco's WebEx, smoother, peculiarly for users with low bandwidth. Screen-sharing is also supposed to become easier.

As well, hither'due south a somewhat cringey video made past Chrome Developer Advocate Pete LePage to explain the changes for developers in the new browser. Chrome '90s — get it?

Paul Wagenseil is a senior editor at Tom's Guide focused on security and privacy. He has also been a dishwasher, fry cook, long-haul driver, code monkey and video editor. He'due south been rooting around in the data-security space for more than 15 years at FoxNews.com, SecurityNewsDaily, TechNewsDaily and Tom's Guide, has presented talks at the ShmooCon, DerbyCon and BSides Las Vegas hacker conferences, shown up in random TV news spots and fifty-fifty moderated a panel discussion at the CEDIA dwelling-technology briefing. You can follow his rants on Twitter at @snd_wagenseil.