I Google Chrome

One of the innovative new features of Google Chrome is the Incognito Window. Any browsing done in an incognito window will leave no trace once the window is closed. No cookies, no cache, no download lists, no browsing history. To open an Incognito Window, press Ctrl + Shift + N. Alternatively, click the ‘Control the Current Page’ button between the Address Bar and the Settings button, and select “New incognito window”. This option is greyed out within an incognito window. If an incognito window is already open, this will open a new tab in an existing window.

One of the side-effects of this, is that you can log into two different accounts at the same site at the same time. And perhaps one of the best examples of this is GMail and the Google Account. Being logged into two different Google Accounts at the same time can be very handy. For example, I regularly use two GMail accounts. Have both open all the time saves considerable time in signing in and out.

It seems cookies and data are shared between incognito windows open at the same time. Thus there is effectively just one incognito window open. This means it is only possible to log into two accounts simultaneously, one in a regular window, one in an incognito window.

There are also some warnings about the incognito window feature. Websites will still be able to record data about you, files you download will be saved, and bookmarks created will be retained. So, you still need to be cautious if you want to be completely stealthy.

Opening a new tab in Chrome is quite a different experience to what happens in Firefox or Internet Explorer. Chrome brings up a useful page with your most commonly visited sites, recently closed tabs, recent bookmarks, and several different search options.

Being Australian, I like to use Google’s Australia webpage. It loads faster, and can give me more relevant search results. So, I was a bit confused when the new tab ‘Quick Search’ defaulted to Google UK. I’ll be putting up a tutorial on how to change this in the next few days, but here’s the quick version.

1. Right click in the ‘Omni-bar’ (the address bar) and select ‘Edit Search Engines…’
2. Look for the Quick Search entry. Mine was under ‘Other Search Engines’ and was called ‘Google (UK) quick search. Select it, and press Edit.
3. Change the name to something more appropriate, such as ‘Google (AU) Quicksearch’. In the URL, change google.co.uk to google.com.au. Leave the beginning and ending bits as they are.

Quick Search - changed to Google Australia

And you’re done! We’ll be looking at search in Chrome in a lot more detail soon – it’s very powerful, and is definitely not limited to just searching Google…

I’ve used Firefox for a long time. I switched from Internet Explorer as soon as I realised I could, and there was no looking back. Over the years I’ve gotten used to Firefox and it’s features, extensions and limitations. I’ve tried a few other browsers as well. Opera has often been highly praised, and whenever I heard of a new version I would install it, use it for a couple of days, and switch back to Firefox. And I think the main reason wasn’t that I didn’t like it, but that it was going to take too much effort to set up the things I had in Firefox. Yes, Opera would import my bookmarks. But, it wasn’t capable of preserving my links bar. It couldn’t import my saved passwords, many of which I struggle to remember.

So, why am I sticking with Chrome? It was the smoothest and simplest program install I have ever come across. Actually, it was a bit too smooth. It didn’t even let me choose where to install, or give any indication of what it was doing. But it then asked if it should import Firefox’s bookmarks and saved passwords. Perfect! Just exactly what I wanted it to do. Even more was my surprise when I opened Chrome and there was my Links toolbar, perfectly recreated. Wonderful! Here was a browser, and out of the box it was as accessible as the Firefox I was just using.

Now Chrome certainly isn’t perfect. It’s missing several features and especially extensions which I miss from Firefox. But, seeing as Chrome is only in its first beta version, I think it is doing fantastically well.

I wish Google Chrome would enable me to have two different Gmail accounts open on two different tabs. I would have thought that it would be possible seeing the tabs on Chrome run independently of each other. But I can’t run simultaneous Gmail or Google accounts yet!

Anyone have any ideas on this?

Welcome to I Love Google Chrome!

This new blog is where I’ll be updating you with details of my transition from Firefox to Google Chrome. I’ll be posting tips, tricks, bugs, annoyances and pretty much anything else I can think of, about Google’s new browser.

Chrome was only released this last week, and so I don’t expect everything from this first beta version, but I will be following new releases closely. Actually, i wouldn’t recommend an average user switching to Chrome as their default browser just yet. But there are certainly a lot of features that are worth noting, and as Chrome develops, it could well become my recommended browser for everyone.

Stay tuned!