Google’s game changing web browser Chrome combines sophisticated technology with a simple UI, to create a faster, safer and easier browsing experience. Launched in 2008, Google Chrome quickly dominated the web browser market to become the most used web browser globally within 4 years of its public release. Google’s rapid and continuous development cycle ensures the web browser continues to compete with the other most popular and advanced web browsers available.
Apr 24, 2019 - Google Chrome is a browser that combines a minimal design with sophisticated. Download: Google Chrome Offline Installer 32-bit 52.1 MB. May 19, 2018. Out how to download the full offline installer of the Google Chrome web. The downloads redirect to the 64-bit Chrome installation file instead.
Speed
Perhaps the area Google invested most of its development time to differentiate from other web browsers. Google Chrome launches extremely quickly from your desktop, runs applications at speed thanks to a powerful JavaScript engine and loads pages rapidly using the WebKit open source rendering engine. Add to this quicker search and navigation options from the simplified UI and you have a web browser that is pretty hard to beat on speed, especially if gaming is your thing.
Clean, simple UI
Google Chrome’s most striking feature and a substantial factor in its popularity - the simple UI hasn’t changed much since the beta launch in 2008. Google focused on trimming down unnecessary toolbar space to maximise browsing real estate. The web browser is made up of 3 rows of tools, the top layer horizontally stacks automatically adjusting tabs, next to a simple new tabs icon and the standard minimize, expand & close windows controls. The middle row includes 3 navigation controls (Back, Forward & Stop/Refresh), a URL box which also allows direct Google web searching and a star bookmarking icon. Extensions and web browser settings icons line up to the right of the URL box. The third row is made up of bookmark folders and installed apps. Easily overlooked now, this clean UI was a breath of fresh air compared to the overcrowded toolbars of popular web browsers pre-2008.
Privacy
Another hugely popular feature, Incognito mode allows you to browse privately by disabling history recording, reducing traceable breadcrumbs and removing tracking cookies on shutdown. Google Chrome’s settings also allow you to customize regular browsing privacy preferences.
Security
Google Chrome’s Sandboxing prevents malware automatically installing on your computer or affecting other web browser tabs. Google Chrome also has Safe Browsing technology built in with malware and phishing protection that warns you if you encounter a website suspected of containing malicious software/activity. Regular automatic updates ensure security features are up to date and effective.
Customization
A vast selection of apps, extensions, themes and settings make your browsing experience unique to you. Improve productivity, security, navigation speed, pretty much anything you can think of with apps and extensions from the Google Chrome Store. Install themes created by top artists or make your own using mychrometheme.com. Sign in with your Google Account to back up your contacts, preferences, history as well as access all your Google tools with a single login.
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Why not check out our guide to alternative web browsers if you are looking for something a little different.
Like many modern Web-focused apps, Google Chrome uses an online installer by default for new users looking to acquire the Windows version of the popular browser. This means that the file a user downloads when they visit the main Google Chrome website is actually just a tiny installation utility — usually about 1MB in size — that, when run on a user’s PC, reaches out to Google’s servers and downloads the latest version of Chrome (this does not apply to Macs, as Chrome for OS X is only offered as a standalone download).
This is beneficial because if the user saves the initial installation utility and runs it at a later date, the user will still receive the most up-to-date version of Chrome, including patches to critical security vulnerabilities that may have been discovered and fixed in the time between the initial download and the eventual installation process.
But the Chrome online installer also has its drawbacks. First, unlike traditional self-contained software installers, you need to have an active Internet connection in order to install the browser. This may seem like a minor issue, especially since a Web browser like Chrome is nearly useless without the Internet, but there are several scenarios in which a user installing Chrome wouldn’t need or necessarily want Internet access. Examples include IT management and service, where a technician deploys software to one or more PCs that may not yet have Internet connections set up, or installing a Web browser on a PC that will be used for browsing local HTML resources in an organization’s intranet but won’t have access to the wider Internet. Even in cases where the Internet is available, some users may prefer a standalone offline installer, such as those working with networks and connections that offer very limited bandwidth. The full Chrome installer is only about 50MB in size, but that could still take some time to download in cases where the only network connection is dial-up, or in cases where bandwidth is metered or otherwise limited.
Thankfully, Google provides an option to download a standalone Chrome offline installer, but you need to know where to look. To download the Chrome offline installer, visit this page at Google’s support website and select your desired version of Chrome. Like the online installer, Google will attempt to automatically detect the version of the operating system you’re running and offer you the corresponding version of Chrome. This may not be helpful, however, since you’re presumably downloading the Chrome offline installer to use with other computers that may not match your current platform. To work around this issue, look for an option labeled “Download Chrome for another Platform,” which will let you manually download all available versions of Chrome. If that doesn’t work (i.e., if using that link redirects you to the online installer), you can append the following tags to the end of the Chrome offline installer URL in your browser:
Windows 64-bit: &platform=win64
Windows 32-bit: &platform=win
Linux: &platform=linux
OS X: &platform=mac
Windows 32-bit: &platform=win
Linux: &platform=linux
OS X: &platform=mac
For example, if you’re currently using a Mac running OS X, but you want to download the Chrome offline installer for a 64-bit version of Windows, you’d use the following URL:
Once you’ve obtained the Chrome offline installer, you can install the browser on a compatible PC in the absence of an active Internet connection. The next time that Chrome detects an Internet connection, it will contact Google’s servers and attempt to update itself to the latest version.
While you’ll be relatively secure once you update, it’s important to note that you may not be secure, even within an organization’s intranet, in the period before the update is downloaded and installed. This is the major drawback of using a standalone offline installer, and you’ll want to periodically grab the latest offline installer to ensure that the version in your software kit isn’t too far out of date. You can keep track of Chrome updates to the various channels via the Chrome Releases blog, and can decide based on release notes when it’s time to update your offline installer.
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