Chrome Strives To Become New Gold Standard

Google is on its way to becoming the new Microsoft.  Not in the field of support, operating systems, or anything that has to do with windows, but instead in becoming one of the biggest and most widely used names in a computer filled household.

Google has made its mark on the internet community by providing us with the most innovative search engine, online documentations, the phenomina of YouTube! and much much more.  We are all ‘wow’ed’ by the success and sheer performance of the Google standard, and are driven by its technology on a daily basis.

Open Source : A free for All…(seriously)

Google has always been an advocate for open source and to this day still continues its push for open source driven technology.  Many of us have already heard of their latest innovation in cell phone technology, the coming of the new Google Operating System, Android.  However, in the last few days, the internet has been swayed with Googles newest release, an internet browser called Chrome.

Google Chrome has taken open source to a whole new level, using technology that has helped drive one of todays most powerful browsers, Safari, and also added its own share of application book keeping.  

Google Chrome

Releasing their new beta has been quite an experience, with web forums buzzing, and downloads rolling in to test this new browser.  The internet community got their first hint of the release not through a website, not through a report, and not through any internet news pages, but a comic!  Found at  http://www.google.com/googlebooks/chrome/ the comic serves as more of an educational purpose rather than a comedic effort.  But lets sum upexactly what this browser has to provide for us.

 

Multiple Threaded Browsing

Ok, so what exactly is multiple threading?  Think of it as being at work, and being the only person to handle a project.  Think of your boss being Internet Explorer / Firefox, and think of you as a Tab.  Now, this is an example of a single thread, aka, a single worker.  If your boss wants something done, then he will have to hand you the job, and wait for you to be done.  Lets pretend that he asks you to grab him a piece of paper.  Just like opening a tab and entering the address, he tells you where to get the paper and to grab it now, got it? Great.  Now imagine if your boss also needed you to grab him a pen, he would have to wait for you to come back with the paper, before he could effectively relay the message that he needs a pen.  Think of this as opening another tab, and going to another tab.  For this process to work, the browser needs to wait for the thread, or worker, to be done what its doing, in other words, wait until the other page has loaded.  Have you ever noticed that if one webpage crashes, your entire Internet Explorer / Firefox crashes?  Its because it is only one “worker”, and if he “passes out”, all work will end (crash).

Google Chrome does something taken from operating system technology called multiple threading.  In contrast to the above scenario, multiple threading is like having mutliple workers.  The browser is able to open various tabs, without having to worry about the other.  As far as the browser is concerned, the other tabs are off doing their own thing, and doesn’t really care or need to control anyone, and if one tab crashes, then just that tab will go away, not the entire browser.  Also, this does a good job at memory management as each website will get its own space in memory and not consume a big balloon of memory like a single threaded application does.

Task Management

Google Chrome also provides a task manager to go hand in hand with its multi-threading.  The task manager can help users see the memory usage that each of their tabs are using.  You will also be able to monitor the amount of data that is being transmitted at any given time.

Google Chrome Task Manager

Here we can see exactly what is running in our browser.  First, we can see that the browser itself is only consuming about 29MB of memory space.  The browser itself isn’t doing any networking, hence why you see a N/A, it is just a “container” for the web pages.  I have three tabs open, Google, my blog, and Comcast, each taking up its own share of memory.  Lastly we can see that Shockwave Flash is open as well, this is because comcast uses Flash.  From this screen we can monitor network activity, memory consumption, and cpu usage, as well as end processes that are being stubborn.  The “stats for nerds” button will provide a bit more indepth information.

Stats For Nerds

 

Accessability

Google takes a shot at making your browsing experience more convenient when you open a new tab.  Upon clicking the ‘New Tab’ button, google will open a new tab with some information that you may find useful.  At the top of the page you will find a list of pages as well as thumbnails of your most visited sites.  You will also see your recently bookmarked pages, as well as recently closed tabs

New Tab

 

Chrome also houses its own little download manager.  By clicking on the menu button and “Downloads” a page will open up showing the files that you have recently downloaded.  From here you can see when the file was downloaded, and even locate the file on the computer.  Again this isn’t something new, but it is nice that its there

Chrome Download Manager

Privacy

There are times when we browse the internet, and we would prefer there to be no traces.  Whether we are doing regular things like banking or ordering things on the internet, and would prefer our credit card numbers not stored, or doing more personal things that you would prefer not be seen by others, Chrome provides a solution

Chrome Incognito

By clicking on the menu button, and “New Incognito Window” or by simply pressing Ctrl + Shift + N, Chrome will open a new “Incognito” window.  You will note the difference in the windows with the sillouhette of a spy in the upper left corner of the Chrome window.  You will also be presented with a warning that you are in Incognito mode that will let you know that the pages you view will not be shown in the search history, your browser history, and will not leave cookies on the computer.  However, be warned that it wont protect you against downloaded files, webpages that share information, “surveillance by secret agents”, or my favorite “People standing behind you”.

Customization

Currently there isn’t much to do with customizing Google Chrome.  It is a brand new “Beta” browser so this is obviously expected, however, due to its open source nature, it is only a matter of time until plugins and other custom features like skins appear on the web

Current Issues

Lets face it, its beta software, and for those who dont know, Beta means that A. its not a final product and B. it isn’t guarunteed to work.  The fact that it’s semi-stable and works at the degree it does is amazing considering it hasn’t even taken a half step in the version number (only version 0.2 at the moment).  A few issues that I have encountered, is that if you try and hover over a link that has a special character like a “%” or “&” Chrome will crash.  You can see an example by opening up Chrome and hovering your mouse over here : Bad Link! (ok so appearantly wordpress filters out malicious links, very nice!, anyway the link said “BAD:%” , you can find an example of this http://evilfingers.com/advisory/google_chrome_poc.php )

By Hovering Over the Link, Chrome Crashes

 Also, if you are working from a Proxy server (aka at work you need to enter a name and password to log in to the internet) the installer will not work for you because it downloads installation files from the internet.  You will have to search the net for the complete install package and go from there.

Conclusion

For Beta software Google Chrome is very promising.  I am actually very excited to start playing with newer releases as they start coming out.  It is a very nice, clean, gorgeous small browser that is taking browsing technology to a newer, more manageable level.  I suggest those who are interested to give it a shot, its free, its from Google, and it definately wont hurt.  Just remember, it is still beta (i have said it a bunch of times now) so dont do anything that requires the entering of information about yourself, banking, or anything else that will compromise your identity, it just isn’t safe until all of the kinks have been worked out.

Opera: Attempting to Extinguish the Fire(fox)

I have always been a Firefox guy.  When I first started getting into the PC world and once the internet started to become commonplace in homes across the world, the battle for browsers started to heat up.  Taking the dive into the broadband waters, I started to toy around with browsers, email clients, search engines, etc.  Just as Google started becoming the new Yahoo!, Mozilla started to become the new Internet Explorer in terms of popularity.  Stronger security, tabbed browsing, and a small footprint made for an easy transition.  However, many of us forget where all of firefox’s key features originated from.

To Pay or Not To Pay

During its early reign, Opera was “pay to play” software.  Called Trialware, Opera gave users a period of time to play around with, then required a purchase to be able to use it.  Luckily, in 2000, this requirement ended, and advancements and popularity started pouring in.

Opera (Wikipedia Link)

Developers nicknamed Opera the “Fastest Browser on Earth,” and although this may have been true at some point in time, newer studies show that although it is indeed faster than Internet Explorer, Firefox still clocks in at a bit better speed…but honestly, the normal web surfer will not notice the difference, at least I havn’t.

Like a Security Blanket, It keeps You Safe

To be honest, any average Joe surfer will not be able to see, hear, or touch the secuirty differences between all of the browsers, so there is no sense in talking about all of the security mumbo-jumbo.  Bottom line here is that Opera does a wonderful job of protecting you from today’s web hazards.  It will warn you if you have connected to an unsecure site that is known for any malware and phishing practices.  Also, when using a secure connection, Opera uses the latest in security technology called SSL 3.0 or another excellent security protocol called TLS.  Opera has admitted to some security vulnerabilities, and like all web browsers like IE, Firefox, and Safari, the developers are working to fix these issues.

Features For The Masses

Ah yes, my favorite part, the features!  Images make the world go round, so here we go:

Main Screen

Appearance Options

Tabbed Browsing

The Wand

Speed Dial

Extra Options

Conclusion

Thats right, I took the plunge, I figured “why not”.  I have always heard of great things about Opera, but I am a huge GUI fanboy, and was never a fan of the simplistic GUI of opera.

My Top 5 Must Have Programs

Well there have been a few times where people have seen the applications running on my PC and have wondered why I have them, where I got them, and what benefits they provide to me.  Here is a nice list of my top 5 favorite programs that I have running on my PC, mind you these are in no particular order!

1. Digsby

AIM has always been the reigning king of the internet society, however backed by a wonderful network, their software suite has much needed tweaking, and less adverts to keep the honest user happy.  I used to use Pidgin which was a wonderful and simple IM client that interfaced with AIM and many other networks.  However, upon random browsing, I came across another wonderful messaging client, Digsby.  For those of you that enjoy messaging over AIM, MSN, Yahoo!, Facebook, and ICQ to name a few, Digsby is an essential program.  Being fully customizable, without ads, and with a beautfully skinnable interface, you feel right at home.  You can monitor your email accounts, log your conversations, even post a widget on your website so people can IM you.  If you are an avid instant messenger, get this now! http://www.digsby.com

2. MediaMonkey

Apple has it great with Itunes, unfortunately for us Windows guys we are stuck with a poor windows import of itunes.  Sure, it works as it should, but being the resource hog that it is, there has to be a better alternative.  This is where MediaMonkey comes along.  Being like an itunes that was built for windows, Mediamonkey does a great job of intergrating a “whole-package” media player for your large media collection.  Having a customizable interface by being able to drag and drop sections of the program where you want it, like cover art, the music player, playlist, and library.  Being able to sync your music tags to  Amazon’s library helps keep your tracks updated with the most current information.  With a nice clean skinnable interface and a ton of features, its unfortunate consumption of 50+ mb makes this program well worth it.  http://www.mediamonkey.com/

3. RKLauncher

Lets face it, everyone likes to have a nice clean desktop, less clutter, and a means to get to your favorite applications.  Apple does it best with their docking system that keeps icons off of the desktop, and in an easily manageable dock.  Well, developers have been developing various docks for the windows system.  Although all work in a similar fashon, most come at a cost.  RKLauncher provides all of the benefits of the macs docking system for the windows platform.  Drag and drop all of your favorite icons to the dock, skin the dock to make it look like a mac, or any other of the thousands of skins developed, and you are on your way to a cleaner desktop http://home.cogeco.ca/~rklauncher/

4. Firefox

C’mon, honestly what is a list without firefox?  I will make this description small and to the point.  Firefox is safer, and follows the internet html/css standard better than IE.  Granted IE started to compete a little bit more with Firefox with its tabbed browsing capabilities, Firefox still takes the cake with its security features.  Various plugins can be found online that make Firefox even better like ad blocking, spell checking as you type, and many more.  http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/

5. Mailwasher Pro

Spam effects everyone, no matter how cautious you are online, to how many times you watch where you enter your personal information, you will get spam.  There are a ton of ways to help rid yourself of spam but there are very few that work very efficiently.  I have used various spam blocking tools like Thunderbird plugins, to norton’s antispam, even to the University of Hartford’s Baracudda Spam filter.  Granted the best one I have ever encountered has been UHa’s filtering, its mainly because it utilizes a hardware engine, and like other things like firewalls, hardware always protects better than software.  In any event, my favorite program to defend against spam is Mailwasher Pro by Firetrust.  With a strong “learning” engine, the program is already designed to filter out the most common spam messages.  Entering each of your email accounts into the program helped protect all of your active inboxes by first scanning the messages on the mail server, letting you know you haev new mail, and marking them either “Friend, Blacklist, or Origin Blacklisted”, the latter of which is a blacklisting by the Mailwasher engine itself.  If you notice certain emails that dont have a spam note next to them ,you may add the domain, or the sender to the blacklist and Mailwasher will watch out for these emals the next time they come through.  Clicking “Process Mail” will delete all of the spam messages, and then open up your favorite mail program, getting rid of all spam before it gets to your pc.  This program is a must have in my books.  http://www.firetrust.com/

If you have tried any of these programs, or think there are better alternatives, please post a comment!