Google Chrome

About this release

Chrome is the browser that most of the web is built and tested against, which is a practical argument regardless of what anyone thinks of it. A site that behaves strangely elsewhere will usually behave here, and a web application that a business depends on is far more likely to have been developed with this rendering engine in front of the developer than any other.

Security architecture is the technical reason it took the position it holds. Every tab, every extension and every plugin runs in its own sandboxed process with limited access to the rest of the machine, so a page that misbehaves takes down one tab rather than the browser or the system. Site isolation extends that boundary per site, and safe browsing checks warn before a known bad page loads.

The extension library is the largest of any browser by a wide margin. Content blockers, password managers, developer tools, accessibility helpers, tab management and integrations for essentially every service exist here first and arrive elsewhere later if at all. Profiles keep separate sets of extensions, bookmarks and history apart, which is how one machine serves work and personal use without them mixing.

This is the full offline installer rather than the small stub that pulls the rest down while you wait. That matters on a machine being set up without a good connection, on a workshop bench doing several builds, or anywhere the installer needs to sit on a stick and run repeatedly. The developer tools are the same complete set the browser is known for, with the network, performance, memory and accessibility panels intact.

What it does

Process sandboxing

Each tab and extension runs isolated, so one bad page does not take the browser down.

Site isolation

Separate processes per site as an additional boundary against cross site attacks.

Largest extension library

The widest selection of content blockers, managers and integrations available anywhere.

Profiles

Separate bookmark, history and extension sets on one machine that never mix.

Full developer tools

Network, performance, memory, rendering and accessibility panels built in.

Offline installer

Installs without a connection, which suits bench setups and repeated builds.

Changed in this version

• Rendering engine updated with the current security fixes.
• Lower memory use with very large numbers of tabs open.
• Faster startup on machines with many extensions installed.
• Improved handling of high refresh rate displays.
• Developer tools performance panel reorganised.

System requirements

Install order

1. Unpack the archive.
2. Run the offline installer, which needs no connection to complete.
3. Choose whether to import bookmarks and settings from an existing browser on first launch.
4. Set up profiles if the machine is shared between work and personal use.

Worth knowing before you start

File details