Google Chrome Browser: First Impressions
Upon reading what Google chrome would offer, I was one of those eagerly waiting to try it out; constantly searching and refreshing what seemed to be the first available download link for it. About an hour ago, Google has made the download link for Google Chrome live, and you could also see it advertised on Google homepage (not in country specific Google sites though, just on it’s main homepage). Linux and Mac users would have to wait for a while since the installer is only for Windows.
Hitting on the download link, you’ll get a small 474kb installer file that when executed, would launch another program that seems to be a download manager for Chrome. As expected, download was slow (took me about 45minutes) since I am sure a lot of people are also getting it, but once finished, installation was a breeze.
As a sysadmin, I’m always on the lookout for the changes that a software installation makes on a local PC, and I definitely hate programs that doesn’t have a way to be uninstalled. Fortunately, Google Chrome advertises itself in the add/remove portion of the Windows control panel, making it possible for you to remove it once you don’t like it.
Now that Google Chrome is ready on my Vista PC, let’s try it out. Google Chrome prompted me to import bookmarks from IE, and after doing that, this was the first screen I saw:
Using Google Chrome is like using IE in full-screen mode. and by that said, this means you’ll never see any File, Edit, View, etc on the menu bar. You’ll have the impression that you have a greater desktop space. Adding a new tab is accomplished by hitting a + sign near the last open tab, although ctrl-t also works well. I have a small problem though… where is the Print and print preview button?
Bitting The Bullet: Executing Google Chrome Malware Test
Earlier this evening, I was checking out what the fuzz was about Antivirus XP 2008. Further reading told me that this is a fake http scan program that tells you that your PC is infected and you need to buy a license from them to remove the virus. It turned out that Antirus XP 2008 is the virus itself, and it easily and silently installs itself to unprotected browsers. I have Symantec Internet Security 2008 installed and it immediately blocked the said virus.
Now, going to the same malware site, but this time, using Google Chrome as my browser. If you want to test it, type the keywords “Antivirus XP 2008 test” on Google and let’s see what happens next. Be warned though; if your antivirus cannot trap it, you’ll definitely get infected while on IE.
These are the test results:
In IE, a fake windows codec install request appeared and without doing anything, it attempts auto-install. Without a antivirus on my PC, I am sure to be infected by now.
In Google Chrome, the same fake codec request appeared, but it doesn’t auto-install but the script was persistent. Closing the dialog box just puts it into an endless loop of several dialog boxes. The only way to get out was to end Chrome.exe process all together, but at least, I am safe from the said malware.
There you have it, my Google Chrome first impressions. I’ll continually update this article as we put Google Chrome to further testing, and a sure fire way to test Google Chrome is to use it to write this blog. Nice!!
Update: Anyone got to make Google Chrome to work with Java-based FTP? I can’t FTP to my blog using Google Chrome! It said that there is no available plugin to make it work, even when I re-installed Java on my PC.
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One Response to “Google Chrome Browser: First Impressions”
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Installation and download was super fast here at the office. I hope there is a way to deploy Google Chrome to production computers. Users will definitely love this.