The browser that has been developed by Google, the big search engine company, is named Chrome and it is one of the most popular browsers out there. At the same time, it is used on both desktop and mobile devices and this is the reason why many Windows desktop users prefer to ditch the Internet Explorer or Microsoft Edge in favor of Google Chrome.
Today we’re going to teach you how to setup Google Chrome correctly, so that you can use the browser to its full potential.
Syncing Your Data
One of the features that Chrome comes with is the ability to sync your browsing history, open tables and bookmarks across all your devices. Chrome will sync all your data via your Google Account, which means that if you don’t have one, you will need to create one.
To create an account, you will need to open the Google Chrome browser and type chrome://settings into the address bar. You will notice that a new window will appear, where you will see a “Sign in” button. By clicking on it, you will be able to either sign-in or create a new Google account.
After signing into your new/old Google account, you will be able to select “Advanced sync settings” and decide what you want to sync across all your devices such as autofill data, bookmarks, password, settings, themes, open tabs, extensions and many more. Just make sure that you uncheck the things that you don’t want to sync between other devices and click “OK”.
Using the passphrase
You can also encrypt all your synced data with your own passphrase that will never be sent to Google. However, the downside is that if you ever forget your passphrase, you will not be able to access your synced data anymore. By setting a passphrase, Google Now will not be able to suggest sites based on your browsing history and you won’t be able to access your saved passwords on passwords.google.com without knowing it.
So, this is the main reason why you should set a passphrase option and save it somewhere safe.
Importing Bookmarks
Google Chrome can import bookmarks from another browser with ease. To do this, click on the “hamburger” menu button and navigate to Bookmarks->Import- bookmarks and Settings. You will notice that a new window will pop-up and at the top you will notice a drop down menu listing all the browsers that you have installed on your computer from where Chrome can grab data. Simply select the browser that you want to grab data from and click on “Import”.
At the same time, this menu will allow you to import bookmarks from an HTML file if your browser is not listed there. You can find online how you can export the bookmarks from your Internet Explorer, Opera, Safari or Firefox to a HTML file.
Extensions
Likewise Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome also comes with addons that can be installed on it. However, Google Chrome’s addons are actually called “extensions” and they allow you to install lots of them on it. For example, you will be able to install the “Hangouts” extension and it will allow Google’s messaging application to behave likewise a desktop application.
Vimium is another awesome extension which allows you to control the browser using the keyboard shortcuts. Vimium is also created to function just like Vim, a very popular keyboard controller text editor among hacker types.
Another good extension is Mute Tab shortcuts, which will allow you to mute multiple tabs. This is an awesome extension which will be very useful if there is someone calling and you need to mute all the tabs fast and easy so that you can answer the call.
If you want to hide your identity while browsing, you will want to install the VPN provider TunnelBear extension. This is an easy way to use a proxy extension for Google Chrome, which allows you browse safely. At the same time, this extension is very good if you notice that a website is banned in your country. Instead, using the TunnelBear extension, you will be able to pick an IP/proxy from another country and access that website. The downside of this awesome extension is that a free account can have only 500MB bandwidth per month and for more, you will need to get a paid account.
Conclusion
Google Chrome is surely an awesome browser application for desktop and mobile devices. It’s great that it has the ability to get all the data from other browsers that you have might used in the past and it is great that it can store all the passwords, history and bookmarks, which you can sync with all your other devices (desktops or mobiles). There are even users who claim that Google Chrome runs smoother than Mozilla Firefox or the new Microsoft Edge.
Have you tested the Google Chrome browser on your desktop PC? Tell us your thoughts about it!
