Visit Play Store in your Android smartphone or tablet to check whether the update is available for you or not.

If there is no update for your Chrome for Android, you probably have to wait one or two days, because Google rolls out Android app updates in stages.

What are the goodies in Chrome for Android v32?

Based on the blog post, the new features in this Chrome for Android update include:

• Add web page shortcuts right to your home screen more easily from the menu
• Reduce data usage in Chrome up to 50%. Visit Settings > Bandwidth management > Reduce data usage to enable.
• Stability and security updates
• Lots of stability and performance enhancements.

Of course, the most prominent feature for most users in this update is reduced data usage up to 50%.

How does Chrome for Android reduce data

… Read the rest

The post Chrome for Android 32 update now saves 50% data usage appeared first on Safe Surfing.

But after that, IE 10 has been for Windows 8 only.  Apparently, Microsoft attempted to use this IE 10 as a teaser for Windows 8 upgrading. It seems the attempt failed: instead of upgrading to Windows 8 to get IE 10, most users chose Chrome or Firefox.

Developers also accused Microsoft actually was holding back internet, because IE 10 supports more web standards. Yes, IE 10 finally has “60% increase in supported modern web standards”. This 60% increase is compared with IE 9. To be precise, this 60% means 30 new web standards. So, many or most web standards are still NOT supported in IE 10. Microsoft style!

Compared with IE 9, … Read the rest

The post IE 10 for Windows 7 is going to your system automatically appeared first on Safe Surfing.

Previous update of Chrome for Android was released in November, and the version was 18.0.1026311. It is easy to find out this is a major update (from V18 to V25), and now the Android one reaches the identical version of the desktop. This implies Chrome for Android will be updated more frequently.

The major changes in this update include

• Improved scrolling performance
• Increased responsiveness to pinch-zooming on pages
• Faster interactive pages thanks to the latest version of the V8 javascript engine
• Audio now continues to play while Chrome is in the background
• Expanded

… Read the rest

The post Chrome for Android updated to 25: faster, more HTML 5, better scrolling, pinch to zoom, background audio playback appeared first on Safe Surfing.

But you probably did not notice the difference in search when you signed into Google and when you did not sign into Google.

If you sign into Google, the search is encrypted, i.e., the search is sent through https. But if you are not signed in, your search will be sent through plain HTTP, which means your search can be easily monitored/intercepted by others.

So, this can be a privacy concern for some users.

Of course, you can always get encrypted search through: https://encrypted.google.com. But for Chrome users, a lot of searches are sent directly through the Omnibox.

Encrypted search can protect your privacy. Actually, Firefox sent encrypted search since Firefox 14 in last July; Safari started to send encrypted search in last September.

Finally, Chrome 25 (now is in beta) starts … Read the rest

The post Encrypted search for all Chrome users in Chrome 25 appeared first on Safe Surfing.

It has been the best browser from its initial launch in December 1994 to its death (almost dead, and bought by AOL) in 1998. It was buried by AOL in 2008.

Netscape Navigator was not defeated but was murdered, by Micro$oft. Sometimes, this is often referred to as the First Browser War. As a long time user of Navigator, I always believe Navigator was murdered. The murder is Mirco$oft. The ammunition used by the murder mainly includes: 1). monopoly in the PC operating system; 2). huge cash pile; and 3).the uninformed mass.

So, The notorious Internet Explorer dominated in almost all Windows PCs, and the digital dark age started. The antitrust slap on M$ could not revive Netscape Navigator. Thankfully,  the Firefox, somewhat linked to Navigator and Mozilla, and Chrome, from the Chocolate Factory, lighted the sky.

Now, Micro$oft … Read the rest

The post The looming browser war on Windows RT: Microsoft wants to go back to “Return to the Digital Dark Ages” appeared first on Safe Surfing.

Today, I read a report claiming Internet Explorer provides the best browser battery life (i.e., drain your battery at a slower pace). It sounds like an April 1 joke.

Usually, I did not pay much attention to such benchmarks: I rely on my own “experience”. That’s the major reason I switched from Firefox (which is far better than  Internet Explorer) to Chrome (which is currently my favourite browser). User experience is the key factor to decide which browser is better for you.

Actually, based on the same test, Google Chrome is the fastest since September 19, 2011.  This is consistent with my experience. The battery test results probably indicate that the Internet Explorer draws less juice because it … Read the rest

The post Another April 1st joke: Internet Explorer provides best browser battery life appeared first on Safe Surfing.

It seems people suddenly start to concern about their privacy. Do Not Track becomes a popular word, although most people do not really understand it. Even the politicians want to express their interest in solving this issue.  The White House last week unveiled a “Consumer Privacy Bill of Rights”.

Mozilla reminded us that they invented Do Not Track in February 2011. If it was Apple, it was probably patented already, and now everyone would have had to pay for it except Safari users (they already paid when they purchased the fruity toy). According to the official page:

Keep My Opt-Outs is an extension for users who aren’t comfortable with personalization of the

… Read the rest

The post Keep My Opt-Outs: Chrome has the Do Not Track option for long time appeared first on Safe Surfing.

In our safe surfing guide series (part 4), we recommended you to dump IE and choose a better web browser, e.g., Chrome or Firefox, or SeaMonkey. Today, you get another reason to dump it forever!

On Feb. 20, Microsoft claimed that Google has been bypassing the user-defined privacy settings in Internet Explorer by using incorrect P3P identification terms:

Technically, Google utilizes a nuance in the P3P specification that has the effect of bypassing user preferences about cookies … By sending this text, Google bypasses the cookie protection and enables its third-party cookies to be allowed rather than blocked

Google’s response gave us a clearer picture.:

Microsoft uses a “self-declaration” protocol (known as “P3P”) dating from 2002 under which Microsoft asks websites to represent their privacy practices in machine-readable form. It is well known – including

… Read the rest

The post Another reason to dump Microsoft IE: Microsoft claims Google bypassed its browser privacy easily appeared first on Safe Surfing.

Anyway, this is a smart move to stop or at least to slow down the loss of market share (to Chrome and Firefox). M$ won the browser war against Netscape by bundling IE to Windows since Windows 95. But is has been a  loser in the same battlefield against Firefox, nor against Chrome.

Security, speed, and W3C standard are the major reasons tech geeks abandon IE. IE 8 and IE 9 did have some improvement in security and speed. But the compliance with standards is still not as good as Chrome or Firefox.

So, M$ silently updates the IE browser for most users; a lot of users will not know because they already switched to other better browsers.… Read the rest

The post Silent update of IE from January 2012 appeared first on Safe Surfing.

One of the safest web browsers is Google Chrome browser, which is becoming more and more popular. The security features include:

1. Sandboxing. Almost all browsers now have tabbed browsing, even IE has it for a long time. But Chrome differs itself from others by implementing sandboxing. The tabs have individual processes with sandbox capabilities which restrict privileges for third-party apps. This (sandboxing), according to Google and security experts “prevent malware from installing itself on your computer or using what happens in one browser tab to affect what happens in another. The sandbox adds an additional layer of protection to your browser by protecting against malicious web pages that try to leave programs on your computer, monitor your web activities, or steal private information from your

… Read the rest

The post Why Chrome is the safest web browser? appeared first on Safe Surfing.

According to the report, IE 9 can block 96% socially engineered malware; while the distant second (Chrome) can only block 13.2%. The full report is freely (anyway, nobody is willing to pay such so-called reports) available here.

It sounds like a story told on April 1. And it actually is.

If you happen to read the report, you will notice their research was based on “NSS Labs has developed a unique proprietary “Live Testing” harness and methodology”.  So, we have no idea how reliable the test was. Who knows?

Secondly, the report did not say how many false blocking generated by IE 9. Remember, if Microsoft Security  Essentials can treat Google Chrome as a … Read the rest

The post What a Joke! Internet Explorer 9 Crowns the Browser Security appeared first on Safe Surfing.

To surf safely, your browser can also play an important role. There are so many choices for browsers now: IE, Firefox, Chrome, Opera, SeaMonkey; all are freely available. But unfortunately, most users are still using the crappy piece of IE, simply because it is bundled by M$.

You should dump IE when you get your new PC. Most computer viruses or malware reply on IE, because M$ tightly integrate IE with the Windows OS.

In addition, IE is notorious for ignoring the web standards and trying best to drag the advancement in HTML standard. Although M$ changed gradually changed the strategy since IE 8, it is too little, too small.

Sadly, if you are not using Windows 7, you cannot disable or … Read the rest

The post How to surf safely? Dump IE, choose a better browser appeared first on Safe Surfing.

Anyway, all anti-virus software companies should thank Microsoft for creating the business opportunity for non-productive nonsense. Some of you may not know Microsoft also offers “free” anti-virus software together with Windows. If Windows finds out you have not installed any anti-virus software, this free guy will jump out. The name of this guy is Microsoft Security Essentials.

Ironic? If you cannot make your OS secure, how can we trust your “Security Essentials”? If it is essential, why can’t you put it into OS? Anyway, M$, as well as some analysts … Read the rest

The post Microsoft Security Essentials kills Google Chrome appeared first on Safe Surfing.