24 May 09 Customizing Google Chrome Settings

Reset default settings

Steps to reset default settings

If you want to clear your custom settings and use Google Chrome’s default settings, follow these steps:

1. Click the Tools menu.
2. Select Options.
3. Click the Under the Hood tab.
4. Click the Reset to defaults button.
5. In the confirmation dialog box, verify your selection by clicking the Reset to defaults button.
6. Click the Close button.

List of default settings

• Home page: The New Tab page is set as the home page and displays whenever you start up Google Chrome. The Home button is turned off on the toolbar.
• Passwords: Google Chrome offers to save your passwords.
• Pop-ups: Pop-up alerts are turned on.
• Download location: The default location for new downloads is \Documents and Settings\<user>\My Documents\Downloads .
• Security and privacy:
  • All types of mixed content are displayed.
  • All cookies are allowed.
  • Phishing and malware protection is enabled.
  • Smart navigation error suggestions are enabled.
  • DNS pre-fetching is enabled.
  • Address bar suggestions are enabled.

Password setting

Google Chrome can save usernames and passwords for websites where you need to sign in. The browser can then fill in the sign-in fields for you automatically when you next visit these websites.

If you allow Google Chrome to store your passwords, you’ll see the following message every time you sign into a new website. Click Save password if you’d like Google Chrome to save you the trouble of retyping your username and password every time you go to the website Alternatively, click Never for this site if you don’t want Google Chrome to store the password you just used for the website. The browser will add the website to a list of exceptions. Change your mind and want to let the browser store your password for the website after all.

See useful links when you open a new tab

When you open a new tab, Google Chrome preloads it with links to websites you visit the most, recently saved websites, recently closed tabs, and recently used search engines.

• Most visited: Up to nine image thumbnails of the websites you visit most are displayed. Click a website’s thumbnail to open it, or right-click it to see options to open it in a new tab or in a new window.
• Recent bookmarks: Up to nine recently created browser bookmarks are listed for easy access.
• Recently closed: Up to three tabs closed within the past five minutes are listed in case you accidentally closed a tab.
• Searches: Search boxes for the search engines you use the most are available so you can use them directly from this page.

Remove thumbnails from the Most Visited section

1. Click the Remove thumbnails link below the thumbnails.
2. Click the X icon to remove a site’s thumbnail.
3. Click Done.

If you accidentally remove a site, you can always click Restore all removed thumbnails before clicking Done.

Click + to open the New Tab page

To open a New Tab page, click the + icon next to the last tab. You can also use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+T to quickly open the page.

Default search engine

You can set one search engine to always be used for processing search queries you type in the address bar.

1. Click the Tools menu.
2. Select Options.
3. Click the Basics tab.
4. Select the search engine from the ‘Default search’ drop-down menu that you’d like Google Chrome to use.If your desired search engine doesn’t appear in the drop-down menu, click the Manage button. In the ‘Search Engines’ dialog box, select the search engine name that you’d like to use by default, click the Make Default button, and click the Close button on the ‘Search Engines’ dialog box. Learn how to add a new search engine option to this list.
5. Click the Close button.

If you’ve turned on the auto-suggestions feature, Google Chrome checks to see if a suggestions service is provided by your default search engine. If one isn’t provided, then Google Suggest is the default suggestions service in use.

Startup preferences

You can adjust what you see whenever you start Google Chrome. To set your startup preferences, follow these steps:

1. Click the Tools menu.
2. Select Options.
3. Click the Basics tab.
4. Select one of the following options in the ‘On startup’ section:
   • ‘Open the home page’
   • ‘Restore the pages that were open last’: Always display the webpages you had open in your active window at the end of your previous browsing session.
   • ‘Open the following pages’: Choose specific webpages that should display whenever you open a new browser window. Use the Add and Remove buttons to create this list. To set the webpages you have open at the moment as your startup pages, click the Use Current button.
5. Click the Close button

Import browser settings

During installation, Google Chrome can copy your browsing history, saved websites, and passwords from your default browser. You can also manually import settings from Firefox or Internet Explorer at any time. Follow these steps:

1. Close any other browsers that you’re running.
2. Open Google Chrome.
3. Click the Tools menu.
4. Select Import bookmarks & settings.
5. Select the browser from which you’d like to import data from the drop-down menu at the top.
6. Make sure only the checkboxes for items you want to import are selected:
   • Favorites/Bookmarks Webpages you’ve saved in the selected browser. After importing they’ll appear in the ‘Other bookmarks’ folder at the end of the bookmarks bar (Ctrl+B).Want to import bookmarks from another browser besides Firefox or Internet Explorer? Use the bookmark manager.
   • Search engines Alternative search options that you’ve saved in the selected browser.
   • Saved passwords Passwords stored in the browser you’ve chosen for websites you’ve visited.
   • Browsing history A list of all the websites you’ve visited while using the selected browser.
7. Click the Import button.

Making Google Chrome default

you want to always use Google Chrome to open links outside of your browser, follow these steps:

1. Click the Tools menu.
2. Select Options.
3. Click the Basics tab.
4. In the ‘Default browser’ section, click the Make Google Chrome my default browser button. You should now see the confirmation text in green ‘The default browser is currently Google Chrome.’
5. Click the Close button.

Available languages

Google Chrome is currently available in the following languages:

The default language setting, used for displaying menus and dialog boxes, is based on the language you selected when you first downloaded Google Chrome. To change the language used, follow these steps:

1. Click the Tools menu.
2. Select Options.
3. Click the Minor Tweaks tab.
4. Click the Change fonts and language settings button.
5. In the ‘Fonts and Languages’ dialog box, click the Languages tab.
6. Select the language you’d like to use in the ‘Google Chrome language’ drop-down menu.
7. Restart the browser. Your new language setting should now be in effect.

Follow these steps to set up your home page

1. Click the Tools menu.
2. Select Options.
3. Click the Basics tab.
4. In the ‘Home page’ section, select the location of your home page:
   • ‘Use the New Tab page’
   • Use a different webpage: Select the option ‘Open this page,’ then enter your desired web address in the text field.
5. Set up ways to get to your home page:
   • To have a separate button for accessing your home page, select the ‘Show Home button on the toolbar’ checkbox. This Home button  appears between the reload button and the address bar.
   • To see your home page every time you start up Google Chrome, select ‘Open the home page’ option in the ‘On startup’ section.
6. Click the Close button.

Gears settings

  Google Chrome uses Gears to create application shortcuts that let you open web applications in special streamlined Google Chrome windows. For certain compatible websites, Gears also lets you access web content in offlne mode. You can manage your Gears settings directly in Google Chrome. Here’s how:

1. Click the Tools menu.
2. Select Options.
3. Click the Under the Hood tab.
4. In the ‘Web Content’ section, click the Change Google Gears settings button.
5. The ‘Google Gears’ dialog box shows you the list of websites that are allowed to access Gears, as well as the list of websites that you’ve set to never access Gears. Adjust your settings here, then click the Save button.
6. Click the Close button.

Network settings

Google Chrome uses the same connection and proxy settings as Windows. Changing these settings affects Google Chrome as well as Internet Explorer and other Windows programs. To set up or change network connections, follow these steps:

1. Click the Tools menu.
2. Select Options.
3. Click the Under the Hood tab.
4. In the ‘Network’ section, click the Change proxy settings button. This will open the ‘Internet Properties’ dialog box in Windows where you can adjust your network settings.

DNS pre-fetching

DNS pre-fetching stands for Domain Name System pre-fetching. When you visit a webpage, Google Chrome can look up, or pre-fetch, the IP addresses of all links on the webpage. Browsers use the IP address to load a webpage, so by looking up this information in advance, any links you click on the webpage will load faster. This feature is on by default. To access this option, follow these steps:

1. Click the Tools menu.
2. Select Options.
3. Click the Under the Hood tab and find the ‘Privacy’ section.
4. Use the ‘Use DNS pre-fetching to improve page load performance’ checkbox to turn the feature on or off.
5. Click Close.

Enable or disable suggestions on navigation errors

  Suggestions for navigation error are enabled by default. To access this feature, follow these steps:

1. Click the Tools menu.
2. Select Options.
3. Click the Under the Hood tab and find the ‘Privacy’ section.
4. Select (or deselect) the ‘Show suggestions for navigation errors’ checkbox.
5. Click Close.

Spell-checker

1. Click the Tools menu.
2. Select Options.
3. Click the Minor Tweaks tab.
4. Click the Change font and language settings button.
5. Click the Languages tab. Spell-checker settings are accessible at the bottom.

Remember to click OK once you’re done saving your settings.

Turn off the spell-checker

To disable the spell-checker completely, deselect the ‘Check spelling’ checkbox in the the ‘Fonts and Languages’ dialog box. You can also temporarily disable the spell-checker for the text field where you’re typing, without having to turn off the spell-checker completely.

1. Right-click the text field in question.
2. Select Spell-checker options.
3. Deselect ‘Check the spelling of this field.’

Change the dictionary language

In the ‘Fonts and Language’ dialog box, select the language you use most often in the ‘Spell-checker language’ drop-down menu. If you regularly use the Web in multiple languages, you probably want to change the language of the spell-checker frequently. You can easily switch between different language dictionaries as you type. Here’s how:

1. First make sure the languages you commonly use are listed as preferred languages in the ‘Fonts and Lanugages’ dialog box.
2. Right-click the word that’s underlined by the spell-checker.
3. Select Spell-checker options.
4. Select the dictionary language you want to use from the languages listed. If the language isn’t listed, select Language settings and add it as a preferred language for Google Chrome.
5. Once you’ve selected the appropriate language, right-click the word, if it remains underlined, to see the suggested spelling.

(There’s a chance that the language you add may not have a spell-checker dictionary available. If that’s the case, you won’t be able to check your spelling in that language.)

Add a new word to the dictionary

If the spell-checker keeps underlining a word that you often use, right-click the word and select Add to dictionary. At this time, it’s not possible to remove a word from the dictionary.

File auto-opening settings

Set file types to auto-open Downloading files appear in the downloads bar at the bottom of your tab. Click the menu arrow next to your downloaded file button, then select Always open files of this type. Alternatively, scan the file icons on the Downloads page (Ctrl+J) for the file type you wish to auto-open. Right-click one of your downloaded files of that particular file type and select Always open files of this type.

Clear auto-opening settings

1. Click the Tools menu.
2. Select Options.
3. Click the Under the Hood tab.
4. In the ‘General’ section, click the Clear auto-opening settings button.
5. Click the Close button.

Default download location

By default, Google Chrome sets your download location to \Documents and Settings\<user>\My Documents\Downloads. You can choose a different default download location or select a specific location for each download. To set your preferences, follow these steps:

1. Click the Tools menu.
2. Select Options.
3. Click the Minor Tweaks tab.
4. To set a default location for every download, click the Browse button in the ‘Download location’ section and select where you’d like your files to be saved. If you’d rather choose a specific location for each download, select the ‘Ask where to save each file before downloading’ checkbox.
5. Click the Close button.

 Pop-ups

Don’t let pop-up windows get in the way of your browsing. Adjust your settings for pop-up blocking:

1. Click the Tools menu.
2. Select Options.
3. Click the Under the Hood tab.
4. If you want to see pop-ups, select the ‘Notify me when a pop-up is blocked’ checkbox.
5. Click the Close button.

If you allow pop-ups, you’ll be able to see the number of pop-ups for a given webpage at the bottom right-hand corner of the browser window. Click the pop-up alert to expand any of the pop-ups. To dismiss the pop-up, click the ‘X.’

Fonts, languages, and encodings

To change your settings for preferred webpage fonts, languages, and encodings, first open the ‘Fonts and Languages’ dialog box. Here’s how:

1. Click the Tools menu.
2. Select Options.
3. Click the Minor Tweaks tab.
4. Click the Change fonts and language settings button.

When you’re done, click the OK button for the ‘Fonts and Languages’ dialog box and the Close button for the ‘Google Chrome Options’ dialog box to have the changes take effect.

Website security information

General information Google Chrome has security measures in place to help protect you as you browse the web. Many websites securely transmit information using SSL to guarantee their website identity and prevent anyone else from tampering with what you see or the information you pass along. Google Chrome alerts you when errors prevent websites from establishing a fully secure connection. It analyzes three aspects to determine the security of a webpage:

• Identity: When you connect to a secure website, the server hosting that website presents Google Chrome and other browsers with a certificate to verify its identity. This certificate contains information like the address of the website, which is confirmed by a third party organization. By verifying that the address in the certificate matches the address of the website, ensuring that the certificate is not yet expired, and checking that its third-party verifier is trusted, Google Chrome confirms that you’re securely communicating with the website named on the certificate and not someone pretending to be that website.
• Connection: An encrypted connection is required in order to prevent others from seeing your data while it’s transmitting.
• Visit history: If the website layout looks familiar, but records indicate that you’ve never visited it before, this may be a sign that the website is a forgery of another site that you may trust. Learn more about phishing.

Website security status   Several features of the address bar help keep you aware of the security status for a website. If Google Chrome detects that the website you’re trying to access securely transmits data in encrypted form using SSL, you see the following:

• The background color of the address bar changes to gold.
• The ‘https’ in the URL appears in green for websites with secure connections established.
• A lock icon appears at the end of the address bar. Click the icon to get specific details about the website’s identity, connection, and your visit history.
• The domain of the website you’re on is called out in black text, while the rest of the URL appears in gray text. Phishing websites often trick users by using very similar domains to the website they’re forging.

Warning signs The following signs warn you of possible web dangers:

• The warning ‘This is probably not the site you are looking for!’ appears before Google Chrome loads the webpage if the address in the certificate doesn’t match the website’s actual address.
• The warning ‘The site’s security certificate is not trusted!’ appears if a website’s certificate isn’t from a trusted third-party organization.
• The warnings ‘The site’s security certificate has expired!’ or ‘The server’s security certificate is not yet valid!’ appear if Google Chrome lacks up-to-date information about a website’s identity.
• The warning ‘The server’s security certificate is revoked!’ appears if the certificate’s third-party verifier marks the certificate as invalid.
• If mixed content is detected on a secure webpage, an alert icon appears at the end of the address bar. You can click the icon to open the ‘Security information’ dialog box and see more information. To obtain details about the certificate presented by the website, click the Certificate information button. Learn more about controlling the display of mixed content.
• Phishing and malware detection is enabled by default.
  • If Google Chrome detects that you’re accessing a website that appears to be operating under false pretenses, you’ll see the warning ‘Phishing Detected!’
  • If it detects that your web destination contains deceptive software that attempts to steal your personal information or use your computer to do things that you do not intend, you’ll see the alert ‘Warning: Visiting this site may harm your computer!’

Mixed content or insecure content

Sometimes, an SSL-secured website (denoted by ‘https’ in its web address) loads parts of its content from insecure resources. Content from insecure sources can be viewed by others as a webpage is loading and information is transmitting. Malicious parties could potentially modify these insecure resources and change the look and behavior of the webpage without your knowledge or consent. By default, all content is displayed, but an alert icon appears at the end of the address bar when you encounter a webpage with mixed content. Set preferences for displaying mixed content

1. Click the Tools menu.
2. Select Options.
3. Click the Under the Hood tab.
4. In the ‘Security’ section, select your preferred display level in the drop-down menu labeled ‘When there is mixed content on secure (SSL) pages.’
   • ‘Block all insecure content’: With this option, broken image icons appear in the place of insecure images. Frames and iframes are replaced by a red box. You can override this setting for a particular webpage during your current browsing session by clicking on the Show all content link on the message that appears at the top of the page.
   • ‘Allow insecure images’: Insecure images load, but are marked so that you can identify them.
   • ‘Allow all content to load’: All web elements load regardless of their security state.
5. Click the Close button.

Insecure content alert If you’ve selected the option to block insecure content, Google Chrome displays a message at the top of the page if you visit an SSL-secured webpage with insecure content detected. Click the Show all content link to let Google Chrome load all web elements only if you accept the possibility that your connection might be intercepted, or click the x icon to dismiss the bar. Clicking the link overrides the preference level you’ve set for the current webpage during your current browsing session.

Advanced security settings

Google Chrome has security measures in place to help protect you as you browse the Web. Those who want to tweak their default settings can do so:

1. Click the Tools menu.
2. Select Options.
3. Click the Under the Hood tab and find the ‘Security’ section.

Click the Close button for the ‘Google Chrome Options’ dialog box when you’re done to make your security settings take effect.   Source:google.com

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