The days of autoplaying videos with sound has finally ended as Google introduces several new features and fixes with Chrome 66, which is now available to download.
Over the past weeks, the company has continuously released updates for several of its products, which are intended to improve the user experience and more. Now, it appears that it's the popular web browser's turn to receive an upgrade that includes several improvements, fixes, and an end to the autoplay videos, one of the most annoying types of advertisement online.
Keeping Ads Bearable
Last year, the developers announced that Google's browser will receive an update that allows users to mute the audio on selected websites. It marked the company's first step to address online features that users find disruptive.
The new update supposedly handles it automatically via new policies that determine whether the media on the webpage must be allowed to play based on several conditions. Given the aforementioned requirement, content can start automatically if it has no audio or muted by default, the website has been added to the Home Screen on mobile platforms, the user regularly plays media on the website, and if the webpage was previously visited or opened during a browsing session.
Additional Improvements
Now that Chrome 66 is available for download, users can likewise take advantage of other changes such as a new alert prompting the user if malicious code was installed, which could potentially cause crashes during usage.
Once identified, the software will instruct the user to remove the application or add-on that causes the crash. A future upgrade, which will be included in version 68, will block any third-party programs or add-ons from automatic installation.
Passwords saved on Google Smart Lock can now be exported to the latest version of the browser. Users can go to Settings and Advanced options and click on Manage Passwords. A new option that says Export Passwords that saves all of the user's credentials as a .CSV file with a clear text will be available.
Protection From Spectre
With Chrome 66, Google includes another feature that will mitigate the chances for malicious programs and websites to take advantage of the Spectre flaw. The feature is called Site Isolation and is currently in its trial run. It will hopefully prove successful to plug any vulnerability, which could take advantage of certain processes in giving away sensitive data.
Web pages with older trust certificates from Symantec will no longer work on the latest version of the browser. Other brands owned by the aforementioned company such as RapidSSL, GeoTrust, Equifax, Thawte, and Verisign, are likewise blocked.
Moreover, websites with SSL/TLS certificates issued before June 1, 2016, are likewise included on the list.
