Google Chrome Review

http://www.google.com/chrome

Overall 4.00 of 5 view all 7 reviews

LisaCarey
Houston, TX

I Feel the Need, the Need for Internet Browsing Speed

quality conscious, adventurous, Every day computer user, constantly online, a researcher, experienced parent, into trying new things, a woman

show all »

Pros

easier browsing, fast, quick searches

Cons

downloads, using publishing programs, juvenile

JAN

2009

Update 4/26/09

The download function now works better- however, it is still a problem. Now you can download and you simply choose from your download folder to use the music, picture, etc. But this means that now your download folder contains SO much information. I use a great many images and now have to consistently clean out my download so as not to take up too much space. All the other comments remain the same, as does my recommendation.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Recent news articles regarding Internet Explorer and possible gaps in it's security and the recommendation of a friend caused me to try out Google Chrome, the latest in a series of Google services offered. Google Chrome is currently in beta testing and is an Internet browser like Internet Explorer, Firefox or Safari.

Things I like about Google Chrome:

it's fast - so fast that if I just need a quick search or look-see it is my browser of choice
immediate search in Google from the tool bar
easy ability to save your favorite websites
the use of tabs to open new sites -- if one site crashes the remaining sites remain open

My favorite thing about Google Chrome: My absolutely favorite function of Google Chrome is that your "home page" opens up with a grid of your most often visited sites allowing you to quickly and easily open and access frequently visited pages. So, regardless if you put Viewpoints in your favorites, if it is a site you frequently visit or even daily it is automatically saved in the grid for you for easy access. To the right hand side of the page are the "next" in line frequently visited pages as well as recent bookmarks accessed or recently closed tabs -- say you closed a page/tab and didn't really want to.

Thing I dislike about Google Chrome:

the download function: since I use my laptop for personal and professional use the download function is cumbersome. You download to a temp file, then have to go into it and open and then save it to your computer in order to use it. This takes far too much time as well as quite often the download isn't fully "there" leaving you with the need to go ahead and move over to IE just to start the process all over again.
"snap" whenever a page won't load you get this graphic that says "snap" as if I was a 12 year old watching the Disney channel. There is a frowny face and then you are asked if you would like to wait to see if the page responds or "kill the page."
I don't like the reference to "kill the page."
searches: the who what when where and why of searches are stored, accessed, reported and analyzed on Google Chrome -- be sure to completely read your user's agreement.
security leaks - it has been very easy for "hackers" to get through Google Chrome -- causing your PC to come to a screeching halt.

What I hate about Google Chrome: Google Chromedoesn't have all the features that many other browsers do. As a result many of the publishing tools and sites I use (such as here on Viewpoints) are not fully functioning and capable to me. When using it I have to use bulky and time consuming html coding -- but only certain ones are accepted. For example when using Google Chrome I cannot use the Bold, Italic or even the spell check feature on many publishing programs like Viewpoints or other sites and blogs where you wish to contribute.

Bottom Line: Google Chrome is fast, very, very fast. But if I am consistently coming to a screeching halt while traveling at warp speed as well getting the juvenile phrase of "snap" I am not pleased at using it. The most problematic feature is the download function. After several attempts to get this to work easily and effectively I gave up. Like me, many other users have reported that after a month of use that they returned to their old Internet browser.

Yes, it is the beta version, so really I am just taking it for a test drive, but I have limited my use of Google Chrome to those that resemble a quick trip to the carry out as opposed to a trip to the grocery store. Hopefully once some of the bugs are worked out I can even use it for the "bulk" of my Internet browsing use.

Someday it could be the best Internet browser out there. But right now personally it's average, for use professionally it's not even that.

Last edited on Apr 26, 2009

Google Chrome is recommended by LisaCarey

Review inappropriate? Copyright violation?

add LisaCarey to my friends list add to my favorites subscribe to feed

Comments about LisaCarey’s Review

In response to LisaCarey's comment from Jun 5, 2009 at 5:26PM:

:( I had trouble using b/i on another site so I can see why it might be buggy. I downloaded this recently (about a month ago) so maybe it's a newer version I'm using. Well, I still think they need a lot of improvements before I can use chrome full time.

In response to vivasuzi's comment from Jun 5, 2009 at 12:22PM:

I did just post one today and I still can't get the bold to stay unless I do the html code. Frustrating.

You should try it on VP again, it works fine for me here :)

In response to squeegeebeckenheim's comment from Apr 26, 2009 at 7:17AM:

thanks for your comments! and for stopping by to read. I did add an edit to the review today regarding the downloads. They are a little easier but now more cumbersome to my hard drive space. :-D

I know this is a fairly old review, but just wanted to say thanks anyway...i'm favoriting it. Hopefully a number of things have been worked out since when you wrote it. Did NOT know about the extensiveness of the searches being analyzed and such. Scary. Hey, I'm reading this on Chrome and actually did a Viewpoints search for Chrome reviews - so maybe they'll take note of yours.

I'm actually not sure I've experienced the download issue. Seems like something I would remember, so maybe (hopefully) they've fixed that one, at least. Main thing I wanted to comment on is your complaint of the whole sad face and "kill" the pages issue. I HATE HATE HATE that as well. It makes me feel like I have done something wrong, esp. if I choose to "kill." And why DO they have to use the word "kill"? Good to know I'm not the only one who hates it. Oh, and well-put with the Disney Channel reference. ;)

The dislikes are enough to tell me I wouldn't be interested in it. I never knew there were different web browsers until I came to Viewpoints. I guess I just thought Internet Explorer was the way to get around.

In response to LisaCarey's comment from Jan 31, 2009 at 8:27PM:

Another bad thing is that there are certain sites you just can access, because Chrome doesn't meet that site's requirements. For example, in my job, there's a site I have to go to to get my pay stub. I cannot access that site in Chrome. I wouldn't suggest that anyone use Chrome as their only browser.

In response to JazzSinger's comment from Jan 31, 2009 at 6:59PM:

You are so right, I couldn't find anyone else experiencing this problem so thought maybe it was just me -- my laptop and my software. Nice to know I am not crazy! You can use the tags but I like to just be able to copy paste from word then highlight for bold, bullets, italics etc. and you can't do that from within Chrome. One other site I can, Viewpoints, I can't and a few other places so it depends and I don't like the "it depends"

You are always on top of the latest!

What I don't like about Chrome is that it and Yahoo Mail do not get along at all. The new version of Yahoo Mail hangs up a lot in Chrome. In reference to the comment about HTML tags, I wrote a Viewpoints review in Chrome and was able to use the 'bold' HTML tag, so maybe the folks at Google have made some improvements.