Google Chrome with updates built-in, alerts you when your passwords are involved in a data breach, uses Safe Browsing to protect you against dangerous websites, malware downloads, and harmful extensions. Google has baked a utility or a feature called “Safety Check” into Chrome Settings to check you about the status of these crucial functions with a single click.
After updating the Privacy Settings card for desktop and Cookies Settings page on Android, the Chromium team is now revamping Cookies and Security pages in Privacy and Security Settings, this time its a major change with banner images and more explanations, Google calling these as “friendly settings”.
Safety Check
Google has added the Safety check UI to the Chrome Settings page. The Settings screen reveals the new feature does with the “Check now” button at the end” of the message: “Chrome can help keep you safe from data breaches, bad extensions, and more”. It checks for issues in the Chrome browser’s updates, passwords, Safe Browsing, and Extensions and displays the results.
Updates: Chrome update status (up to date or not). If an update was already downloaded by Chrome in the background, the “Relaunch” option will be displayed here to install the update.
Passwords: The number of compromised passwords it has found if any. Do note Chrome testing bulk password scan feature behind a flag in Canary.
Safe Browsing: Displays Safe Browsing status i.e standard protection is enabled or not.
Extensions: The details about harmful extensions detected if any.
New Cookies Settings page
If you visit Settings > Privacy and security > Cookies and other site data, you’ll notice new Cookie settings UI similar to the one we covered a few days back for Android Chrome. Things to note here are the new UI is enabled by default in Canary without relation to “Enable improved cookie controls UI in incognito mode” flag and the third-party cookies are blocked by default.
The new Cookie Settings page explains the benefits of using cookies:
“Sites can use cookies to improve your browsing experience, for example, to keep you signed in remembering items in your shopping cart”
New Security Settings
Google Chrome got a dedicated Security card for the first time under Privacy and Security where two protection modes are available for Safe Browsing: Enhanced Protection and Standard Protection, with the latter being enabled by default. Enhanced Protection needs to be manually selected by users as the feature requires data to be sent to Google to verify and warn about password breaches and offer “faster proactive protection against dangerous websites, downloads, and extensions ”
To see the new feature and these changes in Chrome, you should be running the latest Chrome Canary with the ” Privacy Settings redesign” flag enabled. You should know, these features are currently being worked on, may change or disappear at any time.
Related articles:
This is Chrome’s Redesigned Cookie Settings UI on Android
This is Google Chrome’s Friendly Privacy Settings Redesign
Chrome gets Two-Page View for PDFs, here is how to enable it
Google brings Bulk Password Checkup feature to Chrome Settings
