Google released the latest beta version of its browser, Google Chrome, today and at least one of the changes is likely to make a lot of phone tech support folks very happy.
In addition to the standard fare updates of making things generally faster and better, the browser now opens all of its settings in a new browser tab, making them entirely searchable and reachable by URL.
It’s not that these standard fare updates are anything to scoff at – Google now boasts that a faster JavaScript engine “sports a whopping 66% improvement” – but if you’ve ever been deemed the family computer technician, then you know the pain of trying to direct someone to settings buried in the browser. It can be frustrating to say the least.
So, while an 80% decrease in CPU usage due to GPU-accelerated video is exciting, even more exciting is a browser settings menu that comes with URLs for all the individual settings. Now, instead of opening the settings menu in a pop-up window, Chrome opens them in a new tab. The settings are fully searchable and if you know where the setting your looking for is, so can the person on the other end of the line.
Rather than giving directions, you can now include direct URLs to the proper settings in chat or email, making giving remote directions that much easier. (I once spent an hour on the phone trying to get to one setting. This is revolutionary in the world of phone tech support, trust me.)
What’s the only catch now? The person asking you for help likely isn’t running Chrome in the first place. Dang.
Google gives a run-down of this new feature in a video:
Oh, and so we don’t leave anything out – the latest version also lets you password protect your passwords. That seems like a good idea.
