How To Set Up Google As A Default Browser

Google Chrome is ane of the nigh popular browsers in the world, second simply to Net Explorer by well-nigh measures. Why? Lay credit at the feet of Chrome'southward vibrant extension catalog, popular app platform, and deep integration with Google services.

It's a fantastic browser, but just as with Firefox there's an ideal way to get the most out of Chrome. Here's how to set upwards Chrome the right manner.

Sync your data

One of the best features of Chrome is its ability to sync your bookmarks, browsing history, and open tabs across all your devices. Chrome syncs all your data via a Google Account (what you apply to sign in to Gmail and other Google services). If you don't have a Google Account you'll be able to create 1 using the same method below.

Open up Chrome and type chrome://settings into the accost bar. At the top of the page that opens, click Sign in to Chrome under the "Sign in" heading. A pop-up window will appear giving you lot the selection to either sign in using your Google account or create an business relationship.

One time you lot've signed in, click new push button under "Sign in" that says Advanced sync settings… Here, you'll be able to determine what to sync beyond your devices, such as apps, autofill data, bookmarks, extensions, history, passwords, settings, themes, and open tabs. Just uncheck anything you don't want to use so click OK.

Privacy conscious users should also note you can encrypt all your synced data with your own passphrase that is never sent to Google. The downside of this approach is that if you lot lose your passphrase yous won't be able to access your synced data. Using your own passphrase also means Google Now won't be able to advise sites based on your browsing history and yous tin can't access your saved passwords on passwords.google.com. Personally, I'd become for the personalized passphrase option and and then stash information technology in a password manager for subsequently access.

Import bookmarks

bookmarksimportchrome — Chrome can easily import your bookmarks for y'all.

If you lot're moving to Chrome from another browser you'll of course need to bring your bookmarks with you. Chrome makes it really easy to take hold of bookmarks from other browsers. Click on the "hamburger" menu icon and navigate to Bookmarks > Import bookmarks and settings… This will open up a popular-upwards window in a new tab. At the top you'll see a drib downwardly menu listing all the browsers you accept installed on your PC that Chrome tin grab data from. Simply select the right browser, click Import and you're done.

This carte also gives you the option to import bookmarks from an HTML file if your browser isn't listed. You can detect instructions online on how to export your bookmarks to an HTML file from Firefox, Internet Explorer, Opera, and Safari.

Extensions

Chrome has a very vibrant extension and app ecosystem. It's hard to choose but a few items that nearly users will find useful, simply we'll do our best.

Hangouts is a groovy choice since it allows Google's messaging app to behave every bit a desktop programme.

VPN provider TunnelBear offers an easy-to-apply proxy extension for Chrome that allows you to enjoy encrypted, condom browsing. If you're overseas it can also help yous become by geoblocking for many sites, although not Hulu. The downside to TunnelBear is that a gratis business relationship only gives you 500MB of bandwidth a calendar month, for more than than that you lot'll need a paid account.

Mute Tab Shortcuts is too a keen extension that lets you mute multiple tabs with audio playing at one time.

Finally, Vimium is a fantastic extension that lets you control your browser with keyboard shortcuts. Vimium is designed to work similarly to Vim, a popular keyboard-controlled text editor among hacker types.

For more Chrome extensions cheque out our look at productivity-focused tools in the Chrome Spider web Shop.