It won’t be an overstatement if we call Google Chrome the most popular web browser of our age. Most people prefer it to the other browsers in the market, and it’s not a surprise since Chrome is perfect for almost every type of online tasks. It is not even limited to computers – Chrome has successfully extended itself to smartphone users as well. It’s great performance and commendable speed makes it the best option for every type of Internet users. Though people are quite tech savvy nowadays, there are some super cool Chrome features you might not know about. So hold your breath and go through this list of superb Chrome features everyone should know about.
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1. Go Incognito
We all value our privacy and security, especially when it comes to the cyber space. Cleaning your browsing history and cookies on Chrome is essential for protecting our privacy, but there might be times when you either won’t have much time to clean your browser, or you’ll simply want a quick and secure browsing session. Going incognito on Chrome will save you from the trouble of having to remove your search history and cookies. One work of caution though; using incognito mode will not mask your browsing information from your internet providers and intruders. Using firewalls and antivirus programs is crucial for ensuring maximized security and privacy.
2. Search into Different Websites
You can search directly into different websites, along with the search engines you normally use, by adding those websites in the search engine feature. To do this, go to Settings>Search Engines>Manage Search Engines, and click ‘Add’. A form will appear; enter the URL of the desired website along with other information and click ‘Add’. The perk of using this feature is that you’ll be able to get information directly from any website.
3. Never Lose a Tab Again
Sometimes, you may end up accidentally closing a tab on Chrome without meaning to do so. That can be quite frustrating, but Chrome has a feature that allows us to open a recently closed tab. The process is really simple: just right click tab bar and click’ reopen closed tab’. Any tab you’ve recently closed, intentionally or accidentally, will be reopened. This leaves you with one less thing to be worried and frustrated about. This is one of the most valuable secret Google Chrome features everybody should know about.
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4. Create Separate Profiles for your Kids
You might be worried about what kind of content your kids might come across online. Worry no more, because this Chrome feature allows parents to create profiles for their kids on chrome to monitor them and filter inappropriate content. For creating a new profile, open Chrome settings, and go to ‘People’. Here you can edit the user settings, and if the account you’re creating is for your kids, you can check the ‘Supervise this person to control and view the websites they visit from your Google Account’ option.
5. The Secret T-Rex Game
Remember the T-Rex that appears on your Chrome window every time you fail to connect with the internet? Did you know that’s actually a simple but fun game Chrome is secretly hiding inside it? It can be accessed by disconnecting internet, opening a new tab in Chrome and entering this URL: chrome://network-error/-106. Click the space bar, or the ‘Up’ key and the T-Rex will start running. You can use the same keys to help it jump. If you’re using your smartphone, you’ll need to swap up or simply touch your screen to make the T-Rex jump. There’s so much good in this world we don’t know about yet.
6. The Quick Calculation Feature
You don’t have to open a calculator app for quick calculations. Just enter the calculation and Google Chrome will show you the result. For example, if you want to add 43 and 12, just type this in your address bar:’ 43+12’. You’ll see that Google Chrome will automatically display the result. Share this secret Chrome feature with your friends and amaze them.
7. Pin Tab
You might want an easy access to your favorite webpages without having to find them in your bookmarks. Pinning a tab in Google Chrome will make it appear as a favicon in a corner of our browser every time you open it. Click right on the tab you want to pin and click ‘Pin Tab’ – the tab will become a favicon and get pinned to the left. You can get rid of the pinned tab, by right clicking on it and further clicking ‘unpin the tab’.
8. Download files to any Location by Dragging from Chrome
Files, once downloaded, can be dragged from Chrome to desktop or any location in your computer. This saves us from the trouble of having to cut and paste the document from one location to another later. To do this, drag the file from the bottom of Google Chrome, where downloaded files appear, to whatever location you want to save it to. This simple feature makes it lot easier for us to manage the important documents.
9. Sync Bookmarks and Extensions Using your Google Account
Bookmarks keep it easy for us to store important pages from the web in our browsers without actually having to save those pages. If the browser gets uninstalled, the bookmarks and extension can be lost. Use the sync feature to secure your extensions and bookmarks using your Google account. Log into our Google account and go to the ‘Settings’ page on your Google Chrome browser. In the ‘People’ section, you can find the ‘sync’ option. You can also import your bookmarks and settings from other browser by using this option below your profile in the ‘People’ area in Chrome.
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These are by no means all of the important features Chrome is hiding. There are many more of such secret features hidden inside Google Chrome you need to discover. These few features, however, are good for a start and will definitely make your browsing experience more convenient, fun, and effective.
( CTRL + SHIFT + T ) is the best one.