Chrome works quite well with Google sites and services such as YouTube and Gmail. It also manages its system resources differently than other browsers. Its V8 JavaScript engine was developed from scratch at Google, and may improve your experience on heavily scripted websites and applications. Essentially, it should make the things you do on the Internet faster.
Google this week released Chrome 72, a refresh that includes no new notable user-facing features but does take a first step toward ending support for older web encryption protocols.
Chrome 72 also patches 58 vulnerabilities reported by security researchers, who were paid a total of $50,500 in bug bounties.
Chrome updates in the background, so most users can just relaunch the browser to install the latest iteration. To manually update, select “About Google Chrome” from the Help menu under the vertical ellipsis at the upper right; the resulting tab either shows the browser has been updated or displays the download process before presenting a “Relaunch” button. Those new to Chrome can download version 72 in versions for Windows, macOS and Linux from this Google website.
Each browser maker set its own schedule for de-supporting TLS 1.0 and 1.1 last year. Google at the time said that Chrome 72 would start the process, and Chrome 81 would pull the plug. In a document spelling out changes to Chrome 72, Google said, “Removal is expected in Chrome 81 (early 2020),” confirming the plan remains on schedule. As of Chrome 81, the browser will not connect to websites supporting just TLS 1.0 and 1.1.
Chrome 72 also drops other bits from the browser.
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HPKP is a security measure meant to combat fraudulent certificate usage by criminals. But Google said it had dangerous side effects and, by the way, was little used. “Although it provides security against certificate misissuance, it also creates risks of denial of service and hostile pinning,” Google argued.
Chrome began the process of getting out from under the FTP protocol, too, with version 72.
FTP, which stands for “File Transfer Protocol,” is a legacy protocol from the earliest days of the Internet, used for exactly its defined purpose: Moving files.
