Google to proactively alert Chrome users about online safety threats

The Safety Check feature will also let you know if any of your extensions are potentially harmful, you're not using the latest version of Chrome, or site permissions need your attention

New Delhi: Google has announced a new safety feature that will run automatically in the background on Chrome on desktop and will proactively alert users if their passwords saved in Chrome have been compromised.

The Safety Check feature will also let you know if any of your extensions are potentially harmful, you’re not using the latest version of Chrome, or site permissions need your attention. These alerts will appear in the three-dot menu in Chrome so you can take action. Safety Check for Chrome on desktop will now run automatically in the background, said the company.

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Google is also extending Safety Check to revoke sites’ permissions — like access to your location or microphone — if you haven’t visited them in a long time. And Safety Check will now flag if you’re getting a lot of notifications from sites you don’t engage with that much, so you can easily disable them, Google said in a statement late on Thursday.

When selected, the new Safety Check page opens up for the user to take action. Last year, Google introduced performance controls like Memory Saver mode to help Chrome on desktop run even smoother. The company recently added more details about tabs memory usage when you hover over them in Memory Saver mode, including the potential memory saved when they go inactive. We’ve made it easier to specify sites that should always remain active, said Google.

Tab groups help declutter and organise tabs in Chrome. Rolling out over the next few weeks in Chrome on desktop, you’ll be able to save tab groups so you can access them on other desktop devices and easily pick your projects back up.