Chrome 16 Released By Google; Offers Multiple User Support

Search engine giant Google has announced the release of Chrome 16.0.912.63 stable for Windows, Mac, Linux and Chrome Frame and one of the interesting feature of this version of Chrome is the ability to create multiple profiles for a single instance.

Multiple user support is very much the same as that of Chrome’s Sync feature which allows you to access the same bookmarks, history, themes and preferences. But if someone else adds their own bookmarks or extensions, then they get synced as well and you may not want. Multi-user support enables you to share a computer and help you to maintain separate identities without the need to log off the OS. This feature will be helpful for SMEs and single-computer households.

Creating New Profile

For creating new profile, you need to first sign into Chrome through “Options” and then clicking on Personal Stuff and then clicking “Add new user”. Once you do it a fresh instance of Chrome will open and then it will be ready to be customized with own set of bookmarks, apps, extensions and other settings. The new user can also go to Personal Stuff menu in the new window and then they can change the user name and the icon. As soon as you do it, Chrome will open into separate windows while switching between profiles.

However, Google says in its blog post, that the feature is not directed to secure private data against other users. It says that Google wants to offer this functionality as a quick and simple UI expediency for people who are sharing Chrome on the same computer. Apart from the above feature, Chrome 16 also features several security fixes, six of which have been labeled as high.