Google adds some shine to Chrome

Google has released a third beta of its browser Chrome, looking to fix security bugs and boost performance.

Among the most significant updates is a fix for a security problem that allowed potentially harmful websites to spoof their addresses in popup windows.

"This flaw could be used to mislead people about the origin of a website, in order to get them to divulge sensitive information," admitted Chrome programme manager Mark Larson.

Alongside performance improvements for Flash, Silverlight, QuickTime and Windows Media plugins, Google said it has also introduced support for scrolling with a touchpad.

The user interface has also been tweaked with menus reorganised, and an "add to dictionary" ability added to the spellchecker.

The company says Chrome users will automatically be updated to version 03.154.9 over the next few days, but anybody who wants the beta now can update from within the browser's About box. Anybody who'd like to read the full change list can do so here.

Despite surging to 1.7 per cent of the market following release, Chrome's popularity has dipped to just 0.78 per cent, according to Net Applications. It's now the fourth most popular browser behind Apple's Safari.

Click here to read our review of Chrome.