Many computer systems are not overly well protected when someone else
manages to get physical access to the computer. This can be a family
member, a colleague at work, your boss, or a thief who just stole your
laptop at Starbucks.
While user accounts are usually secured by a password, the computer
may not always be locked which in turn means that a third-party can
access most programs, files and information on it unhindered.
If you take web browsers for example, they are not protected by
passwords. The only thing that you can do in most is to add password
protection to authentication information, but that is about it.
Chrome just like Firefox supports profiles that you can create. They
can be used by the same person, for instance to separate work and
entertainment from one another, but also by different family members or
work colleagues on the same system.
Google has added a feature to Chrome recently that allows you to lock
down the browser using your Google password. While that may sound like a
good idea, it has implications which you need to know about:
- Since you are linking your Google account to a profile, it is
necessary to stay logged in whenever you use that profile in Chrome.
This means that you are always signed in to Google when you use the
feature.
- While you can lock your Chrome profile so that it cannot be accessed, you too cannot use Chrome at that time.
- You need to manually lock Chrome, there is no option to do this
automatically (for instance when the computer goes to sleep or is turned
off).
- The feature is experimental at the time of writing which means that it may or may not be integrated natively in the browser.
- Load chrome://flags/#enable-new-profile-management in the address
bar and switch the preference to enabled. This enables the browser's new
profile management.
- Click on the restart button to apply the change and relaunch the browser.
You will see a profile menu at the top right corner of the screen on restart
- Here you need to sign-in to a Google account using your account credentials.
- Once you have done so, you see your profile picture and name listed in the menu.
- Here you also find the lock button which you can click on to lock down the browser.
- This switches Chrome to the user manager window that displays
options to sign in again, create a new account, or browse as guest.
- This page will remain until you sign in again or use one of the
other options provided on the screen. It remains active when you close
Chrome so that you can use it to lock down your browser profile
completely using the feature.
Another interesting option that is provided by this new user
management feature is the option to make available a guest browsing mode
to others.
This is excellent news if you don't want third-parties to use your
browser profile -- see open tabs, bookmarks, visited websites and more
-- without switching to a different browser to provide them with that
option.
Cut the link
You can cut the link at any time by open chrome://settings/ in the
browser and clicking on the "disconnect your Google Account" option
there.
To go back to the old profile manager, open the
chrome://flags/#enable-new-profile-management preference again and set
it to disabled. Restart the browser afterwards and the profile menu is
gone from Chrome once again.
Plans are being concluded to add Verve cards to
the accepted cards for integration on PayPal, according to Chuma Ezirim,
head of e-business at FirstBank Nigeria.
