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Google Chrome 4 (Beta) gets the much awaited Bookmark Sync

Google Today released the Beta version of Google Chrome 4, boasting 30% performance improvement over Google Chrome 3.0 the current stable version. Google earlier had a browser sync extension for Firefox , which was one of the main reason I stuck to Firefox in the first place. The browser Sync allowed storing and migrating all your browser data like Bookmarks,History and even passwords across your multiple computers. Google withdrew the Browser Sync for Firefox just before Google Chrome was launched and started promoting its own browser.

Now Google Chrome’s Beta version gets a part of the browser sync, ie the Bookmark part of it. So if you use multiple computers in Home or Office, you just needs to login to your Gmail account to Keep your Bookmarks in Sync.Google uses XMPP (The technology powering Google Talk) to Sync the data between multiple computers.

Also the current Beta version boasts of 400% performance improvement over the Google Chrome 1 (first stable release earlier this year).

Find more details here in Google Chrome Blog

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Windows 7 – Fresh install – Clean,Simple and Slick

After I upgraded to Windows 7  from Windows VISTA ultimate , I was definitely having some gripe and wanted to go back to VISTA. As I had mentioned in my previous post on Windows 7, both Shockwave player and Google Talk kept crashing on me and occasionally even Google Chrome started crashing.

But before I completely ditch Windows 7, I wanted to try the clean install option, afterall in the past I always used to go for clean installs of Windows, only this time I was little lazy about reinstalling all the softwares and backing up data etc.

With the clean install the entire process took only 20-25 minutes and it only required me to select the partition and later for entering the product key (as with VISTA).  After the clean install almost 80% of my drivers were already isntalled and required only minimal driver installtion.

This time around I installed Windows 7 versions of Flash,Google Talk,Adobe reader etc. And it solved all the problems I had with the previous upgraded version of Windows 7. I was able to install almost all softwares I had in my previous system and everything works just fine. Even there is Windows 7 version of Google Pack which gets you all essential softwares.

Now let me get back to some key functionalities like Windows XP Mode in my next post.

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Windows 7 and the crashing Google Talk

The first problem I have discovered after  upgrading to Windows 7 (32 bit Ultimate ) is with the simplest of software’s – Google Talk. Google Talk has crashed 4-5 times in last few days and I have reinstalled it three times, finally dumping the stable version of Google Talk and installing the Google Talk Labs Edition.Ever since I upgraded to Windows 7, I found the typing in Google Talk was very slow, ie the program was not responding as slick as it should.

When I tried to Google for any possible solutions, I found more complaints than answers many users have mentioned Google Talk either slowing down or crashing. Some users have tried running the program in compatibility mode of Windows XP SP3 or Windows VISTA SP2, I tried both options but unsuccessful in both attempts.

One more problem I noticed is whenever the Google Talk was opened in Gmail window, it would crash the Adobe Shockwave player (11.5.1.601). I believe Google is responsible for both these problems.

So expect a newer version of Google Talk for Windows 7 and for time being try the Google Talk Labs Edition.

Read the initial review on Windows 7 here