Google Chrome On Mac Problems
Update Google Chrome On Mac

Every Mac comes with Apple's Safari web browser installed on it, and lots of people use it. Safari is far from the only browser you can use on a Mac, however. While the built-in option has benefits, you may want a different program, like Google Chrome. May 27, 2016 Although leading Web browsers now share most of the same features, important differences remain. Erik Eckel explores whether Google Chrome or Apple's Safari best serves Mac business users.

For the last few years, Firefox has been the only browser I use regularly. I’ve never cheated on it. Oh sure, I’ve had brief flings. I tried my best to really like Safari on my Macs, but it always left me cold. I don’t use Windows enough to have Internet Explorer as my main browser. And none of the Linux browsers, such as Konqueror, floated my boat enough to lure me away from Firefox when I was using one of those operating systems.

Yes, no matter how hard I tried to make things work with other browsers, I always drifted back to Firefox.

Well, no more. As of today, I am dumping Firefox. I have a new love.

Google Chrome.

Full Speed Ahead with Chrome!
I just installed the beta of Chrome on my Mac and it absolutely screams! The difference between it and poor, chunky Firefox is pretty much night and day. Pages load significantly faster; even media-heavy sites like Facebook, where I play Farmville, are quite zippy.

Google Chrome is giving me a browsergasm! And I love it!

I’ve noticed that even if I keep a ton of tabs open in each window, Chrome seems to use less memory and to manage it much more effectively. Firefox has always been a huge memory pig. I closed Firefox down a little while ago and it had been using about 378MB of memory. I have about the same number of tabs open in a couple of windows in Chrome and it’s only using about 154MB.

What Went Wrong With Firefox?
So where did Firefox go astray? For some reason it seems to have lagged behind in some respects. It’s still uses up ridiculous amounts of memory and loads pages significantly slower than Chrome or even Safari.

I seriously hope that the Firefox developers are taking a good look at both browsers and are figuring out ways to improve their browser’s performance. It simply cannot continue to be as pokey as it is, nor can it continue to consume memory like a whale swallowing plankton.

If a longtime and proud Firefox user—I still have the Firefox 1.0 T-shirt I bought for $20 at a trade show years ago—is switching to Chrome, is Firefox in trouble? Will people abandon it in droves in favor of Chrome, Safari, or some other browser? I sure hope not—but you never know.

Take a look at browser statistics and how they’ve changed over the last few years. Years ago, Internet Explorer ruled the Web browsing roost. These days, Firefox is really closing in. But Chrome is no minor competitor that Firefox can afford to ignore. Firefox could very well find itself in last place if improvements aren’t made to it—and quickly.

Despite my current love of Chrome, I will be rooting for Firefox to be improved. I hate it when any one company gets too much of a particular market, so I want lots of browser choices available. Word 2016 for mac change footnotes from roman numerals. The more competition in browsers, the better off all Web users will be.

So I hope Firefox is buffed up in future releases. If it is, I reserve the right to switch back.

Firefox, I hardly knew ye.

Why Not Safari?
It might seem strange to some folks that Safari wouldn’t be my default browser when I’m using my Macs. Well, I’ve tried very hard to like it, I really have. But I’ve just never been able to warm up to it. No matter how hard I’ve tried, it’s always remained an also-ran browser (except on the iPhone—but that’s only because I had no other choice).

There’s something cold and icky about the Safari interface. It’s not a very friendly-looking browser at all. I also hate the fact that it has no sidebar like Firefox. Okay, Chrome doesn’t have it either, but it has enough other virtues to help me overlook the sidebar thing.

For a while it looked like Apple had smartened up and put the tabs at the top of the browser, but Apple reversed itself and now the tabs work the same way they do on Firefox. After using Chrome, I hate having the tabs display that way. I want them at the top like they are in Chrome.

Safari also doesn’t have the excellent extension ecosystem that Firefox has (and that I hope Chrome will eventually have on the Mac). Apple has never gone out of its way to make it easy or fun for Safari users to extend its functionality. This is yet another example of Apple trying to exercise the maximum amount of control over its products at the expense of the functionality needs of the user.

With the onslaught of Chrome on the Mac and in Linux, I think Safari’s days are numbered with its current market share. (It’s already been announced that Chrome surpassed it in December.) There really isn’t anything about it that is particularly appealing, even on the Mac. If Apple is going to save Safari, it will have to step up its browser game to match the more dynamic and extensible Chrome and Firefox.

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If you use Google Chrome to browse the web or to work in Google Docs, and it starts behaving erratically, or you start seeing lots of intrusive adverts, it’s likely the browser has been infected with malware.

While it’s frustrating, and sometimes alarming, it’s not necessarily harmful to your Mac. Nevertheless, it’s best to get rid of it as soon as you realize it’s there.

Malware can take a number of different forms:

1. Adware

This type of malware downloads itself to your Mac, usually in the form of a browser extension, or hidden in a file you’ve downloaded. It displays adverts in a web browser or on your desktop.

2. Pop-up windows

These are a bit like adware. Examples, like a Chrome pop up virus, appear when you use a web browser, either on top of your current browser window, or behind it and take you to a website you haven’t chosen to go to.

3. Hyperlinks

This is more difficult to spot. This type of malware, or Chrome redirect virus, turns regular text on a web page into hyperlinks. If you click on one of the links, it will take you to a web page selling something, or urging you to download a file.

4. Spyware

Spyware is often hidden in a trojan, disguised to look like a legitimate file — perhaps a movie or a software update — but when you download it, it immediately starts stealing personal data, including financial details, web pages you’ve visited, passwords, and even the keys you press on your keyboard.

How to know if Google Chrome has a virus

There are a number of signs that you have Chrome malware on your Mac.

Chrome starts running very slowly and using up lots of processor cycles. Often, the first sign is that your Mac’s fans start running loudly when you’re not doing anything that’s processor intensive. If that happens, you can use Activity Monitor to confirm that it’s Chrome that’s stressing the CPU.
You start seeing adverts unrelated to any site you’ve visited or search term you’ve used.
A browser toolbar you didn’t deliberately download appears in your copy of Chrome.
Pop up windows appear frequently on sites that don’t normally use pop-ups.
You discover an application in your Applications folder that you didn’t download.

Google Chrome On Mac Problems

How to remove adware and malware from Chrome

The easy way: Scan your Mac with CleanMyMac X

CleanMyMac X is a powerful app for protecting your Mac from all kinds of malware threats. It can detect and neutralize adware, spyware, worms, ransomware, and other vulnerabilities and hazards. Here’s how to use it:

Download CleanMyMac X and launch the app.
Click Malware Removal tab.
Click Scan.

If CleanMyMac finds something suspicious, it will offer the immediate removal.

The manual way

1. Uninstall suspicious apps

Google recommends that when you discove

Should I Google Chrome On My Mac