Letter to Google Chrome

If you have started to love Google Chrome and have made it the default browser on your computer, here's a useful tip regarding your privacy. The tip is more relevant for people who have computers in the living room and that same machine is shared among all other family members.

The address bar in Google Chrome is almost as dangerous as the awesome bar in Firefox.

Why You Need Separate Profiles in Google Chrome

Google Chrome makes it very easy for you to access your web search history including the search queries that you may have typed in the past. Now this may sometimes lead to an slightly embarrassing situation if someone else use your browser because all your past interactions are exposed the moment he or she begins to type in the address bar.

To prevent yourself from getting into this 'not so comfortable' situation, what you can do is create a separate user profile in Google Chrome. Thus all your browser history, bookmarks, cookies, search terms, etc. are not shared with anyone else in the family.

How to Create Profiles in Google Chrome Browser

Unlike Firefox that ships with a Profile Manager, the only way to create multiple profiles in Google Chrome browser is manually. Here's how:

Step 1: Load Chrome and choose "Clear Browsing History" from the Tools menu. This will clear all your private data.

Step 2. Open your Google Chrome installation folder that is available at:

For Windows Vista - C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome
For Windows XP - C:\Documents and Settings\<user>\Local
                     Settings\Application Data\Google\Chrome

Step 3: Open Windows Explorer and switch to the "User Data" folder available inside Chrome installation folder.

Then select the subfolder caleld "default" and make a copy of it in the "User Data" folder itself. Give that copy a name, say, Your_Name. (See screenshot).

Step 4 (Optional): We will now initialize this new "Your_Name" profile to the factory default settings.

Open "Command Prompt", switch to the Chrome Application folder and run the following command:

chrome.exe --user-data-dir="..\User Data\Your_Name" -first-run

Step 5: So our new user profile is ready. To run Google Chrome using this profile instead of the default profile, just create a shortcut on your desktop, Quick launch bar or your Windows Start Menu.

Right click anywhere on the desktop, choose New -> Shortcut and type the following for location:

For Windows Vista: C:\Users\Aryaman\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\Application\chrome.exe  --user-data-dir="..\User Data\Your_Name"

For Windows XP: C:\Documents and Settings\User\Local Settings\Application Data\Google\Chrome\Application\chrome.exe --user-data-dir="..\User Data\Your_Name"

Give this shortcut a "hard to guess" name, change the icon to use that of, say, Microsoft Word and you're done.

Now none of your visits to those "adult sites" would be known to anyone else in the family. And no need for you switch to that incognito browsing mode.