Google released Chrome 17 offering faster browsing and improved security features.

Only couple of hours back Google released the latest version of it’s web browser, Chrome 17. This update comes with few minor enchantments along with new features like “Prerendering” web pages and improving protection against malicious downloads.

For the very first time Google is introducing it’s “Prerendering” feature which will render the web page in the background while you are typing the address on your Chrome’s address bar. However, this feature works only for frequently visited sites which also means it is pretty much useless if you are visiting any new web site. Chrome will render the page only and if only you hit the Enter button once you are done with typing the site address. Regardless your browsing behavior, this new feature will definitely help you to visit certain web pages almost instantly at certain point.

The latest version of Chrome also included some great security features which is really cool and of course it is way better than it’s previous versions. From now on every time you download a file, chrome will compare it against a whiltelist of it’s known-good files and publishers. It also check executable files like ”.exe” and “.msi”. If for some reason the executable file doesn’t match the list, Chrome will check with Google for more information, such as whether the website you’re accessing hosts a high number of malicious downloads or not. Users will see an Warning message if the file seems to be risky to download or to use.

“It’s important to note that any time Safe Browsing sends data back to Google, such as information about a suspected phishing page or malicious file, the information is only used to flag malicious activity and is never used anywhere else at Google. After two weeks, any associated information, such as your IP address, is stripped, and only the URL itself is retained.” says The Chromium Blog.