40 10 - 23 July 2019
Chrome may be the most popular browser, but
it’s far from perfect – andit’s about to get worse.
Robert Irvineexplains why you should switch to a
faster, smarter andmore private alternative
COVE
R
FEAT
URE
W
ith more than two billion
users worldwide, and a
69% share of the desktop
browser market (bit.ly/share479),
Chrome is by far the most popular
means of accessing the web. It’s fast,
easy to use, offers thousandsof
extensions and syncs your bookmarks,
passwords and other important
browsing data across all your devices.
What’s not to like?
The answer is “quite a lot,actually”, because Google has
gradually transformed Chrome
from the savvy Internet Explorer
alternative into a data-guzzling,
web-controlling, anticompetitive
beast, much like the Microsoft
browser it superseded. Recent
‘under the bonnet’ changes
announced by the search giant
threaten both users and developers,
yet on the surface Chrome has failed
to offer anything new.It’s not all bad
news, however,
because other
browsers are
available that
offer a more stable,
innovative and privacy-
respecting online experience. In this
feature, we explain why it’s time
to ditch Chrome, what you should
use instead and how you can make
the switch simple and painless.St opUsingGOOGLECHROMESt+