Chrome 86 helps change compromised passwords

Upgrade coming soon for those who have installed the Stable version of Chrome on Windows, macOS and Linux computers. Google has launched the release of the 86 edition already spotted in recent months within the Canary and Beta channels. As always happens in these cases, to force the update, simply open the main menu, select the item "Help" and finally "About Google Chrome" to start the download and installation procedure.

Chrome 86 in download: the news

As for the news (in this article we focus on those intended for desktop platforms), this time the Mountain View group has focused everything on security, focusing in particular on focus on password management (especially during automatic completion through biometric authentication), on protection against potentially malicious downloaded files and on the dynamics that regulate the sending of forms.



Let's see in detail the new features. The first is the one that guides the user to change the compromised passwords or those subject to the many leaks and violations perpetrated against online services. Now, following the automatic check (accessible by typing chrome: // settings / passwords / check in the address bar), the "Change password" button appears, which refers to the single platform.



There is yet another turn of the screw on the so-called mixed content, partly already blocked with the previous releases. These are files hosted by an HTTP source with links from an HTTPS page. This time it's up to executables and archives: .exe, .apk, .zip and .iso. To change the setting it is possible to act on the chrome flag: // flags / # treat-unsafe-downloads-as-active-content.

Also added some experimental features to be activated if desired by acting on the respective flags :

Edit passwords in settings; deactivation of automatic completion in mixed forms, that is the forms hosted by HTTPS pages that send information to HTTP destinations (Disable autofill for mixed forms); linked to the previous one, it shows a notice asking you to confirm the sending of the data entered in a mixed form (Mixed forms interstitial); creation of a shortcut on the desktop for browsing incognito (Enable Incognito Desktop Shortcut); management of each DecoderBuffer as a complete frame by the H.264 decoder (H.264 Decoder Buffer Is Complete Frame); new layout for the page dedicated to content management (Content settings page redesign); added support for AVIF (Enable AVIF image format) images. The usual bugfixes and a series of improvements for software stability are added to the changelog. The debut of version 86 in the Stable channel of Chrome coincides with that of the Beta 87 and the Canary 88.

Source: Chrome Releases