Chrome 17 Offers Pre-Rendered Web Pages, Malware Protection.

Chrome 17 has just been released, offering pre-rendered web pages and malware protection. If you’re a Google Chrome user (and haven’t blocked automatic updates) you’re now using version 17 of the browser.

As is typical for Chrome, the update doesn’t add any drastic changes, but it does include a few new features. Most noticeable of these is pre-rendering. When you enter a URL into the omnibox and it auto-completes, Chrome will begin to load that site before you press enter. If you’re on a fast connection the page might seem to appear instantly because it has been rendered before you were done typing the URL.

I’m a Chrome user myself, so I took this feature on a test drive. It works as advertised. Sites will sometimes load instantly. Your connection speed will determine how well this feature works for you.

The other feature added by Chrome 17 is protection from files that contain malware. Whenever you download a file the browser will check it against a list of known bad files. If the file is executable, it also checks to see if the site you’re downloading from is known to host malware. Any suspicious results from these queries will cause a warning to appear.
The idea of Google checking your downloads for malware might cause privacy concerns. If so, the “Under the Hood” section of the browser’s preferences includes the option to disable it.