A recent study by Statista reports Google Chrome holds 61.80% of global market share and is therefore the world’s leading browser with Safari following at 24.36%, and MS Edge, Firefox, and others making-up the remainder of the list. Google Chrome has worked hard to win this race and their maintenance regime is core to their success. In their never-ending battles with hackers, and bad actors, Chrome administrators regularly patch the world’s most popular browser to solve security issues as they arise. To ensure consumers are protected by the latest code, Chrome will automatically push-out updates as new versions become available. With these updates, users sometimes notice their interface looks or acts differently. This is why network administrators can delay these changes and enable them when it’s more convenient, and not in the middle of a workday.
Chrome administrators can choose when to roll out browser updates across networks by placing them on a release channel. Chrome browser provides five channels: Stable, Extended stable, Beta, Dev, and Canary.
Google recommends network administrators keep users on the Stable Channel which has been fully tested by the Chrome team and is the most secure version. The browsers are updated every two or three weeks with minor releases, and monthly for major releases. That’s why a big update is newsworthy and IT Dept managers should pay attention.
What problems does the new release solve?
That information is secret. Access to bug details and links are kept restricted until most users’ browsers are updated. But we have some clues. The numbered fixes come with four-word descriptors like, ‘Out of bounds memory access in libavif,’ and, ‘Integer overflow in Skia’, and one imagines these are small holes where miscreants can enter and wreak havoc.
Network administrators can pause the updates, but ultimately, they’re on the clock in terms of making these improvements live. The new code is the solution to problems which have suddenly become preventable.
Kearns Technology can help your IT Dept manage the various devices your workers bring to the office. KTI specializes in patch management and can easily maintain your fleet of devices quickly and with minimal downtime. Please reach out and tell us about your device management needs and we’ll show you how we can simplify and secure everything with our best-in-class IT monitoring service.