Google has moved Chrome 157 into the stable release channel for Windows, Mac and Linux. The announcement on Tuesday, 3 November, covers the desktop browser used for everyday browsing. Google says delivery will take place over days or weeks, so computers in the same Nigerian office may receive the release at different times.
The company counts 213 security fixes in this update. Its list includes problems it rates critical in parts of the browser that handle graphics and memory. That number counts fixes across the release. It cannot tell a user how many problems affected a particular computer or whether anyone has accessed information on it.
For a computer that stays open through a working week, an important step is easy to miss. Chrome can download an update in the background, but it needs to restart to apply a pending update. Opening another tab in the same browser session does not restart the program.
What it means for you. On a Windows PC or Mac, open the menu at the top right of Chrome, choose Help, then About Google Chrome. This page displays the installed version and checks whether an update is available for that computer. If it offers Relaunch, save work in progress and select it to apply the update.
Before restarting, check whether any work is open in a private browsing window. Chrome normally brings back ordinary tabs and windows after a restart, but it does not reopen Incognito windows. You can postpone the restart until a suitable break. The pending update takes effect when you next restart Chrome.
On Linux, Google directs users to the system’s package manager to obtain updates. The rollout notice identifies version 157.0.8103.38 for Linux and builds ending in .38 or .39 for Windows and Mac. The version shown on the computer, together with the update status, is a better guide to what is installed than the date of the announcement alone.