While many computers are well protected, when someone manages to physically access the computer, their security has serious gaps. It can be a family member, a colleague at work, your boss, or a thief who took your laptop.
While user accounts are usually secured with a password, the computer may not always be locked, which means that a third party could access unobstructed access to most programs, files, and stored information.
Let's say, for example, Web browsers that are not protected by passwords.
These programs contain important items that you would not want others to see, Saved passwords, browsing history, latest tabs you opened, and more.
Ο Chrome just like the Firefox supports profiling. They can be used by the same person, but also by different family members or colleagues in the same system.
Google has added recently a feature in Chrome that allows you to lock the browser using your Google password. It may sound like a good idea, but it has implications you should know:
Once you link your Google Account to a profile, it must remain connected whenever you use this profile in Chrôme. This means you will always be signed in to Google when you use the feature.
While you can lock your Chróme profile so that no one else can access it, you will not be able to use Chróme at this time.
You need to manually lock the Chrome, since there is no possibility to do it automatically (for example, when the computer is in sleep or off).
The feature is at an experimental stage at the time of writing which means it may or may not be embedded inherently in the browser.
Open the chrome: // flags / # enable-new-profile-management page in the Chrome address bar and enable the feature. This allows you to manage your browser profile.
Click Restart to apply the change at the start of the browser.
You will see a profile menu in the top right corner of the screen when restarting.
Here you will need to sign in to a Google account using your account credentials.
After you've done, you'll see your profile picture and your name in the menu.
Here you will also find the lock button that you can click to lock the browser.
This will make Chrome display a user manager window with reconnection options, create a new account, or browse as a visitor.
This page will remain so until you sign in again or use any of the other options provided. It remains active when you close Chrome so you can use it to lock your browser's profile completely using the feature.
Another interesting option provided by this new user management feature is the capability to have a visitor browsing feature available on trips using your computer.
If you don't want third parties to use his profile browser of you – being able to see your open tabs, bookmarks, visited websites and much more – is a very good solution.
You can disconnect at any time by opening it in the Chrome address bar address Chrome: //settings/. Click “unlink your Google Account.”
To return to the old profile manager, open chrome: // flags / # enable-new-profile-management again and disable the feature. Restart your browser after the profile menu has left Chrome.
