This week we take a first look at a new browser, recycle our Vista search results, and send audio postcards.

Browse the web with Google Chrome

There's a new sheriff in town. Google has added a browser, called Google Chrome, to its product line. We have yet another browser choice.

I've been an advocate of Firefox (http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/) as an alternative to the Internet Explorer browser for years now. Firefox is safer, more flexible and often faster than Internet Explorer, and I recommend it highly. That said, no browser is perfect, and I sometimes encounter a problem with Firefox that causes a site or even the whole browser to lock up.

Along comes Google Chrome, which is touted as the browser that will not crash. At worst, you might lose one of the tabs, but the browser itself is supposed to soldier on. You can learn more about Google Chrome here:

Google Chrome info

and download it here:

Google chrome download

Google Chrome is said to be faster, safer, and crash-proof. "Sounds, great," I thought. "I'll give it a try."

My initial impressions are not favourable. When I installed the browser, it added Google Updater to my startup without asking permission. That's rude and unnecessary, and the folks at Google know better than that. Nonetheless, I decided to cut Chrome some slack it's still in Beta testing, after all.

The first thing I noticed is that there was no icon to take you back to your start page. After some fiddling around, I managed to find out how to add the icon (Instructions are here: http://unlockforus.blogspot.com/2008/09/help-where-is-google-chrome-homepage.html). Chrome is built to be minimalist in appearance, but it's still surprising that a Home icon is optional.

I opened up pages in three of the tabs, and managed to crash the entire browser. Two of the tabs were open to articles explaining why that should never happen. That's amazingly bad luck.

I love Firefox extensions, and there are several I don't want to give up. Chrome is brand new, and extensions are hard to come by. There are some here:

Chrome plugins

and I have no doubt that there will be more if Chrome starts to catch on.

For now, I'm sticking with Firefox 3 as my primary browser, and I'll give Chrome a try as improvements are announced. It's a fun toy, but doesn't measure up to Firefox which allows me to get work done.

Have you tried Google Chrome? Send your opinions to cate@rlis.com and I'll share them in future columns.

Save your searches in Vista

If you're using Vista, you might already have discovered that the Search feature is much more powerful than in older versions of Windows. That's good news, because you often need to use Search to find programs, files, and folders. The Instant Search box that's always available comes in handy!

Did you know you can save your searches for future use? Vista actually includes some preconfigured Search Folders ("Recent Documents" for instance), but it's easy to set up your own folders. I have several folders that contain pictures and documents about my dog. Rather than open each of those folders until I find what I'm looking for, I can search on "Sandy dog" and save the results as a Search Folder. Now as I add more documents or pictures that have to do with Sandy, I can open that Search Folder and Vista will find new and old documents about Sandy, regardless of where the documents are stored on the computer.

Send audio postcards

Postcard.fm is a lot of fun! Upload a photo, upload a song, type your email address and the email address of your friend, and send an audio postcard. Browse here to try it out:

Postcard.fm

The whole process takes about seven clicks and isn't that easier than searching all over the web for a safe online greeting site?

Do you need help with your computer? I'm here to help you and your computer get along! To ask a question, make a comment or suggestion, or schedule a visit, email cate@rlis.com.

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