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Google rushes out an important Chrome security update

Google rushes out an important Chrome security update
Patrick Devaney

Patrick Devaney

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With Chrome being the most popular web browser by quite some way, it is often targeted with security threats and zero-day bugs. That means that sometimes when Google pushes out a security update for Chrome you shouldn’t wait for it to download automatically but should instead activate the update yourself. This is one of those times.

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The zero-day bug in question here affects Google Chrome on Windows, Mac, and Android and is already being exploited by hackers and scammers. The security issue can cause arbitrary code execution, which opens up your device to a wide variety of potential problems. Fortunately, however, Google has already released a patch for the issue.

In the Chrome Releases Google Blog post announcing the fix, Google didn’t actually say too much about the vulnerability or the fix. The only thing of note really that Google has said is that it knows the issue exists and is in the wild exploiting victims. That means it is important that you patch the issue quickly, which we’ll show you how to do now.

To update Google Chrome to the latest version you need to open Chrome and then go to the menu by clicking the three-dot icon in the top-right corner of the screen. From there select Settings and then you are going to look for the About Chrome button at the bottom of the menu. Clicking this will likely trigger the update, but if it doesn’t hit the Update button. If there is no Update button or if there was and you have already clicked it, you need to click Relaunch. Doing so will restart Chrome, complete with the new security update safely installed.

Once you’ve followed the above steps, your version of Google Chrome will be safe from the zero-day bug that Google says is exploiting unprotected users in the wild.

If you are still worried about viruses, bugs, and malware even with this fix for Chrome you should check out our guide to the best antivirus software for running on computers with lower resources. It will ensure you stay safe no matter how new or powerful your PC is.

Patrick Devaney

Patrick Devaney

Patrick Devaney is a news reporter for Softonic, keeping readers up to date on everything affecting their favorite apps and programs. His beat includes social media apps and sites like Facebook, Instagram, Reddit, Twitter, YouTube, and Snapchat. Patrick also covers antivirus and security issues, web browsers, the full Google suite of apps and programs, and operating systems like Windows, iOS, and Android.

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