Chrome OS 66 rolling out w/ full Meltdown protections, password export, & many tweaks

Abner Li | Apr 27 2018 - 2:26 pm PT

Following a release to Mac, Windows, Linux, and Android last week, version 66 is now rolling out to Chrome OS. Besides media autoplay restrictions and password export, this update contains a number of small tweaks, as well as Meltdown mitigations for all Chrome OS devices.

With version 64 in January, Chrome allowed users to mute audio on a site-by-site basis to make the playback experience more consistent. Google is now continuing those efforts with new policies that govern when media can autoplay in Chrome 66:

Content is muted, or does not feature audio
Users previously tapped or clicked on the site during the browsing session
On desktop, if the user has frequently played media on the site, according to the Media Engagement Index

There is a new “Export passwords” option under “Manage passwords” that allows users to download a list of stored credentials. A prompt asks users to confirm the download as the saved .csv file is in clear text and easily accessible.

For security, all Chrome OS devices are now patched against the Meltdown CPU vulnerability thanks to the KPTI mitigation for Intel devices on 3.8 kernels

Meanwhile, this version has a number of small additions, including a new Material Keyboard Shortcut Helper app. From a virtual overlay of the keyboard, the interface is now a window with several sections and search.

Magic or Instant Tethering, which allows for fast connectivity sharing with your phone, now supports more devices, while the Chrome Camera app can now record video, as we wrote about this morning.

Those who use Magnification can now zoom up to 20x (in 2x increments), while Google adds Picture in Picture Magnification. Other tweaks deal with windowing and display settings.

On the Android front, apps from the Play Store now support screen sharing, while there is now native printing support, and improvements to Maximized Window. The full list of changes are below:

Adding new keyboard shortcut to move windows from display-to-display
New Chrome OS Keyboard Shortcut Helper
External Display Settings enhancements
Enable Video Recording in Chrome Camera App
Overview window animation improvements
Extending more devices support for Magic Tether
Picture in Picture Magnification
Ability to zoom up to 20x with Chrome OS magnifier
Ability to adjust full screen mag zoom level through pinch gesture
Screen sharing support for Android apps installed via the Google Play Store
Add Google Play into first login Opt-in window
Google Play GDPR support
Google Play Maximized Window support improvements
Automatically pass user credentials from Chrome OS login to network 802.1x authentication
Native printing support extended to Google Play applications
Add Sync notice during initial sign-in