Multiple instances of Chrome for fun, testing and experimentation
I like Chrome. Google's own browser is now the industry standard choice for both home and businesses today, and works on Windows, Mac or Linux and in different languages, is on the forefront support of modern web standards and better printing support.
If you use the 'portable' version of Chrome it has all the same advantages but you can actually install it more than once.
Here's how. Go and grab it from:-
https://portableapps.com/apps/internet/google_chrome_portable
One thing to note; Portable Chrome doesn't actually work on a USB drive. If you do, it will be slow and crash a lot. The reason is this, a browser needs to juggle a lot of files for pictures and code that's used in the background of a lot of web sites. Most USB drives have a slow write speed, slower than a conventional built hard disk or SSD drive in all PCs. Constantly writing to a USB drive will cause any browser to just choke and stall.
In this case, we will install this browser on a folder called test on the root of the C: drive.
This will just take a few seconds to install.
This runs only from your C: drive, there are no shortcuts to run it from the desktop or start button, so your standard version of Chrome is not changed.
Now make a copy of the GoogleChromePortable folder, so you see a second called GoogleChromePortable (copy)
Leaving the copy as it is - we can open the first one and add a Chrome theme. Themes change the look and feel of the browser to a different colour or style, giving some customisation. These themes and extensions work universally on Chrome installs on Windows, Mac or Linux which is nice.
I've now renamed the folder GoogleChromePortable blue.
I made another copy of the 'master' install and made this one red
You can also keep run certain sites in a sandbox kind of like Chrome's "Incognito" mode. You can just keep making a clone of your browser when you want another one.
If you use the 'portable' version of Chrome it has all the same advantages but you can actually install it more than once.
Here's how. Go and grab it from:-
https://portableapps.com/apps/internet/google_chrome_portable
One thing to note; Portable Chrome doesn't actually work on a USB drive. If you do, it will be slow and crash a lot. The reason is this, a browser needs to juggle a lot of files for pictures and code that's used in the background of a lot of web sites. Most USB drives have a slow write speed, slower than a conventional built hard disk or SSD drive in all PCs. Constantly writing to a USB drive will cause any browser to just choke and stall.
In this case, we will install this browser on a folder called test on the root of the C: drive.
This will just take a few seconds to install.
This runs only from your C: drive, there are no shortcuts to run it from the desktop or start button, so your standard version of Chrome is not changed.
Now make a copy of the GoogleChromePortable folder, so you see a second called GoogleChromePortable (copy)
Leaving the copy as it is - we can open the first one and add a Chrome theme. Themes change the look and feel of the browser to a different colour or style, giving some customisation. These themes and extensions work universally on Chrome installs on Windows, Mac or Linux which is nice.
I've now renamed the folder GoogleChromePortable blue.
I made another copy of the 'master' install and made this one red
This has lots of uses, I have one version of Chrome with Ad Block Plus. This is an extremely aggressive ad blocker which stops all ads. This means Youtube can be used for listening to music with no interruptions, great for use whilst coding.
You can also keep run certain sites in a sandbox kind of like Chrome's "Incognito" mode. You can just keep making a clone of your browser when you want another one.
Comments
Post a Comment