Google Chrome will crash less frequently after 'injection'-blocking updates

The web browser is fixing a problem caused by third-party apps

Sundar Pichai, senior vice president of Google Chrome, speaks during Google I/O Conference at Moscone Center in San Francisco, California June 28, 2012 (REUTERS/Stephen Lam)

Chrome is going to start crashing less often.

Google is making changes to the Windows version of its web browser, which will make it much more stable.

It plans to roll these out in three phases, starting next April.

According to the company, around two thirds of Chrome users on Windows have other apps on their computers that “interact” with Chrome, such as antivirus.

“In the past, this software needed to inject code in Chrome in order to function properly,” Google’s Chris Hamilton explained in a blog post.

Unfortunately, any software that does this makes Chrome 15 per cent more likely to crash, Google says.

“With Chrome extensions and Native Messaging, there are now modern alternatives to running code inside of Chrome processes,” Hamilton added.

In April 2018, Google plans to release Chrome 66, which will display a warning after a crash, telling users that another computer program was at the route of the problem and showing them how to remove it.

In July, Google will release Chrome 68, which will block third-party software from injecting into Chrome processes. If, however, this blocking stops Chrome from working properly, the browser will restart and allow the injection, but also display a warning message.

In January 2019, Google will release Chrome 72, which will always block Chrome injection.

“While most software that injects code into Chrome will be affected by these changes, there are some exceptions,” Hamilton added.

“Microsoft-signed code, accessibility software, and IME software will not be affected. As with all Chrome changes, developers are encouraged to use Chrome Beta for early testing.”