To check which version of Chrome you’re using, click the menu button at the top-right corner of the Chrome browser window, point to “Help,” and select “About Google Chrome.”
How to Check Which Version of Chrome You’re Using We’re not sure why Google hasn’t automatically updated all 64-bit Windows users. It should. If you’re using a 64-bit version of Windows, you should be using a 64-bit version of Chrome. (The 64-bit version of Chrome does include a 64-bit Flash plug-in, though, and it’ll work normally with websites that use Flash.) However, Chrome no longer supports any type of NPAPI plug-ins as of Chrome 42, 32- or 64-bit. In 2014, Google noted that “the only significant known issue is the lack of 32-bit NPAPI plugin support.” This meant the Java plug-in and other browser plug-ins wouldn’t work on the 64-bit version of Chrome.
And, according to Google, it’s twice as stable, with half as many crashes as the 32-bit version on normal web pages. Still not convinced? 64-bit Chrome is also faster on various web benchmarks. For example, a comment in this bug report notes that the 64-bit version of Chrome provides additional protection from third-party software–like antivirus programs that shouldn’t be touching the browser–hooking into Chrome’s sandboxed processes. The 32-bit version of Chrome can’t use the same technique. There are other ways Chrome behaves more securely on 64-bit versions of Windows, too, but Google doesn’t have a slick page explaining all of them. Google has worked with Adobe to improve Flash’s protections against various type of attack, and these exploit mitigations are more effective on 64-bit versions of Chrome. In addition, the 64-bit version of Chrome includes a 64-bit version of Adobe Flash. Google’s original blog post says they “are able to far more effectively defend against vulnerabilities that rely on controlling the memory layout of objects” on 64-bit versions of Chrome.
The 64-bit version of Chrome has a variety of additional security features. Thus far, Google hasn't indicated plans to force similar upgrades on other operating systems - likely as 32-bit-on-64-bit installations of Chrome on macOS and Linux are significantly less common.RELATED: Why the 64-bit Version of Windows is More SecureĦ4-bit versions of Windows are more secure, and Chrome is no different.
' 32-bit Chrome will still be available via the Chrome download page.' ' In order to improve stability, performance, and security, users who are currently on 32-bit version of Chrome, and 64-bit Windows with 4GB or more of memory and auto-update enabled will be automatically migrated to 64-bit Chrome during this update,' explained Google's Chrome staff in a blog post.
96, which is being rolled out now for automatic download and installation, Chrome will detect if it is running a 32-bit version on 64-bit Windows and check to see if the host system has more than 4GB of RAM should that prove to be the case, Chrome will automatically download and install the 64-bit build and upgrade itself in-place, migrating users without notification.
Doing so, however, typically locks users out of more advanced features of their processor and reduces performance, while for software as notoriously memory-hungry as Google's Chrome browser can also restrict each thread to a maximum of 4GB of RAM regardless of how much is installed in the system.įrom this week, however, the days of 32-bit Chrome on 64-bit Windows are numbered. It's not a requirement, however: With the right 32-bit libraries installed, any 64-bit operating system is free to run 32-bit - or even 16-bit and 8-bit, should libraries exist - code. When running a 64-bit operating system, the best performance comes from running applications also compiled for a 64-bit processor. Google has announced that it has begun automatically switching those who run the 32-bit version of its Chrome browser on a 64-bit Windows install to the matching 64-bit version as a means of improving performance and security.