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Google has the following to switch between Desktop Mode and Metro UI in Google Chrome: Switch between Chrome on the desktop and Chrome in Windows 8 mode That page also shows how to switch between regular window and incognito window, add a secondary tile to the Start Screen, and info about not all plug-ins are supported due to the Pepper API. In addition, Softpedia has a registry key if you just want to force Chrome to use Desktop mode: Google Chrome Stuck in Windows 8 Mode – How to Fix It HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Google\Chrome\Metro I think I like this 2nd 'fix' better since I prefer to use browsers in Desktop Mode anyway. More in the article about the 'bug'. Google Chrome really screwed up on this. They should have had it open in Desktop mode if you launch it from the Desktop, and in Metro UI mode if you launch it from the StartPage.

Google, the international search/advertising behemoth, has had a web browser product since late 2008. It has since grown to one of the most popular browsers used on the web. It runs on Windows, Mac OS X and Linux (support for the latter two was added in 2010). It is based on the open source browser Chromium (it's a sort-of special relationship, as Chromium exists because Google released the Chrome source code) and the two are almost identical (I don't actually know the differences between the products, besides Chromium missing official Google branding @frapper provided a link that shows the differences between Chrome and Chromium on Linux.) Google Chrome uses WebKit to render web pages--the same rendering engine as Apple's Safari. WebKit is the most widely used rendering engine, as it is used by Chrome/Chromium, Safari, iOS's Safari, Android's browsers, and others. Chrome is extensible, like most (all?) modern browsers. Extensions can be found anywhere, but one central place to find them is the Chrome Web Store. Note: installing extensions from sites other than the Chrome Web Store can be dangerous. Some popular extensions and a few that I use: Adblock: Blocks ads, including in youtube videos. Google Dictionary: highlight a word on the web, a definition pops up. HoverZoom: Hover your mouse over a thumbnail image, see the full image in a popup. Works on most, but not all, sites. Evernote Web Clipper: From the context menu, you can add things to an Evernote notebook. Also enables searching of your Evernote notes when you search Google (or other search engines) Also available from the Chrome Web Store are games, themes and full screen apps. Tips & Tricks: You can "pin" tabs in the tab bar. To do this, right click on a tab and hit "Pin Tab". This shrinks the tab down to just the favicon, and saves a ton of room on the tab bar. Firefox calls this feature "App Tabs". You can have multiple "Users" of a single Chrome install. You can enable another user by going to Wrench menu -> Settings and clicking on "Personal Stuff". From there, click "Add new user". After you have another user, you can pick your own icon and set names for each user. The icon is displayed in the title bar, so you can see at a glance which profile you're using. With a new user, you can have a completely different Chrome experience. Different google account, different saved passwords, different bookmarks, history, extensions, themes, etc. From the icon displayed in the title bar, you can switch users (actually launch a new browser window as the newly selected user). Note: this is not the same as creating a new "profile", which you have to do manually. Any user can access any other users data--it's more for convenience than security! . After performing a manual search on a site once, Chrome's Omnibox will give you the option to search directly by pressing Tab. For instance, I have searched on IMDB.com before. Therefore, when I type "imd" in the Omnibox, I can press the Tab key and then enter a string to be searched on imbd.com. Hitting enter will then take me straight to the imdb results page. As far as I know, this works with any page where a search is performed. At the very least, it works on most. You can also manually add search engines through Chrome's settings, but performing a simple search on the site is much easier. Going along with the last tip, Ctrl+L will instantly focus on the Omnibox. Ctrl+K focuses the Ominbox with a "?" denoting a default search will be performed based on the string entered. However, the ? is not really necessary, as Chrome will automatically search when text other than a URL is entered. It's useful if you're trying to search for a URL (rather than going to it). I believe these shortcuts are defaults across web browsers--at least I know Firefox uses them. You can make "Application Shortcuts" out of just about anything. While you're on a page you want to make a shortcut to, go to the Wrench Menu -> Tools -> Create Application Shortcuts... You can then add a desktop/start menu shortcut that will instantly launch that particular site again. It's especially useful on a site like gmail--the "application shortcut" will open a new Chrome window when clicked that doesn't have navigation options. Basically you can open a site as a sort of "native app". If you go to the URL about:flags (or chrome://flags, which about:flags redirects you to), you can find a slew of experimental options. Warning: these are potentially unstable! In chrome://history (or by hitting Ctrl+H), you can see all your browser history, and even search within it! You can also clear all or part of your history from this screen. chrome://downloads (or Ctrl+J) opens a similar screen for your downloads. Chrome privacy/tracking: From this page: http://support.googl...n&answer=114836 In addition to changing the above, you can install the SRWare Iron browser, which is built from Chromium and does not have the tracking options at all, as well as a few other features. Check out the differences here. (thanks to @frapper) If you want to search Google while still enabling features that are normally enabled (history, personal results, whatever else), you can log out of your Google account first and then search. However, this is a cumbersome way to do it. Instead, you can launch a new Private Browsing Window (Ctrl+Shift+N by default) and perform your search that way. You aren't logged into your Google account in a private session, and so nothing will be saved. You can then close the private window and still be signed into Google. ====== What are some of your favorite extensions or tips?