Chrome extension forces secure Google searches

Google SSL Web Search adds encrypted Google search to Chrome's list of search engines.

Google now offers an extension for Chrome that automates the process of adding the secure Google search site as a search engine to the Chrome 6.x branch. Google SSL Web Search is an extension, still in beta, that works with Chrome 6.0.419.0 and later on Windows and Linux computers.

First released in June 2010, installing the extension opens up a configuration window with a single button that will open Chrome's "add search engine" window. Here, you can set a keyword to speed up your use of Google SSL Web search. There are also instructions on how to set the SSL Web search as your default search engine, which is a simple procedure. Right-click on the Omnibox, Google's name for its location bar, choose Edit search engines, find Google SSL Web search, and set it as your default engine.

Google notes on the extension's install page that it doesn't work on Macs because "the Mac UI of Chrome for handling OSDD entries is not yet implemented."

The extension is a simple way to streamline a task that's not particularly complicated to begin with--that of adding a search engine and making it your default. It would be more worthwhile if it did automatically make Google SSL your default search engine, yet it doesn't. The real utility of the extension is to highlight the fact that you can now search Google securely, something that you've been able to do since May 2010.

Original Sources.

Posted in: Security,Social Security