Google Chrome 66 Puts A Muzzle On Annoying Autoplaying Videos By Default

Google has heard your cries for help and will address this annoyance with Chrome 66. With new autoplay settings that have been incorporated into the browser, video will only autoplay if content is muted by default, if you have already clicked on or interacted with the site, or if you have frequently played media on a particular website in the past (in accordance with the Media Engagement Index).

Chrome 66 will also make greater strides to reduce browser crashes. The first step in this effort is to display a warning message after a crash occurs. The message will point the finger at the offending app that caused the crash. Users will then be given the option to remove the app, if they so choose. Chrome 68 will take things a step further to rejecting apps the rely on code injection. According to Google, apps that use code injection are 15 percent more likely to cause Chrome crashes.

Another feature being added is the Asynchronous Clipboard API, which allows reading and writing to the clipboard. Future Chrome release, however, will add the ability to support rich content copying and pasting including images.

In addition, Chrome 66 will remove trust for Symantec-issued certificates that ware issued before June 1, 2016. Google said that it came to this decision after a "continuing pattern of issues over the past several years that has caused the Chrome team to lose confidence in the trustworthiness of Symantec’s infrastructure."

Google Chrome 66 is currently available in the beta channel and should hit the public release channel in mid-April.