Chrome macOS Users to Benefit from Extended Malware Protection

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Google has decided to expand its Safe Browsing protections to macOS devices in order to create a safer browsing environment for users. This will be done by improving defenses against unwanted software and malware targeting the Apple operating system.

For the past few years, Google has been restricting attempts to change Chrome settings on Windows. These capabilities will now expand to macOS devices as the company hopes to help fight against malware and ad-injectors that are now targeting Apple's desktop platform with a higher frequency than ever before.

The Settings Overrides API enables extensions to override various Chrome settings, but it is only supposed to do this in ways that allow users to keep control of their Chrome settings.

"From here on, the Settings Overrides API will be the only approved path for making changes to Chrome settings on Mac OSX, like it currently is on Windows. Also, developers should know that only extensions hosted in the Chrome Web Store are allowed to make changes to Chrome settings," Google writes.

At the end of the month, Chrome and Safe Browsing will start warning users about software that attempts to modify Chrome settings without using the API. Safe Browsing will thus target any attempts to inject ads into webpages, as well as any attempts to change the browser's start page, homepage, or the default search engine.

Read more: Chrome macOS Users to Benefit from Extended Malware Protection