Google Chrome Goes to 2.0.166.1, Still Doesn't Play Nice with Windows 7

The Google browser is evolving at fast pace, and this week Chrome was updated to version 2.0.166.1. A developer release, Google Chrome 2.0.166.1 comes in less than a week since the previous version was made available offering not only new features, but also fixes for bugs that survived Build 2.0.166.0. However, the latest variant of Google Chrome still has problems when it comes down to playing nice with the Beta release of Windows 7.

“Windows 7 users will experience issues importing favorites from IE and setting Chrome as the default browser,” revealed Anthony Laforge, PMP, Chrome program manager, when enumerating the known issues of the 2.0.166.1 release. With Microsoft boasting millions of installations of Windows 7 Beta, Google will have to step up its game and tailor its browser to the next iteration of the Windows client, even if to the pre-release builds of the platform.

At the same time, whatever issues Chrome has integrating with the 32-bit version of Windows 7 Beta Build 7000, the 64-bit flavor of the operating system manages to top. And it looks like Google will still be a while before making Chrome integrate seamlessly with Windows 7. Still, the Mountain View-search giant is making consistent headway in the development of Chrome 2.0, having added a variety of new features.

“Preliminary full screen support has been added (UI still in progress). Turkish and Estonian spell checkers are available. Additional malware data collection for users opted-in to sending usage statistics and crash reports. We now perform HTTP authentication over a keep-alive connection,” Laforge said.

But in conjunction with the new additions to Chrome, Google also resolved a number of bugs affecting the browser. “Fixed a regression where it was not possible to drag a tab between two windows. Fixed issue related to the input method editor (IME) and the distance/ location to the current text area after scrolling. Double clicking no longer maximizes the window. Fixed everything listed as Known Issues last week,” Laforge said.

Google Chrome 2.0.166.1 is available for download here.