Greetings. You may recall my saying in the past how much I liked Google's Chrome Browser, and what enormous potential I thought it had for the future.

You may also remember that I've repeatedly stated that I would not consider using it as my primary browser until such a time that it included per-site cookie management tools at least on par with Firefox and Internet Explorer.

That impediment to the adoption of Google Chrome has now vanished.

At the start of this month, Google released a beta version of Chrome including a new array of content-related privacy controls. These new features have now migrated to the latest stable (non-beta, non-developer) Windows-based Chrome release (4.1.249.1036).

This is a big deal from my standpoint. Site-by-site controls are now available in Chrome for cookies, images, JavaScript, and browser plugins, along with other privacy-related functions.

Especially given the speed and other performance advantages of Chrome -- including a rapidly growing and sophisticated plugin environment -- these new privacy enhancements remove the constraints that had previously forced me not to recommend Chrome for routine browsing (particularly in privacy-sensitive environments).

I have lately been decreasingly enamored of Mozilla Firefox -- my main browser of choice for years -- for a number of reasons, and the less said about Microsoft's Internet Explorer the better. And I'm really not interested at all in Apple's Safari browser -- the closed Apple ecosystem is a giant downer.

With per-site cookie controls and other privacy enhancements now in general release, Google Chrome looks to be a real winner and at the very least is definitely now worthy of serious consideration for all Web browsing purposes by all Internet users.

Looks like it's time to press the "Make Google Chrome my default browser" button. Sometimes change is definitely a good thing.

--Lauren--