Google wants to update Chrome without a full browser restart

Google has detailed plans to update its Chrome browser without forcing users to restart their computers. This move aims to reduce the amount of time that hackers can exploit software vulnerabilities. Currently, it can take Google one to two days to create and test a security patch, but the restart required to install it can leave the browser vulnerable for that period.

To address this, Google is working on a system called "dynamic matching," which allows it to replace browser components with updated versions while they are still running. This works by updating the "background child processes" that handle tasks like rendering web pages, without needing to restart the entire browser. The Chrome team is still refining this technology, but they are also looking into ways to make "session restore" - the process of saving and restoring user settings and windows - smoother when updates occur.

In a recent Chrome version for Mac, Google will automatically restart the browser if there is an update waiting and no browser windows are open. This feature is designed to minimize user disruption. Google is also using large language models (LLMs), which are a type of artificial intelligence, to help find software bugs. They started using these models in 2023 and have since created an "agent harness" that uses models like Gemini to search for vulnerabilities across the Chrome codebase more efficiently.

One bug that this system found was a 13-year-old issue that had remained undiscovered. In terms of security, Google has implemented a "multi-agent workflow" where LLMs help generate potential fixes for most bugs. This approach has led to a significant increase in the number of security fixes. In the last two Chrome updates, Chrome 149 and 150, Google fixed 1,072 security bugs, which is more than all the security bugs fixed in the previous 23 updates combined.