How to Use Google Chrome's Built-in Safety Check (and Why You Should)

I'll give you the bad news first: There are all kinds of dangers out there on the web that can leave your devices and your data vulnerable. The good news? Modern day browsers and platforms come with a ton of security protections built right in, so if all of your software is up to date, then your chances of staying safe go way higher.

One of the features offered by Google Chrome is the reassuringly named Safety Check. You can think of it a bit like checking all your windows and doors are locked last thing at night—the tool includes a variety of security checks, covering software updates, passwords, browser settings, and third-party extensions.

How Safety Check works

Safety Check can be found in Settings. Credit: Lifehacker

There are three main areas to the Safety Check: The first check is making sure you're running the latest version of Chrome. As we mentioned above, this is one of the best ways to keep yourself safe—Chrome will nag you to install updates as they're made available, so you shouldn't have any problems here, but it's something that Safety Check also looks at.

Then there are your passwords, if you're letting Google manage them. Safety Check flags passwords that have been used multiple times, passwords that are easy to crack (usually short and simple ones), and passwords that have been compromised (so they've appeared in a data leak somewhere on the web).

Passwords in all three of these categories can compromise your security, so you'll be invited to change any that are problematic. Even if these passwords apply to accounts you no longer use much, these accounts can still be used to get at you and your data—and if you're not using older apps and services at all, you should completely cut ties with them.

The third and final aspect of Safety Check is called Safe Browsing. It looks for any potential problems with the websites you visit, the files you download, and the browser extensions you install. This is mostly done proactively and in the background, though you'll see an alert if Chrome has taken action to keep you protected.

There are actually two levels to Safe Browsing: Standard and Enhanced. Enhanced protection, as we've written about before, is even more secure—though it also sends more of your data back to Google for analysis, including samples of pages and downloads. Google has more information about how the Enhanced protection works here.

How to run a Safety Check

Safe Browsing looks at extensions and downloads. Credit: Lifehacker

Click the three dots up in the top right corner of the Chrome interface, then choose Settings. If you open the Privacy and security tab on the next screen, you should see the Safety Check section at the top, together with a Check now button. If you've recently run one of these checks, then you'll see a refresh button instead.

Ideally, you'll get a list of blue checkmarks, but if anything needs your attention, just click on the appropriate button to take the necessary action (updating Chrome to the latest version, for example). Follow Safe browsing, and you're able to switch between the Standard and Enhanced levels of protection we mentioned above.

There are plenty more options on the Safe browsing page as well, covering everything from how HTTPS is handled to the DNS provider Chrome uses. Most of the time you can leave whatever defaults are in place, and rely on Safety Check to warn you about anything that's potentially dangerous or needs your attention.

Unless you've got your passwords in perfect order, Chrome will probably flag up some reused, weak, or compromised ones that need attention. Click Review to get a closer look at the problem: You can follow the links to the passwords that are problematic, and in each case you'll get a Change password web link (or you'll be told you need to visit the relevant app to set a new password).

There's no option to run Safety Check on a schedule, but a lot of the features inside it are working in the background anyway—as long as you remember to run it once a week or so, you should be well covered. It's available in Chrome for mobile as well, in a slightly different form: Tap the three dots in the app on Android or iOS, then Settings, to find the Safety Check option.

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