Backup Chrome, create profiles

Google Chrome Backup is a bit ahead of its time. The customizable features in Chrome are so few at this point that it's not hard to memorize your settings. Still, that's annoying, and so this freeware steps into the memory gap. Google Chrome Backup also creates user profiles, useful for mutliuser machines with one log-in.

Google Chrome Backup saves and restores your Chrome settings, and creates new profiles on the fly.

(Credit: Parhelia Tools)

To create a user profile, simply click on the New Profile button and follow the instructions. Once created, you can use GCB to switch profiles, or drag the new profile to the desktop to create a shortcut. Backing up a profile is as simple as hitting the Backup button and choosing a profile to save the settings to. Hopefully, future versions will include the ability to save browsing histories--if it is a current feature, it didn't work during my tests.

The interface is pleasantly reminiscent of Google Chrome itself, with a clean layout and a plethora of options hidden behind slick drop-down menus. I could've done without the ZIP that bundled the small EXE, since it added an extra and unnecessary step to the installation process. That's a minor quibble, though, and the program performed as promised.

With add-ons and other customizations in the offing, though, Google Chrome Backup is well-placed to make sure that insidious errors and benign new computers don't prevent you from making an easy-to-replace record of your favorite tweaks.