Google Chrome 61 has been released, adding fixes and improvements

The Google Chrome team has announced a new update for the browser, pushing out version 61 into general availability starting from today, and bringing it to the Stable channel.

The update to Chrome will roll out in the following "days/weeks" to devices with the browser on supported platforms such as Windows, macOS, and Linux.

Furthermore, the update also brings a few notable security enhancements, so it's advised to update to the latest version of the browser as soon as possible.

You can force-run an update check by entering 'chrome://help' in the address bar. The browser should then query its update servers and download the update..

You may notice a change in the location of the help page. That's because Chrome 61 changes the help location from the previous location to 'chrome://settings/help'. It also looks more like the settings page to ensure uniformity in design.

Unfortunately, the Chrome team offers little information on what's new with the new release in terms of features, aside from the fact that it "contains a number of fixes and improvements."

Due to the nature of the update being mainly for security fixes and improvements, there are few obvious changes for most users. A major portion of the update makes under the hood optimizations and security fixes.

Here are some of the more significant changes in the update:

Add initial set of new default user images.

Autoplay policy for HTML5 video: chrome://flags/#autoplay-policy

Data Saver site breakdown doesn't add up to totals on version update. Also, don't show negative savings.

DevTools: Add 'Save profile' toolbar button to performance panel.

Disable first run for managed profiles.

[Extensions] Don't allow content scripts on the New Tab Page.

Enable automatically detected CUPS printers in the print preview dialog.

Enable asm.js -> WebAssembly by default.

Keep scanned host devices in the cache for longer (from 5 minutes to 2 hours).

Move extension unzip/unpack to background thread to prevent the blocking of the main utility thread.

On dual-GPU macs, blacklist MSAA for both GPUs if either is Intel.

Switch pause/mute buttons' locations in RTL languages