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In today’s digital world, your browser and browser security is the gateway to almost everything—work, personal communication, shopping, and financial transactions. Yet, most people rely on default browser settings that are far from secure. Hackers, phishing sites, and trackers thrive on these weak defaults. That’s why it’s essential to adjust your browser’s privacy and security options immediately. In this article, we’ll explore the most important tips from ThioJoe’s video “Change These Browser Security Settings NOW” and explain how each tweak helps protect you.
Enable Enhanced Safe Browsing
Most browsers default to a “standard” protection mode that only updates blocklists of malicious sites every few hours. That’s not enough. Hackers constantly spin up phishing websites that may exist only for a few hours before disappearing. By switching to Enhanced Safe Browsing, your browser checks every URL you visit in real-time with Google’s servers. Yes, it means Google sees the sites you visit, but the trade-off is far greater browser security. You’ll receive immediate alerts for dangerous or fraudulent sites, protecting you against the constantly evolving world of online scams to breach your browser security.
Turn On Encrypted DNS
Whenever you type a website name, your browser performs a DNS lookup to find the corresponding IP address. By default, these lookups are unencrypted, allowing your ISP or other third parties to spy on which sites you visit—even if the content itself is encrypted. By enabling Encrypted DNS in Chrome, Edge, or other Chromium browsers, those requests are hidden from prying eyes. You can even choose trusted providers like Cloudflare or NextDNS. For everyday users, it’s a set-it-and-forget-it option that greatly increases privacy with no downside.
Always Use Secure Connections
Some websites still run on old HTTP connections without encryption, leaving your data vulnerable to interception. By enabling Always Use Secure Connections, your browser will automatically upgrade to HTTPS whenever possible. This ensures your data—like passwords, messages, and payment details—remains secure. Even better, Chrome will highlight and warn you about websites that don’t support HTTPS, giving you the choice to avoid unsafe destinations.
Disable the V8 Optimizer for Extra Browser Security
Behind the scenes, Chrome uses the V8 JavaScript engine to make websites load faster. However, this “just-in-time compilation” feature has been the source of over half of discovered zero-day vulnerabilities. By disabling the V8 optimizer, you reduce the attack surface hackers can exploit. While there may be a small performance hit, most users won’t notice it. And if a trusted site runs too slowly, you can selectively allow it. For anyone serious about minimizing risks, this is a must-change setting.
Control Extensions with the Extensions Menu Access Control
Browser extensions can be helpful, but they also pose browser security risks if they gain access to sensitive sites. The Extensions Menu Access Control flag gives you a clearer, more powerful way to manage them. You’ll see exactly which extensions have access to the current site and can toggle them on or off instantly. You can even disable all extensions on a specific site, which is perfect if you’re troubleshooting or visiting a sensitive webpage like online banking.
Enable Signature-Based Integrity Checks
This experimental flag is all about protecting scripts that websites load from external servers. Signature-Based Integrity Checks ensure that code hasn’t been tampered with by attackers in transit. While still new and not widely used, enabling it provides an additional browser security layer without any downside. If a site supports it, you’re automatically protected.
Use Client-Side Scam Detection
Phishing scams are everywhere, and no filter catches them all. By enabling the Client-Side Scam Detection and its associated warning flag, your browser uses local AI to analyze suspicious websites in real-time. Think of it as having an intelligent scam detector that works on top of Google’s protections. Even if it’s not fully rolled out yet, there’s no harm in activating it for when it becomes more widely supported.
Restrict Local Network Access
One hidden risk is that websites can attempt to access devices on your local network—like your router, NAS, or media server. By enabling Local Network Access Checks with blocking mode, your browser will ask before allowing such connections. This protects you from malicious websites that could try to exploit default device passwords. You still maintain full control by granting access manually when needed, but the automatic blocking prevents silent attacks.
Reduce Browser Fingerprinting
Advertisers and trackers often use browser security fingerprinting to identify you—even if you clear cookies or use a VPN. One fingerprinting method involves analyzing how your browser renders graphics. Enabling Noise for Canvas Readbacks randomizes these results, making it harder to track you. Additionally, activating the Reduce Accept-Language Headers setting limits the amount of language data your browser shares, further reducing unique identifiers. Together, these small changes make you a much harder target for online tracking.
Bind Cookies to Secure Connections Only
Cookies store your login sessions and preferences. But if they’re sent over an insecure connection, hackers can intercept them and hijack your account. By enabling Bind Cookies to Their Setting Origins Scheme, cookies issued during secure HTTPS sessions can only be reused in secure contexts. This prevents attackers from exploiting weak connections. It’s a simple but powerful safeguard that ensures your logins remain protected.
Advanced Flags for Browser Security Enthusiasts
For users who want to go even further, there are additional Chrome flags worth considering. Options like PartitionAlloc With Advanced Checks improve memory security against exploits, while disabling Web USB compatibility prevents browsers from accessing unnecessary devices. Likewise, enabling Fingerprinting Protection Blocklists adds another privacy layer, and Deprecating the Unload Event can actually improve both performance and browser security by removing outdated JavaScript functions. These tweaks may be advanced, but they show how customizable your browser security can be.
Final Thoughts
Changing your browser security settings might seem intimidating, but most of these tweaks are simple to apply. The default settings in Chrome and other browsers are built for convenience, not maximum protection. By enabling options like Enhanced Safe Browsing, Encrypted DNS, and Local Network Access Checks, you immediately reduce your exposure to online threats. And for those willing to experiment with Chrome flags, you can go even further in securing your browsing experience.
Any questions, comments, or reactions about our article, we’re happy to hear that in the comment section below. We always love diving into healthy discussions. If you also feel that you haven’t been using Google Workspace at its best, reach us at https://cloudsultans.com). We offer free consultation or system audit to find you the best possible solution.
