Google has souped up Chrome by updating the web browser’s JavaScript engine.

Mountain View claimed loading speed of JavaScript-heavy web pages had been improved by up to 30 per cent in Chrome’s V8 JavaScript engine, combined with a new version of the Webkit browser engine.

It’s now added a new feature that allows a user to remove thumbnails from the New Tab page. “Now you can finally hide that embarrassing gossip blog from the Most Visited section,” wrote Google’s Darin Fisher yesterday.

Chrome also now has a form autofill feature that is already found in Internet Explorer, Firefox et al.

Many browser makers have been keen to emphasise that their JavaScript engine is bigger and better than their competitors in the need-for-speed wars. Google is urging users to test out the benchmarks in Chrome over at this site.

Meanwhile, Chrome remains strictly for Windows XP and Vista lovers only. Mac users can whistle for it, for now. ®

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