Google has announced the availability of Chrome 03.154.9, a beta release that fixes several security bugs and brings several other performance and usability improvements. Google will deploy the new version through its automated update channel, but users who want to get it now can select the update option from Chrome's About dialog.

A security vulnerability that enabled malicious web sites to spoof their addresses in popup windows has now been patched. The bug, which was reported by security researcher Liu Die Yu, could have been used to make phishing schemes look more credible to victims, but there is no evidence that it has been used in the wild. Google has also changed the behavior of file downloading to help protect users from malware. When users attempt to download an executable, the browser will display a prompt, warning the user that the program could damage their computer.

In addition to fixing security bugs, the developers also worked on improving the performance and reliability of plugins, such as those used to view PDFs, Flash, and other rich media. With previous versions, some users experienced problems where the browser would stall or consume 100 percent of the CPU while playing streaming Flash video. A few other minor bugs have been fixed too, such as proxy performance problems and a bug that prevented users from scrolling with laptop touchpads.

The user interface has undergone some very minor adjustments. The menus have been streamlined a little bit and the built-in spellcheck feature now supports adding words to the spellcheck dictionary. The usability failures that we identified in our initial Chrome review, such as lack of support for proper tab overflow, still haven't been fixed yet.

Version 03.154.9 may be primarily a bugfix release, but it demonstrates Google's commitment to continuing Chrome development, tackling security vulnerabilities, and addressing some of the complaints that have been raised by users.

Chrome's market share—which reached a peak of 1.7 percent following the initial launch—has fallen to 0.78 percent, according to Net Applications. This makes it the fourth most popular browser. It trails behind Safari, which has 6.65 percent, and ranks higher than Opera, which has 0.69 percent.

It's a different story at Ars. We took a look at our own server logs to see how Chrome has fared with our audience of technology enthusiasts. On the day of the launch, the percentage of Ars visitors using Chrome jumped to 13 percent, but over the past seven days (October 22-29) it has fallen to 4.61 percent. Firefox is the most popular browser at Ars, with 55.53 percent market share during the same period. Safari was our second most popular browser, with 17.22 percent. IE still lands ahead of Chrome with 16.2 percent, but Chrome beats Opera, which only has 2.66 percent.

Ongoing JavaScript optimization projects have pushed both Firefox and Safari a bit further ahead of Chrome. The latest release moves Chrome forward, but Google still has a lot of work to do if it wants to catch up on performance and functionality. For more information about this release, see the release notes.