If you were a program manager at Chrome, what would you do: (a) debloat the browser, remove AI, and make it faster, or (b) nag users to let it auto-start when Windows starts so they can browse “instantly.” For Google, the correct answer is the second option. Google has started testing the “auto launch” feature in Chrome on Windows, but it’s optional.
As spotted by browser expert Leo on X, Chrome Canary quietly added a new toggle that allows Chrome to start when you boot Windows 11. When Chrome is set to “start with Windows,” chrome.exe starts, but you won’t notice that the browser window or any top-level window.
Google won’t make this the default behaviour in Chrome on Windows 11, but soon it will begin nagging you to configure Chrome to auto-start. For example, Canary builds already include a nag “Begin browsing instantly. Chrome can now launch when Windows starts. Allow Chrome to open automatically.”
When you click “Allow,” Chrome automatically gets configured to launch on startup.
Chrome.exe stays in the background state, and Windows doesn’t have to start a fresh instance of Google’s browser when you finally open it. Chrome just reuses the already-running browser processes, so the UI appears faster.
While Windows sign-in auto-start plus background preload makes Chrome faster, it also means Chrome is always using a tiny chunk of your system resources. You don’t have to use this feature, and if you turn it on accidentally, you’ll be able to disable it from Chrome Settings > On startup.
Microsoft is fixing the ZIP drag-and-drop freezing bug in Chrome
In other news, Windows Latest spotted that Chrome will finally stop freezing when you drag a large file out of a ZIP in Windows 11. In a Chromium post, Microsoft confirmed that it’s testing a bug fix that allows Chrome to support ‘drag-and-drop’ of large files from a ZIP (not extracted).
Until now, a bug in Chrome freezes the browser when you drag a big file out of a ZIP or other “virtual” sources like Outlook attachments. This happens because the browser tries to read the file’s data synchronously on the UI thread. Microsoft’s change makes that work asynchronous and chunked, so the browser stays responsive while the data is being copied.
“When dragging virtual files from sources like Windows zip, the current implementation blocks the UI thread during file extraction. This change adds two improvements guarded by feature flags,” wrote Sambamurthy Bandar, who works at Microsoft Edge.
Chromium ZIP file drag and drop fixes will benefit Chrome, Edge, Opera, Brave, and other browsers.
In addition, Google is testing Mica material for Chrome’s titlebar on Windows 11, but it’s unclear when the feature will roll out to consumers.
