A couple of times this week I have had people contact me about web tools not working the same way on their computers as they did in one of my tutorial videos. I also had folks in a workshop this week run into the same problem. In all of those cases the problems were related to out of date web browsers.

Using an outdated browser can slow your online experience and make some web applications not work correctly. Outdated browsers can also make your computer more vulnerable to viruses and other dangers. A simple way to check if your browser is up to date is to visit Browse Happy. Browse Happy lists the six most commonly used browsers, the latest version of each, and links you to the download for the latest version.

If you use Chrome as your web browser you will see three red/orange lines in the upper-right corner of your browser when you are not using the most current version. To update Chrome simply quit it completely then restart your computer and it should automatically update for you. If that doesn’t work you can update by opening the help menu then choosing “about” and running the update manually.

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Another way to determine what browser you’re using is to visit WhatBrowser.org. What Browser is a Google site that detects what browser you’re using and displays that information right on the page in front of you.