Google Chrome is for many the best web browser and the data shows it, since it is the most used of all the available browsers. Recently this popular browser launched one of its most important updates, such as the appearance of Google 86 , which introduces changes and news of all kinds. As a result of this new version, we may have noticed that Chrome blocks some downloads for us.
On October 6, Google launched Chrome 86 with improvements for security and optimizing the performance of our PC. When installing this new version, we may have found that some downloads no longer work from the browser . No matter how much we click on the download, nothing happens and the download does not take place, without Chrome showing us any type of notification or information about what is happening. In fact, not even in the downloads tab the file that we are trying to download appears with the typical error message informing that the download could not be carried out.
Why does Chrome block our downloads
Google announced in early 2020 that it was considering blocking all downloads deemed unsafe in future versions of its browser. These insecure downloads are those that originate from HTPPS websites, while these measures do not affect, at the moment, which pages are accessed through HTTP. Since then the company has decided to gradually increase the files that are on this block list. These files include the .exe or .bat executables that are already blocked. For future versions, other types of non-executable files such as PDF, ZIP or JPG will also be blocked if the source page uses HTTPS.
These measures implemented by Google are due to protection for the user. Since insecurely downloaded files pose a serious risk . Through these insecure downloads, any hacker can change insecurely downloaded programs for malware, so that they can even access our bank details. To avoid any problems, Google has started to address these risks, gradually reducing support for unsafe downloads with Chrome.
How to tell if a download is blocked
Google does not make it easy for us to know if the download of a file has been blocked because it is considered insecure. Nor for any other unrelated problem, such as a specific failure in our Internet connection or a problem with the server. To find out, we will only have one option available, not very intuitive for most users since we will have to access the developer tools .
In this way, we will have to have the Google browser open and click on the three points in the upper right part so that a drop-down menu appears. Here we must go to the section “More tools” and finally “Tools for developers”. We can also access it directly using the keyboard shortcut “Ctrl + Shift + I”.
Once we have activated the “Developer Tool”. Next, at the top of the tool, we must select the “Console” tab. Here, we can see how Chrome shows us a warning in red under the label “Mixed Content”. This warns us of the downloads that are blocked for trying to be downloaded from insecure sites. With the warning, it informs us that the HTTPS site was loaded through a secure connection, but the file in HTTP has been redirected from an insecure connection, so the download has been blocked.
How to download a locked file
Now we know why this problem occurs with downloads in the new version of Chrome. If you want to skip these prohibitions and download a file from a site considered unsafe, we can do it in several ways.
Use the Save link as option
In order to bypass the Chrome restrictions in case we want to download a file from an insecure website, we can right-click on the download link and select the option “Save link as …” . In this way, a window will not appear where we can select the destination to host the file that we are going to download and finally click on “OK”.
We must also bear in mind that some download links, such as those that work with JavaScript, will not work by using the right mouse button. Similarly, we do not know if Google will end up blocking this option in the future.
Use a different browser for downloads
The most effective solution to be able to carry out this type of downloads is to use a browser other than Chrome . Despite the fact that in the future, most browsers will follow this implementation of Google and will end up blocking these unsafe downloads. At the moment, browsers such as Firefox, Internet Explorer, brave, Vivaldi, Opera or the new Edge continue to allow this type of unsafe downloads.
Use a download manager
Another alternative to bypass the new Google restrictions is the possibility of using a download manager . These applications are responsible for helping us better manage the direct download of the files that we perform on the network. In this way, they become a great alternative to the integrated managers of the browsers themselves such as Chrome. These managers have both basic and advanced functions, the main thing being the possibility of speeding up, pausing, resuming or ordering downloads.
A recommended download manager is DownZemAll , which you can download completely for free from GitHub, and it even has extensions for Chrome and Firefox. To use it, just insert the URL and we can add as many downloads as we need since the program supports batch downloads. Also, it is possible to watch videos from YTube and other download sites. To do this, we only have to press a button, being able to choose if we want to download the video or the audio of the video.