Your Chrome browser is getting its most vital free upgrade in years - here's what's new

There's some very good news if you use . has just confirmed a new feature - during its yearly I/O conference - that should make your daily web browsing much, much safer. Most of us are well aware that our passwords could be better but we hardly ever act or change them. Luckily, Chrome will soon take all the hassle out of this laborious task.

Once the upgrade Google's browser will automatically alert you if you code has been compromised and offer up a more secure alternative. It's something Google calls automated password change and it should arrive later this year,

"When Chrome detects a compromised password during sign-in, Google Password Manager prompts the user with an option to fix it automatically," the US technology giant confirmed in a blog post.

"On supported websites, Chrome can generate a strong replacement and update the password for the user automatically.

"This reduces friction and helps users to keep their account secure, without hunting through account settings or abandoning the process partway."

Right now, there's no timeline on an official release but it could be one of the most important changes in years.

News of this upcoming release comes as that fixes a worrying flaw.

What makes this so urgent is that the bug has been given the dreaded "zero-day" rating which means hackers are aware of it and already targeting users in the wild.

If you do use Chrome as your daily internet browser, it's now vital to check you are running the very latest version. To do this, simply click on the word Chrome in the toolbar and head to About Chrome. Here you should see any pending upgrades.

"The Stable channel has been updated to 136.0.7103.113/.114 for Windows, Mac and 136.0.7103.113 for Linux which will roll out over the coming days/weeks," Google confirmed.

Most users are already seeing this update in their settings, so check now and reboot your browser without delay.