Getting Google Chrome (sort of) working on NHS computers

As we are all aware, more NHS computers run on IE7 and some even on IE6.

I would like to share with you how I managed to get Chromium working on my NHS computer without having admin rights.

This is made possible by SRWare Iron: A browser that is based on the free Sourcecode “Chromium” that powers Google’s Chrome browser.

Download the Portable-Version for USB-Sticks and as it says on the website, “no Installation; no Admin-rights needed; Profiles in the same folder”

Unzip it in the directory of your choice, click on ironportable.exe and aware you go! Yup, it is really that easy.

Another advantage of using SRWare Iron is that there is no privacy concern. Read more Chrome vs Iron.

Potential pitfalls and suggestions:-

1. SRware website may be blocked by your web filters.
2. Even if you saved it to your Dropbox or alternative, those websites may be blocked too (my hospital does not block dropbox and this is how I managed to get the zip onto my work computer.
3. You could email the zip file to you computer but some NHS email filters may block that too!
4. You could use your work’s encrypted USB stick but your personal unencrypted USB stick will probably not work.

Tips:-

1. ‘Installing’ SRware’s Iron onto your personal directory allows you to use it on any computer that you login into.

What I’ve yet to figure out

1. Does installing it on your personal directory start bloating your personal directory and fill it up?

Thank you to @haematologic for sharing this with me.