Chrome OS Introduced on a Samsung Series 5 550 Chromebook

This is a nice introductory video to Chrome OS from TechHarvest on YouTube, especially for people unfamiliar but interested in Google's operating system. The video walks you through the basic steps to set up Chrome OS on a Samsung Series 5 550 Chromebook. It shows how you can access settings, apps, files, and the available keyboard shortcuts.

TechHarvest points out that this is an online device and that it is closely tied to a Google account, which is something you definitely have to consider if you think about buying a Chromebook or another Chrome OS device. Unless you are willing to tinker and risk your warranty by running a different operating system, you're essentially limited to what Google enables this system and the installable applications to do.

This brings me to a point where the creator of the video is not correct when saying you don't really install programs so viruses can't be installed either. Of course an app or browser extension is a program from a technical point of view and there is no guarantee of 100% security no matter what vendors are telling you.

Google can impose a lot of control over what gets published in their app store just like Apple or Microsoft. From a security point of view this has advantages, but again they won't be able to reject every form of imaginable malware. On the downside they can reject apps for more questionable reasons. Apple infamously rejected an app tracking U.S. drone strikes, things like that can and probably do happen on the Chrome Web store as well.

Keep this in mind when using Chrome OS or planning to do so.