Panic Button for Chrome hides your online shenanigans

26.06.2015
"Quick! The boss is coming shut down that MLB stream!"

Too late, you're caught.

Lucky for you, the boss pulled up a chair to watch the game too, but you can't always count on near misses to get you through your slack-off time at work. That's why it's good to know about a great little tool available in the Chrome Web Store called Panic Button from the VPN specialists at HideMyAss.

With this handy little extension, all you do is click the red icon and your browser tabs disappear. It doesn't matter if you've got just one forbidden tab up or a whole window of them prepping for the fantasy football season. (Yes, it's already practice draft time, gridiron fans.)

Then, when your overseer is gone, you just hit the (now green) panic button and all your tabs come back.

To get started with Panic Button, install it from the Chrome Web Store. Then right-click the Panic button icon that appears next to your address bar and select Options to customize this extension.

On the options page you'll first see an option to specify a keyboard shortcut that triggers the panic button when you can't get to your mouse in time. By default, the shortcut is F4, but you can set it to nearly any key combination you want using CTRL, ALT, or SHIFT.

After that, you've got an option to password protect your stored tabs for added security.

Most importantly, the options page lets you set what page, or pages, the Panic Button reverts to in times of crisis. By default you get Chrome's new tab page as your so-called "safe page," but you can also make it something more specific such as your work email. In fact, for extra hard-at-work authenticity you can add multiple safe pages. Just be careful how many you choose, as each page means a longer load time, and loading tabs just make you look more guilty than you already are.

That's about all there is to Panic Button, an important tool for enjoying a slack-filled Friday. Enjoy.

[via The Windows Club]

(www.pcworld.com)

Ian Paul