Unfortunately, Chrome's security is hobbled by being forced to sync to Google or risk data loss. At least on Windows. Your profile is locked to a given PC. I

Unfortunately, Chrome's security is hobbled by being forced to sync to Google or risk data loss. At least on Windows. Your profile is locked to a given PC. If your Chrome settings change at all (partially corrupt file, third party app modifying them, etc), Chrome will unceremoniously reset your settings as well as wipe out all your extensions and all your extension data. If you sync to Google, this will then all be restored. If you don't sync to Google, your data is just gone. This also happens if you try to transfer your Chrome data from one PC to another, say when you buy a new laptop. At least all the above happened the last time I checked it out, which is why we started recommending Firefox Portable over Chrome Portable for portable use or use on your synced could folder. This is apparently by design to prevent third party apps from modifying your homepage, default search engine, or adding advertising to your web pages via extension. Chrome is great, but only if you log in to your Google account and sync everything back to Google.