How can I pin thumbnails in Google Chrome?

Q I used to be able to pin favourite websites to Chrome’s ‘Most visited’ page. I also used to be able to rearrange the pinned website thumbnails to my preferred order. Now both these options have disappeared – all I can do is delete thumbnails, and Chrome orders them itself. Do you know why this has happened? And how do I get these abilities back?
Grace Small

A We don’t know why, but Google chose to remove these two functions from the latest version of Chrome. As the web browser updates itself automatically, this means that users essentially have no say in whether to upgrade (there are technical procedures that can stop it, but they are too complex for most people). Regardless, the move hasn’t proved very popular, with plenty of users complaining about it on Google’s forums.

Read more: Google articles | Design a theme for Google Chrome

Until such time as Google relents – and given the company’s recent intransigent attitude to user gripes, we wouldn’t hold your breath – a forum-dweller has suggested a circumscribed alternative.

Open a new tab to view the current ‘Most visited’ page and drag a website thumbnail to the foot of the browser window, where it says ‘Most visited’ and ‘Apps’. As you do this a third heading will appear (also headed ‘Apps’, but don’t worry about this at the moment).

Drop the thumbnail on to the new Apps heading, and repeat the process for other favourite websites. When you are finished, double-click the new Apps heading and give it a new name, such as ‘My sites’. Now click the heading and you will see app-like buttons that, when clicked, launch the related websites. Unlike the Most visited page, these items can be rearranged and won’t be replaced by whatever Chrome deems appropriate.