If your Google Chrome browser is crashing often with error "Shockwave Flash has crashed" and/or "Google Gears has crashed", then try this:
1. Type 'about:plugins' in the address bar to bring up a list of plug-ins (or get there via the spanner key at top right of Chrome, then 'Options', 'Under the Hood', 'Content Settings', 'Disable Individual Plug-Ins').
2. Click on the '+Details' tag in the top right corner.
3. Find the flash plug-ins section (was at the top in my list).
4. If you have 2 flash plug-ins listed, disable the one that DOESN'T have 'gcswf32.dll' at the end of its location.
5. Restart the browser.
Original reference: http://www.google.com/support/chrome/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=108086