This experimental Chrome feature could finally solve the browser’s RAM issues
Google Chrome’s may be the world’s most popular browser, but it isn’t without its problems. One of its biggest problems has been with RAM usage, but a new experimental addition looks set to hack away at its memory usage.
Recently added to Google’s experimental Chrome Canary browser, a new feature called “skip best effort tasks” should cut RAM usage considerably by shunting low priority actions out of the way while Chrome is running, performing them at the shutdown of Chrome.
What constitutes low priority? Telemetry, writing user data to disk and cache cleaning are just a few of the listed tasks that’ll be flagged as low priority. This queue of low priority tasks that runs in the background while you’re steaming through hundreds of different tabs can become quite a memory sink.
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“The queue of low priority tasks can increase memory usage,” states the description of the feature on Google Chrome Canary. “Also, while it should be possible to use Chrome almost normally with this flag, it is expected that some non-visible operations such as writing user data to disk, cleaning caches, reporting metrics or updating components won’t be performed until shutdown.”
Chrome is comfortably the one to beat on the world browser market, with almost 65 per cent of the global market using it as their browser of choice. Microsoft’s Internet Explorer is second at 11 percent, while Firefox has just 9 percent. Still, it seems the dominance hasn’t stopped Google Chrome’s push for new and improved features, as new features like this release constantly.
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You can try some of these new features out using Google Chrome Canary, which releases a new build nightly. It’s free to download, although it’s primarily geared towards developers and it’s unlikely to deliver the same browsing experiences.
Having Chrome RAM issues? Intending to try out this new Chome feature? Maybe through Canary? Let us know on Twitter at @TrustedReviews
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Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
