Chrome on Windows has been running faster in recent months. According to Google, new technology that can spot hidden windows in the background can increase web browser performance while reducing the amount of resources required.
In a blog post published on December 9, 2021, Google congratulated itself on increasing Chrome’s execution speed on Windows. According to the Mountain View giant, a series of improvements have been incorporated into version 86 of Chrome on the computer. Deployed in October 2020, this iteration makes it possible to reduce the energy and resource consumption of background windows that have not been minimized by the user.
“We have found that almost 20% of Chrome windows are completely covered by other windows, ie obstructed. If these clogged windows were treated as background tabs, there would be an increase in performance ”, explains Google in the post. Note that Chrome has already been reducing the energy consumption of windows reduced for several years in the same vein.
Google Chrome on Windows starts up to 25% faster thanks to this new feature
To determine if a window is obstructed by another window, whether it’s a Chrome window or another app, Google has found a way to find out “The location of native non-Chrome windows on the user’s screen”. Thanks to this technique, the web browser reduces the amount of resources allocated to windows which are not actively consulted by the Internet user.
The Silicon Valley giant claims to have noticed several performance improvements. Google cites in particular a faster start from 8.5% to 25.8%, a 3.1% reduction in graphics card memory usage, and a 4.5% reduction in renderer bugs.
On the same topic: Chrome 96 speeds up browsing speed with an all-new cache
According to Google, the browser starts up faster because Chrome focuses on windows that are not obstructed by another. “If Chrome restores two or more fullscreen windows on startup, one of the windows might be clogged. Chrome will now skip a lot of the work for that window, saving resources for the larger foreground window“, Explains the company. We therefore encourage you to update if you haven’t already.
