The thing we all do the most in Google Chrome just got a lot faster

November 5, 2021

By Kim Komando

Despite Google’s reputation for privacy invasion, Chrome is the most popular web browser out there. Google developers are constantly working towards improvements and features to keep it that way.

In the recent Google Search On event, the company showcased redesigned search features and other developments. Among them are suggested ideas and topics based on the searches you perform. Tap or click here for more details of what’s already here and what’s to come for Google Search.

You’re spoiled for choice when it comes to browsers from Big Tech and otherwise. Chrome is becoming faster and less of a memory hog to keep its edge, so to speak.

Faster

A recent Chromium blog post revealed some performance improvements, starting with faster searches. When you type a search in Chrome’s Omnibox (the search bar at the top of the browser) you get suggestions to go along with your query even before you finish typing out whole words or phrases.

Your search suggestions are about to become even faster as Chrome prefetches search results for the suggestions you’re most likely to select. When you pick one of the top suggestions, you’ll get search results faster. Google said that search results are now four times more likely to show up in less than 500 milliseconds.

Google notes that this feature only works if Google Search is your default search engine, though other search providers can integrate this feature.

RELATED: If you use Chrome, you need to update your browser now

Leaner

Chrome’s new memory allocator, “PatitionAlloc” targets lower memory usage without compromising security and performance. The latest updates show it reduces RAM usage by 22% for Windows and Android with 9% faster responsiveness.

Chrome OS shows a total memory footprint reduction of 15%, with a 20% reduction in browser process memory. This will reduce the strain on your device’s memory while yielding faster browser performance.

More stable

A few years ago, Chrome developers added a caching function to improve startup time. While improving performance, it can also eat up memory and lead to crashes.

Google investigated this issue and found that it was the main culprit of shutdown hangs in the browser. In other words, the cache was sometimes causing freezes or slowdowns when users shut down Chrome. The cache has been removed along with the resulting shutdown hang.

The above improvements are already in place so if you use Chrome, go give them a test run!

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