Chrome’s Latest Version Is Faster And More Secure. If you’re a diehard Chrome browser user, be aware that as of November 17th, 2020, Chrome 87 has now been ported to the Stable desktop channel, and it’s an upgrade well worth getting.
Chrome 87 adds a raft of performance improvements that will increase your overall browsing speed, in addition to offering some new security features.
The single most significant boost to performance came from some tweaks resulting from an in-depth analysis of how Chrome was using system resources. In that research, it came to light that the biggest consumer of system resources was the JavaScript Timer, which relates to background tabs. The JavaScript Timer is responsible for some 40 percent of the total resources Chrome consumes.
The Google Chrome Company said, “We investigated how background tabs use system resources and found that JavaScript Timers represent >40 percent of the work in background tabs. Reducing their impact on CPU and power is important to make the browser more efficient. Beginning in M87, we’re throttling JavaScript timer wake-ups in background tabs to once per minute. The wake-ups reduce CPU usage by up to 5x, and extends battery life up to 1.25 hours in our internal testing. We’ve done this without sacrificing the background features that users care about, like playing music and getting notifications.”
Your Speed will be Faster
It’s a significant change, but not one that will change the way you view the web or use the browser, and that’s perhaps the best part about the improvement. It’s behind the scenes, so while it makes a big difference, there’s nothing you have to do or be mindful of, and yet, you should notice something in the neighborhood of a 25 percent overall speed improvement on startup and a 7-10% boost in speed overall.
If you use Chrome on an Android device, Google Chrome has begun to roll out a new caching feature that will store complete screenshots of the web pages you view. These include the JavaScript memory in the cache, which allows you to instantly go back and forth between sites and return to the exact portion of your reading content. It’s a small change, but very convenient. Once you start using it, you’ll wonder how you ever got along without it.
Google Chome has been talking about since late 2018 has finally been made manifest in this build. When you install Chrome 87, you’ll find that FTP support disables by default. If you want it re-enabled, you’ll have to use the command:
“chrome://flags/#enable-ftp”
But be aware that this is only a temporary solution. When Chrome 88 releases, Chrome 87 will be removed.
All in all, the latest build contains some significant updates. Grab your copy today.
