Google Chrome is finally getting an update that could stop it from chewing through memory and causing instability on Windows 10 machines.
On its Chromium site, Google explained in detail how it uses a feature called TerminateProcess to make the output processes in Chrome much cleaner. This basically means a smoother experience and a browser that is less prone to crashes in Windows 10.
Google Chrome has long been known for its ability to route system RAM, especially when a lot of tabs and windows are open in the app. This has the nasty side effect of not only slowing down the system but also potentially causing browser crashes.
We lost the number of times Chrome didn’t respond or crashed to the desktop on Windows 10 machines with 8GB of RAM or less. For example, on the fifth-generation Surface Pro with a Core i5 processor and 4GB of RAM, Chrome can chew most of its resources, making using the browser a rather difficult and unstable experience.
Furthermore, after a long borrowing session with multiple Chrome tabs open, closing the browser may still leave some remaining processes consuming system resources.
The TerminateProcess function is often used in Windows to unconditionally terminate a particular process and all its threads. Think of it as a means of completely closing the app and preventing anything from running in the background. This frees up all the system resources that the application occupies.
So, using TerminateProcess should be one way for Google to allow Chrome users to close the selection of tabs or actually the entire browser and immediately restore the computing resources it used. From our understanding, Chrome should make running Chrome smoother and overall less resourceful.
Using TerminateProcess in Chrome is still being tested by Google. But we wouldn’t be surprised if it’s a new version of Chrome in 2021, although in practice you probably won’t notice a change, except for a more stable Chrome experience on Windows 10.