Google Chrome Has A Nasty Surprise

[RKP5637]

https://www.forbes.com/sites/gordonkelly/2018/07/14/google-chrome-ram-memory-consumption-spectre-security-upgrade-windows-mac-linux-chromeos/#732f6e0b1777

With over 60% market share, Chrome is the undisputed king of web browsers. A key factor behind this is Google GOOGL +0.22%’s commitment to keeping it seamlessly updated with essential fixes and optimisations, but now the company has admitted Chrome’s latest upgrade comes with an unavoidable nasty surprise…

In a blog post, Google has admitted the newest version of Chrome rolling out to customers worldwide is going to consume up to 13% more of your system memory. For a browser whose biggest failing has long been its excessive memory consumption (1,2,3,4,5), this is the last thing users will want. Especially those with older systems and less RAM.

Google also confirmed this is a cross-platform change and will apply to Chrome on Windows, Mac, Linux, and Chrome OS. The last of these could be particularly impacted as Chrome OS systems often ship with only 4-8GB of RAM.

So why has Google done this?

It’s all in the name of security. The new, more bloated Chrome contains a feature called ‘Site Isolation’ which combats the serious Spectre vulnerability which exposes computers at a chip level.

[katmondoo]

1. I cannot use Chrome as it interfers with my printing of images I want to use from google

[RKP5637]

3. I use the "new" Firefox. It works well for me. I also have Chrome loaded. I use Linux. n/t

[Squinch]

4. No problems ever with Firefox here.

[teach1st]

2. The new Chrome will also include significant design changes

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2018/07/a-look-at-chromes-new-tab-design/

[wasupaloopa]

5. I have never used Chrome and never will

[RKP5637]

6. It's too invasive for me. I think Firefox has done a great job on the "new" Firefox. n/t

[wasupaloopa]

13. I use Firefox also

[TreasonousBastard]

7. Been hearing about this and yet another reason I don't use Chrome...

Opera is now my main browser, with Firefox #2. I also use Vivaldi a lot and once in a while Edge.

(And there's always Epic Privacy Browser so your wife can't check on your porn habits)

What drives me crazy is that websites seem to have no standards any more-- between trying to sell you stuff and spying on you, every browser is occasionally going to have problems with some sites.

[RKP5637]

8. Opera is good. A lot of people have liked Opera for years. I did try Epic, but it was too

restrictive for me, I like to share, LOL. I use Firefox most of the time since they seem to take an interest in it again. I find Firefox outright blocks some sites now. I do have Chrome installed, but I seldom use it because I feel like someone is watching over my shoulder. I use Linux, but did try Edge once when I had Win10 installed in a partition using a virtual machine . I had tried Edge when first released, phew, the early days were horrible, I have no idea what it's like now. I'll install the new Chrome, since it's part of my auto-update, but I'll still stick with the new Firefox unless Firefox support falls off again.

[douglas9]

9. Google flips switch on Chrome's newest defensive technology

Google has switched on a defensive technology in Chrome that will make it much more difficult for Spectra-like attacks to steal information such as log-on credentials.

Called "Site Isolation," the new security technology has a decade-long history. But most recently it's been cited as a shield to guard against threats posed by Spectre, the processor vulnerability sniffed out by Google's own engineers more than year ago. Google unveiled Site Isolation in late 2017 within Chrome 63, making it an option for enterprise IT staff members, who could customize the defense to shield workers from threats harbored on external sites. Company administrators could use Windows GPOs - Group Policy Objects - as well as command-line flags prior to wider deployment via group policies.

[ Further reading: Google's Chromium browser explained ]

Later, in Chrome 66, which launched in April, Google opened the field testing to general users, who could enable Site Isolation via the chrome://flags option. Google made clear that Site Isolation would eventually be made the default in the browser, but the firm first wanted to validate the fixes addressing issues that cropped up earlier testing. Users were able to decline to participate in the trial by changing one of the settings in the options page.

Now, Google has switched on Site Isolation for the vast majority of Chrome users - 99% of them by the search giant's account. "Many known issues have been resolved since (Chrome 63), making it practical to enable by default for all desktop Chrome users," Charlie Reis, a Google software engineer, wrote in a post to a company blog.

https://www.computerworld.com/article/3289786/web-browsers/google-flips-switch-on-chromes-newest-defensive-technology.html

[RKP5637]

10. Thanks for the additional information!!!

[Historic NY]

11. Can't stand Chrome, bee a Foxfire user for several years, get better all the time....

it doesn't like Flash either .

[RKP5637]

12. I find these recent Firefox releases to be excellent with the move to Firefox Quantum. n/t

[csziggy]

14. I have to use Chrome to access my online bank account info

For some reason the bank decided that was the only browser they would support. Once in a while I find other sites that will not display properly in Firefox or Explorer but will in Chrome, so it is nice to have a different browser to try those out.

For everything else I use Firefox.

[RKP5637]

15. I use both Chrome and Firefox on Linux. I use Firefox as my primary browser, but

always have Chrome available. You could probably use a spoofer to change the header of Firefox as seen by your bank, so they think you are using Chrome. Generally, this works quite well. For example, the Firefox extension "User Agent Spoofer" seems to work quite well and is stable. Often developers / web folks do not want to validate all of the browsers so they pick one and say that's all that works, but often that is not the case. They reject browsers not having Chrome in the header they see from your browser ... and the spoofer changes it to Chrome for the Firefox browser. I've been using this technique for years and years. It's just some FYI info. You can change it anytime you need it.

[csziggy]

16. It's just as easy to use Chrome just for the banking

And Firefox for everything else. For one thing, that means I have to plan to get to the bank account, dig out my password, and input it deliberately.

I'm past the days when I want to jump through hoops to get stuff done - it's hard enough to get it done as it is.

Tomorrow while we're waiting for a tech to come replace one of our "cable" (PrismTV) boxes, my husband has to help me pull my computer out of its corner, blow out the dust and accumulated crud, replace the hard drive that is getting noisy and sluggish, put it back, and then trade out my massive wide format Epson printer/scanner whose heads are so clogged I can't clear them out for the new one he bought today.

All that just so I can keep on with my main project of scanning on old family documents and photos, sorting and organizing them, and getting the pictures posted online.

[RKP5637]

17. Wow, I haven't seen one of those in a long time. The big old Epson printers, real work horses.

Sounds like a plan!!!

[csziggy]

18. Yeah, it's a monster but it is four years old

But to scan some of the old documents and scrapbook pages, it's great. Being able to print up to 13x19" is just a bonus!

I've printed several books (no more than ten copies each) on this printer and scanned thousands of photos and documents. Problem is, I need to scan thousands more and print a lot more.

When my husband worked at FedEx Office I was surprised that the largest flatbed scanner they had could only go to legal size. They have a scanner that can do up t0 36" wide, but you have to feed the paper through which is not practical with old scrapbooks with brittle pages with the pictures and clippings coming off. It's intended for recent blue prints - even the family trees his grandfather made at his blueprint business are too fragile to go through it.

Oh - a bonus - Office Depot has the newer version of my Epson WF-7520 on sale $100 off and they will give us $50 credit for bringing in the old one. Otherwise I would have waited to replace it, though not having a working color printer is getting old.

[RKP5637]

19. Interesting! That, is quite a project!!! n/t