With the release of Windows 10 version 2004, Microsoft has improved the “Segment Heap” memory management function in the operating system, and added desktops such as Web browsers ( Win32) program support.
“Segment Heap” has also been introduced into the Chromium open source project, and Google plans to use this feature to fix the notorious Chrome browser’s memory usage problem. However, the Google team has now decided to disable the new “Segment Heap” implementation in the Chrome browser, and they will now enable “ParitionAlloc-Everywhere”.
The ParitionAlloc-everywhere feature has been under development since August, and it now appears to be advancing steadily. According to a document, PartitionAlloc-Everywhere has its own benefits: reduced memory usage in the Chrome browser, allocators, and improved security.
This allows Google Chrome to manage memory more effectively, thereby reducing memory usage, and it will also reduce potential security issues.
The security of Google Chrome browser will use “MiraclePtr” to improve, which requires PartitionAlloc.
Google emphasizes that the upcoming changes are currently being tested internally. It is difficult to predict when the Chrome browser will get the necessary changes, but more details may be shared in the first half of 2021.
Google will fix the crash of Chrome browser
In addition to memory usage improvements, Google said that tests have shown that if the TerminateProcess function of Windows 10 is used for more process types, it may cause fewer browser crashes.
Google pointed out that exiting a process cleanly is difficult and expensive, especially for complex software.
Chrome browser has gradually turned to TerminateProcess to handle more process types. The company has proposed a new change that will enable TerminateProcess in Headless browsers, which may cause fewer browser crashes.
“This will prevent some utility processes from crashing on Windows. I think applying this policy to all Headless process types is a worthwhile practice. TerminateProcess has helped a lot in many process types.” Google software developer Bruce Dawson explained Say.
Both Microsoft and Google believe that reducing the RAM memory usage of web browsers is very important, but improvements like Segment Heap and ParitionAlloc will vary depending on your machine implementation.
It is worth noting that Microsoft has enabled “Modern Heap Implementation” to reduce Edge memory usage, and the Edge team is working on another feature called “Sleep Tab” with additional memory management improvements.
(Source)
