Today, WndowsLatest reported that the Microsoft Edge browser will get many new features and improvements in the next update. After the update, it will automatically freeze the tabs to solve the problem of high memory usage and improve the fluency of multi-tab page browsing.
On the Chrome browser, this feature is called ‘Tab Freeze’. Hereinafter, we will call this function as ‘v’ for the Microsoft Edge browser as well.
Also Read: Microsoft Edge Browser Now Uses 27% Less RAM On Windows 10
The source pointed out that Edge’s ‘Tab Freeze’ feature is more advanced than the Chrome browser’s ‘Freeze tabs’ feature. It can help users reduce the memory usage of Windows 10 or macOS.
Edge’s ‘Tab Freeze’ function does not kill tabs, but temporarily freezes them. According to an experimental feature in the Canary version of the Microsoft Edge browser, this feature can automatically put the idle tab to sleep.
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Microsoft wrote in the Flag description: ‘It will also observe “heuristic violations” which are the characteristics to determine the activity of a tab. For example, if a tab is playing audio or video in background, Edge browser won’t freeze or suspend the tab because it’s doesn’t qualify “inactive” metrics.’
It is worth mentioning that Microsoft will also provide specific freeze timeout settings, supporting 15 minutes, 30 minutes, 1 hour, 2 hours, 3 hours and 6 hours.
How to enable Sleeping Tabs in Microsoft Edge
- Open Edge://flags in Edge Canary.
- Search for “Sleeping Tabs”.
- Sleeping tabs in Edge
- Enable the flags.
- Relaunch the browser.
- Head to Settings and search for “Sleeping Tabs”.
- Enable the feature.
Tab Freeze On Google Chrome
However, as said, this is identical to Google Chrome’s Freeze tabs. Thus, it’s not new. That’s not a secret that browsers, especially Google Chrome, are the most resources-hungry apps on Windows. We mean they eat more RAM if you install extensions or keep too many tabs open.
But to solve this problem, Google Chrome comes with the Tab Discarding feature to monitor tabs usage and suspend the tabs not being used. Of course, it improves system performance and controls RAM usage to some extent. But Google can refine the Tab Discarding with the Tab Freeze feature. With it, Google wants Chrome users to configure how tab freezing works, allowing you to decide when to suspend a tab automatically.