Google Adds Security Feature To Chrome To Address Spectre Flaw

Do you use Google Chrome as your primary browser when you are perusing the Internet? If you do, you may know that it tends to slow down your computer if you happen to have a lot of browser tabs open.  It uses up a lot of your device’s memory. And if you are one of those people who like to keep a whole bunch of them open at any given time, you might notice the slow down even more drastically going forward. Because of the big security vulnerability called Spectre, Google is adding a welcomed security feature to Chrome that will largely contribute to the extra slowdowns.

You may remember Spectre from several months back. It’s that big “fundamental design flaw” on every CPU. Yes, every single one. The flaw could allow access to areas of your computer’s memory that shouldn’t be available. Hackers can exploit this to steal information off the device, such as passwords.

There is no fix for this, so Google has addressed it by isolating each process being performed in the browser. While this is certainly a good move for added security, it is estimated to use about 10% more of the memory and therefore, slow down your computer a bit more.

To enable the Strict Site Isolation feature, copy and paste the following command in your Chrome browser: chrome://flags/#enable-site-per-process. We highly recommend that this feature is kept enabled.

To be sure, it could be frustrating for some. But it really is a good move and although it can be disabled for now, it shouldn’t be. Instead, just close your browser tabs when you don’t need them. If you think you may need them in the future, bookmark them.

If that isn’t a desirable solution for you, consider a tab manager extension that you can add onto Chrome. Normally, this is not recommended, because adding extensions also can add security risk. However, it is worth consideration for those who insist on keeping a lot of tabs open all the time. Just make sure to research the options thoroughly before installing them so you don’t add a malicious element to your browser.

Also, you should restart your browser once in a while to prevent it from completely taking up all your device’s memory too. This goes whether you disable the new feature or not.

If you do decide to disable this for now (we recommend you keep the feature enabled), there is a reasonable chance that you won’t be able to later. So, you may as well just get used to it.