Google is testing whether increasing the cache in Chrome can mitigate performance losses from a previous update. The company had decided to separate the cache for different websites for security reasons.
Until version 85 of Chrome, Google used a single pool to store all browser cache. The browser cache speeds up loading times by allowing data that has already been downloaded to be loaded from the local storage.
The disadvantage of using a single pool is that malicious websites could detect when another website is retrieving certain files. This information can be used to discover what’s in a user’s inbox, for example.
To prevent this from happening, starting with Chrome 85, Google decided to give all websites their own unique cache space. This means that websites can no longer see what is happening in another website’s cache.
Performance hit
The disadvantage of this approach is that it was introduced a small performance hit, as Chrome could resort to cache less often. The impact was relatively minor: the fraction of data loaded from the cache dropped from 39.1 to 37.8 percent.
According to Bleeping Computers, Google is now experimenting with increasing the cache size to counteract this performance hit. The company is trying 2, 2.5 and 3 times larger sizes than normal. This should result in Chrome discarding cache to free up space less often.
It is not clear if and when the change will appear in release versions.
Tip: Google updates Chrome to be much faster and use less power
13 hours ago
