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With KB5043178 to Release Preview Channel, Microsoft advises Windows 11 users to plug in when the battery is low

Copilot in Outlook will generate personalized themes for you to customize the app

Microsoft will raise the price of its 365 Suite to include AI capabilities

Death Stranding Director’s Cut is now Xbox X|S at a huge discount

Outlook will let users create custom account icons so they can tell their accounts apart easier

New sleeping tabs feature in Edge lets you reduce CPU usage

2 min. read

Published onDecember 11, 2020

published onDecember 11, 2020

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Key notes

Microsoft has been working hard to make Chromium Edge stand out and it started testing a feature in Edge Canary back in September.

This basically allowed users to freeze tabs in the background when not being used. This technology is based onChrome‘s built-in freezing feature, which easily pauses scripts on a page when you’re looking at it.

Now, Microsoft is ready to deploy this feature to all users runningMicrosoft EdgeBeta 88. As expected, it is meant to deliver a significant decrease inCPUand battery usage.

Numbers look quite promising. In fact, that’s precisely what Microsoftreveals:

Using sleeping tabs on Microsoft Edge typically reduces memory usage by 32% on average. It also increases your battery life as a sleeping tab uses 37% less CPU on average than a non-sleeping tab.

What’s this new sleeping tabs feature in Edge all about?

The new feature is meant to force inactive background tabs to automatically go to sleep. This releases system resources after a pre-defined amount of time.

Do note that that sleeping tabs in Microsoft Edge will make tabs go to sleep only after 2 hours of inactivity.

Even so, this makes a huge difference when it comes to redirecting those valuable CPU and battery resources for newly opened or active tabs, as well as other applications on yourcomputer.

You should see a fade on the tab when it is asleep, so feel free to click it whenever you want to bring it back to life.

On top of all these, recent updates include an option to put tabs to sleep even after 5 minutes of inactivity and new group policies to manage sleeping tabs.

Keep in mind that you can find more related settings for this by enteringedge://settings/systemin the URL bar. Don’t forget to let us know your feedback on sleeping tabs in the comments area below.

More about the topics:microsoft edge browser

Loredana Harsana

Windows Software Expert

Loredana is a passionate writer with a keen interest in PC software and technology. She started off writing about mobile phones back when Samsung Galaxy S II was on top of the world and she fell in love with tech of all sorts.

Whenever she’s not at her work desk, you’ll find her enjoying refreshing tea flavors, spilling stories on paper, and listening to the radio.

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Loredana Harsana

Windows Software Expert

Loredana is a tech enthusiast who tackles mobility, privacy, and networking in easy-to follow guides for everyone.

With KB5043178 to Release Preview Channel, Microsoft advises Windows 11 users to plug in when the battery is low#

Copilot in Outlook will generate personalized themes for you to customize the app#

Microsoft will raise the price of its 365 Suite to include AI capabilities#

Death Stranding Director’s Cut is now Xbox X|S at a huge discount#

Outlook will let users create custom account icons so they can tell their accounts apart easier#

New sleeping tabs feature in Edge lets you reduce CPU usage#

What’s this new sleeping tabs feature in Edge all about?#