Google's Chrome browser has long been criticised for being a system resource hog, which is why developers have been busy working on ways to free up memory and keep things running smoothly when users have multiple windows and tabs open. The latest effort in that regard comes in the form of Memory Saver, a new feature that deactivates open tabs you haven't used in a while so that the tabs you are using offer the smoothest possible experience. With Memory Saver enabled, your inactive tabs remain open, and when you access an inactive tab, it reloads automatically. Google claims the new Memory Saver feature means Chrome uses up to 40% and 10 GB less memory. The company says the new performance setting is particularly good at keeping active video and gaming tabs running smoothly.
Google is rolling out Memory Saver mode over the next several weeks, but not everyone will see it yet. Fortunately, if the new Settings -> Performance menu is not visible for you, you can activate it manually by using the experimental features in Chrome Flags.
Before you proceed, be sure to bookmark any important tabs and save anything important that you're working on in Chrome, then update the browser to the latest version available (109.0.5414.119 as of writing).
• Launch Chrome and paste the following into the address bar: chrome://flags/#high-efficiency-mode-available
• Next to "Enable the high efficiency mode feature in the settings", change the Default setting to Enabled, then restart Chrome
• Now paste the following into the address bar: chrome://settings/performance
• In the new "Performance" menu, toggle the switch next to Memory Saver to enable it
• Restart Chrome for the changes to take effect
Apart from Memory Saver, Google is also rolling out an Energy Saver mode that makes Chrome automatically limit battery draining tasks when the battery hits 20 percent. It does this by reducing its image capture rate and other background tasks, so you may notice changes in gaming and video performance.
The mode can be toggled on or off in the same "Performance" page in Settings. If you don't see it (this setting is only visible on portable computers) and don't want to wait for it to roll out to you, simply follow the same steps as above, but replace the address with chrome://flags/#battery-saver-mode-available and select Enabled next to "Enable the battery saver mode feature in the settings", then restart the browser.
AirDrop offers a fantastic wireless file sharing option for Mac, but not everyone may want to have it enabled. If you’re a Mac user you may find yourself in a situation where you’d like to disable AirDrop on the Mac for whatever reason. Using AirDrop is super easy, and you’ll find that turning the feature off is simple too.
Whether you’re wanting to stop receiving inbound AirDrop requests for files, trying to avoid a networking conflict, troubleshooting, or just limit your network footprint, it’s easy to turn off AirDrop on MacOS.
Turning off AirDrop in MacOS is the same in all versions of macOS and Mac OS X, regardless of system software version. Here’s how:
• Open the Finder on Mac
• Go to “AirDrop” in the Finder window sidebar, or pull down the Go menu and choose AirDrop from there
• Click the small blue text at the bottom of the AirDrop window that says “Allow me to be discovered by:” and select “No One” to turn AirDrop off
With AirDrop turned off you will not be discoverable by other devices that are looking for AirDrop destinations. This means you won’t be able to receive any files or data sharing requests from anyone via AirDrop.
If you’d like to enable AirDrop at any time, simply switch the AirDrop allowing options to either Contacts Only or Everyone, like so:
• Open the Finder on Mac
• Go to “AirDrop” in the Finder window sidebar, or pull down the Go menu and choose AirDrop
• Click the “Allow me to be discovered by:” text at the bottom of the window and choose “Contacts Only” or “Everyone”
This turns on AirDrop again and allows the Mac to be available for AirDrop requests. You will also need to make sure you have Bluetooth enabled on the Mac to be able to use AirDrop successfully.
Full screen mode on the Mac defaults to hiding the menu bar, and while you can swing your cursor to the top of the screen to reveal the menu bar, some Mac users may prefer to have the menu bar always visible when in full screen mode.
If you want to make sure the menu bar remains visible even when in full screen mode for any app on the Mac, here’s what you can do:
• Pull down the Apple menu and go to “System Preferences”
• Choose “Dock & Menu Bar” preferences
• Uncheck “Automatically hide and show the menu bar in full screen” so that it’s disabled
Now when you enter full screen mode on any window or app in macOS, the menu bar will remain visible at the top of the screen.
Ever ended up on a webpage in a different language and wished you could translate it instantly? With the latest versions of Safari, you can use a native translation feature to convert a webpage from a foreign language to your native tongue.
Safari's built-in language translation feature is for modern versions of Safari and macOS, so as long as you're running Safari 14 or newer in macOS Big Sur or newer, you’ll be good to go. Here's how you can translate webpages:
• Launch Safari and head over to the website that needs to be translated.
• Once the page loads up, you’ll notice a new Translate icon on the right side of the address bar.
• Click on the Translate icon and choose "Translate to English". Also, keep a note of the Preferred Languages option for now if you're interested in translating to a different language.
• Since you're using the built-in translator for the first time, you'll get a pop-up. Click on "Enable Translation" to continue.
• The page will now be translated into English. If you want to access the original page for any reason, click on the translate icon and choose "View Original".
• If you want to translate the page to a different language, click on "Preferred Languages...". This will take you to the "Language & Region" settings on your Mac. Here, click on the "+" icon under Preferred languages.
• Simply select the language you want to use and click on "Add". Now, this language will also be available in the translation menu along with English.
Current supported languages for translation are English, Spanish, Simplified Chinese, French, German, Russian, and Brazilian Portuguese.
Beyond customizing the Safari start page for things like Favorites, Reading List, and Frequently Visited, you can also change the background image used by Safari. This allows you to use any picture you want as the default background image in Safari.
To be able to set a custom background image in Safari, you’ll need Safari 14 or newer on a modern macOS release, like macOS Mojave or newer.
• Launch Safari.
• Now, simply right-click (or Ctrl+Click) in the empty area on the start page and click on Choose Background. This will open up a file selection window.
• Find the picture that you want to set as the background from the file selection window and select it. Now, click on Choose.
• From now on your start page will look completely different.
If you feel like removing the custom background at any point, just right-click (or Ctrl+Click) in the empty area and choose Clear Background.
