Appearance mode not working, memory & CPU on startup sometimes increases sharply

[tumatanquang]

Appearance mode not working:

I saw another similar issue at #1018 but it's not very accurate, so I created this issue.

To Reproduce

1. Go to Appearance
2. Click on Mode
3. Select any mode
4. Nothing changes
5. Reload the settings page or restart your browser
6. It reverts to Device mode

Expected behavior

When you change the mode, the interface will be refreshed and the settings will be saved.

Screenshots

Supermium.mp4

Additional context

In the video it can be seen that after changing the mode, the browser tried to refresh to update the mode (it had a flash at the tab-bar), but for some reason it failed.

I know it's possible to force dark mode via the --force-dark-mode startup flag or modifying chrome://flags. But this is a bug, so I hope it gets fixed soon.

Memory on startup sometimes increases sharply:

This is an occasional bug, every time I start the browser, sometimes there is one (several) tabs that immediately use over 160 MB of memory:

I tried restoring browser default settings, removing all extensions,... But still can't solve this error.

Simply restarting the browser once (a few) times (randomly) will help it use the correct memory, but will not solve the problem on subsequent browser starts.

Also, after the browser starts, it always uses around 10% CPU (I'm using an i5-3470 CPU, I'm not sure if the usage is the same for other CPUs) and never drops to 0% during subsequent use, even if nothing is currently open.

Desktop (please complete the following information):

• OS: Windows 7 Ultimate SP 1
• Version 126.0.6478.260 (Official Build) (32-bit)

[win32ss]

For now, browser viewing modes can only be adjusted with Chrome Refresh 2023 enabled. In the major release of Supermium expected in February, the division between the different UI styles will be dropped and the current pre-Refresh UI elements will be implemented differently, which should put an end to this issue.

Which tabs are opened on startup? Or at least which types of websites? Are they heavy websites with lots of content?

[billi857]

Memory on startup sometimes increases sharply:

This is an occasional bug, every time I start the browser, sometimes there is one (several) tabs that immediately use over 160 MB of memory:

Right now I am testing version 126(R6) 32bit (Windows 7 x64) and I confirm the problem with memory usage. Even an empty new tab can take up 12mb, 160mb, 180mb, completely randomly and for unknown reasons, even without restarting the browser. That is, the same tab with a light page without scripts can take up completely different amounts of memory, the difference is several times and even tens of times.

Although, it may be a matter of the "cleanliness" of the user folder... This needs to be checked.
UPD
This may seem strange, but I came to the conclusion that you need to play with different browser versions using a Windows reboot (at least this applies to Windows 7). That is, even a clean profile does not guarantee the purity of the experiment until Windows is rebooted. In this particular case, it was an experiment on RAM consumption. Consumption stabilized only after a reboot. This may have something to do with caching or resource reservations in Windows itself, but I'm not sure.

Also, after the browser starts, it always uses around 10% CPU (I'm using an i5-3470 CPU, I'm not sure if the usage is the same for other CPUs) and never drops to 0% during subsequent use, even if nothing is currently open.

Do you mean just one start tab or are there other tabs that can run in the background? Does the start tab have any animations that are constantly changing (e.g. rotating, blinking)?

[tumatanquang]

@win32ss For now, browser viewing modes can only be adjusted with Chrome Refresh 2023 enabled. In the major release of Supermium expected in February, the division between the different UI styles will be dropped and the current pre-Refresh UI elements will be implemented differently, which should put an end to this issue.

I found that not only appearance mode doesn't work, but also editing the Font size settings in below doesn't work, but the Page zoom setting still works fine.

Which tabs are opened on startup? Or at least which types of websites? Are they heavy websites with lots of content?

Just start the browser, don't open any web pages other than "new tab", sometimes one (or a few) processes will randomly use 160MB to 180MB. CPU always uses at least 1%, often at 10%.

[tumatanquang]

Right now I am testing version 126(R6) 32bit (Windows 7 x64) and I confirm the problem with memory usage. Even an empty new tab can take up 12mb, 160mb, 180mb, completely randomly and for unknown reasons, even without restarting the browser. That is, the same tab with a light page without scripts can take up completely different amounts of memory, the difference is several times and even tens of times.

Can you try on x64 version to see if this error appears?

Although, it may be a matter of the "cleanliness" of the user folder... This needs to be checked. UPD This may seem strange, but I came to the conclusion that you need to play with different browser versions using a Windows reboot (at least this applies to Windows 7). That is, even a clean profile does not guarantee the purity of the experiment until Windows is rebooted. In this particular case, it was an experiment on RAM consumption. Consumption stabilized only after a reboot. This may have something to do with caching or resource reservations in Windows itself, but I'm not sure.

Even if you restart Windows, there is a certain probability of getting this error.
But it seems that the probability will be lower if you successfully delete the C:\Users\<YOUR_USER>\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\Caches folder after restarting Windows.
On the contrary, the probability of getting this error will be extremely high if when you delete the Caches folder, you receive the error "The file <RANDOM_UUID>.1.ver0x000000000000000<RANDOM_VER?>.db is open in another program".

Do you mean just one start tab or are there other tabs that can run in the background? Does the start tab have any animations that are constantly changing (e.g. rotating, blinking)?

Just start the browser with new tab, don't open anything, it still uses about 10% CPU for no reason.

[billi857]

But it seems that the probability will be lower if you successfully delete the C:\Users\<YOUR_USER>\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\Caches folder after restarting Windows.
On the contrary, the probability of getting this error will be extremely high if when you delete the Caches folder, you receive the error "The file <RANDOM_UUID>.1.ver0x000000000000000<RANDOM_VER?>.db is open in another program".

Damn, I didn't even look in that folder! But there's also a WebCache folder and there are fresh entries there too...

Can you try on x64 version to see if this error appears?

Starting from 122, I tried almost all versions of both 32 and 64 bits, including test ones, in search of a solution, as I have my own problem (#1111). As for the strange/random memory consumption, it seems to be present in all versions. Moreover, even in forks of another developer (Blaukovich). I think this is a common problem of Chromium and Windows 7. I have noticed similar strange problems with memory consumption in other programs built on the Chromium engine. It seems that even changing the command line switches can lead to such problems.

Just start the browser with new tab, don't open anything, it still uses about 10% CPU for no reason.

"New tab" can be different, that is, whatever you make it. It seems that by default, there is a Google search engine and icons of the most frequently used sites? All this can consume resources. If you have the "Preload pages" option enabled in your browser settings, then perhaps these most frequently used sites are loaded in the background, consuming resources...
My "new tab" is a completely clean tab, it does not consume processor resources:
chrome://flags
Custom New Tab Page
about:blank
I also always disable the "page preload" option as it is not designed for low-end hardware.
You can also try to launch the browser with the --force-lazy-compositor key.

I hope your problem is different from mine, otherwise it's tough and there is no solution yet.

[tumatanquang]

Damn, I didn't even look in that folder! But there's also a WebCache folder and there are fresh entries there too...

No, it's the Caches folder to be exact, not the WebCache folder. The Caches folder will always be recreated every time you start Windows. In my "experience", if after restarting Windows, if you successfully delete the Caches folder, the probability of encountering an unusual memory usage error will be lower and vice versa.

P/s: I log-in and use the Administrator account on Windows by default.

Starting from 122, I tried almost all versions of both 32 and 64 bits, including test ones, in search of a solution, as I have my own problem (#1111). As for the strange/random memory consumption, it seems to be present in all versions. Moreover, even in forks of another developer (Blaukovich). I think this is a common problem of Chromium and Windows 7. I have noticed similar strange problems with memory consumption in other programs built on the Chromium engine. It seems that even changing the command line switches can lead to such problems.

This sounds like a common bug with Chromium based browsers.

"New tab" can be different, that is, whatever you make it. It seems that by default, there is a Google search engine and icons of the most frequently used sites? All this can consume resources. If you have the "Preload pages" option enabled in your browser settings, then perhaps these most frequently used sites are loaded in the background, consuming resources... My "new tab" is a completely clean tab, it does not consume processor resources: chrome://flags Custom New Tab Page about:blank I also always disable the "page preload" option as it is not designed for low-end hardware. You can also try to launch the browser with the --force-lazy-compositor key.

The "new tab" here is a blank page with nothing on it (similar to about:blank). Even though I use the --incognito switch to open an incognito tab by default, the "new tab" is now the "You've gone incognito" page. But all of them always use around 10% CPU (for my CPU) since starting the browser even without opening anything else.

[billi857]

The "new tab" here is a blank page with nothing on it (similar to about:blank). Even though I use the --incognito switch to open an incognito tab by default, the "new tab" is now the "You've gone incognito" page. But all of them always use around 10% CPU (for my CPU) since starting the browser even without opening anything else.

Yes, this is already a completely strange and incomprehensible consumption of the processor. Have you tried to disable/enable hardware acceleration of graphics in the browser settings? Many old video cards have problems with enabled graphics acceleration. Also, you can see if there is a load on the video card processor at this moment (I use the GPU-Z program). You can also try to enable Aero theme in Windows or vice versa, disable Aero and enable classic theme and see the result.

If disabling hardware graphics acceleration does not help, I can recommend a few things for the duration of the test:
disable the option to preload pages; disable the option to launch applications in the background; disable synchronization with Google; in the security tab, disable safe browsing protection (if protection is enabled, then the connection with Google is used); disable all extensions, if any.

And one more question, but it is at the very bottom of the list of possible reasons: are any Google services blocked in your country?

[tumatanquang]

Yes, this is already a completely strange and incomprehensible consumption of the processor. Have you tried to disable/enable hardware acceleration of graphics in the browser settings? Many old video cards have problems with enabled graphics acceleration. Also, you can see if there is a load on the video card processor at this moment (I use the GPU-Z program). You can also try to enable Aero theme in Windows or vice versa, disable Aero and enable classic theme and see the result.

I have always used Aero theme. I have tried turning hardware acceleration on/off but nothing has changed, my graphics card is NVIDIA GTX 750, in theory it should be fine, I have also tried some other browsers but have not experienced this constant CPU usage. With most browsers I have tried, it does show a high CPU usage when starting up to initialize, but after initializing for a few seconds, it goes away.

If disabling hardware graphics acceleration does not help, I can recommend a few things for the duration of the test: disable the option to preload pages; disable the option to launch applications in the background; disable synchronization with Google; in the security tab, disable safe browsing protection (if protection is enabled, then the connection with Google is used); disable all extensions, if any.

I have done all of these, or rather this is my preferences.

And one more question, but it is at the very bottom of the list of possible reasons: are any Google services blocked in your country?

No Google services are blocked in Vietnam.

[billi857]

Then all that remains is to sequentially go through the different versions and revisions of Supermium in order to at least approximately determine after what changes and in which version/revision the problems began. This can be tedious and not necessarily fruitful (as it was for me with my problem). In my case, only version 122(R5) turned out to be problem-free.

If you start this sort of search, I recommend starting with these test DLLs: #1111 (comment)
This test will disprove (or confirm) the impact of V8 security patches.
Next, check version 124, 122...

You can also try a fork from another developer - Blaukovich. Now he seems to have version 130 of Chrome ready. A test to determine the presence or absence of your problem there will be interesting.

UPD
I forgot to ask: were Windows updates installed and until what date?