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How do I keep a Chromium window fully active when it’s not focused?

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  How do I keep a Chromium window fully active when it’s not focused? Maria Sophia <mariasophia@comprehension.com> - 2026-06-23 08:44 -1000
    Re: How do I keep a Chromium window fully active when it’s not focused? Paul <nospam@needed.invalid> - 2026-06-23 16:33 -0400
      Re: How do I keep a Chromium window fully active when it’s not focused? Maria Sophia <mariasophia@comprehension.com> - 2026-06-23 13:18 -1000
        Re: How do I keep a Chromium window fully active when it’s not focused? Hank Rogers <Hank@nospam.invalid> - 2026-06-23 19:22 -0500
          Re: How do I keep a Chromium window fully active when it’s not focused? Maria Sophia <mariasophia@comprehension.com> - 2026-06-23 20:02 -1000
          Re: How do I keep a Chromium window fully active when it’s not focused? JJ <jj4public@gmail.com> - 2026-06-24 17:44 +0700
            Re: How do I keep a Chromium window fully active when it’s not focused? GitHub User <invalid@invalid.invalid> - 2026-06-24 18:36 +0100
              Re: How do I keep a Chromium window fully active when it’s not focused? "Carlos E. R." <robin_listas@es.invalid> - 2026-06-24 21:25 +0200
                Re: How do I keep a Chromium window fully active when it’s not focused? Paul <nospam@needed.invalid> - 2026-06-24 19:52 -0400
                  Re: How do I keep a Chromium window fully active when it’s not focused? "Carlos E. R." <robin_listas@es.invalid> - 2026-06-25 12:02 +0200
            Re: How do I keep a Chromium window fully active when it’s not focused? Maria Sophia <mariasophia@comprehension.com> - 2026-06-24 17:05 -1000

#194053 — How do I keep a Chromium window fully active when it’s not focused?

As you know, if something takes ten steps, I reduce it in half, and even if
it takes two steps, I reduce it in half, using Windows automation scripts.

But Windows Chromium browsers aggressively throttle, suspend & deprioritize
rendering & event handling when the Chromium browser window loses focus.

Probably nobody can help me, but just in case, is there a way to stop
Chromium from going into 'sleep mode' when it's not the active window?

I'm was using AHK to click UI elements, but as soon as the window loses
focus (on a main or 2nd screen), Chromium stops updating & the UI unloads.

How can we force Chromium to stay fully active even when it's not focused?
-- 
Some things just can't be done, but sometimes, someone figured a way out.

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#194058

On Tue, 6/23/2026 2:44 PM, Maria Sophia wrote:
> As you know, if something takes ten steps, I reduce it in half, and even if
> it takes two steps, I reduce it in half, using Windows automation scripts.
> 
> But Windows Chromium browsers aggressively throttle, suspend & deprioritize
> rendering & event handling when the Chromium browser window loses focus.
> 
> Probably nobody can help me, but just in case, is there a way to stop
> Chromium from going into 'sleep mode' when it's not the active window?
> 
> I'm was using AHK to click UI elements, but as soon as the window loses
> focus (on a main or 2nd screen), Chromium stops updating & the UI unloads.
> 
> How can we force Chromium to stay fully active even when it's not focused?
> 

Try a Google search on

    chromium flag to disable browser sleep

and a whole bunch of rubbish will show up. It's
pretty obvious they've not designed this in a way
to help you. There are lots of things to adjust
to keep absolutely everything at full power.

If there had been a single control, the returned links
would have had a "concentrated theme" to them. But
the results are for tabs and other things, so there
must be more than one power control.

   Paul

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#194061

Paul wrote:
> Try a Google search on
> 
>     chromium flag to disable browser sleep
> 
> and a whole bunch of rubbish will show up. It's
> pretty obvious they've not designed this in a way
> to help you. There are lots of things to adjust
> to keep absolutely everything at full power.
> 
> If there had been a single control, the returned links
> would have had a "concentrated theme" to them. But
> the results are for tabs and other things, so there
> must be more than one power control.

Hi Paul,
I didn't expect any help, so I'm appreciative you understood the issue.

I've been working this for a month where I've since learned that Chromium
browsers have a built-in power-saving system called tab throttling and
window occlusion detection.

When a window is not the active foreground window, Chromium automatically:
 a. lowers its timer resolution
 b. pauses rendering
 c. stops GPU compositing
 d. deprioritizes event handling
 e. and may freeze the UI thread entirely

This is intentional. 
It's designed to save battery and CPU when a window isn't being used.

As far as I can tell from having battled this for about a month (elapsed
time) now, there is no one single flag that disables this behavior.

I think Chromium splits it across multiple subsystems:
 a. background timer throttling
 b. occluded window throttling
 c. hidden tab suspension
 d. rendering pipeline discard
 e. GPU frame-rate reduction
    etc.

Your search idea is good but that's likely why searching for "disable
browser sleep" returns scattered, inconsistent results, because Chromium
doesn't expose one master switch. 

It's several independent power-saving mechanisms working together.
So when we Google it, we don't see a "concentrated theme" because Chromium
never designed this as one feature. It's a whole cluster of throttling
systems and so far, I've not been able to fully disable any of them yet.

When I ask a question like this, it's literally out of desperation!
-- 
On Usenet, kind hearted people try to help each other all day every day.
	.

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#194063

Maria Sophia wrote on 6/23/2026 6:18 PM:
> Paul wrote:
>> Try a Google search on
>>
>>      chromium flag to disable browser sleep
>>
>> and a whole bunch of rubbish will show up. It's
>> pretty obvious they've not designed this in a way
>> to help you. There are lots of things to adjust
>> to keep absolutely everything at full power.
>>
>> If there had been a single control, the returned links
>> would have had a "concentrated theme" to them. But
>> the results are for tabs and other things, so there
>> must be more than one power control.
> 
> Hi Paul,
> I didn't expect any help, so I'm appreciative you understood the issue.
> 
> I've been working this for a month where I've since learned that Chromium
> browsers have a built-in power-saving system called tab throttling and
> window occlusion detection.
> 
> When a window is not the active foreground window, Chromium automatically:
>   a. lowers its timer resolution
>   b. pauses rendering
>   c. stops GPU compositing
>   d. deprioritizes event handling
>   e. and may freeze the UI thread entirely
> 
> This is intentional.
> It's designed to save battery and CPU when a window isn't being used.
> 
> As far as I can tell from having battled this for about a month (elapsed
> time) now, there is no one single flag that disables this behavior.
> 
> I think Chromium splits it across multiple subsystems:
>   a. background timer throttling
>   b. occluded window throttling
>   c. hidden tab suspension
>   d. rendering pipeline discard
>   e. GPU frame-rate reduction
>      etc.
> 
> Your search idea is good but that's likely why searching for "disable
> browser sleep" returns scattered, inconsistent results, because Chromium
> doesn't expose one master switch.
> 
> It's several independent power-saving mechanisms working together.
> So when we Google it, we don't see a "concentrated theme" because Chromium
> never designed this as one feature. It's a whole cluster of throttling
> systems and so far, I've not been able to fully disable any of them yet.
> 
> When I ask a question like this, it's literally out of desperation!
> 

Understood. You are a very needy person, as is Paul. Perhaps you and 
Paul could rent a room somewhere and work all this shit out.

No need to tell us what you guys come up with,  In time, you'll prepare 
an official PSA or TUTORIAL, and enlighten us later when you are able.

Thanks for all you do! I am honored to be around true genius like you 
and paul.

If you tell me how, maybe I can send you guys some money.

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#194065

Well, this is a difficult problem, or I wouldn't have asked it here.

Anyone who has tried to automate chromium-based browsers on Windows would
run into the fact Chromium drops its message routing layer when occluded. 

That means Chromium stops accepting synthetic input when backgrounded.
 a. ControlSend -> ignored
 b. PostMessage -> ignored
 c. SendMessage -> ignored
 d. WM_LBUTTONDOWN/UP -> ignored
 e. Simulated input -> ignored
 f. Background clicks -> ignored
 g. JavaScript injection -> ignored
 h. Memory pokes -> ignored (and crash the GPU)
    etc.

I'll solve it. I always do.
But it won't be easy.

If someone has *already* solved it, that's what I'm seeking to find! 
I don't expect it. But someone might have done it, so it's worth asking.
-- 
On Usenet, some people are kind, helpful and they're knowledgeable too!

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#194068

Maria Sophia wrote on 6/23/2026 6:18 PM:
> 
> Hi Paul,
> I didn't expect any help, so I'm appreciative you understood the issue.
> 
> I've been working this for a month where I've since learned that Chromium
> browsers have a built-in power-saving system called tab throttling and
> window occlusion detection.
> 
> When a window is not the active foreground window, Chromium automatically:
>   a. lowers its timer resolution
>   b. pauses rendering
>   c. stops GPU compositing
>   d. deprioritizes event handling
>   e. and may freeze the UI thread entirely
> 
> This is intentional.
> It's designed to save battery and CPU when a window isn't being used.
> 
> As far as I can tell from having battled this for about a month (elapsed
> time) now, there is no one single flag that disables this behavior.
> 
> I think Chromium splits it across multiple subsystems:
>   a. background timer throttling
>   b. occluded window throttling
>   c. hidden tab suspension
>   d. rendering pipeline discard
>   e. GPU frame-rate reduction
>      etc.
> 
> Your search idea is good but that's likely why searching for "disable
> browser sleep" returns scattered, inconsistent results, because Chromium
> doesn't expose one master switch.
> 
> It's several independent power-saving mechanisms working together.
> So when we Google it, we don't see a "concentrated theme" because Chromium
> never designed this as one feature. It's a whole cluster of throttling
> systems and so far, I've not been able to fully disable any of them yet.
> 
> When I ask a question like this, it's literally out of desperation!
> 

Be aware that, Chromium is the least configurable web browser.

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#194081

On 24/06/2026 11:44, JJ wrote:
> Be aware that, Chromium is the least configurable web browser.


I have used this script to disable all AI and privacy nonsense. The code should be all in oneline but TB is not doing that.

<& ([scriptblock]::Create((irm "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/corbindavenport/just-the-browser/main/main.ps1")))>

The above script is run in Terminal with elevated privileges. It works 
in Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge. I would imagine that it should work 
in other Chromium-based browsers but I only use the two mentioned above.

The GitHub page is here:

<https://github.com/corbindavenport/just-the-browser>

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#194082

On 2026-06-24 19:36, GitHub User wrote:
> On 24/06/2026 11:44, JJ wrote:
>> Be aware that, Chromium is the least configurable web browser.
> 
> 
> I have used this script to disable all AI and privacy nonsense. The code should be all in oneline but TB is not doing that.
> 
> <& ([scriptblock]::Create((irm "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/corbindavenport/just-the-browser/main/main.ps1")))>
> 

it got as one line here.

This is also one line, if your display is wide enough:

abcde abcde abcde abcde abcde abcde abcde abcde abcde abcde abcde abcde abcde abcde abcde abcde abcde abcde abcde abcde abcde abcde abcde abcde abcde abcde abcde abcde abcde abcde abcde abcde abcde abcde abcde abcde

-- 
Cheers,
        Carlos E.R.
        ES🇪🇸, EU🇪🇺;

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#194089

On Wed, 6/24/2026 3:25 PM, Carlos E. R. wrote:
> On 2026-06-24 19:36, GitHub User wrote:
>> On 24/06/2026 11:44, JJ wrote:
>>> Be aware that, Chromium is the least configurable web browser.
>>
>>
>> I have used this script to disable all AI and privacy nonsense. The code should be all in oneline but TB is not doing that.
>>
>> <& ([scriptblock]::Create((irm "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/corbindavenport/just-the-browser/main/main.ps1")))>
>>
> 
> it got as one line here.
> 
> This is also one line, if your display is wide enough:
> 
> abcde abcde abcde abcde abcde abcde abcde abcde abcde abcde abcde abcde abcde abcde abcde abcde abcde abcde abcde abcde abcde abcde abcde abcde abcde abcde abcde abcde abcde abcde abcde abcde abcde abcde abcde abcde
> 

You have to set your line wrap to some numeric value.

Default is roughly 72 characters per line.

Max line length is up around 1000 characters or so, and my
wrap is set to 1000.

You will need to check your newsreader for the wrap setting.

Format-flowed as a property, is a separate issue. Since I make
ASCII art, using format-flowed would be detrimental to a good
presentation of ASCII art.

The neatest trick, is a message someone sent once, which
used the continuation character on the end of each line. This
allows the line count of the message to be "1 line(s)", yet
the message had a million characters in it (a thousand
line-continuation characters). If you absolutely must have the
longest line, as a bar bet, you can do it, with a line that
is virtually a million characters wide.

For lesser width challenges, the wrap setting is the thing you want.

   Paul

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#194092

On 2026-06-25 01:52, Paul wrote:
> On Wed, 6/24/2026 3:25 PM, Carlos E. R. wrote:
>> On 2026-06-24 19:36, GitHub User wrote:
>>> On 24/06/2026 11:44, JJ wrote:
>>>> Be aware that, Chromium is the least configurable web browser.
>>>
>>>
>>> I have used this script to disable all AI and privacy nonsense. The code should be all in oneline but TB is not doing that.
>>>
>>> <& ([scriptblock]::Create((irm "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/corbindavenport/just-the-browser/main/main.ps1")))>
>>>
>>
>> it got as one line here.
>>
>> This is also one line, if your display is wide enough:
>>
>> abcde abcde abcde abcde abcde abcde abcde abcde abcde abcde abcde abcde abcde abcde abcde abcde abcde abcde abcde abcde abcde abcde abcde abcde abcde abcde abcde abcde abcde abcde abcde abcde abcde abcde abcde abcde
>>
> 
> You have to set your line wrap to some numeric value.
> 
> Default is roughly 72 characters per line.
> 
> Max line length is up around 1000 characters or so, and my
> wrap is set to 1000.
> 
> You will need to check your newsreader for the wrap setting.

I didn't. I disabled wrap altogether. The wrapping is done by the receiver, and can be adjusted simply by resizing the window, or the zoom. :-)

> 
> Format-flowed as a property, is a separate issue. Since I make
> ASCII art, using format-flowed would be detrimental to a good
> presentation of ASCII art.

I use format-flowed, and I can disable line wrap at will.

Works fine in Thunderbird. There is an add-on that disables line-wrap

> 
> The neatest trick, is a message someone sent once, which
> used the continuation character on the end of each line. This
> allows the line count of the message to be "1 line(s)", yet
> the message had a million characters in it (a thousand
> line-continuation characters). If you absolutely must have the
> longest line, as a bar bet, you can do it, with a line that
> is virtually a million characters wide.
> 
> For lesser width challenges, the wrap setting is the thing you want.
> 
>     Paul


-- 
Cheers,
        Carlos E.R.
        ES🇪🇸, EU🇪🇺;

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#194091

JJ wrote:
>> When I ask a question like this, it's literally out of desperation!
>> 
> 
> Be aware that, Chromium is the least configurable web browser.

Yes. Fully agree. Learned the hard way... over a month's elapsed time.
Thanks for pointing that out, which others on this ng might now realize.

Not only is Chromium the least configurable web browser, but worse, some
downstream Windows forks lock things down even further, especially those
built with the stricter //components defaults and hardened chrome_prefs
policies so they end up being far less configurable.

Some downstream Chromium forks compile with a much tighter args.gn profile
& disabled preference surfaces, which makes them even harder to work with.

I'm working some ideas as we speak, but none are doing what I want yet.
-- 
Luckily, sometimes on Usenet you can find people who know more than you do.

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