Google Chrome is the king of browsers, but the main problem with it is using too much memory. If you have done some research, you should be aware of the fact that Chrome uses a lot of resources on your computer. So if you’re worried about why Chrome is taking up so much memory and how you can fix it, you’ll get all your answers here.
Why does Google Chrome consume so much memory?
Google Chrome is a browser that handles a lot of jobs; from watching YouTube videos, using web apps, extensions to opening different tabs, Google Chrome does all the tasks; So what do you think resources are being taken from to do all that work? Obviously, your computer’s RAM is used by Google Chrome for all these matters. Do you know how much RAM Chrome uses? Press SHIFT+ESC to open Google Chrome Task Manager and see for yourself.
Note- Every tab and extension you open is split into a process by Chrome, so if something goes wrong, it will lock all your tabs.
So now you know why Google Chrome uses so much memory; If you are using a lot of extensions and have opened a lot of tabs, this can cause you to use up a lot of your device’s resources in the form of RAM. Other than that, there is a pre-rendering feature of Google Chrome which is very memory intensive, but that feature helps to load the page faster.
So, if Google Chrome is generating high memory usage, it means that you are allowing it by opening many tabs or using extensions. The application you use on your computer runs processes in your computer’s RAM, which is a temporary storage space for data stored on your device.
And whenever Chrome runs out of memory, you will see this message
“Ow Snap! Something went wrong while displaying this web page; Error code: out of memory”
Is it harmful if Google Chrome uses too much memory?
This should be your main concern if it’s wrong if Google Chrome is using too much memory. The purpose of having RAM installed in your device is to allow stored data to be received and read instantly. If the numbers in the memory column of your Task Manager scare you, remember that free RAM is useless, RAM is in your system for a reason if you have a good amount of RAM in your device it means your PC can store many things in your short-term memory to quickly recall them later.
So even if your RAM is full sometimes, it’s a good thing that it’s doing its job. But if you find that RAM is often full and it is slowing down your device, then you need to fix it. If you need more memory than your computer has to offer, it’s something that can slow down your device because it will shift short-term memory to your computer’s hard drive and that’s much slower.
How to stop Google Chrome high memory usage?
If Google Chrome is constantly using high memory usage, it is important to know how to reduce high memory usage in Google Chrome. To make Chrome use less memory, you can try various things like managing plugins and extensions, turning on hardware acceleration, etc. all of these methods have been explained further here:
1. Close RAM consuming programs
There are programs that use more RAM than others and which one is causing high memory usage, you can open Task Manager by pressing CTRL+SHIFT+DELETE or open Google Chrome’s own Task Manager by pressing SHIFT+ESC, and there you can see which tab or extension is consuming the most RAM. You can even sort memory consumption from highest to lowest in the ‘Memory’ column. After that, you can select the processes that are consuming a lot of RAM or not currently in use and click ‘End Task’ to kill them.
2. Use the Chrome Tab Management Extension
Using the Chrome Tab Management Extension is another way to limit RAM usage and save some memory. You may be wondering why install one more extension when there are already so many that affect your RAM usage. But these extensions work to fix your problem and help customize Chrome. One such useful extension is The Great Suspender, which allows you to kill all processes that are consuming too much memory, which ultimately reduces the memory used by Chrome. OneTab is another useful tab management extension that allows you to close all tabs in one go by clicking the OneTab button; it will provide all the links in a tab so you can open them at your convenience.
3. Manage extensions
You should also know how to manage extensions so that you can disable the ones that use a lot of power but are not currently in use. Here’s how to reduce high memory usage in Google Chrome by managing extensions:
- Right click on the extension you want to disable and then click on ‘Manage extensions’
- In the ‘Site access’ section, select one of the two options ‘On click’ or ‘On specific sites’ for ‘Allow this extension to read and change all your data on the websites you visit’
- You can also use an extension manager like SimpleExt to manage all your extensions if you’re using a lot of them.
4. Enable hardware acceleration
You can also enable hardware acceleration to reduce high memory usage by Google Chrome. Here is how to do that:
- After opening Google Chrome, click on the three dots button at the top right corner; then click ‘Settings’.
- On the ‘Settings’ page, click on the ‘Advanced’ option.
- Then go to the ‘System’ section and enable the ‘Use hardware acceleration when available’ option.
- After that, restart Google Chrome and in the address bar, type chrome://gpu/; press enter; now, check if Hardware Acceleration or GPU Rendering is enabled or not.
5. Check your device for malware
You may also face high memory usage by Chrome when your device has been affected by malware or adware and to fix it, run an antivirus scan. If your device is infected by any virus, the antivirus will remove it and ultimately this will help reduce memory usage by Chrome.
6. Set up a new user profile
You can also work around this problem by creating a new user profile for Google Chrome, as this can prevent Chrome from using too much memory; to do this:
- Go to Task Manager and end all Google Chrome processes
- navigate to C:\Users\\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default in Explorer.
- Press CTRL+A to select all files and press Shift + Delete to delete all files permanently.
- After that, restart Google Chrome and then create a new user profile
Hopefully all these solutions will fix the high memory usage by Google Chrome.
Categories: How to
Source: vtt.edu.vn