Chrome’s very popular for being one of the most responsive web browsers there are on Windows. However, Chrome’s popularity comes at a cost, as it has such a high ram usage.
The amount of ram it uses are for a particular reason, yet this can have a detrimental effect on some computers. You could be surprised how much it uses if you venture into the task manager and see every instance of the open browser.
When it uses so much ram, the rest of the computer can become sluggish. In our guide, you can find out why is Google Chrome using so much memory and what you can do to reduce this impact.
By the end, you’ll be able to see what the best thing is to reduce a lot of ram Chrome is using so your computer can remain responsive. (Learn How to Clear Google Search History)
Why Chrome Uses So Much Memory?
When using a computer, most things now happen inside a browser, from opening tabs, watching YouTube to using web apps or extensions which can interact with the rest of your computing device.
If you dive inside the task manager, you’ll see the Google Chrome browser splits every tab and extension to a separate process; thus, if one crashes, it doesn’t affect the entire web page or all the other open tabs.
It is convenient yet leads to higher memory usage since Chrome duplicates some tasks for each open tab.
Every tab open runs independently won’t communicate with another tab by itself. Each tab uses a shared set of resources for address bar or bookmarks, and contents are sandboxed, thus acting like a complete version of the browser.
Besides this, there is a pre-rendering feature, which makes web pages load faster, yet at the cost of memory open, Chrome tabs use to maintain this feature.
Also, you can find some extensions leak memory and cause a lot of memory to be used through inefficiency.
Once you have more tabs open and the number of extensions you have installed increases. You can’t get away from Chrome using a lot of memory on Windows 10 or other devices.
Why Does Google Chrome Have So Many Processes?
Because of the impact that Google Chrome made on the browser market, many other companies such as Opera and Microsoft Edge and Vivaldi, among others, use Chromium as their base.
Many of these companies do manage to cut their amount of memory usage compared to the amount Chrome uses. Edge being quite successful in this department.
One instance is the Google Chrome helper, too much memory is an extension and not the browser using too much memory. Dive into the Windows 10 task manager, and you’ll find it can be consuming a lot of CPU resources as well as ram.
To understand what is going on under the hood, you need to know how to check if Google Chrome using too much CPU and ram usage is high.
To do so, you can use the Windows task manager, although this has to be open all the time, or you can use small third party apps to monitor real-time network speeds, RAM usage and CPU usage along with CPU temperatures. (Learn how to Download SBS On Demand Chromecast)
If you think your PC is using a lot of resources, here are a few symptoms.
- Your mouse lags
- Apps take longer to open
- Your screen may start to freeze frequently
- Your Laptop battery drains faster
- The laptop heats up and is noisy
The Google Chrome Web browser offers users a task manager, so it is possible to see what is happening inside Google Chrome without all the Windows processes interfering.
To check each process running in Google Chrome, you can access the task manager settings by clicking the wrench icon (settings) in the top right corner of the screen (Shift, Esc a shortcut to see what memory Chrome processes and extensions are using).
- Select “More Tools” and select “Task Manager.”
- Click the name of any tab or extension to close and select “End Process”
- You can right-click to find more options to view, yet these don’t mean as much as the memory column where you can see how much ram Chrome is using.
Fixing High Ram Usage in Chrome
Here are a few things you can try to help your Chrome browser use less ram. You should check you have enabled hardware acceleration as this can offload some processes to your GPU and not your CPU, which uses a lot of resources.
Disable Chrome Extensions
- If Google Chrome is using a lot of CPU resources, you should begin by disabling extensions.
- To disable an extension:
- Go to Chrome Menu – More Tools – Extensions or simply open chrome://extensions/
- Toggle the problematic extension to disabled. You can also remove it with the Remove button if needed
- Check your ram usage with one tab open and then a few open to see the difference.
When Chrome Browser Isn’t Running
Chrome can be closed, yet you see Chrome using high CPU usage. The reason being you can install apps in Chrome, which start at system startup run when the Chrome browser is closed.
- Go to Chrome Menu – Settings – Advanced. Or open chrome://settings/system
- Under System, uncheck “Continue running background apps when Google Chrome is closed”
- This kill processes started by Chrome once you close your browser.
Again, check your use and then in Chrome with a single tab open and then a few to see if memory use changes.
Reset Chrome settings
Sometimes, you try things, and it doesn’t help. One fix for the problem is to get rid of Chrome and either reinstall it or reset it to its default settings.
- Go to Chrome Menu – Settings – Advanced. Or go to chrome://settings/reset
- In the Reset and Clean up section, select Restore settings to original defaults.
- Chrome warns you this will reset your startup page, new tab page, search engine, and pinned tabs. It also disables all extensions, clears any cache and temporary data.
- Press the “Reset” settings button to start.
Many users did to combat the issue to install an extra Extension called the “Great Suspender.” What this did was suspend unused tabs to claw back memory.
However, it was fast discovered the extension contained malware. It was pulled from the Chrome store as a result, yet there is a new fork of the app.
One thing many users do to combat the effects of malware is using a VPN. You can use these to cover your system, or you can use a VPN browser extension. (Find the Best Free VPN Australia)
A VPN won’t fix your memory problem on Chrome, yet they don’t present a high load on your hardware, and a VPN is the single best way to protect your data on your computer.
