Aside from being popular, Google Chrome is one of the fastest internet browsers ever developed, considering how Google constantly improves the web browser’s efficiency with the consistent introduction of updates, improvements of features, and minor tweaks.
Nevertheless, there are times when Google Chrome can make your system lag or bog down its operation by using a load of useful system resources.
In this article, we will discuss the most possible reasons your Google Chrome uses so much RAM sometimes, including how to optimize to enhance its performance.
So stick to this guide till the end so that you won’t miss out on important details and steps.
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In This Article
Why does Google Chrome use so much RAM?
Before we dive into details on the reasons Google Chrome is using so much RAM, you must know how to check when Google Chrome is eating up RAM excessively.
If you’re using a Windows PC, you can press the “Shift,” “Esc,” and “Ctrl” keys simultaneously to bring up the Task Manager.
And as for Chromebook users, you can press “Search” and “Esc” at the same time to do the same thing. The Task Manager is a system utility that shows the information on the different processes in the foreground and background.
Sometimes you may be having a junk load of applications, extensions, Chrome tabs, and other programs running all at the same time on your computer.
When this happens, you can expect your Google Chrome browser to use up a lot of internal memory on your Chromebook or Windows PC.
Another reason Chrome could be eating up your RAM is that you’ve got too many extensions installed on the Chrome browser, all of which could be taking up RAM on your device.
Many Chrome users usually experience two or more of the previously mentioned reasons, and thus, cause a lot of RAM usage on your computer.
Browsing history, data, and cache that hasn’t been cleared up in a long while (many months or years) can as well be slowing your PC down.
Therefore, you must look out for all these factors if you want to browse smoothly with no interruption on your device. Now that you know how the Google Chrome browser could be devouring your computer RAM, let’s get to the next phase of how to fix it.
We will show you the best ways to optimize your Chrome browser and make it efficient for browsing smoothly.
After implementing the outlined methods in this guide, you’ll see a significant improvement in your Google Chrome browser from a before-after perspective. Enough intro already, let’s dive right in.
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How to optimize Google Chrome Browser
We’ve outlined the best ways to optimize your Google Chrome, to stop it from using too much memory and function smoothly.
Clear your browsing history and data
Clearing the cache and browsing data of your Chrome browser can make your PC function smoothly and better than before.
To do this, you have to go to Chrome’s “Settings.” If you want a shortcut to make this faster, just press and hold the “CTRL” “Shift” and “Backspace” keys simultaneously to open up your browsing history settings.
On this page, you’ll see different options. First, you can select a time frame to help you determine the time you’ll choose for wiping your browser’s data.
The configuration ranges from “last hour” to “all time.” You can even clear saved passwords and auto-fill data, including other sign-in credentials on the advanced settings page.
The cache allows Chrome to open up pages with shorter loading times. In other words, it saves relevant and important information, for that matter.
To save your device RAM, you’ll have to compromise on a few more seconds and clean up the cache. This method applies to the rest of the browsing data.
Use RAM-friendly extensions on Chrome
Google Chrome Web Store features lots of extensions. Although not all the extensions are burdensome to RAM, some are quite terrible in some aspects of the computing world.
For instance, many Chrome users don’t know that there are specialized extensions on the famous Chrome marketplace (Chrome Web Store) that helps you save RAM instead of using it more unnecessarily. Let’s check out some of them below.
OneTab
OneTab helps to significantly minimize the clutter of Chrome tabs on your device, and save RAM. The extension has more than 2 million downloads on the Chrome Web Store.
Therefore this is proof of authenticity here. The developer claims that the extension will save you a colossal “95%” of memory and help boost your computer efficiency.
Aside from that, it compiles all the opened tabs on your browser into a singular list where you can easily restore them one by one or almost instantly.
With this, you won’t be leaving all the tabs open, instead, you are just moving them to OneTab to take the load off your main processor. This extension is great for those who multitask and are always working on many things at once.
Get OneTab on the Chrome Web Store.
The Great Suspender
As the name implies, this is a lightweight Chrome extension that helps your Chromebook run efficiently by inactivating the tabs that you aren’t using.
After some time, The Great Suspender will suspend the tabs and free up RAM and CPU as well in use by that particular tab.
It comes with different top-tier features that make it stand out as well. Some of these include recognition of audio-playing Chrome tabs, a screenshot of the tab before the effect takes place, automatic feature incorporation when your device battery is low, and allowing specific tabs that you want to keep running.
Get The Great Suspender on the Chrome Web Store.
Close tabs that you don’t need
The heading of this method is quite self-explanatory. When your Chrome browser starts hoarding up too much internal memory, take a look at the number of tabs open in it.
There’s a high possibility that you will have too many tabs running on the device, with some of them even highly intensive when it comes to graphics power consumption.
At this stage, you have to close all those processes that you no longer need or use.
This is one of the most efficient ways of optimizing Google Chrome to minimize RAM usage, not to mention the simplicity of the process.
Aside from that, it is good practice that helps keep your desktop clutter-free and improves your productivity while working on your computer.
You never know when you’ll need your computer to function at its best, so remember to always keep only the tabs you need and close the ones that are of no use.
Uninstall unwanted and unused Chrome extensions
Over time, as you continue to use the Chrome browser on your computer, you’re bound to download lots of Google Chrome extensions. Let’s be realistic here—these extensions are convenient and helpful for our networking experience.
However, if you download consistently and you’ve kept too many Chrome extensions in your catalogue without using them or you used them a very long time back, there’s a possibility that your browser is getting bogged down.
This is why you have to open the “Extensions” section on your Chromebook or Windows PC, then check which one of these add-ons is functioning and which ones you don’t need.
To do this, hit the “Customize and control Google Chrome” button located in the top-right corner of your Chrome browser’s interface. When you’re done, hover over the “More tools” area, then click on “Extensions” to move to the next step.
Then it’ll redirect you to the main “Extensions” page of Google Chrome. Here, you need to look carefully at what can be removed from the browser.
Hit the “Remove” button below each entry to uninstall the add-on with no hassle from the browser. This is another excellent and easy way to free up Google Chrome’s memory usage.
Enable the “Hardware acceleration” feature
Hardware acceleration is a useful little feature in Chrome, and it’s perfect for those who want to use as little RAM as possible while still being able to get their work done hassle-free.
However, it lends a graphically challenging process to another component of your computer that’s not in use at the moment.
By implementing this method, the CPU of the browser isn’t working at max, which means excessive RAM isn’t used.
This is one of the reasons we recommend that you toggle on hardware acceleration on your device.
Doing so will affect your internal memory usage and let you multitask with different processes.
To toggle on this functionality, go into your “Settings” section and scroll down to the “System” option. You may also have to click on the “Advanced” button.
When you’re done, you’ll see a functionality with the description “Use hardware acceleration when available.”
Tap the toggle button beside it to turn on the feature. And that’s all about enabling the hardware acceleration feature on Chrome.
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The bottom line
When Google Chrome starts using too much ram on your device, the experience is usually undesirable as it bogs down your device.
You may start experiencing the inability to multitask on your device and prolonged performance levels. With this step-by-step guide, you can now optimize your Chrome browser so that important functionalities aren’t interrupted.