There are statistics show that Chrome browser has a 65% market share among all desktop browsers. However, the memory usage of Google Chrome browser has been complained by Windows users. Sometimes there will be various problems such as the browser is suddenly freezing, the room for memory is insufficient, or the browser is unable to open occasionally. Even so, many users have to endure these problems and continue to use this browser. So why does the browser take up that much memory? Are there some solutions? This article will show you the answer.
Why Chrome Browser Takes Up So Much Memory?
- Chrome splits everything you do on the browser into separate processes
In most PC operating systems, various software and services appear in the form of processes and are stored in the memory of system. However, with the development of Web technology, browser functions are becoming more and more powerful. Nowadays, most people will find that it is no longer necessary to install various software to use a computer, because a lot of work can be done in the browser.
Chrome supports a variety of plug-ins and extensions to add functions to the browser, many of which are simply packaged software that can be used locally. It is obvious that too many software, functions and services will inevitably mean that the size of the browser will become bloated.
If a browser is just a process, once a system failure occurs, the entire browser will collapse, which means all the content you browsed, the text you entered, the software you opened, the videos you watched, and the mini games you played on the web are all gone.
But Chrome will split all web tags that are open, plug-ins, extensions, and Flash videos that are playing into separate processes. In this way, a process crash will not affect the normal operation of other browser functions. The disadvantage of this way is that it takes up a lot of memory.
- Before clicking a URL, Chrome has already loaded for you
A better user experience and a greater pressure on system resources are like twins.
Chrome browser provides a preloading function (Chrome Prerendering), which starts loading in advance before the user clicks a certain link.
For example, if you’re browsing an article, Chrome might preload the next article, or, for another example, if you search for an academic term on Google, Chrome might preload results from Wikipedia. Sometimes you may find that when you first log into a certain webpage, it is very slow, but then when you enter the access in the address bar, it will be much faster.
This is because Chrome will preload this webpage based on historical browsing records and the security judgment of the webpage.
- Memory leak
Memory leak is a technical term. In simple terms, it means that software or services that occupy memory cannot release the memory that is no longer used after the work is completed. There have been some very classic memory leak accidents in history.
For example, on a certain version of the Mac OS X operating system, Safari browser, which is known for its native, fast and low memory, can even take up all the memory of the machine itself, so that other programs can’t work normally, and even the system starts to be unstable.
Chrome browser also has memory leak problems, but now the browser itself is relatively stable. In fact, what is instability lies in some websites with complex styles or functions, and some Chrome plug-ins and extensions with virulent code.
Some time ago, an Android Chrome engineer stated on Reddit that a team was actively studying how to solve the problem of extensions and plug-ins memory leaks tn terms of desktop Chrome.
- Too many labels and plug-ins are open
As mentioned above, many Chrome native applications existing in the form of extensions are already very powerful, and the rapid changes in Web technology have made the memory occupied by many websites displayed in the browser no less than an ordinary local software.
Solutions to Solve the Freezing of Chrome
- Use the Great Suspender extension
Through suspending inactive tabs, the Great Suspender extension can release the memory occupied by the tabs. It supports automatic mode and can be set for a certain period of time. It also supports to add sites that never need to be suspended to white list. Of course, we can also manually suspend active or inactive web pages by extending the toolbar icon.
- Use Chrome’s own Automatic Tab Discarding function
When the system’s available memory is insufficient, the Automatic Tab Discarding function will automatically discard the tabs that users least care about.
It’s important to note that the “discard” here is not a shutdown, but a constant open state where the tabs will reloads when the user clicks. If you enter following URL in the Chrome address bar: chrome://flags/#automatic-tab-discarding, and open the Automatic Tab Discarding function setting to select Enabled, then you can turn on this function after restarting the Chrome.
- Disable flash plug-in
If you enter following URL in the Chrome address bar: chrome//plugines, you will find a plug-in Adobe Flash Player. At this time, you can see two files in parentheses next to it, then click the detailed information on the right, and disable one of them, leaving only one Flash plug-in. It is recommended to disable the Flash plugin that built-in Chrome.
- Use OneTab extension.
- OneTab extension can close all tabs and integrate them into a list, which is displayed in a tab named “OneTab”. You can also send a tab that you don’t want to browse temporarily to the “OneTab” list. In this way, not only can the memory occupied by tabs be released quickly, but also closed tabs can be viewed easily. You can click to restore a certain tab, or you can restore all of them.
Conclusion
Simply put, a long-term high memory usage may be related to these several problems mentioned above, or it may be caused by users’ bad habits. Excessive memory usage will result in insufficient memory resources provided to other software or services, leading to system instability. Therefore, we can try these several methods to solve this problem.
