“Aw, Snap! Google Chrome ran out of memory while trying to display this webpage.” Is this message familiar to you? Well, you are not alone. Many Chrome users have been complaining about the high memory usage of the browser for a long time.
Google Chrome is a popular web browser. It is fast, reliable and secure. However, it is also a resource-hungry browser. You will often find that your computer’s memory and CPU usage spikes when you have a lot of tabs open in Chrome. This can make your computer slow down and even freeze.
If you are using Chrome and you find that it is using too much memory, there are a few things you can do to fix the problem.
Contents
1. Eliminate Unused Tabs
The first thing you should do is close any tabs that you are not using. This is because each open tab uses some of your computer’s memory. So, if you have ten tabs open and some of them are resource-heavy websites like YouTube, these tabs could use a lot of memory.
To close an individual tab, click on the X beside the tab name above the display or right-click on the tab and select Close. To close all tabs, just press the X on the top-right of the display or the three dots in the top-right corner of Chrome and select Exit.
2. Use The Task Manager
The Task Manager is a tool that comes with Windows that allows you to see how much memory each program is using. To open the Task Manager, press Ctrl+Shift+Esc on your keyboard.
In the Task Manager, you will see a list of all the programs running on your computer. The Processes tab shows how much memory each program is using. Just click on the Memory column to sort the programs by memory usage.
If you find that Chrome is using a lot of memory, you can try to close some of the Chrome processes that use the most memory. Just click on the program and tap End task on the task manager.
You should also close the other unnecessary programs using a lot of memory. This will help free up some memory for Chrome.
3. Remove Unnecessary Extensions
Extensions are small programs that add extra features to Chrome. They can be really useful but also use a lot of memory. If you have a lot of extensions installed, they could be the reason why Chrome is using so much memory.
To remove an extension, go to chrome://extensions/ and click on the Remove button under the extension you want to remove. You can also browse the extensions window by going to Menu (3-dots) > More Tools > Extensions.
4. Enable Hardware Acceleration
Hardware acceleration is a comparatively new feature in Chrome that allows your computer’s GPU to handle the heavy lifting when rendering web pages. This eases the pressure on the memory of your computer.
To enable hardware acceleration, go to Menu (3-dots) > Settings. Then, scroll down to the bottom and click on System from the left panel. Next, turn on the toggle for “Use hardware acceleration when available”.
Also, consider turning the toggle switch off for “Continue running background apps when Google Chrome is closed”. Once you do so, any app related to Chrome that may run in the background will not function when you close the browser.
5. Clear the Cache and Other Data
When you browse the web, your browser saves some data from websites in its cache. This is so that the next time you visit those websites, they will load faster. However, this cache can accumulate over time and start slowing down your browser.
Clearing your cache can help reduce the memory usage of Chrome. To remove the cache, go to Menu (3-dots) > More Tools > Clear Browsing Data. Then, select “Cached images and files” and click on the “Clear data” button.
You can also clear other data types from your browsers, such as cookies and site data. Select the data type you want to clear and click on the “Clear data” button.
6. Update Chrome
An outdated web browser can also lead to high memory usage. So, if you are using an old version of Chrome, it might be time to update it. To update Chrome, go to Menu (3-dots) > Help > About Google Chrome. This will open a new window where you can see if a newer version of Chrome is available.
If the update is available, it should be downloaded and installed automatically. Once the update is complete, relaunch Chrome.
7. Scan Your Browser and Malware
If you still see high memory usage in Chrome, there might be a malware or browser hijacker infection on your computer. These malicious programs can change your browser settings and cause Chrome to use more resources than usual.
You can use a reliable anti-malware program like Malwarebytes to remove these malicious programs. Once you have installed Malwarebytes, run a computer scan to remove the malware. If you don’t want to install any program, consider using the default Windows Defender program to scan your computer for malware.
After removing the malware from your computer, restart Chrome and see if the memory usage has decreased.
8. Reinstall Google Chrome
If you have tried all the above solutions and Chrome still uses a lot of memory, you might need to reinstall Chrome. This will delete all your Chrome data, including browsing history, cookies, and extensions. So, make sure to backup your important data before proceeding.
To remove Chrome, go to Settings > Apps on your PC and tap on “Chrome”. Press “Uninstall.” After uninstalling Chrome, go to the official Chrome website and download the latest version of Chrome.
Reinstalling Chrome might help fix memory leaks and other performance issues.
9. Use a Different Web Browser
If you have tried all the solutions above and Chrome still uses too much memory, you might need to use a different web browser. Some alternative web browsers that you can try are Mozilla Firefox, Microsoft Edge, Opera, and Brave.
Each of these web browsers has its own advantages and disadvantages. So, take some time to try them out and see which one works best for you.
Conclusion
It can be very disturbing not to be able to use your favorite web browser because it’s using too much memory. However, by following the solutions in this article, you should be able to fix high memory usage in Chrome and make it work better.