How to See Which Chrome Tabs Slowing Your PC 🐢

Google Chrome is one of the most popular web browsers, known for its speed, stability, and support for extensions. However, over time, having too many Chrome tabs and extensions running can slow down your PC’s performance substantially.

In this tutorial, we will walk through different ways to identify Chrome tabs and extensions that are using excessive system resources and how to optimize Chrome for better performance.

Check Task Manager to See Chrome’s Resource Usage

The first step is to check whether Chrome is actually the culprit behind your PC’s laggy performance.

To do this, open the Task Manager by pressing Ctrl + Shift + Esc (on Windows) or Command + Option + Esc (on Mac). Look at the Processes or Memory tab and check whether the Google Chrome process is using high CPU or RAM.

If Chrome is consuming excessive resources, then it likely needs to be optimized.

As a rule of thumb, if Chrome is taking up over 50% of your CPU or over 70% of your available RAM, then optimization is strongly recommended.

Too Many Tabs Can Slow Down Chrome

One of the most common reasons for Chrome to consume a lot of system resources is having too many tabs open.

Each tab runs in its own process and uses up additional RAM and CPU cycles. So keeping 100 tabs open, for example, can drastically slow down your browsing experience.

To identify which tabs may be causing the issue:

1. Click the Chrome menu → More Tools → Task Manager
2. Go to the “Tabs” section
3. Sort the tabs by CPU or Memory usage
4. Check tabs using high resources and close down ones you don’t need

Closing unnecessary tabs can significantly improve Chrome’s performance and reduce its resource usage.

Resource-Intensive Websites and Extensions

Beyond just the number of tabs, even a single tab running a demanding website or extension can slow Chrome down.

For example, tabs playing high-resolution videos, web apps like Google Docs, and extensions that run constant background processes tend to use more resources.

To identify these performance-hogging tabs and extensions:

1. Open the Chrome Task Manager
2. Go to the “Tabs” and “Extensions” sections
3. Sort by CPU or Memory usage
4. Take note of the top resource-using tabs and extensions
5. Consider closing down heavy tabs or disabling unnecessary extensions

By selectively disabling performance-intensive Chrome processes, you can often get back buttery-smooth browsing.

Optimize Chrome for Faster Performance

Beyond troubleshooting specific heavy tabs and extensions, you can also optimize Chrome itself for leaner and faster performance:

Keep Chrome Up-to-Date

• Google releases regular browser updates with speed and efficiency improvements under the hood. Always keep Chrome updated to the latest version.

Enable Tab Throttling

• Chrome 87+ has a nifty Tab Throttling feature that suspends inactive background tabs to free up system resources.

Disable Unneeded Chrome Features

• Features like spell-check, predictions, animations, etc. can subtly drain resources. Disable those you don’t need for marginal performance gains.

Disable Hardware Acceleration

• Hardware acceleration uses GPU for rendering. Disable if Chrome slows down further with it enabled.

Add Performance Extensions

• Extensions like The Great Suspender automatically suspend tabs not in use, freeing up resources.

Through a combination of monitoring resource usage, closing down heavy processes, and optimizing Chrome itself, you can dramatically improve Chrome’s performance on your PC. Give these tips a try next time your Chrome starts feeling sluggish.

Use Chrome Task Manager to Diagnose Issues

The Chrome Task Manager provides powerful insights into exactly which processes are utilizing excessive browser resources, whether it’s open tabs, extensions, or Chrome features. Here is a more in-depth look at how to leverage the Task Manager to diagnose Chrome performance issues:

Open the Chrome Task Manager

On Windows and ChromeOS:

• Press Shift + Esc

On Mac:

• Go to View → Developer → Task Manager

This opens the Task Manager pop-up window.

The “Tabs” Section

This gives resource usage statistics for open tabs.

• CPU and Memory columns show tab resource usage
• Network column indicates data usage
• JavaScript Memory indicates JS heap usage
• Sort columns descending to surface heavy tabs

The “Extensions” Section

This part lists all enabled Chrome extensions along with their resource consumption:

• Again, sort by CPU or Memory to find heavy extensions
• Check extension resource usage both while idle and during active use
• Consider disabling unnecessary extensions

The “Processes” Section

This shows all the Chrome processes running under-the-hood along with their resource usage:

• Inspect to identify any background Chrome processes using high CPU or RAM
• Take note of processes like gpu-process (Hardware Acceleration) or plugin processes

Ending Heavy Processes

• You can select any process in the Task Manager and click End Process to force close it
• However, also consider investigating why that process was using so many resources before ending

So in summary, the Chrome Task Manager provides detailed insights into exactly which tabs, extensions, and processes are consuming maximum resources. Use it to systematically isolate and troubleshoot heavy Chrome processes that are slowing down your PC.

Best Practices for Chrome Resource Usage

Here are some handy tips to proactively manage Chrome resource usage for optimal browser performance:

• Close tabs you aren’t actively using – This frees up a lot of RAM and CPU cycles
• Use bookmarks rather than keeping tabs open – Bookmarks don’t consume browser resources
• Disable resource-heavy extensions when not needed – For example, ad blockers and VPNs
• Disable background Chrome processes like reporting and prediction services – Saves marginal CPU usage
• Disable Chrome features you don’t use, like spell checking – Lightens the browser
• Use Chrome profiles to separate work and personal browsing – Allows you to heavily optimize one profile without affecting others
• Set Chrome to auto-discard unused tabs to free up RAM – Done via Settings > Privacy > Usage
• Use “Set Aside” feature to temporarily suspend groups of tabs – Quick way to free resources

Carefully managing your open tabs, extensions, processes, and features is crucial to prevent Chrome from hogging system resources and slowing down your PC. Implement these handy tips to keep Chrome lean and mean.

Conclusion

Google Chrome offers unmatched browsing capabilities but its resource usage can spiral out of control at times and slow down your system. The good news is Chrome provides abundant tools to precisely diagnose which components are hogging resources. By leveraging the Task Manager along with performance best practices, you can easily optimize Chrome and reclaim buttery-smooth browsing on your PC.