Google chrome extensions are additional programs that enhance the browsing experience. These extensions are available for every imaginable purpose- from productivity to entertainment. The Chrome Web Store offers these extensions and you can install these in your browser right away.
That’s the good news. However, the installed chrome extensions are troublesome at times. If you add a lot of extensions to Chrome can actually slow down your computer quite a bit. Especially if you are operating on an older operating system, your browsing can slow to a crawl.
Before you start deleting extension, you’ll want to find out just which ones are hogging the memory. It is possible to check the memory usage of each Google Chrome extension using Chrome Task Manager and choose to uninstall the application that is consuming more memory. Here is how you keep a check on what’s going on with your extensions.
1. Open the Chrome browser window.
2. Click on the ‘control and customize’ icon indicated by three lines on the right top corner. Hover on the ‘tools’ label shown in the dropdown menu. Click on the ‘Task Manager”. You can use the keyboard shortcut Shift+Esc to open Task Manager.
3. The ‘Task Manager” window should be visible to you now. Task Manager shows the list of extensions that are installed in your browser along with the tabs you have opened. Extensions are preceded by icons that resemble pieces of a jigsaw puzzle.
4. You can easily read the memory usage of each extension. Click on the ‘Memory tab’ to sort the list in ascending or descending order of memory usage.You can obtain additional information on memory usage by clicking on the ‘Stats for nerds’ link at the bottom left corner of task manager.
5. Task manager shows selected information by default. You can tweak it as you like. Right click on any item in the list and select the options for which you need more information.
You might be using some extensions that are consuming memory even when they are not active. The memory information can help you choose which of the extensions should be removed from the browser.
~ Aditya