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How to Use the Google Chrome Task Manager

Manage memory usage and kill crashed websites with Task Manager

By Scott Orgera Scott Orgera Writer Scott Orgera is a former Lifewire writer covering tech since 2007. He has 25+ years' experience as a programmer and QA leader, and holds several Microsoft certifications including MCSE, MCP+I, and MOUS. He is also A+ certified. lifewire's editorial guidelines Updated on May 30, 2022 Tweet Share Email Tweet Share Email Browsers Chrome Safari Firefox Microsoft

What to Know

Select menu icon > More tools > Task Manager. View open tabs, extensions, and processes.To close an open process, select it and choose End Process.In Windows, select Stats for Nerds at the bottom of the Task Manager for in-depth stats. This article explains how to open the Chrome Task Manager and use it to evaluate open processes on a computer, close a process, or see in-depth statistics.

How to Launch the Chrome Task Manager

One of the features of Google Chrome is its multiprocess architecture, which allows tabs to run as separate processes. Occasionally, Chrome lags or acts strangely or a webpage freezes, but you don't know which tab is the culprit. This is where the Chrome Task Manager comes in handy. Chrome Task Manager not only displays the CPU, memory, and network usage of each open tab and plug-in, it also allows you to kill individual processes with a click of the mouse, similar to the Windows Task Manager or macOS Activity Monitor. Open your Chrome browser. Select menu (three vertical dots). When the drop-down menu appears, hover your mouse over More tools. When the submenu appears, select Task manager to open the task manager.

Alternate Methods of Opening Task Manager

There are other, faster ways to open the Chrome Task Manager. On a Mac computer, select Window from the top menu bar, then select Task Manager. There are also keyboard shortcuts to open the task manager, depending on the device you are using: Shift+Esc to open the Chrome Task Manager on a Windows computer.Search+Esc open the Chrome Task Manager on a Chrome OS device (Chromebook).

How to Use the Task Manager

With Chrome's Task Manager open, you can see a list of every open tab, extension, and process. You can also view key statistics concerning how much of your computer's memory it is using, the CPU usage, and network activity. When your browsing activity slows down significantly, check the Task Manager to identify whether a website has crashed. To end any open process, select its name and then select End Process. The screen also displays the memory footprint for each process. If you've added a lot of extensions to Chrome, you may have several running at once. Assess the extensions and—if you aren't using them—remove them to free up memory.

Expanding the Task Manager

To get more information about how Chrome is affecting your system performance in Windows, right-click an item in the Task Manager screen and select a category in the popup menu. In addition to the stats mentioned above, you can choose to view information regarding shared memory, private memory, image cache, script cache, CSS cache, SQLite memory and JavaScript memory. Also in Windows, you can select the Stats for Nerds link at the bottom of the Task Manager to check all the stats in greater depth. Was this page helpful? Thanks for letting us know! Get the Latest Tech News Delivered Every Day Subscribe Tell us why! Other Not enough details Hard to understand Submit More from Lifewire Task Manager (What It Is & How to Use It) How to Save Web Pages in Google Chrome How to View the HTML Source in Google Chrome How to Disable Extensions and Plug-ins in Google Chrome What Is the Google Chrome Browser? How to Check Chromebook Hardware or System Specs How to Speed up a Chromebook What lsass.exe Is & How It Affects Your Computer How to Check Microsoft Edge Memory Usage What's Conhost.exe in Windows? What Does it Do? How to Check CPU Usage in Windows 11 How to Use the Netstat Command How to Remove Safe Finder From Mac How to Use Google Chrome Commands How to View Windows Uptime in Windows 10 How to Activate Full-Screen Mode in Google Chrome Newsletter Sign Up Newsletter Sign Up Newsletter Sign Up Newsletter Sign Up Newsletter Sign Up By clicking “Accept All Cookies”, you agree to the storing of cookies on your device to enhance site navigation, analyze site usage, and assist in our marketing efforts. Cookies Settings Accept All Cookies