3 ways I fight Google Chrome's constant enshitification

That being said, I hadn't realized just how much of a resource hog Chrome could be until my MacBook recently began making a fuss over a lack of application memory (for reference, my laptop has 16GB of RAM). To my shock, and despite only having around twenty open tabs at the time, my Chrome was actively devouring over 10GB of memory, bogging down my system's performance in the process.

Thankfully, I've since learned that there are several measures that can be taken to help reign in Chrome's RAM and CPU usage, and, since I've implemented these changes, my MacBook has been running a fair bit smoother than it had previously been.

Did you know Google Chrome has its own built-in task manager? It's accessible by right-clicking on the title bar or via the Shift + Esc keyboard shortcut, and it provides invaluable insights into currently-running tasks and operations, including their respective memory footprints and CPU usage stats.

Here are three foolproof methods for reducing Google Chrome's overzealous RAM and CPU usage across ChromeOS, macOS and Windows 11.

Purge unnecessary tabs and extensions

The more you hoard, the more your PC weeps

If you're like me, then you probably have several Google Chrome tabs open on your computer at any given time. Unfortunately, this habit of tab hoarding is one that'll inevitably catch up to you. Simply put, having too many active tabs open will significantly increase Chrome's RAM usage, putting a strain on your PC's performance and on its ability to run efficiently. Of course, the more RAM your computer has at its disposal, the more tabs you can afford to keep open -- for the most part, I'd recommend sticking to a dozen tabs or less on most consumer-grade Macs and PCs with between 8 and 16 GB of installed RAM.

Browser extensions, too, can negatively impact performance. Even if you have your lesser-used plug-ins disabled outright, they can still bog down the experience if you've collected too many of them over the years. To manage and remove unnecessary Chrome extensions, follow these steps:

1. Tap or click on the ellipsis (three-dot) menu button in the top-hand corner of any Google Chrome window.
2. Next, tap or click on Extensions > Manage Extensions, which is located roughly in the middle of the drop-down menu.
3. A full list of your installed extensions will appear within a new Chrome tab; simply hit the Remove button for each plug-in you want to remove from the program.

If you're signed in to Google Chrome with a Google Account, your extensions (as well as your deletion of extensions) will sync across all your devices with Chrome installed.

Enable Memory Saver mode

A dedicated tool for moderating inactive tabs

A newer feature within Google Chrome, Memory Saver is a mode that automatically frees up RAM from tabs that have been inactive for a specified period of time. This allows them to "sleep," so to speak, while also remaining easily accessible from within Chrome's tab selector interface. Memory Saver can be configured to behave in one of three ways:

• Moderate (tabs take a longer amount of time to go into their inactive state)
• Balanced (the recommended setting, which sets the inactivity threshold to what Google describes as being "an optimal period of time")
• Maximum (a more aggressive option that'll kill tabs after a shorter period of inactivity)

To enable Memory Saver mode in Google Chrome, follow these steps:

1. Tap or click on the ellipsis (three-dot) menu button in the top-hand corner of any Google Chrome window.
2. Next, tap or click on Settings, which is located at the bottom of the drop-down menu.
3. From within Settings, navigate to Performance > Memory > Memory Saver.
4. Toggle the switch next to Memory Saver to its on position, and then select between the three available profiles (Moderate, Balanced, and Maximum).

Clear cookies, cache, and more

Sometimes a little spring cleaning is in order

Over time, a combination of website history, cookies (tracker files), site data and permissions, cached images, download history, and temporary files can bog down a web browser's performance, and Google Chrome is no exception to this phenomenon. As such, I recommend periodically clearing your browser data, as it'll ensure the program is running smoothly without the possibility of anything bogging it down under-the-hood.

Note that deleting browsing data is a permanent process. Once you've hit the Delete data button within Google Chrome, there's no reliable way to restore the content that you've removed.

To clear cookies, cache, history, temporary files, and other crud from Google Chrome, follow these steps:

1. Tap or click on the ellipsis (three-dot) menu button in the top-hand corner of any Google Chrome window.
2. Next, tap or click on Settings, which is located at the bottom of the drop-down menu.
3. From within Settings, navigate to Privacy and security > Delete browsing data.
4. A separate window will appear on screen -- select a time frame, as well as which files you'd like to get rid of, and then tap or click on Delete data.