How to fix Google Chrome high CPU usage on Mac? Terminate unknown processes via Google Chrome Task Manager. Delete suspicious extensions from Google Chrome. Reset browser settings to default.
Every once in a while you may have definitely encountered a problem where one particular application uses 100% disk usage (or CPU, or memory usage). Many users reported “high disk usage” problem on their systems when Google Chrome is launched. Chrome may totally stall your system showing the status “waiting for cache”.
This post tells you how to fix the Google Chrome 100% disk usage problem in Windows.
Fix Google Chrome High Disk Usage Problem
First, make sure that your Google Chrome is up-to-date. The disk usage problem may have been fixed in a recent release. While Chrome updates automatically using Task Scheduler, it’s advisable to do a manual check.
Visit chrome://settings/help
to know if you’re running the latest release. If you already have the latest build and yet the problem happens, follow these steps one by one and see if that fixes the 100% disk usage problem.
Step 1: Use Chrome Task Manager
While in Google Chrome, press Shift + Esc to load the Chrome Task Manager. Chrome Task Manager shows the list of open web pages and Chrome Extensions that are running. For each entry, the CPU and memory footprint is displayed.
If you find one webpage or pages under a particular website using more CPU or Memory, terminate those pages. It’s possible that those pages may be using heavy javascript files and stylesheets.
Step 2: Turn off page prefetching and prediction services
While the high disk usage (usually 100%, as reported on Task Manager’s Processes tab) is mostly caused by some bad programming practices, at the same time, the age of the computer hardware is to be blamed equally. Sometimes, newer features may not play well with old hardware. You can turn off a couple of settings (“prefetch” features) to reduce the disk usage by Chrome.
- Start Google Chrome, and open Settings (
chrome://settings/
) - Scroll down and click “Advanced” to expand the section.
- Under “Privacy and security”, disable the toggle button for “Use a prediction service to help complete searches and URLs typed in the address bar.”
- Also, disable the setting “Use a prediction service to load pages more quickly”
- Close and reopen Google Chrome.
Here is the explanation of these two “prediction service” settings, by Google.
Use a prediction service to help complete searches and URLs typed in the address bar: These suggestions are based on related web searches, your browsing history, and popular websites. If your default search engine provides a suggestion service, the browser might send the text you type in the address bar to the search engine.
Use a prediction service to load pages more quickly: Browsers use an IP address to load a webpage. When you visit a webpage, Chrome can look up the IP addresses of all the page’s links and load the ones you might navigate to next. If you turn this setting on, websites and any embedded content that are pre-loaded may set and read their own cookies as if you had visited them, even if you don’t.
While these Page prefetching / Link prefetching or prediction features help you load subsequent linked webpages quickly, they not only consume extra bandwidth but also additional CPU/Disk usage cycles.
Step 3: Disable Unwanted Chrome Extensions
See if browsing the same set of websites using Google Incognito (private browsing) mode helps. This mode loads Chrome without extensions and saved cookies are not utilized. If everything works fine in Incognito mode, then open Extensions settings page (chrome://extensions/
) and disable 1st half of the extensions. Close Google Chrome, reopen it and observe if the problem repeats.
If the problem recurs, disable the 2nd half of the extensions, close and reopen Chrome. In case that solves the problem, you’ll need to narrow down which particular extension in that 2nd half is causing the problem and eliminate the offending extension.
Step 4: Reset Google Chrome
If disabling the prediction services and Chrome Extensions did not help, you may reset Chrome completely in an attempt to fix the disk usage problem. These are three ways you can reset Google Chrome:
- Reset Google Chrome via Settings
- Reset Google Chrome Using Chrome Cleanup Tool
- Reset Google Chrome completely by deleting its data folder
Each method is covered in detail in article Reset Chrome Browser to the Default Settings.
Note: If you’ve your account data synced with Google servers, the data should be back once you log in to Chrome after resetting. However, it’s prudent to have local backup copies before resetting, just in case.
That’s it! Hope the article helped you resolve high (100%) disk usage problem in Google Chrome on Windows.
Related Articles
- 1 Remove Adobe Speed Reader Launcher From the Startup
- 2 Remove Unwise.exe
- 3 Determine What Causes High CPU Usage in Windows XP
- 4 Remove Disabled Incompatible Firefox Extensions
It's not uncommon for Web browsers to consume a moderate to substantial percentage of your computer's resources, particularly if you're running Flash or Java in one or more tabs. If you notice a CPU spike when you browse certain pages, the pages may contain bugged code, or, in the case of websites like YouTube or Netflix, use extensions that are resource-intensive. If Google Chrome consistently exhibits high CPU usage regardless of your browsing activity, however, and the browser is up-to-date, you may need to disable certain plug-ins or extensions, or reset the application to its default settings.
Disable Add-Ons
1.Right-click the title bar or press 'Shift-Esc' to open Task Manager in Google Chrome. Click 'CPU' to see which task is consuming the most resources.
2.Write down the name of the task if it's a plug-in or extension. Select the process and then click 'End Process' to close the task.
3.Open 'Settings' from the Chrome menu and then click 'Extensions,' or type 'chrome://plugins' (without quotation marks) into the address bar and then press 'Enter,' depending on which type of add-on is exhibiting high CPU usage.
4.Locate the appropriate extension or plug-in in the list. Uncheck 'Enabled' or click 'Disable' to prevent the add-on from running.
Reset Google Chrome
1.Click the Chrome Menu on the toolbar and then click 'Settings.'
2.Select 'Show Advanced Settings' from the bottom of the page and then click 'Reset Browser Settings.'
3.Click 'Reset' to revert your browser configuration to default.
Warning
- Resetting Google Chrome removes all of your personal settings, with the exception of saved bookmarks and passwords.
References (4)
About the Author
Ruri Ranbe has been working as a writer since 2008. She received an A.A. in English literature from Valencia College and is completing a B.S. in computer science at the University of Central Florida. Ranbe also has more than six years of professional information-technology experience, specializing in computer architecture, operating systems, networking, server administration, virtualization and Web design.
Cite this Article