To stop one frozen tab or a heavy extension without closing all of Chrome, open Chrome’s Task Manager (Shift + Esc on Windows and Linux, Search + Esc on a Chromebook, Window > Task Manager on a Mac), select the task and select End task (called End process in older versions). Any unsaved work in that task is lost.
Need help opening it? See every way to open Chrome Task Manager, including the Mac menu.
End a frozen tab, extension or page
These are Google’s steps from Manage tabs and windows:
- Open Chrome.
- At the top right, select More (three dots) > More tools > Task manager.
- Select the page, extension or app you want to close.
- Select End task. Older versions of Chrome, and Google’s help page, call this button End process.
Google warns that any unsaved work in that task will be lost.
Find what is slowing Chrome down
Google’s Make Chrome faster guide uses Task Manager to find tasks you no longer need, like a video or an app, that use a lot of resources:
- Open Task Manager.
- Select the Memory footprint column heading to sort the tasks by memory use. Select CPU to sort by processor use instead.
- Look for items labeled Background Page. These belong to extensions or apps that keep running while you browse.
- Select the task you want to close, then select End task.
What the rows mean
Each row is something Chrome is running. The name starts with a label that tells you what it is:
- Tab: a web page open in a tab. Incognito Tab: is the same thing in an Incognito window.
- Extension: an extension you installed. If one stays near the top of the memory or CPU list, turn it off at More > Extensions > Manage Extensions.
- Background Page: part of an extension or app that runs even when you are not using it.
- Browser: Chrome itself.
- GPU Process: the part of Chrome that draws graphics and video.
- Utility: helper processes Chrome starts for jobs like decoding images.
The standard columns are Task, Memory footprint, CPU, Network and Process ID. Right-click a column heading to show more, like GPU memory or JavaScript memory. The numbers update while the window is open, so look for a task that stays high rather than one short spike.
If the End task button is greyed out
On a work or school computer, your administrator can block ending processes with the TaskManagerEndProcessEnabled policy. You can still see what is running, but only the administrator can change that setting. Close the tab normally instead, or ask your IT team.
If all of Chrome is frozen
When Chrome stops responding completely, its own Task Manager may not open. Close Chrome with your computer’s tools instead, as Google describes in Fix Chrome if it crashes or won’t open:
- Windows: press Ctrl + Alt + Delete, select Task manager, select “Google Chrome” or “chrome.exe” under Processes, then select End task.
- Mac: press ⌘ + Option + Esc, select Google Chrome, then Force Quit.
These close every Chrome window at once, so use them only when the steps above do not work.
Keep Chrome from slowing down again
- Close tabs you are not using. Google notes that the more tabs you have open, the harder Chrome has to work.
- Turn off or remove extensions you do not use.
- Use Memory Saver and the other steps in fixing Chrome’s high memory use.
- Keep Chrome up to date. See how to update Chrome.