When Chrome freezes, close only the part that is stuck, not your whole session. If one page has hung, end it from Chrome’s Task Manager. If the whole window won’t respond, force Chrome to quit, then reopen it and bring your tabs back with Ctrl + Shift + T (⌘ + Shift + T on a Mac).
If you see “Page Unresponsive”
Chrome shows a Page Unresponsive box when a page stops responding. Select Wait to give the page more time, or Exit page to stop it.
If one tab is stuck
- Open Chrome’s Task Manager: press Shift + Esc on Windows and Linux, or select the three-dot More menu > More tools > Task Manager.
- Find the frozen tab, or anything using a lot of memory or CPU.
- Select it and select End process (End task in newer versions). Google warns that any unsaved work in that task is lost.
Our Chrome Task Manager guide covers it in more detail.
If the whole of Chrome is frozen
Force Chrome to quit with your computer’s own tools. These steps are from Google’s guide to fixing Chrome if it crashes or won’t open:
- Windows: press Ctrl + Alt + Delete, select Task manager, select Google Chrome under Processes, and select End task.
- Mac: press ⌘ + Option + Esc to open the Force Quit window, select Google Chrome, and select Force Quit.
Reopen Chrome, then press Ctrl + Shift + T (or ⌘ + Shift + T) to reopen the tabs you had open. If Chrome won’t open again at all, see Chrome not opening.
Stop it freezing again
Google’s crash guide suggests these fixes.
Free up memory
Your computer may have run out of memory. Close tabs you don’t need, quit other programs, pause downloads, and uninstall extensions you don’t use. Turning on Memory Saver in Settings > Performance helps keep active tabs running smoothly. Our guide to fixing Chrome high memory usage goes through it step by step.
Restart your computer
Another program or process on your computer can get in the way of Chrome. Restart the computer to see whether that fixes it.
Turn off hardware acceleration
There could be a problem with how your computer’s hardware works with Chrome.
- Select More > Settings > System.
- Turn off Use hardware acceleration when available. Newer versions of Chrome label it Use graphics acceleration when available.
- Restart Chrome.
Find a bad extension
Select More > Extensions > Manage Extensions and turn every extension off. If Chrome stops freezing, turn them back on one at a time until you find the one causing it, and remove it.
Check for unwanted software
Pop-ups that won’t go away and a search engine that keeps changing are signs of unwanted software. Follow Google’s steps to remove it.
Update or reinstall Chrome
Select More > Help > About Google Chrome to update (our update guide has more help). If the same pages work in another browser but Chrome keeps freezing, Google says something may be wrong with your Chrome profile: uninstall Chrome, check the box to delete browsing data, and install it again. Google notes that info saved to your Google Account while you were signed in to Chrome is still there when you reinstall and sign in again. Our reinstall guide walks through it.
Freezing, slow or hot?
If Chrome doesn’t lock up but is simply slow on Windows 10, see fixing a slow Chrome on Windows 10. If your fan is loud and the computer runs hot, see fixing Chrome high CPU usage.