Chrome is one of the fastest and most reliable browsers out there. But one common problem is that Chrome can consume too many resources and too much disk space. If mishandled, it can be very frustrating and distracting from your daily tasks.
Let’s take a look at some of the methods you can use to reduce Chrome disk usage.
1. Close the preload pages.
Chrome checks the IP addresses of the linked pages on a specific page and loads them, assuming you will visit them next time. In doing so, Chrome is wasting a lot of resources. If you disable this feature, pages may load slightly slower, but Chrome will definitely use less disk space.
To turn off page preloading, follow these steps:
- Click on the three vertical dotsin the upper right corner and go to Settings .
- On the left sidebar, go to the Privacy & Security section.
- Navigate to cookies and other site data.
- Uncheck the toggle for preload pages for faster browsing and searching.
2. Close tabs with hungry resources using the task manager.
Even if you are not actively using them, every open tab and enabled extension take up disk space. In the Chrome Task Manager, it’s easy to check for tabs and Chrome extensions that may be consuming too many resources. Open Task Manager and close those that take up a lot of memory and those that you don’t use often.
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You can quickly close a tab right from the Task Manager in Chrome. To do this, click on the three horizontal dots located in the upper right corner. Go to More Tools> Task Manager.
Filter out extensions, websites, and other processes that take up the most space. End resource overload processes by simply tapping them and clicking the End Process button located in the lower right corner.
Another practical step is to completely remove any unused resource hungry extensions from Chrome after checking their memory usage in Task Manager. Go to More tools> Extensions and click Uninstall to disable any extension.
3. Free disk space.
Even one or two tabs can take up all of your disk space if your computer is low on memory. Make sure you have at least 2 GB of free space on your drive where you installed the OS. Clearing it will drastically reduce Chrome’s disk space usage.
Using Disk Cleanup is one of the best ways to free up disk space. Using this method, you can delete temporary files on your disk, log files, deleted data in the recycle bin, and all other unused files. Here’s how to run Disk Cleanup in Windows.
- Left click on the drive (in most cases C: //).
- Click Properties.
- Click on ” Disk Cleanup”in the “General” tab.
- Check the boxes for the files you want to clean up.
- Click on OK.
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Other ways to free up disk space include deleting unnecessary files, transferring files from your computer to an external drive, or using another storage service. Plus, restore points take up a lot of space on your disk, so deleting them will free up space as well.
4. Clearing cache and cookies.
If Chrome still takes up too much disk space even after cleaning the disk on your device, you can clear your browser’s cookies and cache. You can do this by choosing More Tools> Clear Browsing Data. Click on Clear data after setting all fields except passwords and other login details.
5. Disable hardware acceleration.
Chrome comes with a hardware acceleration feature that, when enabled, switches graphics-intensive tasks to hardware components like the GPU. Thus, Chrome requires less processing. This setting is very useful when playing video games or performing other graphics intensive tasks, although it can do the opposite in most cases as well.
Aside from slowing down Chrome, it often takes up more memory than it needs to. Try disabling hardware acceleration to see if that fixes your disk usage issue.
Here’s how to turn it off:
- Go to Chrome Settings.
- Go to the expandedset on the left sidebar.
- Click on System.
- Uncheck the Use hardware acceleration if available check box.
6. Disable experimental features.
Using an experimental feature can be helpful, especially if a new Chrome update removes them entirely. However, this can put additional strain on Chrome due to the fact that it is not fully functional. To avoid this problem, disable any experimental features that remain active most of the time.
7. Update Chrome
An outdated version of Chrome works with existing bugs and allows viruses and browser hijackers to infiltrate your computer if it hasn’t been updated for a long time. These unwanted programs can also overload your browser, causing it to malfunction.
RELATED: How to update Google Chrome
If updating Chrome to the latest version did not resolve the issue, move on to the next fix.
8. Run PC cleaning in Chrome.
It is also possible that the problem lies with your computer and not your browser. To rule out system viruses or errors causing the problem, run a scan on your device.
Chrome also lets you run a PC Cleanup to remove any errors that might be interfering with your browser. Go to Settings and then click on the reset and clear button in the Advanced menu on the left. Click on ” Clean up my computer” and click on ” Find” .
9. Reset Chrome.
When nothing seems to be working, you can reset Chrome to its original settings. You may have enabled some Chrome settings that were unknowingly added to the Chrome download. Resetting Chrome will revert it to its default settings, eliminating the possibility of a customization error.
Go to Chrome Settings > Advanced> Reset & Wipe to reset. Chromium. Click on ” Restore settings to their original defaults” and click on ” Reset settings”.
10. Parallel use of another browser
As a last resort, you can try using a less resource-intensive browser in parallel, such as Opera. This way, you can complete resource-intensive tasks in Opera while using Chrome for everything else.
You can skip this step if you’re used to Chrome and can’t live without it.
Fix Chrome Using Too Much Space
To reduce Chrome’s disk space usage, apply all the fixes in the list. After that, you will be able to perform other computer operations without interruption. Finally, if none of the options on this list worked for you, you can switch to a different browser entirely.
Chrome can be slow at times, but there are many ways to speed it up and you should give it a try!