Disabling Multiple Processes on Google Chrome
By Kevin Lee
Whenever you launch a program, Windows creates a “process” for it. Each process has a unique ID and the operating system uses these IDs to manage your applications. When Google built newer versions of the Chrome browser, the company gave it the ability to create a new process for every window, tab and extension that you open. This architecture is helpful because if one tab or extension can crash without affecting the others. If an extension or tab malfunctions or fails to work correctly, you can disable it using a couple of methods.
Use Chrome Task Manager
Step 1
Click your Google Chrome "Menu" button and select "Tools."
Step 2
Click "Task Manager" to view the Tasks Manager window. This window displays a list of processes in a table. The table has columns such as Task and Memory. Values in the Task column show process names while values in the Memory column display the memory the corresponding process is using.
Step 3
Click the process you wish to disable and then click the "End Process" button to end the task. For instance, if you would like to end an extension named "Scrapbook," find "Extension: Scrapbook" in the Task column, click that entry and then click "End Process."
Use Windows Task Manager
Step 1
Move to your taskbar, right-click your system clock and then click "Start Task Manager" to view the Windows Task Manager window. This window also contains a table
Step 2
Click the "processes" tab to view a table containing process names; they appear in the Image Name column. A Memory column shows the amount of memory that each process is using. Scroll through the list of Image Names and find those named "chrome.exe."
Step 3
Click the process you wish to disable and then click "End Process."
References
Tips
- Icons appear next to each task name in the Google Chrome Task Manager window. A browser icon -- which looks like the regular Chrome icon -- represents the task that manages all of Chrome's windows and tabs. Close that task when you want to stop all browser processes. Other icons represent entities such as renderers, plug-ins, extensions and your GPU, or Graphical Processing Unit. You can also identify process types by looking for keywords in the Task column. Locate processes that are running tabs by looking for the word "Tab" in the Task column. Find a plug-in by browsing for the word "Plug-in" in that column.
Writer Bio
After majoring in physics, Kevin Lee began writing professionally in 1989 when, as a software developer, he also created technical articles for the Johnson Space Center. Today this urban Texas cowboy continues to crank out high-quality software as well as non-technical articles covering a multitude of diverse topics ranging from gaming to current affairs.