# Google Chrome in Task Manager **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 16, 2012, 12:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-chrome-in-task-manager/615953 "2012-03-16T12:33:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Man\_With\_a\_Cat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/cab0a1/32.png) [@Man\_With\_a\_Cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Man_With_a_Cat)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2012, 12:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-chrome-in-task-manager/615953/1 "2012-03-16T12:33:53Z")
This happens on both my home laptop, a Dell running Windows 7, and the work POS, a Lenovo running XP. In Task Manager, under the “processes” there are scads of instances of Chrome running. There’s always one that seems to be the Big Daddy, using up to 350K or more probably depending on how many tabs I have open at the time. But there are a lot of other instances with anywhere from 5K to 20-30K as well. What are they, what are they doing, and are they significantly slowing anything down? Please tell me this is ok, because I’ve totally abandoned Firefox and yet don’t feel cool enough for Opera or anything else. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![audiobottle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/bc8723/32.png) [@audiobottle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/audiobottle)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2012, 12:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-chrome-in-task-manager/615953/2 "2012-03-16T12:37:32Z")
I believe Chrome has a new instance for each tab/window you have open, as well as for any addons you might have. Instead of lumping them all under one, they separate it so that you can close individual tabs that crash instead of having to restart all the browser windows at once. ---
**Author:** ![Morgenstern](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Morgenstern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgenstern)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2012, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-chrome-in-task-manager/615953/3 "2012-03-16T13:27:32Z")
Click on the wrench in the upper right corner. Select History/Clear all browsing data. Select the options from the list and continue. You’ll see a big drop in the memory Chrome is using. I select from forever as how far back I choose to go. If you haven’t done this in a while, it might take some time to clear it all. You will lose some things you may want, like shortcuts, etc. So put those on the little bar at the top or Chrome first. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2012, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-chrome-in-task-manager/615953/4 "2012-03-16T14:44:20Z")
> [@Man\_With\_a\_Cat](#): > > This happens on both my home laptop, a Dell running Windows 7, and the work POS, a Lenovo running XP. > > In Task Manager, under the “processes” there are scads of instances of Chrome running. This is correct behaviour. Chrome separates each tab (up to a maximum) into its own process to protect tabs from each other. So if one tab crashes or freezes or whatever you can close it without affecting the other tabs. ---
**Author:** ![jz78817](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jz78817/32/1028_2.png) [@jz78817](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jz78817)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2012, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-chrome-in-task-manager/615953/5 "2012-03-16T14:56:28Z")
What they said. PROTIP: right click on the “title bar” of the Chrome window, there should be an option for “Task Manager.” (pressing Shift Esc will bring it up too.) Chrome’s task manager will give you more information about each of its processes. ---
**Author:** ![Man\_With\_a\_Cat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/cab0a1/32.png) [@Man\_With\_a\_Cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Man_With_a_Cat)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2012, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-chrome-in-task-manager/615953/6 "2012-03-16T17:31:32Z")
> [@jz78817](#): > > What they said. > > PROTIP: right click on the “title bar” of the Chrome window, there should be an option for “Task Manager.” (pressing Shift Esc will bring it up too.) Chrome’s task manager will give you more information about each of its processes. Thanks! Never knew that was there. I like I can see what extensions are hogs and decide if they’re worth the hassle. **Morgen stern** , I regularly empty my cache and history. ---
**Author:** ![SCSimmons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e495f1/32.png) [@SCSimmons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCSimmons)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2012, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-chrome-in-task-manager/615953/7 "2012-03-16T18:00:36Z")
> [@jz78817](#): > > What they said. > > PROTIP: right click on the “title bar” of the Chrome window, there should be an option for “Task Manager.” (pressing Shift Esc will bring it up too.) Chrome’s task manager will give you more information about each of its processes. Oooh-- and there’s a link at the bottom of that popup called ‘stats for nerds’! It’s like they know me! Oh, wait, it’s Google–they know more about me than the IRS and my wife combined. ---
**Author:** ![Blakeyrat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ecd19e/32.png) [@Blakeyrat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blakeyrat)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2012, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-chrome-in-task-manager/615953/8 "2012-03-16T18:28:54Z")
The “Big Daddy” process is the cache manager, and it uses the most space because it’s responsible for herding the most data.