# When restarting Chrome, windows from prior session are restored but highlighted

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-restarting-chrome-windows-from-prior-session-are-restored-but-highlighted/994588>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [December 14, 2023, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-restarting-chrome-windows-from-prior-session-are-restored-but-highlighted/994588 "2023-12-14T04:43:46Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\
**Post date:** [December 14, 2023, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-restarting-chrome-windows-from-prior-session-are-restored-but-highlighted/994588/1 "2023-12-14T04:43:46Z")

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When I open Google Chrome, it restores my previous session, including multiple windows and tabs. This is good. Most the windows are highlighted in the Windows task bar until I click on them. What does this highlighting indicate, and how can I avoid it?

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**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\
**Post date:** [December 14, 2023, 5:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-restarting-chrome-windows-from-prior-session-are-restored-but-highlighted/994588/2 "2023-12-14T05:08:38Z")

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IME, the highlighting is Windows saying “here are the newest windows that have been opened, in case you wanted look at them immediately and somehow can’t find them.”

And the only ways I know of to avoid this behavior involves not running Windows any longer.

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**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\
**Post date:** [December 14, 2023, 7:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-restarting-chrome-windows-from-prior-session-are-restored-but-highlighted/994588/3 "2023-12-14T07:32:04Z")

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I believe the highlighting is how Windows indicates that a window has changed recently. I suspect this is because the currenrlybopen tabs in that window has loaded the webpage, which is a change.

I don’t see this when I use Chrome, but I also use an extension keeps any tabs from completely loading. They only actually load the content when I open that tab. And the extension also has an option to open a blank tab in each window on startup, which prevents any tab from loading the page. It makes Chrome open up a whole lot faster, too.

> **[Sloth](https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/sloth/filkeckmpdjogddcamkafnekhgfaehkc)**
>
> Automatically discards all tabs at startup, before they load, reducing memory footprint and unnecessary bandwidth usage.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\
**Post date:** [December 14, 2023, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-restarting-chrome-windows-from-prior-session-are-restored-but-highlighted/994588/4 "2023-12-14T14:07:41Z")

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> [@gnoitall](#):
>
> the highlighting is Windows

Thanks, I figured it was Chrome itself.

> [@BigT](#):
>
> I also use an extension

Interesting, I’ll try it!