Uninstalling extensions can improve Chrome performance

 Some extensions work quite simply and smoothly, but there are also many cases where the opposite is true. Therefore, you should still uninstall extensions that you no longer need to use to improve the performance of Google Chrome browser.

This is not a new problem—the story of how to identify resource-hungry and browser-slowing extensions has been around for a long time. But it's difficult to determine exactly how much time, in milliseconds, a particular extension will add to a website's loading process.

To find out, a technology blogger with the nickname DebugBear did an experiment evaluating 5,000 of the top Chrome extensions to measure their impact on CPU processing, as well as running time. download website. Many extensions have a negligible impact on page load times (even if they use a lot of CPU resources), although there are plenty of extensions that extend page load times by more than a second.

It appears that AI and shopping-related extensions have the most negative impact, the results show. DebugBear found that extensions like Monica AI and Klarna Pay Later run before the website has finished loading, thus forcing users to wait longer than usual. Of course, nothing is absolute—some extensions like Honey and Merlin AI won't run until the page's content is displayed, so the impact of these cases is usually negligible.

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But even if the extension runs after the website has finished loading, it can still consume a significant amount of computer resources. For example, a shopping extension called Honey was found to be CPU-hungry and could slow users down when visiting certain websites, especially when combined with add-ons. other resource-hungry extensions like Dark Reader, MozBar or Merlin AI.

Ad blockers are the only type of extension that reduce page load times, CPU and RAM usage, simply because the goal of ad blockers is to prevent websites from loading unnecessary content. However, it's also important to note that the positive impact of an ad blocker may vary depending on your settings and the websites you visit.

Even if you can accept a slightly slower browsing experience, you should still uninstall unnecessary extensions for privacy and security reasons. Several browser extensions from some reputable brands like AVG have been caught red-handed collecting and selling user data. Additionally, hackers can also convert extensions into malware or spyware.

David Pac

Update 20 May 2024