How to Disable Efficiency Mode for Google Chrome in Windows

Both advantages and drawbacks in this mode

If you’ve used the Google Chrome browser before, then you’ve probably already encountered one of its biggest problems—memory usage. Chrome has always been a browser that consumes a lot of active RAM. While Google has improvedChrome’s memory usageover the years, the problem has never fully gone away.

Thankfully, Windows is one step ahead with a system feature that helps to reduce the demand for apps like Chrome on yoursystem memory. This energy efficiency mode can help you save energy and improve overall system performance by reducing the CPU and RAM usage of your browser tabs.

However, this can slow down your browser, so you may want to switch it off. If you want to disable efficiency mode for Google Chrome in Windows, follow these steps.

What Is Efficiency Mode and Why Might You Want to Disable It?

Efficiency modeis a feature that was introduced in Windows 11. It’s a system feature that automatically adjusts the resource usage of system apps based on their usage and overall priority. It’s switched on by default for certain applications, including browsers like Chrome.

For example, if you have multiple tabs open in Chrome, but you’re only using one of them, efficiency mode can force the browser to disable some of them, placing them into a low-power state tosave battery lifeand free up memory. However, this also means that those tabs may not be updated or responsive when you switch to them.

This creates some obvious advantages, but equally obvious drawbacks. Extra memory is great, but if your browser tabs aren’t loading or your websites keep crashing, it’s going to have an impact on how you use Chrome. It can also cause deeper issues withChrome extensionsor built-in functionality like notifications.

If you’re experiencing any of these issues with Chrome, or if you simply prefer to have full control over your browser tabs, you’ll need to switch efficiency mode off.

How to Check If Efficiency Mode Is Enabled on Your Chrome Browser

Your first step, before you try to disable the functionality, is to check whether or not it’s switched on or off. If you’veupdated Windows 11to version 22H2 or higher, the chances are that Chrome already uses efficiency mode. You can check this for yourself via the Task Manager, however.

How to Temporarily Disable Efficiency Mode for Google Chrome in Windows 10 and 11

If you want to temporarily disable efficiency mode for Google Chrome in Windows 11, you can do so via theTask Manager. To do this, follow these steps.

This will temporarily disable efficiency mode for those sub-processes until you close or restart Google Chrome. However, as your process list will change and update as you open and close new tabs, you may need to repeat these steps several times for the changes to remain in effect.

How to Permanently Disable Efficiency Mode for Google Chrome in Windows 11 Using a Shortcut Command

By default, Chrome will automatically use efficiency mode to try and keep system memory usage under control. If you want to disable it permanently, you’ll need to configure a desktop shortcut to launch Chrome using a special command that prevents it from using it while Chrome is running.

To permanently disable efficiency mode in Google Chrome, follow these steps.

Thanks to this shortcut, whenever you launch Google Chrome using this shortcut, efficiency mode will be disabled for your browser.

Alternatives to Using Efficiency Mode with Google Chrome

If you want to save battery life and improve performance without using efficiency mode with Google Chrome, you can try some alternatives. For example, you can:

Conserving Energy in Google Chrome on Windows

Thanks to efficiency mode, your Google Chrome browser experience might become less memory intensive. However, if you find that your tabs aren’t loading properly, or if you need Chrome to use more of your active memory, you can switch it off using the steps above.

If Chrome isn’t working properly, you can alwaysswitch to another browser. For example, you canexport your Chrome bookmarksand import them into a browser like Firefox instead.

Ben Stockton is a freelance technology writer based in the United Kingdom. In a past life, Ben was a college lecturer in the UK, training teens and adults. Since leaving the classroom, Ben has taken his teaching experience and applied it to writing tech how-to guides and tutorials, specialising in Linux, Windows, and Android. He has a degree in History and a postgraduate qualification in Computing.Read Ben’s Full Bio

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