For a few months now Chrome has been eating up my RAM and it's gotten absolutely crazy. I've already tried disabling extensions but it doesn't change anything. Do I really have to switch to Firefox or something like that?
First off, try clearing Chrome's cache and browsing data completely - like, really completely, not just some half-ass cleanup. I've seen it turn browsers that were dragging like anchors for months into normal ones. Go to settings, privacy, then delete cached files and cookies. Restart Chrome after, and you'll probably already notice a huge difference.
After that, check what's actually running in the background. You need to go into Chrome's task manager (Shift + Escape) and see which tabs are eating up the most RAM. Sometimes it's a tab with a video that keeps reloading or some shitty website with insane scripts. Personally, I had a Gmail tab that had been sitting open forever and was using a crazy amount of RAM. Soon as I closed it, boom, my browser was back to normal. Also try updating Chrome - sometimes older versions have little issues that get fixed.
If it's still a complete disaster after that, then yeah, you could try Firefox. Personally I'm not sure if you should totally ditch Chrome, but Firefox usually uses less RAM for normal usage. Anyway, before you make a drastic switch, do a deep clean first - that fixes it a lot of the time.
Don't go straight ahead and install Firefox, it might not change much if the problem is coming from somewhere else. Chrome eating up RAM is well known, but sometimes it's not the browser itself that's the problem.
Try checking what's actually running on your computer first. Open the task manager (Ctrl+Shift+Esc) and see which process is eating your memory. Sometimes it's something running in the background without you knowing. Otherwise, you can also completely reset Chrome - not just the extensions, but really everything. Go into settings, look for "Reset settings" and do it. That clears your cache, old temporary files, all that stuff. After that just reinstall your essential extensions one by one to see which one's slowing things down.
If it's still a nightmare after that, then yeah you can try Firefox or even Brave. Personally I've been using Firefox for a while because I find it lighter, but honestly it all depends on your setup. How much RAM do you have total? Because if you're at 4 or 8 GB and you've got 50 tabs open, it's normal it's slow no matter what browser. Sometimes you just gotta be more ruthless about closing what you're not using.
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