How to Fix the Microsoft Edge High Memory Usage – Easy Ways?

Microsoft Edge is widely used as a search engine and people will choose to keep tabs open and switch among them. However, when you open Task Manager, you will be astonished by the Microsoft Edge high memory usage.

Even some users will encounter the high memory detected warning. That means the high memory usage issue has affected the normal performance of your system.

Of course, other situations also hassle people a lot. If you find high memory usage in Microsoft Edge but all the tabs and windows have been closed, you may doubt the virus and malware infection is the major culprit.

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Then to resolve the high memory usage in Microsoft Edge, you try the following methods.

1. Use Browser Task Manager

There is a built-in task manager dedicated to serving Microsoft Edge and you can use it to close those useless processes to unleash the resources.

Step 1: In your Microsoft Edge, click on the three-dot icon in the top right corner.

Step 2: Go to More tools > Browser task manager.

Step 3: Click on the Memory section to make the list arrange processes in descending order.

Step 4: Then you can locate those intensive but unnecessary tabs and click End process to close them.

2. Enable Efficiency Mode

Microsoft Edge allows users to enable Efficiency mode for optimized resource usage. This mode can make those inactive tabs stop consuming resources, preventing Microsoft Edge from using too much memory.

Step 1: In Edge, click the three-dot icon and choose Settings.

Step 2: In the System and performance tab, turn on the toggle next to Efficiency mode under Optimize Performance.

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3. Disable Hardware Acceleration and Startup Boost

Hardware acceleration can utilize some resources to speed up the tasks and provide a better user experience. Startup boost is designed to pre-load some core processes for a quicker loading time. These two features can cause a high memory usage error in Microsoft Edge, so you can try to disable them.

Step 1: In your Edge, go to the System and performance tab in Settings.

Step 2: Under System, turn off the toggle next to Startup boost and Use hardware acceleration when available.

Step 3: Restart your browser to make those changes take effect.

4. Delete Unused Extensions

Too many extensions attached to your browser for running will undermine the overall performance. Therefore, you can choose to delete some unused ones.

Step 1: Go to this location – edge://extensions/ in Edge and you can see your installed extensions here.

Step 2: Locate the unwanted one and click Remove to uninstall the extension.

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5. Scan for Malware

Sometimes, you may run into the Microsoft Edge high memory usage error because of malware infection. Malware or viruses may consume your resources to make your memory usage dramatically high, so you can scan the whole computer for malware or just scan your browser via some security extensions to remove the hijacker.

Alternatively, you can try to directly reset your browser, which can help clear all possible viruses or malware in your browser.

To run Microsoft Security, you can do as follows.

Step 1: Open Settings by pressing Win + I and scroll down to click Update & Security.

Step 2: In the Windows Security tab, click Virus & threat protection and choose Scan options > Microsoft Defender Offline scan > Scan now.

Bottom Line:

When you run into the Microsoft Edge high memory usage, some unexpected issues may happen to stop you from the next step or lag the operation. The above methods can easily resolve the issue. Hope this article is useful for you.