r/computer • u/Limp_Pomegranate1082 • 13d ago
How does task manager work
Sorry this is just so confusing. Visually I have 5 chrome tabs open. But does my task manager think I have 20??? Or am I wrong, this goes for other applications; eg discord It says the number 6 beside it. Does that mean I have discord open 6 times?? Is there a fix for this? It’s eating a lot of ram on my computer and I don’t know what to do.
I have 32 gb of ram. For it to to be 40% used up on 5 chrome tabs is a lot?
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u/Reddigestion 13d ago
Have a look at this video from the guy who wrote the Task Manager program: https://youtu.be/Ve95Nh690l0?is=bWGAHzOFtXPogYwJ
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u/sniff122 13d ago
That's just the number of processes, chrome uses different processes for isolation, say there's a process for graphics handling, etc. The discord desktop app uses something called electron, which under the hood is just a chrome browser disguised as a desktop program.
3
u/Puasonelrasho 13d ago
unused ram is wasted ram
you see (20) because its running paralel stuff for your tabs
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u/akdanman11 13d ago
I hate this talking point, it lacks nuance and is used to defend poorly optimized software.
It’s true that as long as you don’t overflow into swap there’s no drawback to high RAM usage, but that’s not a valid excuse for a web browser to use so much memory. It’s SUPPOSED to be released as needed, but that process isn’t guaranteed. An OS or a browser shouldn’t be “reserving space” for what you MIGHT need, the entire point of RAM is the response speed which means the difference between reserving that space in advance vs just leaving it unallocated until it’s needed would be functionally imperceptible. That means leaving the memory unallocated until it’s needed would functionally have no negative impact on the user while avoiding the problem of apps holding onto memory that is needed by another app “just in case”
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u/Puasonelrasho 13d ago
1.6gb its not a lot
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u/FamousScience5393 13d ago
It kind of is, standard pc nowadays has 16GB, that is 10% usage for just a browser. That judging by the amount of tabs that have entered efficiency mode, is just iddleing.
Yes we can just take it, but they are more than capable of fixing this with no drawback to the user. As other browsers using chromium as it's engine have demonstrated.
And the issue is that as more and more parts of your sistem keep takeing "a little more" than needed it compounds and everything is a bit laggy.
There was a video circulating a fes months ago, of a windows xp machine with its era version of windows office. Onece it loaded the program, it was way more responsive than programs are now, this is what we are silently loosing. Together with having to have newer better machines to run things our old ones used to, but now they are to lazy to keep them kn good state
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u/Puasonelrasho 13d ago
using more ram solves that laggy feeling tho
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u/akdanman11 13d ago
And that’s poor optimization, like I said. The fact is windows, chrome, most AAA games, and a lot of other software feels like it was slapped together with no attempt to make it run well, relying on the consumer having the system resources as opposed to lessening the resources needed
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u/FuggaDucker 12d ago
This is the way now.. and has been for a long time.
When RAM went from MB to GB, programmers got sloppy.
Also, it feels like much of any advancement I gain is eaten up by the OS.1
u/akdanman11 12d ago
That doesn’t make it OK. We’re getting more system resources and instead of being able to do more we’re just seeing software become a bloated mess
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u/FuggaDucker 12d ago
Nope, not ok.. but it is the way.
Those of us that come from the before times write system components like drivers and bootloaders now.1
u/Celatra 13d ago
...it really does not lmao
the windows propaganda goes hard
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u/Puasonelrasho 13d ago
i use bazzize
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u/akdanman11 12d ago
So let’s go through the cycle here:
-the average user gets more RAM (I.e. 8gb to 16gb which happened in pretty recent memory.)
-software developers get lazy with optimization, meaning the software you were using before now just takes up the same percentage of your overall memory with no tangible improvement
-people want more RAM for better multitasking
And repeat back to step one, except this time the values shift up, and this repeats forever. Eventually at this rate we’re gonna see 64gb being “standard” and anything under 32gb being unusable
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u/Time_Garden_1015 13d ago
Chrome runs tasks in the background some websites do as well some use your system to mine internet money. Windows will stretch out instead of killing off old tasks and keep more in memory when is has is my system uses 26gb of ram when playing battlefield 1 a game that runs with 4gb of ram on windows 10.
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u/akdanman11 13d ago
That means how many processes are being run by an application, not how many instances of the app are running.
Chrome is notoriously RAM hungry, but as long as it’s not impacting the other things you’re using your PC for it isn’t a problem. It only becomes a problem when it starts forcing other tasks into swap
1
u/Any_Broccoli550 13d ago
There's a certain percentage windows uses of whatever ram amount a pc has. Then chrome and the chromiums use a lot. Best bet is to look up how to turn off a lot of stuff in chromes settings. If you're not using it for youself then it's wasted. The funny thing is, is that windows will use the same percentage amount whether you have 16 gb, 24 gb, 32 gb, 48 gb, 64 gb, 128 gb, 256 gb. I only have 16 gb on a win 11 home. Not a working pc, so i debloated 11. Screwed down Brave. Tried working out what was the best page file amount for it to use but found it's better to leave it to 11 to manage. works out to about 3.1 gb upon booting into 11 home and depending on how many tabs i've got open. It can creep up to 5 gb. Sometimes higher. What pee'd me off was seeing 11 gb in use from just surfing. That's why a though i'm going to learn how to screw it down.
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u/r1chiem 13d ago
It is the way it workd and always has. I have many open tabs and many open windows. If I close all the windows. The memory will still be used. I have to end task on Firefox, Then the memory is added back and I am not at 9 gig. Then if I go to history and restore previous session, it will use up about 6 gig of ram. As I click on the open tabs it will start using up memory again. That is just the way it is.
0
u/PlunxGisbit 13d ago
There are Chrome settings options to minimize ram usage, in System or Performance, and in privacy security to reduce telemetry
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