Browser extensions can be very useful. From the ultra-useful content blocker to extensions designed for specific tasks. They can make your life on the Internet easier or better.
While most extensions may not impact performance noticeable, some may. That is a problem, as it may not always be obvious which one is to blame. Some userrs may even blame the browser, which is not something that browser makers want.
Microsoft is working on integrating warnings in Edge to warn users about extensions that impact the browsing performance.
The details:
- The feature is available in Edge 130 and newer only.
- It needs to be enabled.
- Edge monitors the performance of extensions when enabled.
Note that the feature monitors performance only.
Tip: Microsoft is testing several new features. There is Super Drag & Drop or a RAM limiter that you may try.
How to enable the feature
Starting with Edge 130, some users of the browser will have the new performance detector enabled by default. Most users won’t, but there is an option to turn it on.
Here is how you enable it in Edge
- Load edge://flags/#edge-performance-extension-detection in the browser’s address bar.
- Change the value of Extension performance detector to Enabled.
- Restart Microsoft Edge.
The feature runs in the background from that moment on.
How the extension performance detector works in Edge
Microsoft describes the feature in the following way:
Enables detection and optional disabling of user-added extensions if they impact page load time. Alerts will appear in browser essentials.
This is not too helpful, but Microsoft published a blog post as well that provides additional details.
There, Microsoft says that Edge will alert the user if it notices persistent extension slowdowns that impact the browsing experience.
A click on the browser essentials icon in Edge displays information about extensions that Edge found to slow down browsing consistently.
Each extension is listed with the percentage of slowdown and an option to disable it. Disabling is optional, and you may also select to get a reminder at a later time.
Most users who use extensions will not see the alerts according to Microsoft.
Closing Words
Whether the performance monitor for extensions is useful or not depends on the individual user. It may help users who install lots of extensions in the browser and users who noticed slowdowns after installing extensions.
The alerts may help identify performance issues, which is useful. Still, some extensions may be too valuable even though they may impact the browsing performance or experience.
Do you run extensions in your browser that you would not disable under any circumstances? Feel free to leave a comment down below.
Blocking an add is preventing the webpage from completely loading. See where this is headed?
Don’t forget, M.$ is following Googles lead.
It’s Edge which is slowing down these apps, not the other way around.
My guess that this feature is half-truth. If an extension developer pays Microsoft a kind of ransom, it will be hard-coded that the extension will never be included in alert. I also expect many content blockers and ad blockers to be included in these alerts, just because they get into MS profits.
While this feature, if done correctly by a third party, can be extremely valuable for the average consumer, I do not expect Microsoft or Google or any big tech corps to selflessly provide it. I wish independent app developer provides something like that, but they will be sued into oblivion by memory hogging app spammers.
For now, you can just look into browser task manager to see which extensions take most memory. And if you found few that do take a lot of memory, and they are not critical for browsing experience, you should remove them (For example you do not need extra antivirus extension if you have reliable antivirus program active on your computer. There is nothing good is going to happen when two anti-viruses work at the same time on the same page or file). I know that judging just by memory usage is not a complete or great performance benchmark, but it is the best that we have right now.