Computer Memory May Be Overloaded - How to remove

Fake alerts that say “Computer memory may be overloaded” are being shown online to promote dubious browser extensions, such as TabOptimizer. They’re designed to look like serious alerts, but they’re really just fake advertising.

It’s advised to ignore the “Computer memory may be overloaded” alerts and to uninstall the extension that they promote.

About the “Computer memory may be overloaded” ads:

Threat type	Misleading advertising, scareware.
Problems with the “Computer memory may be overloaded” ads	The alerts look like system warnings, which lends them more authority than they deserve, they can cause unnecessary stress, they can lead people to install potentially unwanted extensions.
Problems with the advertised browser extensions	They make unwanted changes to browser settings, they offer useless or redundant features, they show ads.
How to get rid of unwanted extensions	Find and remove malware and potentially unwanted software with antivirus apps (Spyhunter for PC, Combo Cleaner for Mac, etc.), uninstall unknown and unused browser add-ons.

What are the problems with the “Computer memory may be overloaded” alerts?

The warning is fake

The warning that says “Computer memory may be overloaded” implies that there are errors on your computer that are causing it to slow down.

It also says that you need to install TabOptimizer or another browser extension to fix these problems.

Computer memory may be overloaded*

We recommend cleaning up the errors and increasing the speed of your computer! To do this, you need to install the extension TabOptimizer.

Except, there might be no problems with your computer. The “Computer memory may be overloaded” alert is just a generic page. Webpages can’t measure your memory usage, so it’s impossible for the “Computer memory may be overloaded” alert to know anything about your computer’s memory.

Deceiving people with misleading advertisements is not okay. The “Computer memory may be overloaded” ads could make people feel like they must install the recommended extension to protect their computer from errors, which is wrong. The recommended extension is usually just an add-on that displays ads on your screen.

Another type of warning is a fake Windows error message, which says:

Free up some memory urgently, your computer is overloaded!

[user agent]

Click “Free memory” button and follow the instructions.

Extensions with unnecessary features

It is true that having lots of tabs open in your browser can cause performance issues.

Chrome’s developers are always improving browser responsiveness while using less memory. To save memory, Chrome discards tabs that aren’t being used (Tab Discarding in Chrome: A Memory-Saving Experiment). You might notice that old tabs get reloaded when you open them – that’s because they had been discarded to save memory.

You can actually type “about:discards” into your address bar to see all your tabs and their current states.

So, what about the extensions that the “Computer memory may be overloaded” warning promotes?

TabOptimizers, one of the browser add-ons promoted by fake memory alerts, works by suspending pages that are open but that have not being used in a while. It and similar extensions are usually less intelligent about it than Chrome is. Reactivating a tab might be a bit less smooth. There might be some unexpected and distracting behavior. Some people like them, but they’re certainly not essential.

It seems that Chome’s tab discarding feature was actually inspired by a browser add-on called The Great Suspender that worked very similarly to TabOptimizer (later, The Great Suspender was sold, turned into spyware, and delisted from the Chrome Web Store).

And besides, some of the add-ons that are promoted by the “Computer memory may be overloaded” ads don’t manage memory at all; they’re just simple browser hijackers.

Privacy in browser extensions

Third-party extensions often get some access to your private data. In the case of  TabOptimizer, it can access your browsing history and your data on the sites that you visit. Although TabOptimizer has explanations for why it needs this access in order to function properly, it’s hard to trust the extension for a few reasons:

• It’s unclear who made TabOptimizer. It doesn’t advertise its developers anywhere.
• Its home page is barely functional.
• TabOptimizer is advertised by the “Computer memory may be overloaded” alerts, but it’s not obvious how this extension makes money for the ads.
• Its privacy policy says that it collects some of your private data, even though its “Privacy practices” tab on the Chrome Web Store promises that it does not collect your data.

The same problems apply to many browser hijackers. Be careful about what extensions you install.

How to deal with the “Computer memory may be overloaded” alerts

The “Computer memory may be overloaded” warnings are similar to various fake update alerts, like Adblock update required and Edge update required. They all ought to be ignored. Software that’s promoted by fake advertising is always suspicious.

If you encounter a page like “Computer memory may be overloaded”, know that it’s not dangerous. But whatever app or add-on it’s promoting should be avoided.

It’s a good idea to scan your computer with an anti-malware program (such as Spyhunter for Windows, Combo Cleaner for macOS, or others) to check if there are any dubious programs, apps, and browser extensions on your system. Not just malicious ones, but also low-reputation and potentially unwanted items that are known to get installed with the help of misleading tactics.

Automatic Malware removal tools

Manually remove unwanted extensions

TopRemoving Computer Memory May Be Overloaded from Chrome

• Click on the menu button on the top right corner of a Google Chrome window. Select “Settings”.
  
• Click “Extensions” on the left menu bar.
• Go through the extensions list and remove programs you do not need, especially similar to Computer Memory May Be Overloaded. Click on the trash bin icon next to Computer Memory May Be Overloaded or other add-ons you want to remove.
  
• Press on the “Remove” button on the Confirmation window.
  
• If unsure, you can disable them temporarily.
  
• Restart Chrome.

(Optional) Reset your browser’s settings

If you are still experiencing any issues related to Computer Memory May Be Overloaded, reset the settings of your browser to its default settings.

• Click on Chrome’s menu button (three horizontal lines) and select Settings.
  
• Scroll to the end of the page and click on the Reset settings button.
  
• Click on the Reset button on the confirmation box.
  

If you cannot reset your browser settings and the problem persists, scan your system with an anti-malware program.

How to remove Computer Memory May Be Overloaded from Microsoft Edge:Top

• Click on the menu button on the top right corner of a Microsoft Edge window. Select “Extensions”.

• Go through the extensions list and remove programs you do not need, especially similar to Computer Memory May Be Overloaded. Click on the "Remove" icon next to Computer Memory May Be Overloaded or other add-ons you want to remove.

• Press on the “Remove” button on the Confirmation window.

• If unsure, you can disable them temporarily.

• Restart Microsoft Edge.

TopRemoving Computer Memory May Be Overloaded from Firefox

• Click on the menu button on the top right corner of a Mozilla window and select the “Add-ons” icon (or press Ctrl+Shift+A on your keyboard).
  
• Go through Extensions and Addons list, remove everything Computer Memory May Be Overloaded related and items you do not recognise. If you do not know the extension and it is not made by Mozilla, Google, Microsoft, Oracle or Adobe then you probably do not need it.
  

(Optional) Reset your browser’s settings If you are still experiencing any issues related to Computer Memory May Be Overloaded, reset the settings of your browser to its default settings.

• Click on the menu button on the top right corner of a Mozilla Firefox window. Click on the Help button.
  
• Choose Troubleshooting Information on the Help menu.
  
• Click on the Reset Firefox button.
  
• Click on the Reset Firefox button on the confirmation box. Mozilla Firefox will close and change the settings to default.
  

If you cannot reset your browser settings and the problem persists, scan your system with an anti-malware program.