The Infinite Loop
There are few things more frustrating than reading a long article, filling out a complex web form, or watching a live stream, only for the webpage to suddenly flash white and reload itself from scratch. This aggressive auto-refreshing behavior can wipe out unsubmitted data and force you to find your place in the text again. While some websites use auto-refresh scripts deliberately (like news tickers or sports scoreboards), Google Chrome sometimes forces a refresh if it thinks a tab has stalled or run out of memory.
How to Stop Chrome from Discarding Tabs
The most common cause of sudden refreshes when you switch back to an old tab is Chrome’s “Memory Saver” feature. When this is active, Chrome intentionally suspends tabs you haven’t looked at in a while. When you click back to them, Chrome has to reload the entire page from the internet.
1. Open Google Chrome.
2. Click the three vertical dots in the top-right corner to open the main menu.
3. Select Settings.
4. In the left-hand navigation sidebar, click on Performance.
5. Look for the toggle switch labelled Memory Saver.
6. Switch the toggle to the Off position.
With Memory Saver disabled, Chrome will keep all your tabs fully active in your system’s RAM. They will not be suspended, and therefore they will not need to automatically refresh when you switch back to them. Be aware that this will increase Chrome’s overall memory usage.
How to Block Website Auto-Refresh Scripts
If the tab is constantly reloading while you are actively looking at it, the website itself is running an auto-refresh script. Chrome does not have a native “stop auto-refresh” button, so you must use an extension.
1. Open the Google Chrome Web Store.
2. Search for an extension called Auto Refresh Blocker (or a similarly highly-rated alternative).
3. Install the extension and pin its icon to your toolbar.
4. Whenever you are on a webpage that keeps reloading against your will, click the extension icon and select Disable Auto-Refresh.
The extension will actively monitor the webpage’s code and intercept any HTML meta tags or JavaScript commands that attempt to trigger a page reload.