Tab Defenders

Reduce Chrome's memory footprint by automatically closing unused tabs.
What is Tab Defenders?
Tab Defenders is a Chrome extension that reduces Chrome's memory usage by automatically closing inactive tabs. It offers two modes of operation - closing tabs after a specified duration or using learned patterns. You can recover accidentally closed tabs and whitelist domains. Developed by Aman Ladia, Jean Laguerre, Anthony Mensah, William Lam, and Hung Bui of Stanford University.

Extension stats

Users: 136 ▲ 14
Rating: 5.00 (6)
Version: 1.0.0 (Last updated: 2023-06-06)
Creation date: 2023-06-06
Risk impact: Moderate risk impact
Risk likelihood: Very low risk likelihood
Manifest version: 3
Permissions:
  • storage
  • tabs
  • activeTab
  • alarms
  • unlimitedStorage
Size: 1.71M

Other platforms

Not available on Firefox
Not available on Edge
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Extension summary

Worried that background tabs are eating up precious RAM? Tab Defenders is a memory manager for Chrome that automatically shuts down inactive tabs and frees up precious memory so that your system remains speedy and responsive!

Tab Defender has two different modes of operation:

MODE 1: CLOSE TABS AFTER SPECIFIED DURATION You can specify a duration (in minutes) after which any background tab (i.e. a tab that hasn't been visted) will be shut down and its URL saved to storage. This mode is great if you wish to periodically clean Chrome tabs while ensuring that they are always available for recovery if needed.

MODE 2: CLOSE TABS USING LEARNT PATTERNS The second mode of operation automatically learns your usage behaviors and shuts down tabs when it thinks that the chance of you returning to them is negligible. Tab Defender uses a state of the art statistical modelling module to track your domain-wise habits and automatically clean tabs in the background.

RECOVERING CLOSED TABS If a tab was accidently closed by the extension and you wish to recover it, use the 'View Complete History' option under the 'History' tab to see closed tabs and recover them with the click of a button.

WHITELISTING DOMAINS If there are some domains whose tabs you do not want to be automatically closed, you can add them to the whitelist directly from the extension.

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User reviews

It's so useful! I finally don't have to manually select and close my millions of tabs.
by Avivi Shu Qi Wang, 2023-06-13

super useful!
by Anthony Mensah, 2023-06-10

Super useful - my computer finally has proper memory management! I was sick of manually closing tabs that I didn't use - finally this solves the problem. Thx!
by Abhy Devalapura, 2023-06-09
View all user reviews

Extension safety

Risk impact

Tab Defenders requires a few sensitive permissions. Exercise caution before installing.

Risk likelihood

Tab Defenders has earned a good reputation and can be trusted.

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