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Even when I close Chrome, I can see running processes of that instance in the Task Manager. If I had initiated three instances of Chrome, I could see three Chrome.exe in the Task Manager. Why aren't the processes killed when the browser is closed?

I also notice that Chrome creates a lot of cache and few times Trojans were found in Chrome's cache folder.

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    Uh, maybe those Trojans are keeping Chrome open, or pretending to be Chrome?
    – Moshe
    Apr 11, 2011 at 12:55

9 Answers 9

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There's an option in Chrome's settings to leave it running in the background if any apps or extensions require it. Most likely you're using such an extension and this option is turned on by default. Google Cloud Print will cause this too.

Background Apps Option

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    That fixed it for me. So it turns out this is not a bug, it's actually a feature in Chrome. Some apps stay alive at the background and that keeps the tasks alive in the task manager.
    – ældron
    Jul 27, 2012 at 9:50
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    Fixed it for me as well, although in my case it had just been one app, which makes me wonder why around 10 chrome.exe processes kept running. Almost seems like Chrome keeps them all alive, no matter how many are really active.
    – Olaf
    Nov 5, 2012 at 8:30
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    Thank you. This was driving me nuts and all I could find online were bug reports. Seems no one else in the world is aware that this is actually a "feature" of Chrome. May 20, 2013 at 19:25
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    This does not work. Jul 23, 2015 at 0:57
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    "It's not a bug it's a feature" uh yea right, just because I state "everyone must wear blue hats because they look good" does not make it true. Nov 2, 2017 at 14:13
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In more recent versions of Chrome, the Advanced Settings page includes an option specifically to keep or turn off background apps when you close Chrome. Google keep tweaking how to find this setting:

In version 67.0.3396.99:

type chrome://settings/system in the address bar.

enter image description here

In version 44.0.2403.157:

Chrome 44.0.2403.157 settings

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    In even newer versions of chrome (I'm at v68.0.3440.8 currently) the setting is the same, but looks different than the screen shot shown and is gotten to in a slightly different way. Go to settings (open either via the menu or the URL chrome://settings/). Then to get to the advanced system settings, you either need to 1) scroll down to "Advanced" and expand it, then scroll down to the "System" section; or 2) use the hamburger menu on the top left, expand "Advanced", then select "System". The option is still named "Continue running background apps when Google Chrome is closed"
    – Javaru
    Aug 4, 2018 at 16:04
  • Thanks @Javaru - updated answer with the more recent Chrome screenshot. Aug 6, 2018 at 4:38
  • still works with Chrome 73.x . Nice screenshots. The only program that is open is GoogleCrashHandler.exe /GoogleCrashHandler64.exe Only God knows why Chrome had over 15 different processes and taking upwards of 1GB ram collectively, AFTER chrome was closed
    – Jon Grah
    Apr 14, 2019 at 4:36
  • Similarly for search result purposes, Continue running background apps when Chromium is closed Mar 20 at 20:33
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Go to TOOLS > EXTENSIONS menu. Uncheck / deselect ALL extensions you have installed (don't delete them, just deactivated all).

Quit Chrome and check if all tasks/processes were ended. If so, it means one or more of the installed extensions are causing this problem.

Now, activate one by one quiting Chrome and checking the processess for all of each of extensions activation. You will find which one is causing the problem.

In my case the problem "DvdVideoSoft Free Youtube Download 1.0.0.0" extension.

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, I could see three Chrome.exe in the Task Manager. Why the processes aren't killed when the browser is closed?

They are. I can't simulate this.

As paradroid mentions - Atleast the eBay extension causes a Chrome process to remain open and adds itself to your system startup:

enter image description here

If you have this extension, I'd recommend you uninstall this. If you don't, disable all extensions and enable them one by one to find out the errant extension.

few times trojans were found in Chrome's cache folder.

I don't see how this is Chrome's fault.

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  • The latter is not Chrome's fault but the fault of lots of web-cache. A nice pleasure garden for trojans.
    – RPK
    Apr 11, 2011 at 12:52
  • I have noticed that an eBay extension that I use keeps on running after Chrome is closed: chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/…
    – paradroid
    Apr 11, 2011 at 12:54
  • @paradroid - Indeed Spybot confirms this. i.imgur.com/UhrjE.png Didn't think this was possible.
    – Sathyajith Bhat
    Apr 11, 2011 at 12:59
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    A Good housekeeping rule is to clear your browser cache frequently, no matter whose browser you are using.
    – Moab
    Apr 11, 2011 at 15:19
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    A trojan sitting in your cache can't do any harm unless it's executed somehow. Besides that, it's already on your system! You'd be better off keeping malware from getting your system in the first place instead of cleaning up afterward.
    – afrazier
    Nov 24, 2011 at 16:00
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I experienced this problem as well.

Situation:

I pinned a tab, every time I unpinned it, then closed chrome, a single chrome process would always remain in the task manager. I tried checking the "Background Apps Box", so nothing would have a chance of running and still no joy.

Fix:

  • Unpin the tab.
  • Close Chrome.
  • Open your process manager/task manager - Hold Ctrl, Shift, and Esc.
  • Look at the chrome process that remains and note the Mem Usage size.
  • Reopen Chrome.
  • Then end the chrome process with the same Mem usage size that remains.
  • Close Chrome.

Keep this in mind... if you try to end the chrome task before you reopen it the settings don't get saved to memory. This is why you have to kill the process after you reopen.

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I had an instance of Chrome remaining active in my task manager and I was able to solve the issue by going into advanced settings and removing my printer from Cloud Print and uncheck background apps from running after close of Chrome. VOILA: nothing in the task manager. I do now see 5 instances in my task manager, but I'm certain that they have to do with me changing the above settings, seeing as two of them have the words "field trial" in them. No worries because they all close immediately when I close the Chrome Browser. Hope this helps.

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There has been problems when people have Google cloud print enabled when it leaves the Chome.exe. A quick fix would be type about:flags in the address bar and disable Print Preview.

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I found an application called Idle Crawler on my computer, which had Google Chrome in it as an add-on which ran all the time. After uninstalling it, chrome was gone from my background programs.

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I have a win 7 64 bit system. Google chrome was constantly running/updating three pages at a time. Malware bytes had constant warning popups like these:

Detection, 9/13/2014 10:29:42 AM, SYSTEM, ---my DM-- (for post edit) ,Protection, Malicious Website Protection, IP, 5.149.250.194, 49256, Outbound, C:\Users\Administrator\AppData\LocalLow\Microsoft\ygflrgxxouio\rlrdusydexp\Qceavbtgzil.exe,

Detection, 9/13/2014 10:30:26 AM, SYSTEM, ---my DM-- (for post edit) , Protection, Malicious Website Protection, IP, 88.214.197.93, xmlclick-g.com, 49269, Outbound,

I tried turning off chrome setting that allows background apps, disabled all extensions and finally uninstalled google chrome. STILL HAD THREE GOOGLE CHROME APPLICATIONS RUNNING IN TASK MANAGER AFTER REBOOT!

Solution was to disable in windows System Configuration under the startup tab the entry under Startup item; "Ghxynywv". The Manufacturer was unknown, but in the command line it said; rundll32exe"C:\Users\Administrator\AppData\Local\EmieUserList\Ghxynywv.dll",DllRegister Server

Disabling this startup entry eliminated the background google pages and re-enabling it brought them back. This is finally it!!!!

I found this link showing this to be a Windows update mystery.

I don't work for Microsoft but I can confirm indeed that this issue is related to a windows update installation issued April 8, 2014. The update in question is KB2929437 as it does indeed add new functionality to Internet Explorer 11 that of a new Enterprise Mode Internet Explorer.

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