What you need to know
- Google Chrome users have a warning message that states that The Great Suspender contains malware.
- The Great Suspender was sold to a new owner last year and accused of adding malicious code.
- Microsoft Edge flagged the extension as containing malware last year.
The Great Suspender was a popular browser extension that put tabs to sleep after a period of inactivity. It was a great tool for freeing up system resources that would normally be hogged up by tabs that were just sitting in the background. I say "was," as in past tense, because The Great Suspender is no longer in the Chrome Web Store.
According to several people on the GitHub page for The Great Suspender, Chrome now shows a message that states the extension contains malware. Going to the Chrome Web Store page for The Great Suspender shows a 404 error message, so it seems that the extension has been removed.
If all of this sounds familiar, it's because we went through this song and dance last November with Microsoft Edge. Back then, Microsoft's browser showed a warning that stated the extension contained malware.
The previous owner of The Great Suspender announced plans to sell the extension last summer. The comments section of that announcement thread included several accusations that the extension contains malware from new code. There is also an extensive Reddit post surrounding accusations of the extension of adding malware.
As was the case when The Great Suspender was flagged as malware the first time, I'll emphasize that I'm not a developer, and can't verify the claims of malware myself. I can, however, point out that both Microsoft and Google, two of the biggest tech companies on Earth, have flagged the extension for malware.
If you like the functionality of having tabs rest while in the background there are alternatives that are still available. Microsoft Edge has a Sleeping Tabs feature that recently rolled out. The Vivaldi browser also has a Hibernating Tabs feature that's similar.
A worthy browser.
The new Microsoft Edge runs on Chromium, supports popular extensions, and regularly gets new features from Microsoft.
This highly customizable browser lets you set its look, gestures, and shortcuts. It also has tons of tab features to help you manage all the websites you view.
