The Great Suspender extension is being blocked as Malware by Chrome, but there’s a way to recover your tabs

Google has apparently blocked The Great Suspender extension from Chrome, with existing users now receiving a message that it has “been disabled because it contains malware.” It has also been removed from the Chrome Web Store, with any links to it now leading to a 404 page. Some are worried about losing their tabs, but Reddit users have found a way to recover them (via XDA-Developers’ Mishaal Rahman).

The Great Suspender was a hugely useful extension — minus the malware, at least — for keeping your browser running smoothly. The tool would automatically shut down tabs that you hadn’t looked at for a while, replacing them with a blank gray screen. Return to the tab, and you could click to reload back to where you were. Given Chrome’s tendency to hog much of a computer’s memory, the extension was a simple way to keep your browser moving a bit faster, without actually forcing you to close old tabs.

If you used the extension and are looking to get your tabs back, the steps are simple, if a bit tedious. If the tabs were open, you can go to them and click on the URL bar. There will be a ton of text that looks something like this:

chrome-extension://klbibkeccnjlkjkiokjodocebajanakg/suspended.html#ttl=%22DawnBarton%20-%20YouTube&pos=0&uri=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RJXGLl_sEDU

At the end will be the address for the page you were on. Deleting everything before the URL and hitting enter will bring the page back to life.

Reddit user avatar_ENG also discovered you can still get those tabs back by searching your Chrome history. It’s basically the same process as above: you search for the extension’s ID, klbibkeccnjlkjkiokjodocebajanakg, then open the tabs and remove the junk. It may be an annoying process, but it’s better than losing any work or incredible memes you had open.

It is worthy to note, many Chrome tab junkies like myself, were left scrambling for a safe alternative to The Great Suspender Chrome extension after this story broke. There were suggestions for One Tab and Session Buddy, (a personal favorite) but these extensions, although very useful, did not address the problem The Great Suspender specifically targeted which is Chrome’s RAM hungry, resource hogging consumption. I am happy to report, the Chrome extension, The Marvelous Suspender is the perfect replacement. Although not yet confirmed, it appears to be nearly identical to The Great Suspender but minus the malware that the latest owner of The Great Suspender added. You can pick this worthy replacement at the Chrome Store.

Neither Google nor the developers of the extension immediately responded to a request for comment.