Google Chrome is typically a reliable and quick browser, but like anything else, it can slow down over time. When it does, the resultant encounter can cause frustration and limit your productivity. By trying a few simple hints, however, you can boost the rate and produce your internet adventures pleasant again.
Google Chrome is known for its speed and is used by many PC and Android users. Truth be told, most of us can’t go a day without using Google Chrome to access our favorite pages. But where’s the fun if your Chrome Browser uses 2-3 minutes to load just a single page? Where’s the fun if Youtube videos take a longer time to load? In this article, I will give you some hints on some things you could do that might just be what your Google Chrome browser needs to get back its lightning speed.
1. Disable Chrome Extensions
Extensions can enhance Google Chrome in many ways. Some extensions can even speed up Chrome, but most don’t. All the extensions inflate Chrome‘s RAM usage, so the browser becomes all the more resource heavy with extra add-ons. As such, switching superfluous extensions off will speed the browser up.
- To disable extensions, click the Customize Google Chrome button at the top right of browser.
- Select More tools > Extensions to open the tab in the snapshot directly below that lists add-ons.
- Now click the Enabled check boxes to switch extensions off.
- Alternatively, you can click a Remove from Chrome option to delete extensions.
2. Switch Flash Off
Now most browsers are moving toward HTML 5, plug-ins are increasingly antiquated. Chrome only supports the Flash plug-in, which you can switch off to speed up the browser. That will also ensure Flash content doesn’t load on pages, but switching the plug-in off speeds browsing up nonetheless.
- Enter ‘chrome://settings/content’ in the browser‘s URL bar and press Return.
- Then you can select Flash to open the options below.
- Now you can switch Allow sites to run Flash setting to Block sites from running Flash.
- Alternatively, if you keep Flash on select the Ask First option. Then Flash becomes a click-to-play plug-in.
3. Enable the prediction service on your Chrome
The prediction service on your Chrome is a feature that allows Chrome to predict your actions ahead of time so that it can speed up the page load times. Check if you enabled this feature, if not, follow the instructions below to enable it:
- On your Google Chrome, click the menu button in the upper-right corner. Select Settings.
- In the search bar, type prediction and then turn on the toggle next to Use a prediction service to load pages more quickly.
See if this issue reappears. If not, you’ve fixed this issue. If the issue persists, try clearing your old stuck browser data.
4. Remove Images From Websites
Images certainly increase page load times. So removing image content from websites will also speed up browsing. You don’t need an extension to remove pictures from sites as Chrome now includes a Do not show any images option. You can configure that setting as follows.
- Click the Customize Google Chrome button, and select Settings to open further browser options.
- Click Advanced to expand the options on the Settings tab, and then you can click Content Settings to configure the website content displayed.
- Now click Images to open the options directly below. Click Show all (recommended) to switch that setting to Do not show any images.
5. Clear Your Browser’s Data
Chrome keeps a database of URLs, cached text and other browsing data so that resources can be accessed from hard drive. However, the accumulation of browser data can also slow Google Chrome down as it inflates the cache. So it’s a good idea to clear browsing data every six months or so to ensure it doesn’t grossly accumulate and waste disk space.
- First, click Customize Google Chrome and select More tools from the menu.
- Select Clear browsing data to open the window in the snapshot directly below.
- Then you can select to clear browsing data for cached images and files, browsing history, cookies, app data and more besides.
- Press the Clear Browsing Data button to clear the data.
Each of those tips should speed up your Chrome browser a little more. Now you can browse through website pages somewhat more quickly than before.
6. Disable hardware acceleration
Enabling hardware acceleration allows your browser to rely on the GPU, not solely the CPU to render web pages. In the most cases, it will speed things up. But sometimes hardware acceleration can bring about unexpected issues. So, try disabling hardware acceleration on your browsers to see if the Chrome slow issue persists. Here is how to do it:
- On your Google Chrome, click the menu button in the upper-right corner. Then select Settings.
- In the search bar, type hardware. Then turn off the toggle next to the feature Use hardware acceleration when available.
- Reopen your Chrome.
See if the Chrome slow issue is resolved. If not, try resetting your browser settings.
7. End Chrome Processes
When many other processes are running on other tabs they occupy the available memory. This, in turn, leads to lower memory for the new loading pages. But hey! you could do something about it. Chrome has a task manager just like our PC’s task manager that can be used to end running processes. Click on the utility icon (3-dots), click on more tools, click on task manager.
To clear or end processes click on the process, followed by the end process button.
8. Run the Chrome Cleanup Tool
If you’re having problems that you can’t get rid of through normal means—unusual startup pages, toolbars, or ads, for example—you can turn to Google’s Chrome Cleanup Tool. The tool is designed to help you clean up your Chrome browser and get it feeling like new again.
After you download the tool, go ahead and run it. It will scan for any suspicious programs that it thinks should not be there and remove them.
Whether or not the tool find suspicious programs, when it finishes running, Chrome will restart and give you the option of resetting all your Chrome settings. If you do this, it will reset your startup page, new tab page, search engine, and pinned tabs. It will also disable—but not remove—any extensions, and it will clear temporary data like cookies. It will not clear your bookmarks, saved passwords, or browsing history.
