Chrome may as well be the best browser at the moment. It certainly is used by more people than any other browser. It’s the cheetah in the jungle of browsers. But, even the cheetah slows down at times when weighed down by some factors.
Chrome may at times be slower than a tortoise. This mostly happens when you are in a hurry. An annoying habit that keeps happening over and over but you never take action because most of the times, your browser works just fine.
Still, those few moments when it slows down still irk you to the bone. Next time you are using your browser, take a moment and try a few of these tips to speed your Google chrome.
1. Get rid of any plug-ins that you don’t use
This is the simplest way to speed anything up. When you need to run faster, you have to lose the heavy keys, heavy shoes and any extra weight you may be carrying for you to run the fastest that you can.
Same applies on Google Chrome. For your browser to speed up, you need to reduce on the number of plug-ins. All you have to do is:
– Type chrome://plugins into your address bar and press enter
– Click on the Disable icon on every plug-in you feel you need to turn off.
2. Let your remaining plug-ins be click-to-load
Whatever you need to run your fastest race, you have to be able to control it so it will not tire you out. Be it your bottle of water or energy drink, you need to be able to move it from hand to hand with ease and without affecting your speed.
Same applies to the remaining plug-ins in your browser, Google Chrome. There is more you can do to lessen the impact they cause on your browser. You can easily stop any media from loading, that may need plug-ins, for example Flash, without your consent.
– Click on the ‘Settings Menu’ that is under the ‘Show Advanced Settings and Privacy’
– Click the ‘Content settings’ then scroll down to the Plug-ins icon.
– Can you see the button where it gives you the option to select when to run plug-in content? Check that box.
The next time a Flash video tries to load, all you have to do is right click on the plug-in and click on ‘Run the plug-in’ if you choose to see it.
3. Suspend some of your tabs
For you to perform your best in any field, you have to focus on one particular field and give it all your attention. If you outstretch yourself by focusing on so many fields, you will only be average or less in your performance.
This is what happens when you open many tabs on your Chrome browser. You may not want to close some tabs because you will still need them. There is also a chance that you may be working on one particular tab for a few minutes and the rest will still be open eating up your memory.
This is where you need to suspend the tabs you are not using but still need for later. There are extensions that allow you to suspend your tabs. An extension like ‘The Greater Suspender’ will allow you to suspend the tabs that are not in use.
When you need to use the tab, all you have to do is click on it and the tab will automatically reload itself.
4. Clear your browsing data
As mentioned earlier, you need to lose any extra baggage when you need to speed up. Same way a cheetah will chase it’s pretty without it’s cubs tugging along, is the same way you should clear your browsing data.
– Press Ctrl+ H on your keyboard and a history window will pop up
– On the top left corner of the pop up window, select to clear your browsing data
– You can choose to clear from the beginning of time
– Once selected, clear your browsing data.
Once you clear your browsing data and you are sure of a great internet connection then receiving the ‘Webpage not available‘ prompt will be a thing of the past.
5. Disable any unnecessary extensions
At times, you may let someone use your laptop and they end up enabling an extension you don’t need. Thanks you end up seeing the ‘Webpage not available‘ page when you are sure that you have a fast internet connection. Worry not.
You will want to disable any unnecessary extensions that you may never use as they slow down your chrome browser.
– On your chrome address bar, type chrome://plugins/ and hit enter
– Disable any extensions you find that are unnecessary
6. Updating your Chrome regularly
You need to keep updating your Google Chrome browser so as to get the fastest speed. Every update comes with a better version for you and to make your work easier. All you have to do is:
– Type chrome://help on your Chrome address bar and press Enter
– Update your Google Chrome browser.
7. Take advantage of Google web light
Google provides a solution for the slow internet users around the world using their web light services.
This is best for mobile users as the quality of the webpage may be compromised. But, with this service, you will browse 4 times faster and save upto 80% of your data.
The Google Chrome browser will detect if you have a slow internet connection and it will automatically open your webpages using web light.
8. Create your own saved browser sessions
Some extensions such as Session Buddy and TabCloud will allow you to save a browser window inclusive of all the tabs you had opened.
You can close all your tabs at once easily reducing the load on your browser. When you need to resume your work, all you have to do is reload the window and continue working.
Occasionally, using one of these tricks can generate some errors. If so, you can find solutions on this website about Errorcodes.
These are some of the tricks you can use to speed up your Google Chrome browser. There are more tricks out there that you can use to speed up your Google Chrome browser that are not in this article. Feel free to share any other tricks that you have used and how to activate them.
This article was contributed by Shaira Williams, who writes about technology by day and reads fitness blogs and trashy magazines by night. She fell in love with gadgets and PCs in high school, and still geeks out when she sees the latest Alienware or concept car.