How to Make Google Chrome Fast Again

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Učlanjen(a)
11.10.2009
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66.907
Following guides are made on Windows 7, but same for Windows 10/8, Mac Linux, Chrome OS, as long as an option is available on a platform. For your information, my Chrome version was 41.0.2272.101 m (64-bit) at the time of writhing this article.

Tip 1: Disable Unnecessary Extensions and Apps
This is the most important part. Nothing can make a browser faster if it is bloated with resource consumer extensions. Yes it’s true that extensions add extra features to our browser. They can automate many jobs and help us do many things with one or two clicks. But excessive extensions, or extensions installed without your consent are greatly harming your browser’s potential. Even some antivirus software installs companion Chrome extensions that aren’t much necessary, since Chrome has its own malware and phishing protection.

To see the list of extensions in Chrome, type chrome://extensions into the address bar and hitEnter or go through Chrome wrench icon > Tools > Extensions.

open-chrome-extensions.jpg


Find out the extensions you really do not need, then uncheck the Enabled text or click on Trashicon to completely remove it.

disabel-remove-chrome-extension.jpg


To remove a Chrome app, enter into chrome://apps page or click on Apps link from top-left corner. Then right-click on the app and choose Remove from Chrome.

remove-chrome-app.jpg


If you use an extension very rarely, you might want to just keep it disabled, so that you can enable it later. The less extensions and apps you use, the less load your Chrome and system takes.

You can also use Chrome’s built-in Task manger to see which extensions or components of Chrome are taking much memory (RAM) and CPU. To open it, hit Shift+Esc or go through Chrome wrench icon > Tools > Task manager.

chrome-task-manager.jpg


You can also kill a process manually by selecting and hitting End process button from bottom-right side.

Always try to keep monitoring Chrome extensions.

Tip 2: Disable Unneeded Plug-ins
Chrome ships with some plugins that help it process special content on web pages, as well as add some features. Such as, Adobe Flash Player lets it play flash contents and Chrome PDF Viewer lets it open PDF files inside Chrome. However some third-party applications (as VLC Web Plugin in the following screenshot) and Chrome extensions can also add plugins to chrome. Plugins can also contribute to Chrome’s slow performance.

To see the list of plugins in Chrome, type chrome://plugins and hit Enter. To disable a plugin, click on Disable button. Once disabled, the section of the entry will turn gray. Note that you can’t ‘remove’ a plugin unless it’s installed by a third-party.

disable-chrome-plugins.jpg


You might want to disable these plugins: Chrome Remote Desktop Viewer, Native Client, Chrome PDF Viewer and VLC Web Plugin. How-To Geek has a nice explanation on what Chrome plugin does what.

Tip 3: Disable “Usage Statistics and Crash Reports”
Chrome has a feature which sends usage statistics and crash reports to Google server. The purpose behind this is to collect data so that Google can improve their Chrome. Having this option enabled requires Chrome to run a background process ChromeCrashHandler.exe which can be viewed in task manager like below:

chrome-crash-handler-in-task-manager.png


To disable it, open Chrome settings (via chrome://settings URL or from Chrome wrench icon >Settings). Then click Show advanced settings. Under Privacy section, deselect “Automatically send usage statistics and crash reports to Google”.

disable-chrome-statistics-and-crash-reports.jpg


Note that ChromeCrashHandler.exe can still exist in Task Manager if “Usage statistics and crash reports” is turned on in other Google desktop applications.

Tip 4: Enable “Preload” Feature
Chrome has an innovative feature with which it can predict the web page you will be visiting next. Such as, if you search for techgainer in Google search, Chrome will load http://www.techgainer.com in background, so that it can reader this page as fast as possible once you actually click on it. Chrome will do it when it is confident enough about the user’s future action. Checkout official details on this feature.

To enable it, go to Chrome Settings > Show advanced settings and then check “Predict network actions to improve page load performance“.

chrome-predict-network-actions.jpg


If if you have slow internet connection, you should keep it disabled.

Tip 5: Periodically Clear Browsing Data
Like other modern web browsers, Chrome keeps your browsing history and website data to deliver better and faster user experience. These include history, cookie, cache, app and form data, etc. Chrome will suggest links when you start to type initial letters of a link, if the link has been visited previously. Using local cache, Chrome can load a previously visited webpage faster than normal. All these mean, browsing data is there to help you browse the web faster and do less.

But months or years old browsing data can slow down Chrome for sure. You can specifically remove these data from Chrome. To do so, click on Chrome wrench icon and choose History.

open-history.jpg


Click Clear browsing data button.

history-page.jpg


Here you have the options to clear the data you want and free up the Chrome.

clear-browser-data.jpg


Deleting some data here (such as Passwords) wouldn’t make Chrome faster, rather that would take your time to fill them again.

Tip 6: Always Close Tabs you no Longer Need
This is a silly thing. Since Chrome uses multi-process architecture, every tab you open introduces new process which consumes additional system resource and memory. Closing a tab you no longer need is always a good practice as it frees up some memory from your RAM.

Site tip: In case you have habit of accidentally closing tabs, checkout how to lock a tab in Chrome to prevent accidental close.

Note: The following settings are experimental features. These features can change, break or disappear anytime without Google’s notice. To find a setting, use Ctrl+F, as I said earlier. You need to restart Chrome to make any change take effect. If you find a glitch after changing a feature, just restore it to default.

Tip 7: Increase “Maximum Tiles”
An experimental feature that lets you change “Maximum tiles for interest area”. Setting it to higher value should force Chrome to use more memory which should increase Chrome’s performance. This feature is specially helpful for Android users to make Chrome smoother on Android phones.

In chrome://flags page, search for Maximum Tiles. Then change the Default value to 512 as I did below:

chrome-maximum-tiles.jpg


You might not want to touch this if your system has equal or less than 2GB RAM.

Tip 8: Enable Fast Tab/Window Close
With this feature enabled, Chrome will try to make tabs and windows quickly disappear from your screen when you click close icon, while terminating them in background. To enable this, search fast tab and hit Enable.

enable-chrome-fast-tab-close.jpg


Tip 9: Enable experimental canvas features
This is an experimental feature which makes Chrome use opaque canvases to increase performance. To enable it, search for Experimental canvas features. Click on Enable button to turn it on.

chrome-experimental-canvas-features.jpg


Tip 10: Enable SPDY/4
SPDY/4 protocol is a new HTTP/2 standard which is now experimental in Chrome. Enabling this should make web communication faster in Chrome when possible. Search for SPDY and clickEnable.

enable-chrome-spdy-4.jpg


Tip 11: Increase the Number of Raster Threads
Increasing the number of raster threads should make Chrome render images faster than before. Regular Facebook users and photography freaks should get benefit from it. To enable this, search for Number of raster and change the value from Default to 4.

chrome-increase-raster-threads.jpg


Some other Experimental Settings you can Try to Increase Performance

  • Enable display list 2D canvas
  • Experimental QUIC protocol
  • Enable deferred image decoding
  • Enable the stale-while-revalidate cache directive
  • Simple Cache for HTTP
  • Enable TCP Fast Open
  • Enable one-copy rasterizer
  • Enable support for ServiceWorker background sync event
  • HarfBuzz for UI text
  • Enable Plugin Power Saver
Note: Not all experimental settings are available for all platforms.

After you have made changes to the flags page, restart Chrome to make changes take effect. You can use Relaunch Now button at the bottom of the flags page’s window.

relaunch-chrome1.jpg
 
ADMINISTRATOR
Učlanjen(a)
11.10.2009
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66.907
Method 3: Using speed up extensions to make Google Chrome faster
While writing about making Mozilla firefox faster for web browsing, I already mentioned that I personally don’t like lots of extensions installed in my browser. This is so because sometimes, these extensions are also a hindrance in speeding up the speed of your browser. But, there are few useful extensions that can help you to speed up your Google Chrome.

1. The Great Suspender: It’s my personal favorite extension and stops Chrome from killing your PC by eating tons of RAM. This extension suspends the unused tabs in Chrome, saves your PC juice and makes Google Chrome faster. Download it here

2. Better Browse: This extension makes web browsing on Google Chrome about 15% faster by using some simple tweaks already mention in this tutorial. Download it here

Method 4: Random methods to make Google Chrome faster
1. Type chrome://plugins/ in URL box and disable the unnecessary plugins as they make your Google Chrome slower.

2. Type chrome://extensions/ in URL box and delete the extension that are unnecessary or not in use for long time.

3. Type chrome://settings/clearBrowserData and clear browsing history from beginning (Uncheck Cached images and files and other below options).



That’s it! These were the best methods which will help you to increase your web browsing speed and make Google chrome faster than ever.

If you find this article helpful, share it with friends and if you are still having any problems, let us know in comments below.
 
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