Google Chrome tricks, tips and tweaks to make it run faster

Google Chrome sits at the apex of the most popular browsers in the world. Since 2008, Chrome has earned accolades for safety, flexibility and market share. But, it suffers a lot of challenges, especially on speed and battery consumption.

Why Chrome runs on too much RAM and power

The plugins and extensions Chrome operate independently. So, the malfunction of one does not affect the operation of another. Likewise, if a Chrome plugin crashes or gets attacked, the others remain safe and stable. The makers of Google Chrome deliberately did for purposes of the browser’s user experience.

Google Chrome’s task manager predicts the next pages you want to open. But it also ends up consuming some RAM as well. The performance of your browser and that of the entire computer is thus affected.

Fortunately, Google has perpetual solutions to these problems. This is why they keep improving and updating the browser. So, Chrome comes with a package of features that in handy, reduce the RAM consumption. This article addresses all tips to rip off the dawdling and irritating browsing process and ultimately speed up Chrome.

So, here are some of the ways to increase your Google Chrome browsing speed:

Manual Closure

Did you know you can close the unnecessary processes manually? On the Task Manager, there are options for you to close down all the processes that you don’t need, to free some RAM. To access the task manager, go to the Window Menu if you are running Chrome on Mac. If your device runs on Windows operating system, you can simply get there by the shortcut Shift + Esc.

Do away with unneeded extensions

Most of the extensions that people download or install are unnecessary. They compete for RAM with the more important features, thus breaking your browser. If you only download a video once in a month, you don’t need the download feature running throughout. You can access the extensions by hitting Chrome://extensions. Also, you can disable or completely delete what you no longer use. So, take some time and disable/delete any extension you think needs a click from you!

Turn off automatic playing of plugins

By default, most of the plugins in Google Chrome play without alerting the user. For instance, if you are on a site that displays pop-ups or Flash videos, browser ‘detects and runs’ it. These extensions eat up a significant RAM space. To speed up your browser, it’s advisable you block unnecessary content. Go to Chrome://settings/content, Change it to ‘let me choose when to run plugin content’. Then dial ‘Done’.

Google’s experimental features

Google works towards giving Chrome users a better experience. Thus, they have many extensions they experiment on users. The features (flags) are in their experiment stage. You can find them by navigating to Chrome://flags on your browser. Chrome displays a stern caution on the use of these extensions. But most of them are expedient in boosting your experience. Here are some of the flags you may need to address.

• ‘Fast Tab/Window Close’: This handles Chrome JavaScript without inference to the graphic interface. Though killing tab only means it loads even in the background, the tab will disappear when closed.

• Low-priority iFrames: determines inline frames thus allowing the browser to load the relevant content. Ads and other non-native content waits. The non-native content could be the sites-within-a-site or a page that redirects to another.

• TCP Fast Open: This feature is only available on Chrome OS and Android. It equips the Chrome browser with a cryptographic cookie that re-authenticateslink data channels. Thus, it enables quick and efficient transmission of data.

• Experimental QUIC Protocol: QUIC (Quick UDP Internet Connections) Protocol is an experimental feature in the Chrome browser. But, in 2015, it landed at the IETF for standardization. QUIC reduces the number of times a connection gets established. Thus, it reduces bandwidth, dormancy, and congestion of data. It is worth turning to default.

• Stale While-revalidate: This feature/flag increases latency. It allows servers specify the resources within them that need re-validation in the background. Chrome shows a stale resource in the background- or, a blank page. You can as well find a page you reloaded without the use of the internet, due to data stored in the form of caches.

• Increase Raster threads to 4: If your browser suffers slow image loading, this is the best hack! Websites read images using the raster. This extension allows the browser to read in pixels, rather than in vector dimensions. This enhances quick loading of images on various web pages.

• Experimental Canvas Features: This feature Improves page loading times. When a web page loads too slow, this extension will allow Chrome to use opaque canvases. Thus, it sketchespages even before loading is complete.

• Prevent tab reload: Solves slow internet connection; this extension is an excellent hack! It makes the browser load only the pages you are using at that particular time.

Other Chrome worthwhile flags and extensions

• Enable the Automatic Spelling Correction: It allows you to type faster by predicting spellings and auto-correcting your work.

• Enable ‘multilingual spell-checker’: This feature cares not whether you are using English, French, Spanish or any other. It will get your mistakes corrected as you tap away, regardless of the language you are using.

• Enable the ‘download resumption’ feature: When your browser has shut down, this feature will help your Chrome to resume the tabs when you resume.

• Smooth scrolling: When the browser or entire system gets lethargic, this flag performs behind-the-scenes processes. This allows pages to flow in smooth, regular patterns, up-bottom using animation and graphics.

• Enable Material Design Extensions: Applicable for Mac, Windows, Linux and Chrome OS. This feature enables fast loading of theMaterial Design page.

• Enable Clear Browsing Data Counters: This function records and stores your browsing data, when you haven’t gone incognito. These may slow your browsing speed, and thus, you may need to free the memory.

Password-related flags

• Enable ‘Password generation’: At times, it is lackluster to keep typing complicated characters to log in on certain webs and pages. But with this feature, Chrome provides you with an easy-to-remember key. You can use it as long as you are the one using the browser.

• ‘Save Password Automatically’: This feature is, by default, activated to ask if you want to save passwords in Chrome browser. So, using caches, it can set or save your passwords every time you attempt to.

• Enable Password Bubble UI: A decorative flag that helps you save your passwords in a bubble pop-up. Breaks the monotony of the regular drop-down bars.

Chrome saves the changes when you hit the ‘RELAUNCH NOW’ button at the bottom. The browser restarts your browser. Thus, you must take caution by saving all your work. If you find it necessary to get back to your initial settings, dial the ‘Reset All To Default’ at the top.

Final Verdict

In a nutshell, nothing is more loathsome to an internet user than a sluggish browser. Chrome is one of the world’s best browsers. It is free and downloadable anytime from the Chrome Website.

With the tips and tweaks highlighted above, you could improve the performance of your Chrome browser at great extent. There exists myriad other third party extensions to improve the performance of your beloved browser. Also, unless you are a Chrome loyal, try other browsers like Safari. It’s convenient for Mac users.

Top/Featured Image: By YouTube