15+ Actionable Ways to Make Chrome Faster by At Least 4x

By: Amanda Jacobson - Updated: December 21, 2018 8:21 am

Google Chrome is undoubtedly one of the most popular browsers, thanks to its speed and performance. But sometimes you may feel that your beloved Chrome browser has become very slow over time. Why is that?

If you’re wondering why your Google Chrome has become slow and looking for ways to make it run faster, this guide is for you. In this post, I am going to discuss the most common reason for a slow Chrome and 15+ ways to make it faster.

Quick Links:

What Causes Google Chrome to Become Slow and Sluggish?

The common reason why Chrome becomes slow is the browsing data stored in the background. As you browse through the Internet regularly, your browsing data gets stored in the background in small chunks. This data plus the plugins and extensions, all eventually make your Chrome slow.

That doesn’t mean you should remove all the plugin and disable the background processes to make Google Chrome faster. There are some more efficient ways for making Google Chrome surf faster.

If you are experiencing slow chrome or too many incidents where chrome crashes suddenly , you are not alone and in all probabilities, your computer system is not a goner, as you might be thinking- it’s just chrome being chrome! But thankfully, there is quite a lot you can do about it, so read on!

Make Google Chrome Faster: The Quick Fixes

Following are the simple ways that can help you increase the speed of Google Chrome by at least 4x. Let’s start.

1. Update Google Chrome Browser

The first thing you should do is check if you’re using the latest version of Google Chrome or check if there are any pending updates.

An outdated version of Chrome can cause a lot of speed issues, including security threats. That’s why it’s important to update the Chrome on a regular basis.

Here’s how to check and update Google Chrome:

Step 1: Close all browser tabs.

Step 2: Launch Chrome and in the address bar, type chrome://help to check for updates.

Step 3: Follow the prompts if Google Chrome is not up-to-date.

Updating the Chrome regularly can help you increase the speed and improves the overall performance.

2. Delete Unwanted Extensions

While Google extensions can make your browsing experience customized to your liking, having too many of those small apps bog down chrome and make it slower. So, if you want to make Chrome faster , it is best to get rid of all unwanted extensions. This is how to do it:

Step 1: In the address bar of your open tab, type in chrome://extensions .

Step 2: Hit Enter to open the settings location where the extensions for your google chrome are listed.

Step 3: Locate the extensions which you don’t require and either remove them by clicking on the delete or remove option (different versions of chrome display it a little differently) or disable it. Disabling does not remove data but deleting the extensions does.

3. Manage Unwanted Plugins

Like extensions, plugins can also slow down your chrome and hinder a smooth surfing experience. To manage plugins, follow these steps:

Step 1: Click on the Google menu which you can find on the top left corner of your browser tab. It looks like three dashes or three dots.

Step 2: Click on Settings from the drop-down list.

Step 3: Scroll down to the bottom of the page and click on Advanced .

Step 4: Click on Content Settings under Privacy .

Step 5: Click on Unsandboxed plugin access and enable ‘ask when a site wants plugin access’.

4. Enable Prefetch Resources/Prediction Service

When you allow network action predictions, which is page prefetch, Google chrome can pre-download links which you might be wanting to open. To enable prefetch resources/prediction service, follow these short steps.

Step 1: In the address bar, type chrome://settings . You can also access Settings by clicking on the three dots (menu) at the top left corner of your screen.

Step 2: On the Settings page, scroll down and click on Advanced .

Step 3: Under Privacy and security, locate ‘Use a prediction service to help complete searches and URLs typed in the address bar’ and ‘Use a prediction service to load pages more quickly’.

Step 4: Turn on the option for both of these settings.

5. Clear Browsing History and Cache

Browsing history gets automatically saved on Google Chrome and you would be surprised to see the amount of memory consumed by browsing history data and cache. To delete both and take a load off your RAM, follow these steps:

Step 1: Open a Chrome tab and press Ctrl + H to open the Chrome History page. Alternatively, you can type in chrome://history in the address bar and hit Enter.

Step 2: From the left panel, select Clear browsing data.

Step 3: Choose ‘All time/Beginning of time’ from the drop down for Time.

Step 4: Make sure at least all of the following are checked:

Browsing history
Download history
Cookies
Cached images and files

Step 5: Click on Clear browsing data at the bottom of the page.

Step 6: Restart your computer and open Chrome.

6. Run Chrome with Default Theme

Google Chrome allows you to customize the appearance of your browser, but if you are facing slow chrome troubles every day, it is best that you switch to the default theme to minimize some RAM usage and get the browser to run as speedily as possible. This is how you can reset your Chrome Theme to default:

Step 1: Type in chrome://settings in the address bar.

Step 2: Scroll down and click on Restore settings to their original default

Step 3: Click on Reset Settings and restart your computer

This will restore the original settings on your Chrome and will apply the default theme. If you have made any other customization to the settings, you can make them again as your previous settings will be lost after performing this step.

7. Enable Fast Tab/Window Close

Enabling fast tab/window close helps you to scroll smoothly on the Google Chrome browser. It speeds up the browser by giving you the option to close a window separately to any JavaScript code, which may be running in the background.

To improve chrome tab management, you can use the options that come under chrome flags.

Follow these steps to get fast tabs before the flag gets updated:

Step 1: Type in chrome://flags in the address bar and hit Enter.

Step 2: Turn on the option to Enable fast tab/windows close.

Step 3: Click on the Relaunch Now button.

Note: Please know that all settings under chrome flags are experimental and may cause your browser to lose data. However, you can restore default settings anytime if you feel uncomfortable using chrome flags.

8. Set Default Tile Width

Setting the default tile width to the maximum gives chrome the permission to use more RAM which decreases frame rate while the pages load as well as speeds up browsing. This feature is useful if you have more RAM in your computer (upwards of 4 GB). These are the steps if you want to set default tile width:

Step 1: Type or copy paste chrome://flags/#default-tile-width and hit Enter. You can alternately type chrome://flags and scroll down the page to find the ‘default tile width’ option

Step 2: From the drop-down, select 1024 .