Google Chrome is the browser to choose for those who want speed and responsiveness on any platform (Windows, Mac and Linux). This speed, however, can be less in the case of a bad configuration, in the case of installing too heavy extensions and if the PC does not have enough memory to keep too many cards open together (at least 8 GB of RAM to be able to manage it well in all scenarios). If we notice that Chrome does not open quickly at startup, it takes too long to load websites and immediately becomes heavy after opening only 4-5 tabs or after opening only one video, there is a performance problem that can be definitely solved.
We see together how to speed up Google Chrome if slow or heavy, so as to make it return as fast as just installed.
READ ALSO: Ways to make Chrome faster
How to speed up Chrome
In the following chapters we will show you how to speed up Google Chrome using the tools provided by the same browser and deactivating what we do not use or which can slow down the browser on certain PCs or in very intense work sessions (with many tabs open).Analyze the integrated task manager
The starting point to speed up the Google browser is the Chrome Task Manager, which we can open by pressing at the top right on the menu with the three dots and going to Other tools -> Task Manager or by pressing together the Shift + Esc keys on the keyboard of the our computer.
By opening Chrome's internal Task Manager we will see that each tab, extension or plugin opens a separate process .
To speed up Google Chrome and navigate without slowing down, we can close the suspicious or very heavy elements, since the task manager clearly shows what a lot of RAM or CPU takes up (we can order each element according to consumption).
Disable unused plugins and extensions
After taking a look at the task manager we will surely have realized the extensions and plugins that remain active in memory and that take up a lot of memory or a lot of CPU.To speed up Chrome and optimize the loading of websites, we identify the heaviest extensions and, if we don't really need them, disable them or remove them completely.
To do this, press the button with the three dots at the top right, move up More tools> Extensions and disable the extensions that we do not use, by pressing the button next to the name.
If we have not used the offending extension for some time, we can also remove it completely from Chrome by pressing the Remove button immediately below the name.
To disable the heavy Chrome plugins we will have to go to the Settings -> Advanced -> Site Settings path and click on Flash, making sure that the button is disabled; to disable other plugins outside of Chrome also press on Access with plug-in without sandbox and disable the button on the page.
Use bookmarklets
If the heavy extension does not want to disable it because it is important and indispensable, it is worth doing a search on the Google Store to see if there is such a lighter and less invasive one.In place of some extensions, bookmarklets can also be used, i.e. those buttons to be dragged on the favorites bar as if they were normal sites, to be pressed to perform a particular function.
The bookmarklets do not consume memory and do not leave processes in the background, therefore they present themselves as the best alternative to extensions when we use Chrome on a PC a few years ago or tend to be slow.
In another article we can find the best bookmarklets that also work on Google Chrome.
Disable hardware acceleration (on slow PCs)
The GPU process manages the graphic effects of Chrome and the hardware acceleration required by the Web pages (for example in videos), but on old computers or not equipped with a dedicated video card we can try to disable it, so as to let the processor manage everything.To disable hardware acceleration, open the menu with the three dots at the top right, press the Settings menu, press the Advanced item and scroll down to find the Use hardware acceleration when available option, to be deactivated using the appropriate button.
To confirm the changes, press the Restart button to restart the browser; the next time Chrome starts, it will manage the pages and videos using only the processor, without occupying the (scarce) graphic resources that we have on our computer.
Other tricks to speed up Chrome
In addition to the tricks seen so far we can speed up Chrome by going to Chrome settings, opening the Advanced menu and turning off the options that consume a lot of memory:- Continue to run applications in the background after closing Google Chrome
- Show suggestions for similar pages when a page is not found
- Automatic completion of searches and URLs
- Improve searches and browsing activities
- Advanced spell checking
Other solutions to speed up Chrome we can find them in our guides on how to keep Chrome light and fast without slowing down the PC, how to suspend the inactive Chrome cards to save memory and finally how to free the memory occupied unnecessarily by Chrome .
Conclusions
In most cases, Chrome is slow, because we have installed too many extensions or we have activated too many Web services, which heavily slow down the opening of pages on the browser.If Chrome still shows slowdowns and problems even after applying our tricks, we advise you to reset Chrome to factory settings, so as to return the browser to the original settings and eliminate any type of problem or extension too heavy without having to find out which.
Alternatively, we can use Google's Software Cleaner program to correct every Chrome error, free for Windows PC, to solve any problems deriving from extensions or software external to Chrome.
