In today’s Google Chrome Tutorial, I want to share some tips to speed up Google Chrome.  Why do you need to speed up your Chrome?  Well, although Chrome is built on the latest technology, on some old computers its performance may be less than satisfactory.  Besides, a browser without proper maintenance by the user would slow down gradually.

There are many ways to improve the speed of the Chrome browser.  In this article I’ll introduce a few simple tips that give immediate results.  These are universal methods that should work on Mac, Linux or Windows versions of Chrome.  And they are fool-proof, meaning that you don’t need to tweak the browser like professional software engineers do.

#1 Speed Up Google Chrome Tips – Remove Unnecessary Extensions

Do you know extensions use your computer’s memory when loaded, even if you do not use them?  Sometimes we found extensions that look good, you added them to Chrome for trial.  After one or two times using them, you found that you don’t like them, but you simply leave them enabled.  It is most people’s habit to try new software but never do house keeping.

You can find out how much memory every extension uses by clicking the wrench icon on the top right corner and choose View Background Pages.  In the example below, you can find many extensions run in the background and eat up memory.

To disable the unused extensions, click the wrench icon, choose Options/Preferences and click Extensions on the left (In older versions of Chrome, the item is right in the menu after you click Options/Preferences).

Uncheck the Enabled box to disable an extension.  If you have decided to say goodbye to an extension, click Remove to permanently uninstall it.

#2 Speed Up Google Chrome Tips – Remove Unnecessary Web Apps

Similarly, unused web apps may consume the precious memory of your computer.  For example, in the above screenshot, Quick Note, Layers and Read Later Fast were using memory but I haven’t opened them in that session.  So the first thing you could do to let your Chrome re-gain momentum is uninstalling web apps you don’t use (forever).

What if you occasionally use the web apps so that you don’t want to permanently remove them?  In the View Background Pages window, you can choose that web app and click End Process.  This will remove the app from the background.  The icon of the app on the New Tab page will turn into black and white, signaling that it is not active.  You can re-activate the app by clicking its icon.

#3 Speed Up Google Chrome Tips – Clear Cache

What?  As simple as this?  Yes.  Do you know by keeping a large cache pool in Chrome, you are making the browser slow?  The cache contains data and information of web sites you visited, but a large cache and old records could reduce the speed of the browser.  You need to frequently clean up the Chrome.

Click the wrench icon on the top right corner, choose Options/Preferences > Under the Hood > Clear Browsing Data.  Depending on your preference you may choose what record to delete and what not.

#4 Speed Up Google Chrome Tips – Use Simple Theme

This tips works particularly well on my old Linux-based netbook.  I used to believe that due to a low-grade CPU and limited memory, the slow speed of the Chrome on the netbook was reasonable.  But one day after I changed the Chrome theme to the default one, the whole world had changed.  The browser became much faster!

Some Chrome themes contain high quality beautiful photos to please your eyes.  But they could not please old computers.  If you experience low speed when using Chrome, try changing to a simpler theme.  Or you may consider using the default theme by clicking the wrench icon on the top right corner, choosing Options/Preferences >Personal Stuff > Reset to default theme.

#5 Speed Up Google Chrome Tips – Update Regularly

Chrome is regularly updated by Google to fix bugs and bring new features as well as performance improvement.

You can easily check for updates by clicking the wrench icon and choose “About Google Chrome”.  If there is any new version, you can choose Update Now to get it.  Alternatively, you may simply click “Set Up Automatic Updates for All Users” to allow Chrome to refresh itself.