Published Mar 6, 2026, 9:30 AM EST
Kanika began writing about consumer technology in 2019 and has contributed to tech websites like Beebom and The Mac Observer. During her journey, she covered a wide range of topics, including Android, Windows, AI, and everything Apple. She has been a loyal iPhone user since 2014, and owns an Apple device from almost every lineup. With a keen eye on the latest trends, she strives to help users get the most out of their gadgets.
Beyond her love for writing, she is a deep researcher and a lifelong learner, always eager to explore the latest innovations and emerging technologies. With her passion for technology and writing, she joined MUO in 2025 as a Freelance Tech Writer.
When not writing, she's probably trying a viral Instagram recipe or watching some thriller suspense on Netflix.
I’ve tried several browsers in the past few years. Be it the new browsers released last year, or the top names that have been existing for years now. I’ve always considered Google Chrome to be a reliable and fast browser. That being said, it started feeling a little sluggish on my PC over time. Webpages would take longer to load, and new tabs weren’t as snappy as before. With time, the browser felt a lot heavier than it should have .
Of course, I had switched browsers, but this time, I decided to dig deeper into Chrome’s settings and see what could be optimized. After tweaking a few settings and cleaning up some hidden system resource hogs, I could notice a big difference. Now, my tabs load faster, scrolling feels smoother, and Chrome feels lighter overall.
Enabled Memory Saver
Allow Chrome to free up RAM for you
First and foremost, I decided to turn on Memory Saver in Chrome settings, and it made a whole lot of difference. Chrome offers a Memory Saver feature that automatically frees up RAM by suspending tabs you aren’t using actively. When you have dozens of unused apps consuming RAM in the background, it increases the browser memory usage. When Chrome puts inactive apps to sleep, it allows active tabs and apps to run smoothly. Overall, it makes your browser fast and snappy.
- When you’re in Chrome, click on the three vertical dots in the top right corner.
- Go to Settings and visit the Performance section from the left sidebar.
- Turn on the Memory Saver toggle.
If you constantly have 15–20 tabs open most of the time, this feature alone can make your Chrome more responsive.
Turned on Preload pages
Load pages for you in advance
Preload Pages is another small tweak that helped me enjoy a faster browsing experience. When you turn this feature on, Chrome predicts which websites you will visit next and loads them in advance. It loads page data in the background. Now, when you click on a link, Chrome loads it much faster because it has most of the content ready to go.
Here’s how to enable Preload pages in Chrome:
- Go to Chrome Settings -> Performance.
- Under the Speed section, turn on the Preload Pages toggle.
You can opt for Standard Preloading which predicts and loads some of the pages based on your browsing habits. You also have the Extended Preloading option that takes a faster and more aggressive approach to load more pages. It sometimes uses Google servers to fetch pages in the background.
It’s worth knowing that the Preload pages feature speeds up loading for you, but it also consumes more data and battery.
Disable unused extensions
Too many extensions slow down your Chrome
There’s no doubt that extensions help you customize and add more functionality to the Chrome browser. But they can also become a performance bottleneck. When you have too many Chrome extensions, they consume excessive memory and processing power. This results in slow page loads and degraded Chrome performance. That’s not all. When you have dozens of extensions, they might clash with each other, causing your browser to freeze or crash.
You must review your Chrome extensions and remove the ones you don’t use or need anymore. Click on the Extensions icon in Chrome and go to Manage Extensions.
You can also type chrome://extensions/ in the search bar. A quick extension cleanup will result in less background activity and fewer random shutdowns.
Switched to Secure DNS
Faster and more reliable DNS resolver
Instead of relying on my default DNS provider, I decided to switch to Secure DNS in Chrome. This has both privacy and performance benefits. Secure DNS encrypts your browsing queries, and they are resolved much faster. It also prevents ISPs, network operators, and hackers from tracking the websites you visit.
- Go to Chrome Settings -> Privacy and security.
- Navigate to the Security section.
- Turn on the Use secure DNS toggle.
This won’t transform your browsing experience overnight, but it reduces latency and speeds up the initial connection times to websites.
Cleaned up startup pages
Too many startup tabs slow things down
Every time I launched Chrome, it opens several pages automatically for me. Frankly, it felt convenient at the start, but then it only slowed everything down. I have a lot of open websites, research articles, CMS, tools, and whatnot. When Chrome opened multiple heavy websites during startup, it obviously needed more time and memory before it became stable.
Now, I’ve switched to a simpler setup that opens a new tab page. If you also want to speed up Chrome, go to Settings -> On Startup and select Open the New tab page.
Switched to Enhanced protection
Better security without compromising on speed
While tweaking Chrome settings, I also switched my safe browsing mode to Enhanced Protection. It’s a safety setting that scans your web activity in real-time and sends data to Google servers to help detect malicious websites and downloads. Its primary job is to maintain security, but it also proactively prevents malware-heavy websites from slowing down your browser.
- Open Settings -> Privacy and security.
- Navigate to the Security section and choose the Enhanced protection option.
When you enable this feature, it will also alert you about password breaches and compromised extensions.
Cleared the cache
Sometimes it just needs a restart
A cache is an area of memory that saves website data like images and scripts, from websites that you frequently open. While cache allows Chrome to load your websites faster, corrupted or outdated data can trigger slowdowns and weird loading issues. Your browser accumulates a lot of cached data over time. To enjoy a smooth experience, it’s important to clear it from time to time.
- Go to Settings -> Privacy and security -> Delete browsing data.
- Select a time interval and delete the cached data.
I usually clear cached images and files every few months in my browser.
Fixed problems with Task Manager
Identify tabs and extensions causing the slowdown
Many people don’t know that Chrome offers its own Task Manager. This shows you how much memory and CPU each tab, extension, and background process is using on your system. If Chrome suddenly feels slow, Task Manager offers an easy way to find the culprit. On Windows or Linux, you can hit the Shift + Esc keys while you’re in Chrome. If you’ve got a Mac, click on the three vertical dots, select More Tools, and choose Task Manager.
When I checked mine, I spotted a couple of tabs that were using way more memory than expected. I closed those tabs, and it instantly improved the browser performance.
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Chrome works much faster after these tweaks
I didn’t switch my browser or install any dedicated optimization tools. Just a few adjustments in the built-in settings, Chrome feels noticeably faster and more responsive. If you’re also facing sluggish performance, I would recommend checking out these settings. Sometimes, it just takes small tweaks and simple cleanup tasks to make your browser feel fast again.