As long as Chrome has existed, so many people have been looking for ways to speed it up. Of course, this is an exaggerated statement, but it is partly true - judging by the numerous reviews, the browser is very gluttonous, quickly consumes battery power (this is critical on portable devices) and does not spare processor resources. Even the usual functions for surfing are not always thought out and convenient. You can find a lot of instructions on how to speed up Chrome on the Internet, but they all describe the same thing - it seems like journalists are rewriting the same methods year after year. The problem is that some of them are no longer relevant, and some new methods go unnoticed at all - this article contains modern options along with time-tested ones.
💡 What are the hidden settings
These are developer options or experimental options not available in normal settings. They have not yet passed all the necessary tests from Google to activate them by default, but are already built into stable builds of the browser. These settings are located at chrome://flags/ Just copy and paste this link into the Chrome address bar. Further in the article, direct links to the necessary functions will be published, but they can be found in this directory and by name. To enable the required parameter, the switch next to it must be moved to the "Enabled" position.
It is worth noting that all the features stored in the hidden settings are experimental - they may be faulty and lead to critical errors. But all changes are easy to reverse, it is enough to either disable the activated options, or follow the path chrome://flags/ and reset all experimental parameters at once by pressing a special button at the top.
GPU Rasterization
chrome://flags/#enable-gpu-rasterizationBy default, Chrome does not use the video card to render web content, these tasks are assigned to the processor. However, if your device has a weak CPU, but powerful graphics, then it is more logical to assign rasterization to it.
🌐 This option is available on Windows, macOS, Linux and Android.
Omnibox Site Search Starter Pack
chrome://flags/#omnibox-site-search-starter-packBrowser and web surfing speed up not only "underhood" technologies, but also basic functions that make it easier to use a web browser. One of these appeared recently - it activates the ability to search for history, bookmarks and tabs directly through the address bar. It is enough just to register the necessary commands, after which the request is entered: @history (history), @bookmarks (bookmarks) or @tabs (tabs).
🌐 This option is available on Windows, macOS and Linux.
Override Software Rendering List
chrome://flags/#ignore-gpu-blocklistGPU acceleration for Chrome is disabled in some video card drivers, but it can be forced to be enabled using this option. Heavy sites will start to work noticeably faster, especially video hosting sites like YouTube and online graphic editors - of course, if GPU acceleration did not function initially.
🌐 This option is available on Windows, macOS, Linux and Android.
Zero-Copy Rasterizer
chrome://flags/#enable-zero-copyVideo card memory (VRAM) is much faster than RAM - this can be used to speed up the opening of sites. Most of all, the difference will be noticeable on old and cheap laptops with outdated standard RAM. True, the amount of graphics memory should be sufficient - it is unlikely that a 256 MB video card will be enough for comfortable work in this mode.
🌐 This option is available on Windows, macOS, Linux and Android.
Tab Scrolling
chrome://flags/#scrollable-tabstripChrome automatically reduces the length of tabs if they do not fit in the top bar - so much so that instead of page names, only site icons can be displayed (if too many tabs are open). This makes surfing difficult and slow, as you have to search for the desired tab by clicking on each.
The Tab Scrolling option allows you to adjust the length to which tabs should be reduced (you can even disable resizing altogether) - when activated, arrows will appear in the top bar of the browser to navigate through the tabs when there are too many of them. There are several options in Chrome settings:
- Enabled - tabs shrink to pinned tab width (tabs will shrink to pinned size);
- Enabled - tabs shrink to medium width (tabs will shrink to medium size);
- Enabled - tabs shrink to large width (tabs will shrink to a large size);
- Enabled - tabs don't shrink (tabs will not shrink at all).
🌐 This option is available on Windows, macOS and Linux.
Back-forward cache
chrome://flags/#back-forward-cacheIf you enable this option, the browser will start caching recently opened pages so that they are instantly loaded when returning back. The feature will be especially useful for users with slow or unstable Internet, but it should be borne in mind that it will increase resource consumption at the same time.
🌐 This option is available on Windows, macOS, Linux and Android.
Quick Intensive Throttling after loading
chrome://flags/#quick-intensive-throttling-after-loadingTabs consume the lion's share of resources, which is why developers are constantly struggling with their "gluttony". So, back in 2020, Chrome introduced throttling of the JavaScript activity of background tabs - reducing the allocated resources for inactive tabs in order to reduce their load on the computer and power consumption. However, in practice, this function is activated too late. Fortunately, this setting can be changed so that throttling turns on after 10 seconds of inactivity (and not after 5 minutes).
🌐 This option is available on Windows, macOS, Linux and Android.
Smooth Scrolling
chrome://flags/#smooth-scrollingThe function of this option lies in the name - it activates smoother scrolling than the default one (some users note jerks and twitches when scrolling pages quickly). It is logical to assume that the load on the processor or video card will increase along with it - be prepared for this, especially in the case of weak devices.
🌐 This option is available on Windows, Linux and Android.
Experimental QUIC protocol
chrome://flags/#enable-quicThis option is ambiguous, especially for residents of Russia. On the one hand, it can open sites faster thanks to the QUIC protocol, which was created to reduce delays by reducing the number of connections when establishing a connection (in addition, it provides traffic encryption). Now many services support it, including VK (as of June 2022), WhatsApp, YouTube and others.
On the other hand, at the beginning of the summer of 2022, Google turned off its Global Cache servers in Russia, which were used to optimize the load on the capacity of providers and speed up access to web applications. Because of this, access to services via the QUIC protocol has noticeably slowed down. Therefore, experienced users should experiment whether it is worth forcibly turning on or, conversely, turning off this protocol (or leaving it on by default).
🌐 This option is available on Windows, macOS, Linux and Android.
Parallel Downloading
chrome://flags/#enable-parallel-downloadingBy default, all files in Chrome are downloaded in one stream, but you can split the download into several streams, in which case it will be faster. The only caveat is that this requires a high speed of the Internet, without it the result will be the same, or even worse.
🌐 This option is available on Windows, macOS, Linux and Android.