Google recently updated Chrome with a slew of features designed to make the browser faster. Chrome has a reputation for being a memory hog and can use up your computer's RAM, preventing other programs from running properly. However, with the new controls, you can prevent this from happening and make your browsing experience better.

Enable Performance Issue alerts

Modern web browsers like Chrome use up a lot of RAM, which can make other programs struggle to run properly. Fortunately, one of the new performance controls in Chrome lets you control how much RAM the browser will use. The performance issue alert feature will notify you when websites use more resources than they need, which can be quite useful when a single website is causing problems.

When Chrome starts slowing down, it will show you recommendations for tabs that you can deactivate to speed up the browser. It will also show a 'Fix now' button that lets you deactivate tabs directly from there. To enable this feature,

  1. Open Chrome and click on the three dots at the top right.
  1. Click on 'Settings' in the dropdown menu.
  1. Next, click on 'Performance' on the left.
  1. Check that the toggle for 'Performance issue alerts' is enabled. If it isn't, click on it and turn it on.

Use Memory Saver modes

Chrome now has three memory-saver modes you can use, which deactivate tabs that you haven't used for some time and free up the RAM.

  1. Open Chrome Settings and click on 'Performance' on the left.
  1. Click on the 'Memory Saver' toggle under the 'Memory' section and turn it on.
  1. Select from 'Moderate', 'Balanced', and 'Maximum' memory-saving modes. The Balanced option is the best for most users; the Moderate option will deactivate tabs after a longer period while the Maximum option will do so very aggressively.

Turn on Inactive Tab Appearance

The Inactive Tab appearance settings let you view which tabs have been deactivated. To turn it on,

  1. Go to the 'Performance' section in Chrome Settings.
  2. Click on the 'Inactive tabs appearance' toggle to turn it on.

Keep your favorite websites active

You may want to keep certain Chrome tabs active, such as those that are running background processes. There are two ways you can do so. You can either add a website address manually or select tabs that you want to keep active.

  1. To add a website manually, go to the Performance section in Chrome settings.
  2. The 'Always keep these sites active' setting is present under the General section. You can add websites using their URL or depending on the currently open tabs. Click on the 'Add' button.
  1. Under the 'Add sites manually' section, type in the website addresses you want to keep active.
  1. Alternatively, click on the 'Add current sites', choose from the currently open tabs, and click on the 'Add' button.

Things to know

  • In addition to the new performance controls, there are other ways by which you can speed up Chrome, such as removing unused extensions and keeping the browser up to date.
  • You can also use page preloading to make websites load faster when using Chrome, though it has some potential privacy concerns.
  • Another option is to create a different browser profile if using your existing one makes Chroms feel slower.
  • If you wish to revert the changes you have made in Chrome settings, you can reset the browser to go back to the defaults.