How to Speed Up Your Web Browser

All browsers can become annoyingly slow or unstable after prolonged usage. The most common causes are the installed extensions, plug-ins, and the countless junk files that might have piled up. To speed up your browser, look up the methods outlined below.

Let's start with Google Chrome, the most widely used web browser out there. Users might want to first check on the memory usage of the installed extensions. To do so, open the browser, go to the Chrome menu, select 'More tools,' and open 'Task Manager.' Here you will be presented with a list of extensions/tabs and the memory usage associated with each one. Any that take up an abnormal amount of RAM should be disabled.

Next, clear your browser data as that may positively affect the speed of the browser. Clear browser data. Use the instructions above to once again open the 'More tools' section. This time, however, select 'Clear Browsing data' from the available options.

Finally, you may wish to check for updates that might have been released. Newer versions often include optimizations that bring increased stability and performance.

Safari is the most popular browser on Mac devices. If it has now become uncharacteristically slow or is working improperly, try the options below to fix the problems.

Start by checking for any updates released by Apple and install any that are available. Then proceed to clear the entire history saved by the browser such as cache files and cookies or do a Safari reset. Users can also go to the Library folder and then remove any unnecessary plugins. Older plugins that are no longer supported can often result in issues when attempting to run them in the newer versions of the browser.

It may seem like a long shot but logging out and then logging back into iCloud can have a positive effect on the performance of the browser, especially if the service is used for cloud storage. To do so, go to 'System Preferences,' select the iCloud section, and then choose 'logout.' Restart your Mac and log back into iCloud.

Mozilla Firefox has consistently been among the most popular browsers but it too can suffer from occasional slowdowns and performance issues. To alleviate the situations you can do the same as the methods describe above and clear the cache files, plug-ins, and all unnecessary extensions. To save time in identifying the biggest contributor to Firefox's decreased productivity, you can follow the suggestion outlined below.

Instead of manually disabling all extensions, Firefox users can try using the Safe mode options which loads the browser with its default settings and without any extensions. To enable Safe mode, first open Firefox, and select Help from the Menu bar. Select 'Restart without add-ons' from the available options and then confirm your choice by clicking on 'Start in Safe Mode.'

If Firefox is now running way smoother then the previous issues were indeed caused by faulty or outdated extensions. To find which ones were the culprits, users may have to disable each extension individually and check how that has affected the performance of the browser. Open Firefox, go to the page with the add-ons and start disabling each one separately.