Google Chrome has been the one for years star browser for millions of users around the world. However, not everyone takes full advantage of its possibilities: from its performance, through security, to customization and privacy, there are countless Chrome tricks and tweaks that can completely transform the user experience.
If you've ever felt like Chrome is consuming too much memory, running slow, displaying too many annoying notifications, or you'd simply like it to be much more convenient, you'll be interested in this article.
Controlling website permissions and settings
An essential part of improving your Chrome experience is having absolute control over the permissions you grant to websites. Chrome makes this easy by letting you manage which sites can access your camera, microphone, location, send notifications, even open pop-ups, and more.
To access these settings, follow these steps:
- Open Chrome and click on the three-dot menu at the top right.
- Choose Configuration, then enter Privacy & Security and click on Site Settings.
- From there, you can view and modify all permissions for all sites, or go through them individually and customize them to your liking.
Some of the most relevant permissions that you can (and should) review periodically are:
- Notifications: You can prevent sites from displaying intrusive ads by blocking all ads or manually selecting which websites you do want to receive them on.
- Access to camera and microphone: It's a good idea to set Chrome to ask you every time, especially for security and privacy reasons.
- Location: Decide whether sites can track your location. Useful for local services, but unnecessary in most cases.
- Pop-ups and redirects: Block by default to avoid misleading ads or pages.
- Third-party cookies: Limit or block them to prevent tracking outside the original site.
- Images, JavaScript, automatic downloads, Bluetooth, MIDI access, USB, HID, clipboard, file editing, augmented and virtual reality, among others: All of this is available to adjust to your needs.
It is important to remember that All these changes to Chrome settings are saved automaticallyIf you ever change your mind, you can reset permissions individually (or all at once), and Chrome will ask you again the next time that site requests access.
Optimizing performance: speed and resource consumption
Chrome is known for being fast, but also for devouring resources on computers with low RAM or fair processors. The reality is that, by applying certain settings adjustments from Chrome And by taking advantage of the new browser features, it is possible to achieve a much more agile experience:
Basic maintenance and upgrade
The first: always keep Chrome updated. Go to Help > About Google Chrome to check for new versions. Many performance and security improvements depend on keeping your browser up to date.
Remove unnecessary extensions
Uninstall or disable extensions you don't use. They usually run in the background, accumulating memory consumption and slowing down browsing. Access from More tools > Extensions and delete the ones you don't recognize or no longer use.
Activate memory and energy saving
From section Unlimited In the settings (available in the latest versions), activate the memory savingThis way, background tabs freeze and don't consume RAM. You can create a whitelist of sites you never want to freeze.
El energy savings Limits background activity and reduces visual effects when the battery is at 20% or less, especially helpful on laptops or tablets.
Page preloading and prediction
Another of the most interesting Chrome settings. Go to Advanced Settings > Privacy and Security and activate the following:
- “Use a prediction service to make pages load faster”
- “Use a prediction service to complete searches and URLs”.
This way, Chrome will load resources from pages it thinks you're about to visit, speeding up your browsing.
Delete temporary files and cache
Periodically delete cookies, cache and history to prevent accumulated data from slowing down your browser. Go to Settings > Privacy & Security > Clear Browsing Data and select what you want to clean. In the Advanced tab, you can choose more precisely.
Hardware acceleration
En Settings > System activate the option “Use hardware acceleration when available”This allows Chrome to make better use of your PC's resources, especially for video, graphics, and heavy-duty tasks.
Manage active tabs and tasks
Opens Chrome Task Manager (More Tools > Task Manager) to see which pages and extensions are consuming the most memory. You can kill processes to free up resources and prevent crashes or slowdowns.
Turn off images if you have a slow connection
In situations with very limited internet, you can block image loading from Settings > Privacy & security > Site settings > Images, speeding up loading times at the expense of sacrificing the visual experience.
Use the default theme
Many custom themes consume more RAM than the original Chrome theme. Go back to default theme to squeeze out the maximum speed and fluidity.
Uninstall old web applications
Web apps installed from Chrome (chrome: // apps) can become obsolete and consume resources. Delete them if you no longer need them.
Experimental Flags and Features: Get the Most Out of Chrome
Within chrome :/ / flags they hide experimental functions that Google is testing before officially releasing them. Some can radically change Chrome's behavior in terms of speed, appearance, or additional features, although keep in mind that they can cause instability or disappear without warning. Here are some of the most useful:
- NoState Prefetch: Improves preloading of web content.
- Rendering List, Fast tab/window close, Hardware-accelerated video decode, GPU rasterization: Enable them to optimize rendering, tab closing, and hardware acceleration.
- Smooth Scrolling: You can disable it to make scrolling less smooth but faster on older computers.
- Show Autofill predictions: Disable this if you want to reduce resources and avoid unnecessary autocomplete suggestions.
- Automatic tab discarding: Decide whether Chrome can automatically discard tabs when memory is low.
- Adaptive button in top toolbar: Add a custom button to the top bar with quick access to features like sharing, translating, new tab, and more.
- Darken websites checkbox in themes setting: Allows for an improved dark mode, adapting the appearance of all websites.
- Enable-accessibility-page-zoom: Enable custom zoom per page to improve accessibility.
- Enable-reader-mode: Unlock the read-aloud feature of any website.
- One-time permission: Allows you to grant permissions to sites only per session, not permanently.
- Incognito-screenshot: Allows you to take screenshots in incognito mode.
To activate any of these flags, do the following:
- Write chrome :/ / flags in the address bar and press Enter.
- Find the exact function (by name) and change its value to Enabled.
- Restart Chrome to apply the changes.
Privacy and security: protect your data while browsing
It is increasingly important to browse safely and protect our privacy., avoiding trackers, data collectors, and potentially dangerous sites. Chrome includes numerous privacy features and a long list of settings to protect your personal information.
Manage the information you share
- Do Not Track (DNT): Sends a signal to sites to prevent them from tracking you online. Not all sites respect this request, but it's recommended to enable it. Privacy & Security.
- Disable page preloading: If you want maximum privacy, turn off the “Preload pages for faster browsing and searching” option.
- Review the options Synchronization and Google services: You can turn off search and autocomplete, autostart, and search and navigation enhancements to prevent your data from traveling to Google servers.
Protection against malware and phishing
- Enable at least standard protection in “Safe Browsing” to have Chrome automatically block dangerous pages.
- You can activate the enhanced protection, but you should know that this will cause Google to receive more data about the sites you visit.
- Optionally, disable “Help make the web safer for everyone” if you prefer to share less data.
Control cookies
Manage what type of cookies you allow:
- Allows only first-party cookies to reduce tracking.
- Block third-party cookies from Privacy and Security > Cookies and Other Site Data.
- Delete cookies and site data periodically to maintain privacy.
Extreme Privacy: Use Incognito Mode
One of the most popular Chrome settings. For confidential sessions, the incognito mode Prevent Chrome from saving history, cookies, or temporary data, although your ISP or the website may still track your activity.
Advanced permissions and content management
Accede to Settings > Privacy & security > Site settings and check permissions such as:
- Location
- camera and microphone
- Notifications
- Background Sync
- Clipboard access
- Unsafe content
- Sources and PDF documents
- Payment and payment controllers
Always activate the option “Ask before accessing” to have control over each permission.
Review and manage extensions
Each extension can have access to your history, browsing, and data. Check your extensions in More tools > Extensions and remove any you don't use or recognize. Install only from official sources and verify permissions before adding new ones.
Chrome Extensions: Productivity, Blockers, and Tab Management
Extensions can dramatically improve your Chrome experience, but it's key to choose only the most useful and secure ones. Here are some of the most recommended:
- Nimbus: It allows you to take screenshots and recordings, as well as edit images or videos directly.
- Grammarly for Chrome: Ideal if you write in English, it corrects grammar and helps you write flawless texts.
- DarkReader: Apply a dark mode to a multitude of websites, with highly configurable brightness and tone settings.
- Note Anywhere: Leave notes on any web page and they will be saved for next time.
- OneTab: Combines all open tabs into a single list, saving memory and making them easier to access later.
- AdBlockPlus: Block ads, pop-ups, and malicious websites easily and effectively.
- The Great-er Discarder-er and The Marvelous Suspender: Both suspend or hibernate inactive tabs to prevent excessive RAM consumption, which significantly improves browser fluidity.
- Google Data Saver: Compresses pages to save data and speed up loading, especially useful on slow connections.
- FasterWeb: Preloads pages of links on hover, dramatically speeding up navigation.
- Auto Refresh Blocker: Prevents automatic page refresh, allowing you to create blacklists per site.
Specific functions and secrets for Android phones
Chrome on Android It also allows for extensive customization and advanced settings, many of which are accessible via experimental flags:
- Toolbar customization: Add quick shortcuts for the features you use most.
- Dark mode: Ideal for saving battery life and taking care of eye health.
- Custom Zoom and Reading Aloud: Improve the experience and accessibility on small screens.
- Temporary permits: Provides session-only access to sensitive resources.
- Incognito captures: Now available after activating the flag.
- Full synchronization: Keep favorites, passwords, and settings consistent across devices.
- Data saving mode: On mobile devices, enable “Basic Mode” to automatically compress pages.
Extra tips to get the most out of Chrome
Finally, beyond Chrome's tweaks for a better user experience, here are some tips worth following:
- Periodic cleaning: Keep your browser clear of extensions and web apps you no longer use.
- Use Chrome Task Manager: To 'kill' problematic processes that slow down the experience.
- Don't forget to activate virus and malware protection: From the Chrome tool itself (Reset and clean up > Clean up your computer).
- If navigation continues to be problematic: Consider trying alternative Chromium-based browsers like Vivaldi, Brave, or Opera, which have built-in privacy enhancements.
