How to make your Chromebook faster

 If you want to see the best tips and tricks to speed up your laptop in one place, then you’ll LOVE this (updated) guide.

We personally tested, reviewed and updated these tips including for Chromebooks: both free and paid.

We include 22 best tips to make your slow Chromebook faster, including 8 quick tips and 14 additional tips if you are a speed nerd that have time.

11 (Quick) Ways To Speed Up Your Chrombook

Update your software

To update drivers in Chrome OS, click your account photo, and then navigate to Settings (the gear icon). Click the menu button and then select About Chrome OS. From there, scroll down to the Google Chrome OS heading and click Check For Updates. If any new version is available, it will automatically install.

When in Doubt, Restart !

This may seem obvious (again), but it’s very easy to never restart your Chromebook for a good length of time. Simply opening and closing the lid over and over just adds more data for the system to handle at once.

We suggest you to restart your Chromebook every time you start your work! 

Try Guest Mode On Your Chromebook

One simple way to troubleshoot and identify problems causing Chromebook slow downs is to switch to guest mode. Running your Chromebook as a guest returns all settings to normal and disables any extensions you are using.

To use guest mode, simply sign out of your profile and then click the Browse As Guest option. If you notice a major speed boost, that’s a good indicator you need to power wash your Chromebook or disable some of your extensions.

Install Speed Up Apps For Chrome

Three apps in particular are worth checking out to get a speed boost. The first is simply called Speed-Up Browsing, and  enhances the re-use of previously downloaded images and script to improve page load times.

The second is The Great Suspender, which reduces the amount of memory used by suspending tabs that you haven’t used after a set amount of time.

Finally, Click & Clean quickly cleans out temporary files for a speed boost.

Limit Your Browsing Tabs

No matter which browser you’re using, if you have too many tabs open at the same time, your browser might not be working at its full speed. The more tabs you have, the slower it will run. However, limiting your tabs will allow your laptop to process the open tabs easily without any complications and slow issues.

To limit your tabs, simply pay attention to the number of tabs you have open when you’re using your browser. If you find yourself with too many tabs open, make sure to clear some out by closing tabs you aren’t using or you don’t need open at all.

It’s something you should do constantly to keep your browser and laptop optimized so it can reach the potential speed you will benefit from.

Change Channels To Speed Up Your Internet Connection

Whether you are currently using a 2.4GHz or 5.0GHz router, your network can operate on multiple channels. If other devices and networks in the area operate on the same channel, you may experience interference that will slow down your connection.

Changing the wireless channel requires logging into your router and modifying settings, which is a rather involved process that varies drastically depending on your router’s manufacturer.

You can find specific instructions for your router via the Netgear, D-Link, or Linksys websites.

Use a VPN

Anyone browsing the web in the 21st century knows that public wi-fi networks can be dicey. If you want to browse securely while avoiding malware and tracking programs that can reduce your speed, we recommend using a Virtual Private Network (VPN).

Make sure to pick a VPN server close to your actual location, as latency will increase the further away your device is from the VPN. This may not always be possible however, especially if you are using a VPN to access region-locked content.

Powerwash your Chromebook

Powerwash your Chromebook to reset back to factory conditions!

This process basically factory reset your Chromebook to default settings and erases everything. You’ll have to back up all your files, but once it’s done, you’ll have a shiny new Chromebook (software-wise).

Remove Unused Extensions

tip 95

Extensions offer increased functionality to your browser, but they also eat up more memory and CPU resources. When you have multiple extensions running at the same time on websites with tons of graphics and video files, you will notice major lag.

To get your browser back up to speed, be sure to remove old extensions you don’t use. In Chrome, click the Menu icon then choose More Tools and click Extensions. Simply click Remove beneath the name of any extension you want gone.

In Firefox, instead click Menu and then Add-Ons and select Remove next to the name of any extensino you don’t need.

Block Flash Or Javascript

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As the web becomes more advanced, websites can bog down your laptop with tons of scripts and videos running at the same time. While you lose functionality for many websites, if you are using an older laptop with less RAM, you may want to simply turn off Flash and Javascript.

In Chrome, this is achieved by opening the menu and clicking Settings, then scrolling down to the bottom of the page and choosing Advanced. Near the bottom of the Privacy & Security section, click Content Settings and then click Javascript and choose Block. Go back to the Content Settings and choose Flash and then Block again.

Increase Raster Thread Count

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Google Chrome has a series of experimental features that can be changed by end users to tweak their overall browsing experience. One of those features is the number of raster threads, which controls how quickly images are loaded.

If graphics load slowly while you surf the web, type the phrase “chrome://flags/#num-raster-threads” into the URL bar and hit Enter. Scroll down to the entry labeled Number Of Raster Threads and change the setting from Default to 4.

Note that if you don’t have a quad core processor (or higher), this won’t give you much of a noticeable change in speed.

Get A New Chromebook

When things just aren’t working out with your Chromebook and you’re out of the warranty period to get it fixed up. Buying a new one could be your best option.

Why Is My Chromebook So Slow?

The three main reasons that your Chromebook is slowing down over time are having too many extensions or apps, downloads, and locally stored files, slow internet one.

Extensions & Apps:  One of the biggest draws to Chrome is the huge number of extensions, add-ons & apps available to radically change your browsing experience. While having a ton of extensions active at once can slow down your Chromebook.

Downloads and Locally-Stored Files: When a storage drive reaches capacity, it starts to slow down considerably from when its mostly empty. That’s true of Windows machines as well as Chromebooks.

The Web is Just Getting Heavier: This one is completely out of your control, but it’s an inevitable fact. The web is growing and getting more powerful, which means that the system has to work harder just to render pages. The older your Chromebook gets, the more of a problem this can be—especially on lower-end hardware.

So really, it’s just like anything else. The more you use it, the slower it can become. The good news is that there are plenty of things you can to do keep your Chromebook running smoothly.

increase Chromebook performance

Well, that’s about it.

This list is just a few random tips that may help you get your slow Chromebook to run a little faster.

Yeah, most of the techniques on this list are obvious, but hopefully, a few weren’t and you learned something new (I hope) that you can apply to your computer and speed it (even just by a little- that’s worth the read)!