Ten Ways to Speed up a Slow Internet Browser
I’ve been generally very happy with my M1 MacBook Air (2020) , which I’ve had for almost three years now. However, I do regret not going with the 16GB RAM option. The base M1 MacBook Air with 8GB RAM is much faster, cooler, and lasts longer than the Intel MacBook Air I used before it, but the new laptop still occasionally slows down when I open too many browser tabs. Luckily, I did some troubleshooting and solved the problem, and I’m here to share what I learned with you. So if Chrome, Firefox, Edge, Safari, or other browsers are slowing down on your computer, try some of these tips to nip the problem in the bud.
Determine the cause of the slowdown
This is the trickiest part of slowing down your browser, because there’s often no single answer as to what’s at the root of the problem. It could be because you have an old, slow computer, or because you have too many tabs open that you never close, or because an extension is interfering with something, or a combination of several factors. To narrow down the list of possible issues, I recommend the golden rule of troubleshooting: tackle one problem at a time.
This means you should start by closing all other applications, running just one browser with one tab, and then see if the slowdown persists. If your browser works fine when you have one or two tabs open, but slows down when you open multiple tabs, it may indicate a problem with the browser. If the browser works fine on its own, but slows down when you have other applications running, the problem may be with another application or a hardware limitation.
If after troubleshooting it turns out that the problem is indeed with your browser, here’s what you can do to fix it.
Use your browser’s task manager
Streaming video or web apps can cause your browser to slow down, but the easiest way to check is to use your browser’s built-in task manager. Yes, your browser usually has a separate task manager that lets you see which of its tabs are causing problems. In Firefox, accessing it is as easy as pressing Shift-Esc . Alternatively, you can click the button with three lines in the upper-right corner and go to More tools > Task manager . You can even type about:processes into the address bar to do the same.
In Chrome (and derivatives like Edge and Brave), you’ll need to click the three-dot button in the top-right corner, then go to More Tools > Task Manager . Unfortunately, Safari doesn’t have a built-in task manager, but you can open the Activity Monitor app on your Mac and type Safari in the search bar to see the process associated with each open tab and determine which one is causing the slowdown.
Opening your browser’s task manager is one thing, but it’s also important to know what to look for once you have it open. Your browser’s task manager shows you the CPU and RAM usage of each tab, and you can use that information to identify the problem. If a tab is taking too long, close it to see if that changes things. That usually helps.
Close unused tabs
Which brings me to my next tip: Please, just close those tabs you had open five years ago. You’ll never get to them, and you won’t lose anything by closing them. This applies to me as much as anyone, so I’ll be the first to admit my sins. I had the Persona 5 game guide open three years ago when I was playing the game for 120+ hours the second time around. I stopped playing the game before I reached the true ending (the second time around), but the game guide tab was open until a couple of months ago. It wasn’t doing anything or using up too many resources, but when my browser slowed down, I had to let it go. I resigned myself to the fact that I would probably never finish the game, or read any of the many articles I had open in my other old tabs, or watch any of those videos I wanted to watch. Closing all those inactive tabs helped speed up my browsers considerably.
If you’re still not ready to give up your tabs, you can also easily save all your open tabs in Chrome, Firefox, and Safari .
Remove unused extensions
I like using browser extensions to add useful features to my browsing experience, but the extra actions they ask of your browser can sometimes cause slowdowns. This is especially true for extensions you no longer use, and removing unused and potentially cumbersome extensions is good for performance (and your privacy, since extensions often require access to all your open pages). To quickly remove an old extension, open the about:addons page in Firefox, the chrome://extensions page in Chrome and its derivatives, or click the Safari button in the menu bar and go to Settings > Extensions .
I also found some value in disabling the extension on just certain web pages. As someone who suffers from migraines, I rely on Dark Reader to force every website to open in dark mode. Bright backgrounds give me headaches that often ruin entire days, so I have to be careful with screen brightness and how web pages look. However, Dark Reader was slowing down some tabs, and I found that disabling it for those specific web pages helped solve the problem.
Restart your browser (and your computer)
Sometimes the solution to a slowdown is a quick restart to give the faulty processes a chance to fix themselves. You can try exiting the browser, restarting your computer, and then launching the browser again to see if the problem is fixed. It’s fairly easy to do, but it’s easy to forget the simplest and most obvious solutions, so I thought it would be worth mentioning here.
Update your browser
The problem isn’t always your computer, open tabs, or extensions. Sometimes it could be a bug in your browser code that could be causing a memory leak or using too much of your CPU to run an app. There’s nothing you can do to fix this other than make sure your browser is updated to the latest version. Most browsers are usually pretty good at updating themselves, but if you notice you’re running an old version, you can also update manually.
I’ll start with my favorite browsers. To update Firefox on Windows, click the button with three lines in the upper-right corner and choose Help > About Firefox . On a Mac, click the Firefox button in the menu bar and choose About Firefox . You can update Chrome (or its derivatives) by selecting the button with three dots and then clicking Help > About Chrome .
To update Safari on your Mac, you’ll need to update macOS itself. Click the Apple logo in the upper-left corner of the screen and go to System Preferences > General > Software Update .
Reduce Ads and Tracking
Ads and trackers are increasing on almost every website, which increases page load times and can also cause your browser to slow down. You can combat this by using an ad blocker like uBlock Origin in Firefox and Chrome, and one of the many good ad blockers for Safari . You might also consider using a VPN with a built-in ad blocker or a good DNS service like NextDNS . Any of these alternatives should reduce the frequency of site hits and the number of trackers and other resource-intensive elements loaded on web pages, which directly impacts your browser’s performance (and security).
Clear cookies and data
You may also see performance improvements by clearing your cookies and browser data. Keep in mind that this will require you to sign in to frequently visited websites the next time you visit, and it may also clear your browser history. If you are comfortable with this, you can try this as another option to speed up your browser.
In Firefox, click the button with three lines in the upper right corner and go to Settings > Privacy & security . Under Cookies and data, select Clear data… and confirm when asked. Then go to History and click Clear history… .
In Chrome, click the three-dot button in the top-right corner and go to Settings > Privacy & security > Clear browsing data . Click the Advanced tab, check any options you want to clear, and select Clear data .
In Safari on Mac, go to the Safari menu from the menu bar and select Clear History… to delete your browsing history. Then go to Safari menu > Preferences > Privacy > Manage Website Data… . Here you can select and delete data for individual websites, or select all and delete everything.
Check the ambient temperature.
Temperatures are rising all over the world. Especially in the summer, you may be using your computer in a hot room and experiencing slowdowns as a result. Modern computers have a built-in temperature shutdown feature, and if the device gets too hot, it will first slow down and then shut down completely to protect your machine. However, this won’t just slow down your browser. Everything you do on your computer will run slower than usual if it’s too hot where you are. You can try using a laptop cooler, air conditioning, or other methods to cool your computer. You’ll see an immediate improvement in performance once your computer is running at a lower temperature.
Consider upgrading your computer
Finally, if none of these solutions work in the long run, the problem may be with the hardware you’re using. Even cheap upgrades like replacing your hard drive with an SSD or adding more RAM can help, but in many cases you may want to consider buying a whole new computer. I hate to tell anyone to spend more money to fix problems, but sometimes it really is the only option.
Buying my M1 MacBook Air was the right decision in 2022, and at the time, even though my friends and family chipped in to help, I couldn’t afford the 16GB RAM option. Next time I buy a computer, I’ll make sure it has a little more RAM than I need to keep browser slowdowns and other performance issues at bay, at least for the first few years of the computer’s life.