It is unlikely that at the dawn of the development of computer technology, someone would have thought that after several decades, one of the most popular programs will be applications for viewing pages on the Internet - browsers. Now there are so many of them that not only beginners, but also “computer gurus” wise in life, cannot decide which one is the best.
The famous "Chrome" built into Windows Internet Explorer, an alternative to Iron, the "immortal" Firefox, the infamous Opera ... the list goes on. In the light of such a wide distribution and a long history of development, it becomes doubly disappointing if it suddenly turns out that for no apparent reason the browser is slowing down. The one that worked properly yesterday. And if this is a portable version that has survived more than one reinstall of the operating system and contains many passwords and addresses, then this problem becomes even more critical.
Variety of solutions
Before we examine in detail why the browser slows down and what to do with it, we immediately warn that there is no universal solution. The reasons for this behavior of the program can be completely different, so what helps in one case does not give any result in another. Thus, the user must alternately put into practice recommendations for restoring normal operation, carefully observing the changes. As soon as it is discovered that the browser no longer slows down, it is better to refrain from further actions to improve.
Disk space
No offense to readers, but modern computer users are very spoiled by progress people. Those who caught the time of the first hard drives understand very well that free space on the hard drive needs to be monitored, since it has the ability to "disappear" somewhere.
This is only the first time after buying a new computer that a couple terabyte hard drive seems dimensionless. A family photo archive, a collection of films and programs very quickly “eat up” a place. As a result, a situation arises when the free space on the drive is estimated at several megabytes or even less. And the user notices that he began to slow down the browser. The fact is that even versions that do not require installation during their work save some service files to disk, write something to the cache. If the free space is used up, then in the operating system there is a conflict of running programs, each of which tries to use for its needs those crumbs of disk space that are freed up by the memory manager. Thus, if it is detected that the browser has started to slow down and / or constantly display error messages, the first thing to do is make sure that there are at least several hundred megabytes on the system drive, and preferably more.
Malicious code
Many computer owners have heard that there are so-called botnets on the Internet and this is somehow related to viruses. We live in an amazing time when ownership and management of information brings more dividends than a real supply of banknotes.
This is what caused the creation of small programs that, without the knowledge of the user, penetrate the operating system and enable an outsider to remotely perform certain operations on the computer. For example, if you need to temporarily “disable” a target site, then computers infected with the virus begin to bombard it with requests, which makes it stop working. All the systems that such a malicious program managed to penetrate just form the botnet. And the user asks why the browser slows down. The answer is simple: the processor is busy generating a huge stream of data, which causes delays and braking. Of course, the tasks of viruses are very different. It is important to understand that some of them cause a slowdown of the entire system, which is visible to the naked eye. We recommend that you always use reliable anti-virus programs. Very often it is they that allow you to save
money by not allowing the virus to “steal” codes and data. If the problem still arises, then the first thing to do is to check all installed hard drives with the programs Kaspersky Virus Removal Tool, TDSSKiller or Dr.Web CureIt.
Performance
Since 2013, the position of classic hard drives has been seriously shaken due to the appearance on the market of an alternative - high-performance SDD drives, which are based on solid-state memory chips. Nevertheless, since comparing the cost of a gigabyte of disk space is not yet in favor of such devices, most computers have the usual hard drives installed.
The same ones with magnetic disks. And since any browser uses free disk space to store
temporary files , the overall speed drops when they slow down. Of course, network performance remains the same, but the application itself loads something, reads it. For such problems, it is useful to start defragmentation (Computer - Disk Name - Properties - Tools). A program will start that will streamline the placement of files, making access to them faster.
Creation from the Google company
One of the most popular browsers is Chrome. Given the features of his work, new sites are created and existing ones are optimized. It is not surprising that one of the most common questions is “the Chrome browser slows down!” What to do?". Unfortunately, this program is far from perfect. Sometimes crashes, freezes, and even slowdowns occur. If this happens, then you must first perform the above points, as they are applicable to all similar applications without exception. Consider why the "Chrome" brakes.
The browser, created by Google programmers, has a number of features, many of which were conceived as solutions to improve reliability. One of them is quite interesting and could theoretically lead to a decrease in the number of freezes and “crashes” of the program. This is a way to work with open tabs. If, for example, a limited number of processes are created in Firefox, but each of them generates its own branches. This makes it possible to reduce the amount of RAM used, however, if a failure occurs in at least one tab, the entire process must be interrupted. When using "Chrome", each open window is created in its own memory block, which allows it to close when it fails, without affecting the others and save the results. True, in reality this mechanism is not very efficient, but this is the topic of another article. From all of the above, you need to remember the following: each tab opened in Google Chrome increases the memory consumption of the application, so with an increase in their number, performance begins to decline. This can be solved quite simply - do not forget to close the extra windows / tabs.
Domestic fox
No less popular browser Firefox. Although it uses a different engine than Chrome, it’s very interesting in terms of performance and capabilities. Moreover, in some characteristics, it surpasses all competitors. It is especially unpleasant when it suddenly turns out that the Firefox browser is slowing down. A few days ago, everything could work perfectly, and today - frank “brakes”.
The reasons, again, are very different. If after checking for viruses,
defragmenting disks and several launches, the situation has not changed, then you need to look for the “culprit”. Unfortunately, many novice users will not learn how to read informational messages displayed when installing programs or downloading anything from the Web. Seeing the coveted “OK” button on the screen, the hand reaches and move the cursor there and click with the mouse. Is it any wonder that the browser starts to slow down, being overloaded with all sorts of toolbars from Yandex and other uninvited add-ons? Of course, it’s great to know the weather or exchange rates first hand, but is the price great, resulting in a slowdown in work? The conclusion is simple: when installing any programs, you need to carefully read the conditions and not be afraid to uncheck the items that are not currently needed.
Cinema hall with the help of the "Fire Fox"
No less interesting is the problem when the video slows down in the Firefox browser. This may be caused by incompatibility of the multimedia stream with installed video drivers. So, if the video opens the "Flash Player", then you can try to deactivate hardware acceleration by right-clicking on the picture, selecting the appropriate item and unchecking the box. The quality, however, will deteriorate, but the problem when the video slows down in the Firefox browser may go away.
In the event that difficulties arise when watching YouTube videos, you can try installing the YouTube All HTML5 add-on in your browser. To do this, press Ctrl + Shift + A in the program and, using the search, select the desired addition.
Old friends
The Opera browser has long held first place in popularity ratings. But for some reason, the developers refused to further develop the solution on the Presto engine, deciding to supplement the already large audience of WebKit lovers (hello, Chrome!). Thus, some users may notice - the Opera browser slows down! What to do in this case? First of all, check the version. This can be done in the application menu by selecting "About". The last "real" Opera, running on Presto, has version number 12.17. Since her support has been discontinued, one should not be surprised at possible delays in work. Alas, we can only recommend switching to newer builds or changing the browser to another.
Polishing to shine
However, the change of generations (read - versions) does not always help to solve all problems. Some people notice that even the newest releases often make you wonder why the Opera browser slows down? What to do with this? One possible reason is that the latest version does not mean at all that it is the most stable and devoid of the shortcomings of its predecessors. There are two directions in the Opera family: classical and test. Version numbers for Next modifications (beta builds) are higher than standard versions. These versions have some innovations, but stable operation should not be expected from them. The conclusion is simple: Opera Next can be used, but you should not forget about possible problems.
Useful little things
Now almost every user in the browser uses some kind of add-ons. For example, without AdBlock it’s hard to imagine normal surfing the Web. But not everyone knows that each new extension makes the program less "agile." She begins to "slow down", require more RAM. Extensions are good! But you need to try to use only the necessary minimum. Or, as an option, keep on your computer several browsers configured "for you", each of which is designed to solve a specific range of tasks.