Web User - UK (2019-10-16)

64 16 - 29 October 2019

Delete unwanted

extensions

Browser add-onsprovide useful

featuresandfunctions,but theyalsoput

a strainonmemory andprocessing

power. Inextremecases,extensionscan

slowdownyourbrowser, solimit them

tothe bareessentials –two orthree are

fine, but more than 10 isnot.

InChrome,openthe menu and click

‘More tools’thenExtensions. Use the

Removebuttontolightenthe load

andincrease speed. InFirefox,enter

about:addonsandthenremoveany

non-essential ones.

Blankthe

startuppage

All browserslet you choosewhatthey

showwhentheylaunch. Setting your

G

raphics processorscan movepixels

aroundthe screenatlightning

speed, soif you playgames inyour

web browser, watch streaming video or

use othergraphically intensive websites

andonline apps, it’s worth configuring

yourbrowser toget aboostfromthe

graphicsprocessor.

In Chrome andOpera,open Settings,

scroll downtothe bottomandclick

Advanced. Scroll downtothe bottom

again and, under System, enable‘Use

hardware accelerationwhenavailable’.

InFirefox,openthe menu, clickOptions

and, inthe Generalsection,lookfor the

box under Performance labelled ‘Use

recommended performance settings’. Clear

the ticktomanuallyconfigure the settings.

Two options appear. Enable‘Usehardware

accelerationwhenavailable’ andset the

‘Contentprocesslimit’ tothe maximum.

Activate hardware acceleration

Boost your
PC’s power
Ageneralspeed-upfor laptops thatalso
boosts yourbrowser isavailableonthe
taskbar. Click the power/ battery icon
anddragthe sliderall the way tothe
rightfor maximumperformance.

Limit open
tabs
If yourPChas 4GB ofmemory installed,
thenhavingaroundeight to 10 tabs
openinyourbrowser can use amajor
portion of the availablememory and
cause it toslowtoa crawl. You should
limit the numberofopentabstono
more than half a dozen,unlessyour
computer has 8GB or more installed.

Enable hardware acceleration if your graphics processor canhandle it

Disable

extensions when

they’re not being

used and remove

any thatyou

never use

If you seewords thatlook like

they’ve been typed in a

typewriter, follow the instructions

and type themexactly as they

appear, paying closeattentionto

spaces and punctuation.

Web User Masterclass

Tune up, tweak and optimise

your web browser