Send yourtips [email protected] 16 - 29 October 2019^65Web User MasterclassTA KE IT TO THE NEXT LEVEL
More advanced tipsfor whenyou’refeeling bravehomescreentoa large andcomplex
page makesdemands onyoursystem,
sokeepyourlaunchpage aslightweight
aspossiblefor the fastest startup time.
InEdge, openthe three-dotmenu and
gotoSettings. Set ‘Open MicrosoftEdge
with’to‘Newtab page’ and set ‘Open
newtabswith’to‘Ablankpage’. It’s not
actuallyblank– there’s asearchbox in
the middle– but it issimpleand fast.
InChrome,open Settingsand, under
‘On startup’, select‘Open the NewTab
page’. Whenyou nowopena newtab,
you’ll see asearchbox inthe middleand
a collectionofwebsite icons below. Let
the mousehover over aniconandclick
the three-doticon, thenclickRemove to
delete it. Whenyou are leftwith aplain
page with justthe searchbox,Chrome
will start faster.
InFirefox,openthe menu and click
Options.Click Homeonthe leftand,
under ‘NewWindowsandTabs’, select
BlankPagefor bothoptions.Having
nothing displayed on startup makesit
faster. Remember, you can stillsearch
bytyping inthe address bar –you don’t
have togotoa searchengine suchas
GoogleorBing.
Search for text
The usualway tosearchfor text
ona web page istopressCtrl+F toopen
the Findbar, thentypeinthe search
text. Those two steps can bereduced to
one.Openthe menu and clickOptions.
Inthe Generalsection,lookfor ‘Search
for textwhenyou start typing’under
Browsing. Enableit andyou can search
assoonasyou start typing.
Stopbackground
processes
SomefeaturesinChromecontinueto
runwhenthe browser isclosed. Most
peoplecan livewithout thisandwould
ratherChromedidn’t hogthe processor
andmemory whenthe browser isn’t
being used. GotoSettingsandclick
Advancedatthe bottom, thenscroll to
the bottomagain andswitchoff
‘Continue runningbackground apps
whenGoogleChromeisclosed’.
Preloadweb pages
Browsingthe web often involves
clicking linkstogofrom one page tothe
next. Chromecan try toguesswhich
page you’ll visit nextand downloadit in
the background. If you thengotothat
page,it loads muchfasterthan normal
becauseit’s already storedinthe PC’s
memory.Openthe menu, clickSettings,
Advancedand, inthe ‘Privacyand
security’ section,enablethe switchnext
to‘Preloadpagesfor fasterbrowsing
andsearching’.
the browser, and mostsites work
faster and problem-free.Strict breaks
somesites,sotry it withyour
favouritesandsee whathappens.
The Customsetting letsyou choose
whattoblock:blocking more items
speeds upbrowsing; blocking fewer
ensures Firefox ismore compatible
with websites.Blockadsand more
for extra speed
Opera isbasedon Chromiumand
works ina similar way toChrome, but
it alsohas additional settings, someof
which affectthe speedof the browser.
Click the ‘Easy setup’buttoninthe
top-rightcornerofOpera andturnoff
all the switchesexcept‘Blockads’.
Thisdisablesa lot ofOpera extras,
suchasShowNewsandCrypto
Wallet, which are interesting but
not essentialandslowdownthe
browser’s startup.
Click the menu buttonandselect
Settings. Click Basic and, onthe left,
you’ll see aduplicate ‘Blockads’
button. There’s also‘Manage
exceptions’, which letsyou allowads
onwebsitesyou choose. Click
‘Managelists’tosee options for
choosingadvert- and malware-
blocking lists. EasyList andNoCoin
are the defaults,which shouldsuit
mostpeople, but adding EasyPrivacy
blocks more,which may speedweb-
page loading alittle. Tr y it andsee.
Click AdvancedinOpera’s settings
andyou’ll see a‘Batterysaver’
section.Enablingthisreduces the
background activitiescarried out by
tabsandOpera,which may speedup
the currentlyactivetab.Tr y Opera
with battery savingonandoff, and
use the setting thatworks best on
yourPCorlaptop.Disablesync services
If you use multiplecomputers,
Chromehas abrilliant feature that
syncs bookmarks,apps, extensions,
passwords, tabs, themes,browser
history and more. If you only haveone
computer, you don’t needsync
servicesandtheycan beturnedoff,
toprevent Chromefromwasting time
and resources onthem.
Gotothe Chrome menu, open
Settings, People, thenselect‘Sync and
Googleservices’, ‘Managesync’. The
switches let you enableordisablesync
services– if you don’t use Chrome
anywhere else, disablethemall.Blockbad ads
Adverts are annoyingandcause
web pagestoload moreslowly.
Although Chromewon’t block all ads- unlessyou use an ad-blocker
extension –it can block particularly
bad ads,which speeds upbrowsing
onsites thathavethem. Mostsites
manageto avoidhosing bad ads but
it’s stillworth enablingthis setting.
OpenChromesettingsandclick
Advanced. Inthe ‘Privacyand
security’ section,click‘Site settings’,
thenAds.Click the switchsothe text
reads ‘Blockedonsites thatshow
intrusive ormisleadingads’.
Blockunwanted
trackers
Web pagescontain alot of items that
are invisible, suchascookies,trackers
andvarious types of code. Firefox can
block unnecessary or unwanted
content onweb pages– mainlyfor
privacyreasons –but aside benefit is
thatweb pagesload faster.
Tospeedupbrowsing, openthe
Firefox menu and clickOptions.
SelectPrivacy& Security tosee a
choice of Standard,Strict andCustom
settings. Standard blockscommon
trackersandcryptominers thatslowBlock trackers and other unnecessary
itemsto speedup FirefoxIf you use only one computer, you don’t
need these sync services