Google Chrome Slow to Open – How to Fix

We all have our favorite browsers and we all bear misconceptions about its peers. You’ve probably heard many people complain about Google Chrome, claiming it “becomes sluggish” after a while. They are probably unaware of the fact that most other browsers experience sluggishness at some point.

Before telling your friend that they were right and that your Google Chrome truly started dragging, you should try and fix this. Make no mistake, any browser that you opt for can start having similar issues. Rather than switching from browser to browser, try fixing the one you prefer. If you’re trying to open Chrome only to run into some sluggish performance, you aren’t alone.

Fixing Chrome’s slow launch can go a long way in speeding up Chrome, and making your browsing experience a whole lot better. Here’s how to fix a slow open with Google Chrome.

Common Reasons Browsers are Slow to Open

One of the most common problems with browsers, in general, starts when the browser takes forever to load. Now, you could blame this on Windows; after all, it is a rather buggy OS, in which case, an OS reinstall is due. But what’s the deal if everything is working fairly or completely good on your OS. Well, you certainly won’t reinstall the entire system because Chrome is acting up, would you?

Of course not. But you shouldn’t jump ship and join another browser team, either. Why? As mentioned, this may happen on Firefox, Opera, even Safari, as well.

This is a rather annoying issue. You’ve probably even developed a habit of loading up your PC, clicking the Chrome icon, going to the kitchen to brew a coffee and coming back to a semi-working browser. You don’t want to support this habit, that’s for sure.

Some users have even reported the browser taking as much as 15 minutes to load up. Now, that’s just outrageous!

The underlying cause here isn’t singular. It’s most likely a number of issues that are contributing to the slow Chrome load-up. Here’s how to tackle this.

Restart the Router

This may sound like something a tech support official would say but they always mention this for a good reason – it happens more often than you’d think. Whatever the issue is with an app that uses the internet, your first go-to fix should be restarting your router.

1. If there’s a dedicated on/off button on your router, press it.
2. Then, unplug all the cables (including the power adapter). Leave it be for about five minutes.
3. Now, reconnect everything and see if Chrome is loading more quickly. Most likely, this won’t solve the issue but it may save you some unnecessary trouble.

Reset the Network Adapter

Similarly to the router, it may be your network adapter that’s misbehaving. To do this, you’re going to have to use the Command Prompt.

1. Open the Start menu, type “Command Prompt”, and select Run as administrator. 
2. Now, type “netsh winsock reset” and hit Enter.
3. Restart the system and see if this fixed your issue.

Disable Extensions

One of the culprits for Chrome’s slow startup is Chrome’s extensions. Although they are the browser’s pride and joy, certain ones might not be agreeing with your PC. This is why a simple reinstall isn’t helping; Chrome allows you to use your Google account for a quick setup. It automatically loads all your extensions and settings when you log in.

1. Open Chrome and click on the menu icon in the corner.
2. Select More tools > Extensions.
3. Next, click on the toggle switches next to your extensions to disable them.
4. Now, turn everything off, restart your computer and try running Chrome. If it loads up quickly, one or more of your extensions simply takes too long to load up.

Turn Hardware Acceleration Off

Hardware Acceleration does sound like something that helps things happen more quickly. This feature helps your PC perform some hardware operations as efficiently as possible. Sometimes, however, it tries to run the hardware operations more efficiently than possible. This often results in slow startup issues, which is common in many programs, including Chrome.

Many programs use Hardware Acceleration, even video games, so you can always try turning it off if the app in question takes its time to load up.

1. For Chrome, open the browser and click Customize and control Google Chrome (the three dots in the upper-right corner of the browser).
2. From the drop-down list, select Settings.
3. Now, click Advanced > System, it’s located on the left-side of the screen. 
4. Then, click the toggle switch for Use hardware acceleration when available to off. A Relaunch option will appear. Click it to shut down Chrome, automatically relaunch it, and see whether the slow load issue persists.

Rename the Default Folder

As mentioned earlier, reinstalling the Chrome app won’t help you. When you reinstall Chrome and log into your Google account, it will automatically load up all of your settings and extensions. However, while syncing your account, you can select which settings/extensions you wish to import.

Everything that makes your profile yours is in a certain folder on a computer that you are using at the moment. Each time you sync up your Chrome account on a different laptop, Chrome downloads that same folder to the device. In order to try and speed the Chrome load-up process on a particular device, you should try creating a new folder. This is the Default folder and it’s located in your Google Chrome directory.

1. Open File Explorer, type “C:\Users\[Username]\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\User Data” and hit Enter. To automatically navigate to the folder in question, open the Run program and paste this in the address bar: “%LocalAppData%\Google\Chrome\User Data”.
2. Now, find the Default folder and rename it to, say, “Backup default”. Try running Google Chrome to see if this has fixed the issue.

Google Chrome Load-up Issues

There are many underlying causes that may have your Chrome loading up extremely slowly on you. At least one of the mentioned solutions should work. However, if it doesn’t, make sure that you contact the Google Chrome support and telling them about your issue. They should help you solve it and help you continue using your favorite browser.

Have you experienced any similar issues? How did you solve it? Which one of the mentioned solutions has helped you? Did you come up with a different one? Feel free to join in on the discussion in the comment section below and share your thoughts/questions/ideas.

Resources:

https://appuals.com/fix-chrome-takes-forever-to-load-on-windows-10/

https://www.cnet.com/how-to/a-quick-fix-for-your-slow-chrome-browser/

https://www.drivereasy.com/knowledge/how-to-fix-chrome-slow-easily/

Photo links:

https://pixabay.com/vectors/browser-internet-web-search-tab-1666982/

A personal screenshot