Get more done with the new Google Chrome. A more simple, secure, and faster web browser than ever, with Google’s smarts built-in. Open Google Chrome and click the ' Chrome menu ' (three horizontal lines) button located in the top-right corner of the browser window. From the drop-down menu, choose ' More Tools ' and select ' Extensions '. In the ' Extensions ' window, look for any recently-installed suspicious add-ons. When located, click the ' Trash ' button next to it/them. Google Chrome is out of date on your computer? Are you unable to make the best out of the newest version of Google Chrome as you are still running an old ver. Firefox, Java, and Flash all include auto-update functionality. Consider enabling this to avoid being out of date in the future. Chrome defaults to automatic updates. Advanced panel - Accessibility, browsing, network, updates, and other advanced settings in Firefox; Java Auto Update; Flash Player Background Updates.
System cleanup in one click
Few computer issues are as annoying as a slow browser experience. And unfortunately no browser has a big “Fix Everything Now” button you can click to magically make it work again.
Google Chrome’s settings can be particularly frustrating, with features and fixes seemingly hidden in a confusing interface that doesn’t act like a Mac application at all. Luckily, you can use an app like CleanMyMac to do some helpful troubleshooting. CleanMyMac can clear Chrome’s caches, cookies, and site data. It lets you manage your extensions and can even reset the entire application to make Chrome act like new again.
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But not every problem is quite that dire, so here are a number of tips for identifying and fixing the most common Chrome issues.
How to kill a frozen tab or window in Chrome
If one of your tabs or windows in Chrome just stops responding — so badly that you can’t even close it — don’t worry, it’s an easy fix:
- Go to Window > Task Manager in the menu bar.
- Find the problem window or tab, click to select it, and then End Process.
That will kill whatever process is keeping the tab from loading correctly. The tab will probably show an error message saying, “Something went wrong,” but just click the X on the tab to close it.
If Chrome is just completely frozen, you can force-quit the entire app by pressing Command–Option–Escape, then selecting Chrome in the Force Quit Applications window and clicking Force Quit.
How to disable Flash and check for out-of-date components
You used to be able to disable Adobe Flash Player on Chrome’s plugins page, but it (chrome://plugins) was removed as of version 57. Now you can visit its replacement (chrome://components) to see if any of Chrome’s components, including Adobe Flash Player, are out of date and apply an update. Ideally, all of them should be updated behind the scenes, but you never know.
Adobe Flash Player comes baked into Chrome, so its settings are now on the main settings page (chrome://settings or Chrome > Preferences in your Mac’s menu bar), tucked inside Advanced > Privacy & Security > Content Settings.
The shortcut right to this section is chrome://settings/content. Click Flash and disable the switch next to Ask First to block sites from using Flash entirely. The Block and Allow sections below also let you blacklist or whitelist Flash on a site-by-site basis.
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What to do if Chrome is running slow
If Chrome is just moving like molasses and you aren’t sure why, it’s time to do a troubleshooting routine that could isolate the issue. We’ll start with the basics, like clearing caches and cookies, and then work our way up more advanced steps.
1. Clear the cache, cookies, and site data
You’ll have to log into sites again, but this step is often enough to speed things up noticeably. It’s also the easiest fix, which is why we recommend to try it first.
To clear the data via Chrome browser settings:
- Open Chrome > Preferences in the menu bar or just type chrome://settings as the URL. You can also use the Command–comma keyboard shortcut.
- Scroll down to the Advanced section and click Advanced to expand all the options.
- At the bottom of a section labeled Privacy and Security, you’ll see an option to Clear Browser Data. Click the arrow to expand it and change the Time Range drop-down from Last Hour to All Time.
- In the Basic tab, leave the boxes checked to clear your browsing history, cookies, and other site data, as well as cached images and files.
- Then click Clear Data at the bottom.
For a faster result, use CleanMyMac to clean the caches of Chrome and any other browsers, as well as cookies, local storage, saved passwords, autofill values, and more. It’s much more convenient since you can clean every browser with just a few clicks, rather than having to dig into the settings of each browser.
Get out of the Chrome dead end
Install CleanMyMac X and stop worrying about Chrome problems. Fix misbehavior or reset Chrome in seconds.
Just click Privacy in the sidebar, choose Chrome from the list, and select what you want to clear.

2. Check extensions with Chrome’s Incognito mode
Browse in Incognito mode by opening a new window (File > New Incognito Window or Shift–Command–N). While you’re in Incognito, Chrome rejects cookies and site data, and doesn’t keep your history or any info you enter into forms. But more importantly for us, Chrome also disables your extensions, so this is a good way to tell if one of your extensions is causing the slowdown.
If Incognito mode seems to speed things back up, you can try turning your extensions back on one-by-one. That way if you experience slow performance, you’ll know it was probably the extension you just enabled. To do this, click the button with three vertical dots at the top-right of the browser window, then select More Tools > Extensions. For each extension that’s enabled, you’ll see another checkbox to Allow In Incognito.
Some extensions can’t run in Incognito mode at all, so you can do this test again in normal browsing mode by disabling all the extensions and then re-enabling them one-by-one. And while you’re at it, it’s a good idea to disable any extensions you aren’t using anyway.
3. Disable hardware acceleration
If your Chrome is running slow, you might think to enable hardware acceleration. Well, many Mac users on Google’s Chrome Help Forum report the opposite: that Chrome runs better on macOS with this option turned off.
- To check if you’re using hardware acceleration, visit Chrome’s Settings (Chrome > Preferences or chrome://settings) and open the Advanced panel.
- Almost all the way to the bottom, you’ll find a switch labeled Use Hardware Acceleration When Available. If it’s unchecked, try checking it. If it’s checked (which it should be by default), try turning it off.
- After you’ve changed the setting, the word Relaunch appears.
- Click it to relaunch Chrome.
4. Reset flags to default settings
Chrome has experimental features called Flags, found by typing chrome://flags into the URL bar. Some of these can actually speed up your browsing, with tricks like using more threads to downloading raster images faster and loading low-priority iFrames last. But! These are experimental features, and if Chrome isn’t acting the way you’d like, you might get some relief by setting all the Flags back to their default settings.
To do this, go to chrome://flags and click Reset All To Default at the top of the page.
5. Reset Chrome
If you’re still having troubles and none of the above helps, you can reset all of Chrome’s settings, basically restoring it to its freshly installed state, although this method still saves your bookmarks and stored passwords.
To do this, open Chrome > Preferences in the menu bar, then scroll down to the bottom, opening the Advanced menu if it’s not open already. At the very bottom you’ll see an option to Reset, which restores all the settings to their defaults. This can really help if an extension has been changing your settings without your explicit knowledge.
Resetting Chrome does delete all your extensions, themes, cookies, pinned tabs, your saved homepage, and startup tabs, as well as content settings. But the browser may work better in its natural state, and then you can re-add extensions and re-adjust settings as needed.
Naturally, CleanMyMac can reset Chrome as well. Just click the Uninstaller tool in the sidebar, then find Chrome in the list of applications. Right-click on the arrow and select the Application Reset, next to the Complete Uninstallation.
Of course, uninstalling and re-installing Chrome is a more drastic step than just resetting it, but if you do decide to uninstall the whole app, CleanMyMac will make sure to get all the associated files and preferences, everywhere they exist on your Mac.
6. Try Chrome Canary
Another tip is to consider installing Chrome Canary, which is a beta version of Chrome meant for developers and early adopters.
It’s less stable than the regular shipping version of Chrome but has all the latest updates, so sometimes it does have fixes that aren’t in the main version yet. Some Mac users who couldn’t get Chrome to even launch report having a much easier time with Chrome Canary. You don’t have to uninstall Chrome to install Canary either; they can coexist side by side.
Again, Canary is beta software, and Google admits it “can be prone to breakage.” It gets updates nearly every day, and it can be just the thing if you can’t figure out why the regular version of Chrome isn’t working properly.
Using all the tips above and CleanMyMac to easily manage them will speed up your Chrome considerably. It’s also a good practice to schedule a regular browser cleanup once in a few months to keep things running fresh at all times.
Meantime, prepare for all the awesome things you can do with Setapp.
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Google Chrome is the king of web browsers but if you’re here it’s probably because the king has gone a bit insane. Is Chrome running slow, crashing, freezing, or not even loading? Are web pages not loading anymore? Is your browser experience getting slower every day?
If you’re experiencing any of those Chrome problems, you’ve come to the right place. We’re going to show you how to troubleshoot and resolve common Chrome problems that make you feel like Google hates Macs.
Some fixes will be easier than others but none require advanced knowledge.
If you’re ready to fix Chrome, let’s begin!
Is it your Mac or Chrome that is slow?
Chrome isn’t an independent entity, it’s a part of a whole Mac system. So before you deal with Chrome, make sure the problem isn’t in your macOS. A quick example — the outdated system caches causing your Chrome plugins to crash. Or is your Mac gasping for free space?
A clever path is to give your macOS a good cleanup, first. We like CleanMyMac X app for this purpose as it finds and cleans all redundant & conflicting files across all your folders. So, take 2 minutes to tidy up your Mac with CleanMyMac X, and let’s move further.
CleanMyMac is available for a free download here — this app is notarized by Apple, so no worries.
Common Chrome problems on Mac (and their fixes)
Mac battery draining fast
Chrome is known for its fast performance, which it gets by using your Mac’s CPU more than other browsers. But more CPU usage means more battery drain. If you use your laptop on the go, this can become a huge issue. What good is performance if your battery is completely drained and you can’t turn on your Mac?
If Mac battery life is important to you, then there’s a simple trick that should be a big help. Often there is a tab or an extension that is hogging your resources and burning through your battery life by itself.
Follow these steps to find the offending site or extension:
- Open Chrome and choose Window in the top menu.
- Click on Task Manager.
- In Task Manager, click the Memory Footprint column to sort them.
Now you can determine what sites and extensions use up the most memory in Chrome. You can still visit one of these sites but maybe don’t leave it open in a tab anymore. Also, remember that even sites that aren’t memory hogs can still be a battery drain if you have a lot of tabs open.
Close resource-hungry and unnecessary tabs and the time you get from a battery charge should start to improve.
Chrome is running slow
Does Chrome on your Mac feel like browsing through a swamp? If browser responsiveness is slowing, it’s time to drain the swamp.
Why is Google Chrome so slow? We mentioned earlier that Chrome is resource-heavy, especially on your CPU. Chrome is fast when your Mac has the resources available, but when they are limited, and Chrome is demanding more than your Mac can give – swamp time.
The tip from the previous section will help a lot, but if you’re still experiencing slowness, there are other fixes you can turn to.
Let’s start by focusing on the cache. Chrome loves storing lots of your web browsing data. At first, it can help speed things along, but soon Chrome’s pockets are being weighed down by cache, particularly if your Mac is low on space or memory.
To manually delete your Chrome cache on Mac:
- Open Chrome and choose Chrome in the top menu.
- Select Clear Browsing Data.
- Check the history, cache, cookies, and other types of browser data that you want to delete.
- Click 'Clear data.'
Again, there’s another method for clearing out your cache, cookies, browser history, autofill form data, and a whole lot more. You can use the free version of CleanMyMac X. There’s surely no easier way to manage not just the cache that’s slowing down Chrome, but also your privacy and security — if these things are important to you (they should be).
To delete Chrome cache and other browsing data with CleanMyMac X:
- Download the free edition of CleanMyMac X and launch the app.
- Go to the Privacy tab and select Chrome.
- Select what you want to clean.
Or you can even use CleanMyMac X’s System Junk cleanup tool that not only removes Chrome cache files but also gets rid of “temporary” files that clog up your system. So, hopefully, your browser will get a bit snappier.
Сhrome using significant energy on Mac
“Chrome using significant energy” may be a sign of general memory overload on your computer. Try opening your Activity Monitor and check off a few memory consumers.
- Open the Launchpad and type in Activity Monitor in the search bar.
- Now, sort by Energy and use the [x] button to quit a process.
Disable background synchronization
There’s another setting that may help you out. Sadly, it’s buried too deep in Chrome’s Preferences but according to many users, it should greatly reduce energy consumption by Chrome.
- Open Chrome and go to Settings (the 3-dot icon on in the top right corner).
- Select Privacy and security > Site Settings.
- Scroll down and click “Background sync.”
- Use the slider to disable the background sync.
What does it do? It stops the websites from communicating with your Mac (even after you’ve left that site). Why was it enabled by default is a different question.
Chrome keeps freezing
Your browser is not just slow as a snail but keeps freezing? A spinning circle appears for a while? This is ordinary trouble with web browsers after continued use. And it may relate to the problem with the browser cache.
We've already told you how to remove the Chrome cache, so just go to the previous section and choose the way that works best for you: manual or easy one. Hopefully, this will help you to get rid of the spinning beach ball and fix the freezing issue.
Other ideas to try:
- Close all tabs
- Restore settings (Settings > Advanced > Reset settings)
- Log out from all your Google accounts and log in back again.
- Try browsing in an incognito window and see if that helps.
- Reinstall Chrome from scratch
Some services, like Dropbox, Alfred, and notably, Google Drive are constantly self-updating in the background. As in the previous step, you can use Activity Monitor and force-quit these processes.
Google Chrome is not responding

However, if your browser is not responding at all and you can't open the menu to clear the cache, browsing history, or delete extensions, try to force quit Chrome and then launch it again.
There are a few possible ways to force quit Google Chrome. Here is our comprehensive guide 'How to force quit Mac applications' that offers five different ways to deal with unresponsive apps. Pick your favorite one.
There are is a number of background plugins operating invisibly on every Mac. They could be various helpers, updaters, and everything else that supports the main application. For example, Chrome itself has an updater app that constantly communicates with the server. So, once again, go to your Activity Monitor and scan through your open processes. Try quitting anything Google-related there.

Another idea to try is to free up your RAM (random access memory) in the Terminal. This should unfreeze your Chrome, at least temporarily.
- Open your Terminal app (you can find it via the Launchpad search).
- Now, paste in
sudo purge
into the Terminal window. - Hit Enter
See if Chrome is feeling better now.
Google Chrome keeps crashing
Chrome freezing is one thing but crashing? That’s a much bigger issue as it’s a sign that something is broken. But what do we do with things that are broken around here? We fix them!
Probably the most common cause of crashes is a byproduct of one of Chrome’s strengths – its constant stream of exciting extensions. They make our browser experience more enjoyable and productive, but occasionally one of these extensions will be corrupted or introduce a bug that causes Chrome to crash.
Here’s what you should do to find a problematic Chrome extension.
- Update your browser
- Run a Safety check
- Turn off browser extensions
Make sure Chrome is updated to the latest version. A new update could very well include the fix that will stop Chrome crashing.
The latest version of Google Chrome has a feature called Safety check. Go to Chrome Settings and select “Safety check” from the menu on the left. Press “Check now.” The browser will run a quick check to determine whether Google Chrome is up-to-date and protected from threats.
If that didn’t work or everything was already up-to-date, you can manually turn off your extensions and turn them back on, one at a time. This way, if the crashing goes away until a certain extension is turned back on – that’s when you’ve probably found the problem.
To manually disable and remove Chrome extensions:
- Open Chrome and go to Window > Extensions.
- Disable a few extensions or click Remove to completely delete them.
- Relaunch Chrome.
Spend some time using Chrome without extensions and then slowly turn each one back on until your crashing returns. When you think you have the culprit, simply click the Trash can next to that extension in Settings > Extensions.
An even easier way to manage your extensions is with CleanMyMac X. You get more control over all your extensions, even those from other browsers, and disabling and removing them is as easy as can be.
To disable Chrome extensions the simple way:
- Click on the Extensions tab in CleanMyMac.
- Click on Chrome Extensions and disable as you like.
Chrome won’t open
Here’s the list of hacks you can try if you want to repair Chrome. When Chrome won’t open, the easiest is to restart your Mac. But that could be a bit disruptive. So here you are, some alternatives:
- Press and hold Command + Q — this will quit Chrome.
- Press Option + Command + Esc — opens a Force Quit pane.
- Uninstall Chrome and download it again.
If that doesn’t help, there’s a possibility that the problem is Google folder permissions.
Web pages not loading in Chrome
“Aw snap!”
This is Chrome’s custom message for when a web page fails to load. If you get this cheeky little message or any other loading error, chances are you’re going to fail to see the funny side.
The reasons for Chrome not loading pages can be wide-ranging and hard to pinpoint, but we’ve collected a checklist of fixes for you to work through.
- Check your internet connection.
- Update Chrome.
- Restart your Mac.
- Remove Chrome extensions (for steps see 'Google Chrome keeps crashing' section).
- Disable or relaunch hardware acceleration
Hardware acceleration is supposed to speed up your Chrome at the cost of your Mac's hardware resources. But quite often this feature crashes things.
Hardware acceleration is found here:
Chrome > Settings > Advanced > System
If you’re still unable to load web pages, a reset or reinstall of Chrome may be needed. We cover that very fix in the next section.
Chrome update failed
How Do I Fix Chrome Out Of Date
Chrome won’t update? Some users have experienced the frustration of Chrome refusing to update on a Mac. The first step would just be patience, but if days have passed and you’re still not getting anywhere, a reset or reinstall of Chrome may be in order.
To reset Chrome manually:
- Launch Chrome and go to Preferences
- Scroll to the bottom and click on Advanced Settings.
- Scroll to the bottom and click on Reset Settings.
- Read the pop-up and Reset.
- Relaunch Chrome and try to update.
Note: Resetting Chrome will not remove your bookmarks, history, and saved passwords. A manual reset can be a bit scary, but as a workaround, you can use CleanMyMac X to reset Chrome without losing any data.
Reset Chrome with CleanMyMac X's free tool:
- Open CleanMyMac X
- Go to Uninstaller tab and find Google Chrome in the list
- Click Application Reset in the dropdown menu next to the Chrome icon.
If the browser is still not updating, download the latest installation file from the web and reinstall Chrome.
More tips to troubleshoot Chrome
Your Chrome browser should now be running great, but wait; there’s more! To improve your future browsing experience we’re sharing some of our favorite Chrome settings. Try these out and fall in love with Chrome even more.
Enable Prefetch
Want your web pages to load even faster? Go to Settings > Privacy and security. Here, select 'Cookies and other site data.' Toggle on 'Preload pages for faster browsing and searching.' This enables 'page prefetch' and makes Google Chrome load pages faster. Now the system will store the page and automatically load it the next time you visit the website.
Use shortcuts in Chrome browser
You’d be amazed at how much faster you can surf the web and get things done by learning just a few key shortcuts.
For example:
Command + t = new tab
Command + h = hide Chrome
Command + r = reload web page
Find the full list of commands at the official Google Chrome Support page.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why does my Chrome keep freezing?
Usually, this is caused be caused by outdated browser caches. Open Chrome’s Preferences to delete recent browser data.
Why does Chrome use so much memory?
Chrome is in a constant back and forth with Google’s servers to process your data. You can help it by optimizing memory usage on your Mac. Use the Mac tune-up app, CleanMyMac X, to free up RAM and you disable heavy memory consumers.
How can I speed up my browsing experience?
As a first step, try removing all the unnecessary extensions in Chrome. Also, try to not use more than 2 memory-heavy services, like DropBox or Google Drive at a time.
That’s it. Hopefully, these fixes have made your web surfing better than it’s ever been. It just goes to show that even drastic problems like Chrome crashing can be solved with a little know-how and helpful apps like CleanMyMac X.
Macbook Chrome Is Out Of Date
Thanks for reading and stay tuned!
