4 browser extensions to speed you up
With the amount of content that loads on web pages these days, you will likely find your browsing experience similar to that of a turtle race, lacking the speed your web surfing requires.
What can you do to reduce sluggish page loads and increase the rate of your browser? In addition to Kim’s essential browser tricks, we have five browser extensions that will speed you up.
Manage your browser tabs
Let’s face it, many of us are guilty of opening multiple tabs while browsing the internet. It is easy to do, often done without thought, until you have thirty of them open and your browser speed is that of a crawl.
Slow computer? 9 ways to make it run faster
You can make your browser go faster by using Quick Tabs, a tab management browser extension for Google Chrome. Quick Tabs will allow you to close your tabs and keep them available via a pane based on a “most recently used” order with keyboard shortcuts for quick access.
After a quick download via the Chrome web store, the extension will display to the right of your address bar.
Click on the extension button and all of your open and recently closed tabs will be shown:
Eliminate the distracting websites
Maintaining focus and productivity while on the internet can be challenging with sites like Facebook and YouTube bombarding your web page. Don’t let these attention grabbers continue to drain your valuable time.
Available through the Chrome web store, Block Site is available as a desktop extension and mobile app, allowing you to block websites or by filtering words from web pages or search engines, whether in the office or on the go.
Once installed, clicking on the extension icon will take you to the setup page where you enter the websites or words you would like to block while browsing. Block Site even allows you to schedule when you want the extension to operate.
Save things you see on the web
Do you find yourself continually bookmarking web pages for content to use in other programs? If so, Evernote Web Clipper will make your browsing experience easier. The basic option of this (freemium) Chrome extension lets you clip web pages or articles, assign tags and designate them to a specific notebook.
Two other plans, premium and business, allow for greater organization and collaboration with others if needed. Upon launching the extension, Evernote offers a quick start tutorial.
Check your Wi-Fi connection and bandwidth
With your tabs and web pages under control, another area you should take a look at is your Wi-Fi connection and its bandwidth, which is the amount of information your internet connection can handle at one time.
Remove programs from your computer safely and easily
The lower your bandwidth is, the slower your browsing speed. No worries, the open-source Bandwidth Hero extension is here to save the day by compressing images on web pages, which are notorious for bogging down bandwidth. This compression will reduce the amount of data consumed and improve your browsing speed.
Curious as to what your internet speed is? Here is how you can find out: Test your internet connection speed.
Tags: Facebook, Google, Google Chrome, internet