Slow Browsing? Disable Unnecessary Add-ons, Plugins, and Search Engines

by | Feb 26, 2018 | Tech Lessons | 0 comments

What’s causing my Slow Browser?

Browser plugins and add-ons can be extremely helpful.  For example, uBlock is extremely helpful for blocking ads and popups, however there are also very bad and invasive plugins that can cause slow browser performance and actually increase popups and even infections.  Here’s how you can check your add-ons and clean up as necessary.  Bad search engines will return bad results, we like Google, but everyone has a preference.

If you’re like us and use a bunch of different web browsers, I’ve provided brief instructions for each browser below.  Hope this is helpful, please like, share and subscribe to our newsletter to receive these helpful tips via email!  Sign up is easy – https://computition.net/contacts/

 

Internet Explorer

  1. Open Internet Explorer
  2. Click the little “gear icon” in the top right-hand corner
  3. On the drop-down select “Internet Options”
  4. Select Programs Tab
  5. Click “Manage add-ons
  6. Go through the Add-on Types in the left pane and review the toolbars and extensions.  If you don’t recognize the extension or it looks malicious (containing anything related to shopping or software you don’t recognize).  Simply right click and remove/delete the extensions.
  7. Do the same thing for Search Providers, set your default search engine while you’re at it.  We love Google, but hey everyone has a preference.

Google Chrome

  1. Open Google Chrome
  2. Click on the three vertical dots in the top right-hand corner of the web browser
  3. On the drop-down select More Tools > Extensions
  4. Look over the list of extensions.  If some of them look like junk, just click the little trash can right next to them.  You can also just uncheck the “enabled” box to see if it is something you need.  Uncheck the box and browse for a few days of normal use.  If it’s working fine, then just delete the extension.
  5. You can also check your default search engine by going to the three vertical dots again and clicking on “Settings” in the drop-down.  You will see your default search engine and other search engines under “Manage Search Engines.”  You primarily just need to worry about which search engine is your default.  Bad search engines can return bad results.

Mozilla Firefox

  1. Open Firefox
  2. Click the three horizontal line button in the top right-hand corner of the program
  3. Select Add-ons
  4. Click Extensions – Disable/Remove any extensions that look bad or that you don’t use.  If you’re unsure, just disable it and browse for a few days.  If there is no apparent issue, then you most likely can remove it from your browser completely.  Although, just disabling it will speed up your browser.
  5. Click on Plugins and change any plugin you don’t use to “Never activate” instead of “Always Activate.”  You can also select Ask to Activate if you are unsure of a plugin.”
  6. You can set your homepage and check search engine settings under “options” within Firefox.

 

Safari (macOS)

  1. Open Safari on your Mac, select the Safari dropdown menu and click the preferences button.
  2. Choose extensions, and find the plugins you don’t need.
  3. Click the uninstall button for each plugin that you don’t use.