Chrome is the most-used web browser on the planet. It’s already powerful on its own, but with the thousands of add-ons in the Chrome Web Store, you can further enhance its functionality. Today, there’s an extension for almost every need, and it can be quite overwhelming and time-consuming to choose the right ones. But don’t fret. We’ve hand-picked the six must-have Chrome extensions so that you don’t have to sift through the whole catalog.

BlockSite

BlockSite helps you stay focused by blocking any distracting or harmful websites. If you’re in front of the computer all day, it’s the perfect solution to stop getting sidetracked by the many wonderful things on the internet. Essentially, BlockSite restricts access to websites that can cause your productivity to dip, particularly social media sites like Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter. If you don’t want to completely block these sites, you can schedule limited access to them; for instance, during your breaks.

AdBlock

AdBlock claims to be the most popular extension for Chrome. It has over 10 million active users — and for good reason. In a virtual world full of advertisements, AdBlock offers a break by blocking most ads from showing up on the screen. It also prevents shady, malware-ridden advertisements from popping up, which helps keep your browser speeds at optimal levels and improve your overall experience.

LastPass

Remembering passwords can be quite a headache; good thing there’s LastPass. It’s a great alternative to Chrome’s integrated password manager, and it generates new and secure passwords every time you log in to a website. It can also sync your passwords across devices, enabling you to easily access your accounts, enter credit card details, and fill out online forms with just a few clicks.

Evernote Web Clipper

Never lose anything on the internet again with Evernote Web Clipper. While you can mark sites using Chrome’s bookmark feature, Evernote is an even more powerful option: it allows you to quickly and easily save web content from Chrome and transfer it straight into your Evernote account. With the press of a button, you can grab an image from any web page, make annotations, create summary links, and save a distraction-free version of that page for later use.

Pocket

Pocket is another way to keep track of your favorite web content. With this extension, you can save articles, videos, and web pages for later viewing. Simply hit the Pocket extension button when you come across something interesting and that page will automatically be synced across all your devices, so you can view it at any time, even without an internet connection. If you come across something interesting but can’t waste time because of a pressing task, keep the web page in your Pocket for later.

Momentum

Momentum is a custom page that replaces the default Chrome landing page. Equipped with a personalized dashboard that features a beautiful scenic background, a daily inspirational quote, a weather report, a to-do list, and widgets for your favorite sites, Momentum could just be the dose of inspiration you’re looking for.

Learn more about the different productivity apps the Chrome Web Store has to offer. Get in touch with our experts today.

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Is your Google Chrome browser a little slower lately? While Chrome is widely known as the browser of choice, it does have a habit of consuming a lot of system RAM. Additionally, there are times when it feels slower than before. Fortunately, these problems are simple to fix. Here are some speed hacks that will make Chrome faster.

Clear your browsing data

Chrome stores cached copies of websites you visit so it can load the page faster when you visit them again. It also keeps a database of your browsing history and cookies for the same purpose. As you visit more and more websites, these pieces of data accumulate in Chrome and can slow the browser down.

Thankfully, the solution is easy: clear your cache. Simply access your browsing history by entering chrome://history in your address bar. From the left panel, select Clear browsing data. Choose which data to delete by clicking on the checkboxes of all items you want deleted, like cached images or cookies. You can also select the time range that will be affected by the deletion. You can delete your history for the past hour, the last 24 hours, the last seven days, and from the beginning of time. Once you’ve selected the files you want to delete and their corresponding time range, click Clear data.

Disable extensions

Extensions are downloadable programs from the Chrome Web Store that you can add to your browser to give it more functionality and a personalized touch. For example, you can add an extension that blocks ads, one that shortens URLs, or one that shows your most important tasks of the day. While these extensions are useful, they can slow Chrome down if there are too many installed at once.

Most extensions will show on Chrome’s address bar, and you can quickly uninstall them by right-clicking on their icons and selecting Remove from Chrome. You can also manage all extensions by typing chrome://extensions in your browser and hitting Enter. From there, you’ll find a list of all the extensions you have (even those you don’t remember installing). Simply scroll through the list and click Remove to delete the extensions you don’t need.

Remove ads and malware

Sometimes, Chrome slows down because of malware or adware extensions. Extra toolbars, recurring pop-up ads, and web pages redirecting to other addresses are clear indications of these. Google once had a downloadable app developed for Chrome that scans and removes unwanted programs called the Clean Up Tool. In 2018, Google discontinued that app and made malware scanning even easier. Just type chrome://settings/cleanup in your browser, and click on Find to detect and remove harmful software on your computer.

A top-performing web browser benefits your business in many ways, including enhancing your employees’ productivity and speeding up communication. If your web browser is performing poorly or takes forever to load a page, don’t hesitate to get in touch with us so we can identify and fix the problem right away.

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As one of the fastest browsers in the market, Google Chrome is the perfect match for quick-paced internet users of the 21st century. But like any technology that stores information, Chrome’s performance can slow down and frustrate its users. It can also affect their productivity and lower their motivation. If you’re using Chrome and finding it sluggish, don’t fret. Simply follow these troubleshooting methods to improve your browser’s speed again.

Clear your browsing data

Chrome stores a cached copy of a website you visit, so it can load the page faster when you visit it again. It also keeps a database of your browsing history and cookies for the same purpose. As you visit more and more websites, these pieces of data accumulate in Chrome and can slow the browser down.

Thankfully, the solution to this is easy: clear your cache. To do this, simply access your browsing history by entering chrome://history on your address bar. From the left panel, select Clear browsing data. Choose which data will be deleted by clicking on the checkboxes of all items you want to delete, like cached images or cookies. You can also select the time range that will be affected by the deletion. You can delete your history for the past hour, the last 24 hours, the last 7 days, the last 4 weeks, or from the beginning of time. Once you’ve selected the files you want to delete and their corresponding time range, click Clear data.

Disable extensions

Extensions are downloadable programs from the Chrome Web Store that you can add to your browser to give it more functionality and a personalized touch. For example, you can add an extension that blocks ads, one that shortens URLs, or one that shows you your most important tasks of the day. While these extensions are useful, they can slow Chrome down when there are too many installed at once.

Most extensions will show on Chrome’s address bar, and you can quickly uninstall them by right-clicking on their icons and selecting Remove from Chrome. You can also manage all extensions by typing chrome://extensions on your browser and hitting Enter. From there, you’ll find a list of all the extensions you have (even those you don’t remember installing). Simply scroll through the list and click Remove to delete the extensions you don’t need.

Remove ads and malware

Sometimes, Chrome slows down because of malware or adware extensions. Extra toolbars, recurring pop-up ads, and web pages redirecting to other addresses are clear indications of these. Google once had a downloadable app developed for Chrome that scans and removes unwanted programs called the Clean Up Tool. In 2018, Google discontinued that app and made malware scanning even easier. Just go to chrome://settings/cleanup on your browser, and click on Find to find and remove harmful software on your computer.

A top-performing web browser benefits your business in many ways, including upping employees’ productivity and speeding up communication processes. It’s therefore critical that yours is fast and reliable. If your web browser is performing poorly or takes forever to load a page, don’t hesitate to get in touch with us so we can identify and fix the problem right away.

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Ads are becoming increasingly intrusive on today’s web browsers. They can slow down the load time of pages, and cause potential security and privacy issues. So it’s no surprise that ad blockers are becoming more and more popular. However, as they do, they’re also cutting into the revenue of online advertisers. With the upcoming release of Opera’s new ad blocker that’s incorporated directly into the browser, business owners may be both excited and disturbed. On one hand, their own personal browsing experience will be smoother with less disruptive ads, and on another their advertising reach may become more limited.

How it works

When Opera’s new ad blocking feature becomes live, it will be switched off by default. However, when an ad is causing a web page to slow down, the user will be prompted to turn it on. If you’re an Opera user who’d like to do this for yourself, simply click the shield icon in the upper right hand corner of your browser. For whatever reason, if you don’t want to block ads for a specific website, you’ll also have that option, which can be adjusted in the browser’s settings.

Why is Opera doing this?

One spokeswoman for Opera remarked, “Ad-blocking technology is an opportunity and a wake-up call to the advertising industry to pay attention to what consumers are actually saying.” In other words, consumers are annoyed with intrusive ads that are irrelevant, and Opera believes this is an opportunity for advertisers to create better, more engaging ads. When that happens, ad blocking will become less of an issue.

How will this affect your business?

Ad blocking is not new, as other browsers provide a similar service. The only difference is that competitors like Google Chrome and Firefox use extensions to enable this feature. However, Opera has said that with the use of their native ad blocker, their browser on average runs 45% faster than using Google Chrome with the AdBlock Plus extension and 21% faster than using Firefox with that same extension. In today’s browser competition, and really the world in general, speed is currency. And this could cause users to abandon their current browser and flock to Opera.

You should bear in mind that right now, Opera isn’t an incredibly popular browser. According to the online statistics service W3Counter, Opera was only used by 3% of all Internet users this past February, while Google Chrome was used by 47.5%. With that said, many of Opera’s technological advances have later caught on with other major browsers. For example, Opera pioneered both pop-up blocking and tabbed browsing, which are now the norm for major browsers.

So if your business heavily relies on online advertisements, should you be worried? Unfortunately only time will tell. With that said, it’s likely not time to panic just yet.

What can your business do?

Some companies, like Forbes and New York Times, are already taking action, and experimenting with preventing ad blocking users to access their site. While this probably isn’t an option for you just yet, there are other marketing avenues you can explore. For example, businesses that rely on inbound marketing, which drives users to your business by providing free valuable content, will see little effect (if any) by Opera’s new ad blocking feature. Also, it should be noted that Opera’s ad blocker will not block all ads. It is predominantly focusing on those that are intrusive to users and cause browsing slow down. So if you’re a big on those pesky flash ads that many Internet users despise, it’s likely wise to shift focus to creating leaner, more engaging ads. They’re much less likely to be blocked.

Want to learn more about ad blocking, browsers or cloud technology? Send us a message. We’re happy to help in anyway we can.

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