Michael Lowry

January 31, 2018

Google Chrome is the most used internet browser as of today. People who use it every day shall be shocked to know how easier their lives can be while surfing the web by just using these simple built-in chrome features.

Don’t want to listen to that background voice? Mute it

The first one on the list pretty simple. In case you ever opened a website, and it started playing audio/video in the background itself, while you are over, looking at another tab, it is pretty annoying. What you need to do is just right click on the tab and choose Mute Tab. This way you don’t have to close the tab just to end that annoying audio.

Notification Requests are pesky, block them

There are sites like Facebook and others which requests you to allow them to send those pesky notifications. There is a way to stop such requests altogether. Just go to Chrome Settings, reach the end of the page, and click on Advanced. Then head to the Privacy and security section. There would be an option by the name of Content Settings. Choose it and then choose Notifications. Now, all you need to do is to toggle Notifications to Blocked. The default is always Ask.

You can always Pin Tabs for quick access

If you find yourself always accessing a particular website multiple times a day, then you can easily Pin it. Just right-click on the tab and select Pin tab. This way the tab would shift towards the most left, and even the size of the tab shall be reduced giving way for more tabs to be open simultaneously.

Block Autoplay Videos

Do you find it hard to mute tabs every time? There is a simple fix for this too. Just navigate to the following URL using Google Chrome’s URL Bar: chrome://flags/#autoplay-policy. This will open a set of features which aren’t yet made available to the public but are in testing phase. Now from the drop-down menu, next to Autoplay policy, just choose Document user activation is required and then click on the Relaunch Now button.

Closed that tab accidentally? No problem

You can easily reopen the last closed tab by pressing Command-Shift-T on a Mac or Ctrl-Shift-T on a common computer.

Google search can be done much faster

We know that you must be thinking that the quickest way to search a word on the screen you may want to know about is to write or paste it in the Google Chrome address bar and then pressing enter. It is not. There is an even quicker way of doing this by selecting the text and then right-clicking on it to bring the contextual menu. Now just click on Search Google for “_________”, and you shall be taken straight away to the respective search page.

Reset your screen to Normal View

Ever accidentally zoomed in or out the screen too much and don’t have the time adjusting it to normal? No worries. Just press the Ctrl+0 (zero) if you work on a Windows PC or Command-0 if you own a mac, and your screen shall magically reset its size to normal.

Begin where you left off

If you want to start where you left your previous session when you shut down your laptop, then just head over to Chrome’s Settings. Then scroll down till you see the On Startup option. Select that and then choose Continue where you left off. It’s easy as this.