Why Is Chrome Taking So Long To Download

May 19, 2010 Its been like 30 minutes since the installer of Google Chrome has been up. Its still at the stage of 'inializing'. My internet is not slow, so I wouldn't expect the download of the browser to take that long. But when I download a Steam game like Sonic Forces, it peaks at 35MBs and hangs around 15MBs and it downloads 1 GBs at like 30 seconds, but chrome takes years to download 171 MBs. What the fuck why it's Chrome so slow?! I just cleared the cache and it went from 90KBs to 200KBs, but it's not enough.

1. Why Is Chrome Taking So Long To Download Games
2. Why Is Chrome Taking So Long To Download

You might have heard that age-old adage which says 'slow and steady wins the race', but when it comes to the performance of your website, that certainly is a recipe for failure.

Here are our Top 10 Reasons for Slow Loading Websites.

1. Unoptimized Images

A large volume of unoptimized images is usually the most common reason behind website slowness. High-resolution images can consume lots of bandwidth while loading. Uploading larger sized images and then scaling them down can unnecessarily increase the size of your web page – causing your website to load slowly.

The image format is another important factor to consider.

For example, JPEG images are much smaller in size compared to other image formats like PNG or GIF. Quite naturally, your web page will load faster if you are using JPEG images instead of PNG/GIF.

Takeaways:

• Check the file size of your images, anything above 1MB is really unacceptable.
• Use JPEG instead of PNG, especially for larger images. Icons are ok.
• Use waterfall tests to easily scan image sizes and take corrective action.
• Unoptimized images can cost you money in form of bandwidth overage.

2. JavaScript Issues

The availability of JavaScript/jQuery plugins has made it really convenient to add dynamic content to websites. However, if implemented incorrectly, JavaScript can cripple your website's page load speed.

It takes time for jQuery & JavaScript to be loaded, interpreted and executed. So if you are using multiple API calls to render JavaScript/jQuery data, it can result in significant delay while loading the web pages.

Takeaways:

• Script bloat is real. Audit your JavaScript scripts to see what you really need and remove what you don't.
• Asynchronous loading is a must.
• Consider using something like Segment or Google Tag Manager. A single script for all your tools!

3. Too Much Flash Content

Although Flash is a great tool for adding interactivity to your website, it is highly likely contributing to your slow page load speed. Flash content is usually bulky in size and the bigger the file size is, the slower your pages will load.

Reducing the size of your Flash files or eliminating it altogether would improve your page loading speed significantly. If you are willing to make your website faster, you should look for HTML5 alternatives to replace your existing Flash content.

Takeaways:

• Flash is very bulky and is not good for performance.
• Flash used to be cool. It's not anymore.
• Look for HTML5 replacements.

4. Excessive HTTP Requests

Having loads of JavaScript, CSS, and image files can lead to too many HTTP requests. When a user visits your web page, the browser performs several requests to load each of these files – which can significantly reduce the page load speed.

Takeaways:

• Use Sprites to reduce HTTP requests.
• Reduce the number of files on your pages where possible. Includes CSS, images, javascript.
• Minify your CSS and Javascript files reduces # of total files users will have to download.

5. Not Making Use of Caching Techniques

Caching is known to improve the performance of websites by leaps and bounds. If you're not caching, you're missing out. It's a technique that let's you store frequently used data points in the ‘cached memory'.

Any subsequent requests for the same content gets served from the cached memory, thus speeding up the whole data retrieval process.

By implementing browser/HTTP caching and server-side caching, you are likely to experience a huge improvement in the performance of your website.

Takeaways:

• Caching drastically improves performance.
• You can cache a bunch of things from HTTP, Database Queries, to images.
• If you can cache something, do it. But do it carefully so you don't mess something up. It can be tricky.

6. Unclean Code

Another common culprit for website slowness is unclean coding. When you make your website, excessive white spaces, inline stylings, empty new lines and unnecessary comments can make the website stylesheet grow larger in size.

By removing these unnecessary elements, you can compress the code, reduce the file size and improve the overall page load time and if you're tracking rankings you'll probably see a boost in your SEO performance too. In technical terms, this process is known as minifying. If you are not comfortable with coding, there are several online tools that can be used to clean and minify your stylesheet files. Alternatively, you can use a helping hand of some IT services providers.

Takeaways:

• Attention to detail matters.
• Don't be lazy and use inline CSS
• Try not to create multiple CSS stylesheets when you can use a single one.
• Minify!

7. Not Using gZIP Compression

By enabling gZIP compression, you instruct the server to wrap all the web objects (images, CSS, JavaScript files etc) in a single container before they are sent over to the requesting browser.

Compression lowers response time by reducing the size of data being transferred between your server and the visitors' browser, which in turn helps in serving the requested content much faster.

If you are yet to enable gZIP compression on your website, then it's the first thing you should do without wasting any further time.

Takeaways:

• gZIP compression is an easy performance win.
• It wraps up all your web objects (images, CSS, jS) in a single container to be sent to requesting browser

8. Too Many Ads

No doubt display advertisements are great for monetizing high traffic websites.

But that shouldn't come at the cost of compromised performance or user experience. Don't let too many ads be another reason why your website is slow!

The most obvious impact of overloading your website with advertisements is the addition of HTTP requests, which would need additional processing time.

Especially the rich media ads – like pop unders, interstitials and auto downloads – may create hundreds of HTTP requests making your website unresponsive.

To sum things up, limiting the number of display advertisements will ensure better performance for your website.However, there may be some creative options outside of limiting ads. The team at gaming site Solitaired, for example, experimented with loading ads based on a timed delay on when users started playing their solitaire game. As a result, page speed improved and they were able to maintain ad revenue.

Takeaways:

• Advertisements are additional HTTP requests and slow down page loading time.
• Use them only where you need to, it will improve performance, UX, and CTR's to your ads.

9. Not Using a CDN Service

A CDN service is a distributed network of independent servers deployed in different geographic locations, that can serve web content to visitors with high availability and high performance.

Depending upon the geographic location of your visitor, the requested content gets served by the node located at the nearest available data center. It would minimize the round-trip-time (RTT) and serve the requested content in a much quicker time.

Takeaways:

• Not mandatory, but CDN can help. Especially if you have visitors from around the world.
• CDN caches frequently accessed data in geographically distributed datacenters.
• They can help minimise round-trip-time (RTT) and serve content faster for your audiences.

10. Bad Hosting

Your web hosting service provider makes a huge difference when it comes to website performance. Yes, your slower-than-average page load speed may not be entirely your own fault.

If you have tried correcting all the above-mentioned causes and yet your website seems to be responding slowly, then switching your hosting provider may just solve your problem. Choose a hosting provider that offer performance optimisation services bundled in the price of the hosting.

Real managed hosting should include this.

For example at EuroVPS, we offer custom web servers, built for each client individually and according to his web site's needs. We know how each tool will best interface with the most popular scripts on the market today,including Drupal, WordPress, Expression Engine, Joomla and more.

Slow loading websites shouldn't 'be a thing' if your hosting provider knows what they are doing.

Conclusion

Website page load speed depends on a variety of factors such as unoptimized images, a high number of HTTP requests, bulky codes, and JavaScript issues to name a few.

It can be a difficult task to figure out what exactly is causing the website to slow down. No matter what the root cause might be, you should leave no stones unturned to get to the bottom of the issue because failure to do so could be the difference between an additional $1000/month in revenue.

At EuroVPS, our Support team will help you get rid of slow loading websites for good. We'll help you adjust Apache parameters, PHP configurations & versions, as well as even compile custom Apache/PHP stacks upon request.

95% of the consumers' decisions are made at the sub-conscious level.

So if your web pages aren't fast, everything else suffers.

Every millisecond can make the difference, optimizing your server for class-leading performance is now more important than ever before.

We usually joke about the fact that everyone uses Internet Explorer or its upgraded version Microsoft Edge Browser to install Google Chrome only. What if Edge gets a bit cranky and doesn't let you download Google Chrome? That's what is happening with some Windows 10 users. If you are also facing the issue where Windows 10 is blocking Google Chrome installation, then you are at the right place.

Sometimes, when Chrome is giving you trouble or when you upgrade your PC, you may want to reinstall Chrome. Typically, you would open another browser and proceed to download Chrome. But sadly, the installer gets stuck on ‘Downloading' or ‘Waiting to Download' option.

What do you do in such a situation? How do you install your beloved Chrome again? Find the answer here where we tell you how to fix Google Chrome stuck on downloading.

1. Restart Your Computer

It's a good practice to shut down your computer after using it instead of putting it on sleep or hibernating it. If you are trying to install Chrome on a system that hasn't been restarted in a while or you recently uninstalled Chrome, you should start by restarting your PC.

2. Set Correct Date and Time

Setting the correct date and time plays a vital role in the proper functioning of your PC. If downloads fail on your system, verify whether your PC has a correct date or not. For that, right-click on the date and time in the taskbar and select Adjust date/time from the menu. In case the date and time are missing from the taskbar, fix it first.

Enable the options for Set time automatically and Set time zone automatically. Also, click on Sync now present under Synchronize your clock. Then, try installing Chrome.

3. Download Offline Installer

Typically, when you install Chrome, you download a small installation file. You need an active internet connection to install it fully. If the installation fails, you can try installing it from the offline installer. Download it from the link given below, and once downloaded, click on it to start the installation process.

Compression lowers response time by reducing the size of data being transferred between your server and the visitors' browser, which in turn helps in serving the requested content much faster.

If you are yet to enable gZIP compression on your website, then it's the first thing you should do without wasting any further time.

Takeaways:

• gZIP compression is an easy performance win.
• It wraps up all your web objects (images, CSS, jS) in a single container to be sent to requesting browser

8. Too Many Ads

No doubt display advertisements are great for monetizing high traffic websites.

But that shouldn't come at the cost of compromised performance or user experience. Don't let too many ads be another reason why your website is slow!

The most obvious impact of overloading your website with advertisements is the addition of HTTP requests, which would need additional processing time.

Especially the rich media ads – like pop unders, interstitials and auto downloads – may create hundreds of HTTP requests making your website unresponsive.

To sum things up, limiting the number of display advertisements will ensure better performance for your website.However, there may be some creative options outside of limiting ads. The team at gaming site Solitaired, for example, experimented with loading ads based on a timed delay on when users started playing their solitaire game. As a result, page speed improved and they were able to maintain ad revenue.

Takeaways:

• Advertisements are additional HTTP requests and slow down page loading time.
• Use them only where you need to, it will improve performance, UX, and CTR's to your ads.

9. Not Using a CDN Service

A CDN service is a distributed network of independent servers deployed in different geographic locations, that can serve web content to visitors with high availability and high performance.

Depending upon the geographic location of your visitor, the requested content gets served by the node located at the nearest available data center. It would minimize the round-trip-time (RTT) and serve the requested content in a much quicker time.

Takeaways:

• Not mandatory, but CDN can help. Especially if you have visitors from around the world.
• CDN caches frequently accessed data in geographically distributed datacenters.
• They can help minimise round-trip-time (RTT) and serve content faster for your audiences.

10. Bad Hosting

Your web hosting service provider makes a huge difference when it comes to website performance. Yes, your slower-than-average page load speed may not be entirely your own fault.

If you have tried correcting all the above-mentioned causes and yet your website seems to be responding slowly, then switching your hosting provider may just solve your problem. Choose a hosting provider that offer performance optimisation services bundled in the price of the hosting.

Real managed hosting should include this.

For example at EuroVPS, we offer custom web servers, built for each client individually and according to his web site's needs. We know how each tool will best interface with the most popular scripts on the market today,including Drupal, WordPress, Expression Engine, Joomla and more.

Slow loading websites shouldn't 'be a thing' if your hosting provider knows what they are doing.

Conclusion

Website page load speed depends on a variety of factors such as unoptimized images, a high number of HTTP requests, bulky codes, and JavaScript issues to name a few.

It can be a difficult task to figure out what exactly is causing the website to slow down. No matter what the root cause might be, you should leave no stones unturned to get to the bottom of the issue because failure to do so could be the difference between an additional $1000/month in revenue.

At EuroVPS, our Support team will help you get rid of slow loading websites for good. We'll help you adjust Apache parameters, PHP configurations & versions, as well as even compile custom Apache/PHP stacks upon request.

95% of the consumers' decisions are made at the sub-conscious level.

So if your web pages aren't fast, everything else suffers.

Every millisecond can make the difference, optimizing your server for class-leading performance is now more important than ever before.

We usually joke about the fact that everyone uses Internet Explorer or its upgraded version Microsoft Edge Browser to install Google Chrome only. What if Edge gets a bit cranky and doesn't let you download Google Chrome? That's what is happening with some Windows 10 users. If you are also facing the issue where Windows 10 is blocking Google Chrome installation, then you are at the right place.

Sometimes, when Chrome is giving you trouble or when you upgrade your PC, you may want to reinstall Chrome. Typically, you would open another browser and proceed to download Chrome. But sadly, the installer gets stuck on ‘Downloading' or ‘Waiting to Download' option.

What do you do in such a situation? How do you install your beloved Chrome again? Find the answer here where we tell you how to fix Google Chrome stuck on downloading.

1. Restart Your Computer

It's a good practice to shut down your computer after using it instead of putting it on sleep or hibernating it. If you are trying to install Chrome on a system that hasn't been restarted in a while or you recently uninstalled Chrome, you should start by restarting your PC.

2. Set Correct Date and Time

Setting the correct date and time plays a vital role in the proper functioning of your PC. If downloads fail on your system, verify whether your PC has a correct date or not. For that, right-click on the date and time in the taskbar and select Adjust date/time from the menu. In case the date and time are missing from the taskbar, fix it first.

Enable the options for Set time automatically and Set time zone automatically. Also, click on Sync now present under Synchronize your clock. Then, try installing Chrome.

3. Download Offline Installer

Typically, when you install Chrome, you download a small installation file. You need an active internet connection to install it fully. If the installation fails, you can try installing it from the offline installer. Download it from the link given below, and once downloaded, click on it to start the installation process.

4. Turn off Smart Screen

Windows 10 includes a protective feature called Smart Screen that saves you against phishing and stops you from downloading malicious files. However, sometimes, it stops Chrome from letting you download the normal files too. To fix it, you need to disable Smart Screen on your PC.

For that, follow these steps:

Step 1: Open Settings on your PC from the Start Menu. Alternatively, press Windows and I keys on the keyboard.

Step 2: Go to Update and Security.

Step 3: Click on Windows Security in the left sidebar and select App & browser control on the right side.

Step 4: Under SmartScreen for Microsoft Edge, either select Warn or select Off.

Step 5: Restart your PC and then try downloading Chrome.

5. Enough Storage

If you are unable to download anything from your browser, make sure you have enough storage space on your PC. You can use the Storage Sense feature to free up space.

6. Disable Antivirus

Sometimes, the antivirus software present on your computer also prevents Chrome from installing successfully. If you are installing Chrome after getting it from an authorized source, you should try disabling antivirus for a while. Then try to install Chrome. You can also check your firewall settings and see if something is wrong.

7. Change Download Path

At times, the download path is pointing to an invalid location. Possibly that's why you are unable to download anything from the Edge browser. To fix it, you have to change its download location.

For that, follow these steps:

Step 1: Launch the Edge browser and click on the three-dot icon at the top. Select Settings from the menu.

Step 2: Scroll down in the General section, and you will find Downloads. Click on Change and choose a valid location.

8. Use Internet Explorer

Who would have thought that someone would suggest using the old Internet Explorer as a fix? Well, as they say, old is gold. If the new Edge browser is giving you trouble, Internet Explorer will come to your rescue. It's pre-installed on your PC. Use the search to find it and then download Chrome using it.

9. Disable S Mode

If you are running Windows 10 S edition, then you can install apps from Microsoft Store only. That might be the reason why Chrome installation is failing for you.

To fix it, you need to convert your PC from Windows 10 S edition to Windows 10 Pro. Then you can install any app. While the process is free and easy, there is a drawback that you cannot go back to the S mode. It's a one-way journey. So be careful before you take this step.

Here's how to switch out of S mode in Windows 10.

Step 1: Open Settings on your PC and go to Update and Security.

Step 2: Click on Activation in the left sidebar.

Step 3: Under the Switch to Windows 10 Home or Switch to Windows 10 Pro section, click on Go to the Store.

Step 4: Follow the on-screen instructions.

Why Is Chrome Taking So Long To Download Games

Welcome Chrome

Microsoft Edge isn't that bad. However, once you get used to Chrome, it just keeps you tied to the Google services and the convenient features. And that's why it's the first thing we install when we get a new PC. We hope you were able to install Google Chrome on your PC using the fixes mentioned above. In case you like the Edge browser and wondering if you can use it on your phone, here's how it differs from Chrome on Android.

Next up: Once the Chrome is up and running, it might also give you troubles in the future. You can fix those by resetting Chrome. Know from the next link what happens by resetting Chrome.

Did You Know

You can use Chrome to play some of the common audio and video file formats.

Why Is Chrome Taking So Long To Download

More in Windows

2 Best Ways to Enable or Disable Windows 10 Firewall Notifications