For any items that no longer seem relevant, click the 'Remove' button and send 'em a-packin'. Look at every item on that page and think carefully about whether you really, truly still need it and how much value it adds to your life. Start by opening a new browser tab and typing chrome:extensions into the address bar. That's why assessing your app and extension situation once a year can go a long way in keeping your Chromebook cleaned up and capable of giving you the best possible experience, without any asterisks attached.

Such programs have the potential to run in the background, where they sometimes eat up system resources faster than I eat up potatoes, and also to bog down the actual loading of web pages (especially when it comes to extensions associated with the browser itself).īeyond that, unneeded apps waste precious space in your device's local storage and clutter things up visually, making it tougher to find the stuff you actually use on a regular basis. If there's one factor that can slow a Chromebook down - not to mention open the door to unnecessary data sharing - it's having the system overloaded with apps and extensions you don't actually need. Step 1: Uninstall unnecessary Chrome apps and extensions Time required: 3 minutes Take a few minutes now to go through these steps, then rest easy all year knowing your Chromebook is running at its best and ready to handle whatever tasks (and maybe even soft objects) you throw its way. And they don't take long at all to power through. So let me share a little secret with you: Despite Chrome OS's minimal-upkeep nature, there are some things you can do to clean up your Chromebook, clear out its clutter, and keep it primed for optimal productivity (and/or procrastination - equally important, as far as I'm concerned). Plus, you have impeccable tastes in tech-related reading material (clearly). You like knowing your tech is always in tip-top shape. By and large, things 'just work' - like, for real.īut hey, you're a proactive person. There's no antivirus software to fret over, either, and little in the way of complicated settings or compatibility concerns. Google's Chrome OS operating system updates itself silently and automatically - as do most of the core apps associated with the platform - and it doesn't get gunked up and slowed down over time, as traditional operating systems tend to do.

As far as computers go, Chromebooks are almost shockingly low-maintenance.

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