Google Chrome Cheat Sheet: 10 Tips and Tricks

Even though it's the new kid on the block (relatively speaking), Google's Chrome browser is rapidly becoming the standard that other browsers are measured against in terms of speed and usability. There's a ton to be written about how to get the most out of Google's deceptively-simple browser, but today we're focusing just on the brass tacks. Read on for 10 quick tips to help you make the most of Google Chrome and when you're done, hit the comments and tell us your own favorites!

Configure Multiple Homepages

Consider yourself a power user, do you? Then why rock but a single homepage? You can configure Chrome to load multiple sites every time you open your browser. Click the Wrench icon and navigate to Tools > Basics and start adding sites. Don’t overdo it though—you’ll bog down your initial load time.

Cheat at Math

The Google Suggests feature in Chrome is your key to impressing co-workers with your unlimited knowledge of numbers. Just type your math query into the Omnibar and the answer will appear without ever having to punch the Enter key. Goodbye Windows Calculator!

Audit Your Tabs

Have a sneaky suspicion one of your tabs is a resource pig? You can find out which sites are dragging your browser (and your system) down. Just hit Shift+Esc to open up Chrome’s built-in Task Manager to see how much memory and CPU cycles each tab is consuming.

Test Drive Multiple Versions of Chrome

If you want access to new features before everyone else, you have to subscribe to Chrome’s Beta or Dev channel, both of which replace your stable build. Not keen with that? Try Chrome’s Canary build (http://tinyurl.com/2b2jof9). It’s the most frequently updated version of Chrome, and it installs alongside whatever other version you’re running.

Convert Webpages into App Shortcuts

App shortcuts open in a dedicated window devoid of browser buttons and are handy for frequently accessed sites, like Gmail, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and, well, you get the idea. To create one, navigate to Wrench > Tools > Create application shortcuts… and punch the Create button.

Dig Yourself Out of a Link Hole

Once you’ve burrowed deep within a website, navigating back several pages (or to the beginning) involves rapid firing the backspace key. Hello carpal tunnel. There’s a better way click and hold Chrome’s back button to see a list of links you’ve been to. This works with the forward button, too.

Learn What All the Fuss is ‘About’

You’re probably already familiar with Firefox’s About:Config page, and while this doesn’t work in Chrome, several other About pages do exist. Try these on for size:
About:DNS
About:Cache
About:Plugins
About:Memory
About:Crash

Edit Any Site’s Code (Legally)

We don’t condone hacking into someone else’s website, but you can muck with any webpage locally so that the changes are only visible on your PC. Right-click any part of a page you want to alter and select Inspect element. Any changes you make to the Elements tab will appear in real time.

Benchmark Your Website’s Load Time

The Inspect element option is also your gateway to seeing how fast certain parts of your site (or anyone else’s site) load. Access the Inspect element option the same as before, but this time head over to the Resources tab. Use this info to code a super lean webpage.

Shrink Tabs into Favicons

One of the headaches that come with being a power surfer is that our browser window quickly gets cluttered with tabs. Luckily for us, Google made it easy to wrangle tabs into manageable favicons that take up much less space. Just right-click and select Pin Tab. 

Now that you've read through our tips, tell us what we missed! Hit the comments to chime in. If we think your submission is the best, we'll send you two Maximum PC collector's edition coins.

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