Chrome very slow on home computer

fade · Feb 2, 2018

Chrome has gotten nearly unusably slow on my home PC. I have tried many fixes, but none seem to work. I've googled the specific issues with no real luck either. Maybe someone can help.

It takes Chrome a long time to open. New tabs take 2-3 seconds to appear. Option boxes, when they do drop down, take a really long time. Though curiously, if I tab to them, I can use them easily with the keyboard. None of this happens on my work PC which has the same OS and is synced to the same account, and which is a much less capable machine. My home PC is Windows 10, latest version, 16 GB RAM, 133 GB free on my boot disk, quad core AMD FX4.

I have tried the following (among many others):

Reset chrome
Disabled all extensions in chrome (though the reset does that, too)
Uninstalled chrome using Revo, removing all registry cruft
I've tried google's own suggestion of disabling hardware acceleration which made no noticeable difference whatsoever
Malware scan
Virus scan

Reiterating that my work PC does not have any of these issues with the same extensions. Firefox also shows none of these symptoms (it's way faster than Chrome was when it was fine, but switching browsers still won't solve whatever is behind the chrome issue.

Any ideas?

strawman · Feb 2, 2018

Given that FF is faster that largely rules out the hardware and internet connection.

I’d be looking at system performance to see what it’s ising (ram, cpu, disk access, internet access) when it’s opening a new tab to locate the culprit. sysinternals can give you a lowere level look at how chrome is using its handles.

Alternately, try a release of chrome from before the slowdown to see if they’ve done something.

My best guess is they’ve implemented the JavaScript engine to make the two recent processor attacks toothless, which has imposed quite a penalty on JavaScript performance compared to their previous engine.

fade · Feb 2, 2018

Okay, but the updates haven't slowed down chrome on my much older, less capable work PC.

PatrThom · Feb 2, 2018

Time to bust out process monitor to find out what’s going on. Long, unexpected pauses suggest RAM or failing hard drive, or possibly some sort of timeout.

—Patrick

fade · Feb 2, 2018

Only in chrome? No other processes are showing this issue.

strawman · Feb 2, 2018

Yes. Chrome does some weirdly specific stuff, and it wouldn't surprise me if the processor difference, or some other seemingly minor difference between the two computers (drivers more than actual hardware, IMO), combined with Chrome's idiosyncrasies, is resulting in this slowdown.

PatrThom · Feb 2, 2018

Also Chrome is a known RAM hog, it always tries to upgrade itself on launch, it generates a burst of disk activity at launch and during use.

—Patrick

GasBandit · Feb 2, 2018

Shot in the dark, here, but have you installed the meltdown/inspectre patches on either machine? Those have been shown to adversely affect CPU performance.

fade · Feb 2, 2018

I should have said i have watched the resource use from chrome, and it's not anything abnormal. Certainly not different than before the slowdown.

GasBandit · Feb 2, 2018

Also, does the affected computer have an SSD or Platter drive, where chrome is installed? If platter, it might be an indication of a failing drive (having to read and re-read data several times to succeed, but not reporting any errors).

fade · Feb 2, 2018

The problem with hardware failures is why just chrome?

PatrThom · Feb 2, 2018

GasBandit said:
Also, does the affected computer have an SSD or Platter drive, where chrome is installed? If platter, it might be an indication of a failing drive (having to read and re-read data several times to succeed, but not reporting any errors).

This is something that a SMART utility (like CrystalDisk) can easily check.

—Patrick

GasBandit · Feb 2, 2018

fade said:
The problem with hardware failures is why just chrome?

Meltdown/Spectre: Chrome uses the CPU. Games and stuff mostly use the GPU, and so the performance hit would be less noticeable there.

Platter drive failure: Might be localized to a certain part of the platter, and Chrome might be the most HDD-use-intensive application in that particular area.

PatrThom · Feb 2, 2018

fade said:
The problem with hardware failures is why just chrome?

If Chrome uses that particular piece of hardware more than anything else, whatever it is, then it will be the thing most affected.

Best to rule out all your hardware before you start looking for wacky stuff like nonstandard DNS resolution, blocked ports, app restrictions, etc. Easy stuff first.

—Patrick

fade · Feb 3, 2018

This windows install was about 5 years old anyway, so I just backed up and reinstalled. I'm typing this from a nice clean, no longer slow Chrome.

PatrThom · Feb 3, 2018

fade said:
This windows install was about 5 years old anyway, so I just backed up and reinstalled. I'm typing this from a nice clean, no longer slow Chrome.

Yay not hardware then.
...unless it was drive after all.

--Patrick

fade · Feb 4, 2018

I thought about that, but I had already reinstalled several times. What are the odds it would've reinstalled onto the same bad sectors?

PatrThom · Feb 4, 2018

fade said:
I thought about that, but I had already reinstalled several times. What are the odds it would've reinstalled onto the same bad sectors?

Very low, since (for @figmentPez ‘s benefit) a hard drive will actively avoid using bad sectors after it knows they’re bad. if they go bad after data have been written there, well, that’s another story. But a freshly-formatted hard drive with bad sectors is supposed to avoid installing anything to the bad areas if it can. If there is no more remaining spare area, however, then it will have no choice.

—Patrick

figmentPez · Feb 4, 2018

PatrThom said:
(for @figmentPez ‘s benefit)

I have no doubts you could be right, but c'mon, he got things working again, no need to be all doom'n'gloom. (Everyone go backup now.)

PatrThom · Feb 4, 2018

Nah, just stating that, as a troubleshooting tool, “works perfectly fine now after clean reinstall” means that software or hard drive just got promoted to being the two most likely causes.

—Patrick

fade · Feb 4, 2018

This thread was a very humbling experience, by the way. I like to think I am pretty IT savvy, so it took some humility to ask for a second opinion.

PatrThom · Feb 4, 2018

fade said:
This thread was a very humbling experience, by the way. I like to think I am pretty IT savvy, so it took some humility to ask for a second opinion.

While I doubt seriously you are the world's worst troubleshooter, if you want help with this, let us know. This kind of thing we have a lot of experience with, and we wouldn't mind helping.

—Patrick

strawman · Feb 4, 2018

I’d have given up long ago.

“Welp, this is my life now.”

fade · Feb 5, 2018

Man, I should've done this a while ago. That install was over the top of 7, and it had a bunch of torrented (PUBLIC torrents) cancer my son installed on it for music software. Anyway, it's like a new computer now. So nice.