Hey friends!
I’m Tasia and this video is all about Google Chrome optimization.
If you use Google Chrome as your main browser like I do, there may be some default Google
Chrome settings you want to adjust.
So here are 5 Google Chrome settings to change now.
Now you guys know I love a quick tip before we dive into a list, heck I love quick tips
in general, so quick tip!
Always be sure before you do anything and when you're using Chrome, to keep your Chrome
browser up-to-date with the latest version.
It's really easy to do and sometimes does it automatically but if you want to know how
to do that, leave a comment below.
So as of the day I’m shooting this video, I’m running the latest official build version.
Now onto the 5 Google Chrome settings to change now.
Number 1 on the list: Clear your browsing data.
I want you to think of this as an initial clean up of your chrome browser.
So to access this and any of these Chrome settings, from any tab in your Chrome browser,
click the 3 dot menu icon in the top right and then select ‘settings’.
To clear your browsing data, scroll down to the ‘privacy and security’ section, and
select ‘clear browsing data’.
In this pop-up, you can select a time range.
Then you can select what you want to clear.
You can clear your entire browsing history, you can clear cookies and other site data,
and then you can clear cached images and files.
So, quick note - when you clear your cookies, you will be signed out of any sites you’re
signed into.
So if you’re used to just opening a site and being automatically signed in, you’ll
have to manually sign in after clearing cookies.
So once you’ve selected everything you want to clear, just click ‘clear data’.
So now that you’ve cleared your browsing data, we can move on to number 2 on the list:
auto-delete your browsing data… basically you can choose how long to keep your web and
app activity for.
From your settings, click on ‘manage your google account’.
This is going to open a new tab and from here, select ‘manage your data and personalization’.
You can also click it from the lefthand side here too.
Now here under web and app activity’ click the arrow to open some more controls.
Here, you can choose an auto-delete option.
Just select how often you want to delete your activity, and any data older than that will
be automatically deleted from your account - your entire google account here - on an
ongoing basis.
Number 3 on the list: turn off notifications.
It sounds like such a simple tip to make a list, but if you’re easily distracted, you
may want to can it with the notifications.
From your settings, click on ‘privacy and security’, and then select ‘site settings’.
Now from here, first of all, you can adjust some camera and microphone permissions here
too.
But, if you head to notifications, yours may say ‘ask before sending’ which is the
default setting in Chrome.
Click on this and here you can site by site grant or deny notification permissions.
But first look at the top here.
You can toggle on the option to use quieter messaging, so Chrome will intuitively block
notifications from interrupting you.
But to go site by site, as an example, sometimes I get a ton of Facebook notifications and
they can be annoying constantly popping up on my screen.
So I can click on Facebook here, and then here under notifications, I can select ‘block’.
Coming in at number 4 : Block third party cookies, which can stop some sites from tracking
you.
Back in your settings, head back to the ‘privacy and security’ section, and click on ‘cookies
and other site data’.
Basically, advertisers can use cookies to track your browsing data, so like when you
see ads for something you were just searching for.
So, from here, you can block all third party cookies if you feel so inclined.
Or you can even clear cookies and site data every time you quit Chrome.
Here’s the thing: if you’re really that concerned with privacy and who’s tracking
you, you probably want to reconsider certain web browsers in the first place, and maybe
never walk around with a small computer in your pocket ever again.
But this is just a nice way to have a little more control.
I’ve saved the best for last.
Moving on to number 5 on the list: manage and add search engines in order to search
multiple sites really quickly.
This is a big one.
So we’re back in our trusty settings page, and this time, click on ‘search engine’
on the left.
Now here at the top, we can toggle to select a different search engine to be used in the
address bar.
I don’t know why you’d never want to Google it, but maybe you’re a Bing girl or a DuckDuckGo
boy, and you just go for it!
But further adjustments are available in this ‘manage search engines’ section.
So click that, and here you have a list of default search engines and other search engines
under those.
This is where things get really cool, so pay attention!
We’re using keywords so you can search in any search engine from your default search
engine chrome browser bar.
Are you following?
Because you should be!
Click on ‘add’ just underneath your default browsers.
And let’s say we want to be able to quickly search Wikipedia for something.
In ‘search engine’ field we’ll type in Wikipedia.
Then, in the keyword field, this is where you’ll enter a text shortcut that you want
to use for the search engine.
Make it a shortcut you’re going to remember.
So for this, I’ll just type wiki.
Now the last field is where you are going to add a URL.
But not the standard website address.
So go to the search engine you want to add and actually do a search.
Search for whatever, it doesn’t matter.
Now, whatever you searched, copy that address for this search results page.
Now, back in your Chrome settings where you left off, paste that address in the URL section.
Now, replace the search term with a % symbol and lower case s.
Just replacing the search term.
Now here’s where the magic happens.
Open up a new Chrome tab.
In the browser bar, just type in the shortcut you created.
So I’ll type in wiki.
And look at this, Chrome will prompt you to hit tab in order to search in that search
engine directly.
After you hit tab, just enter your search term and voila!
You are given results only from that search engine.
And, just so you guys know, you can of course edit any of these existing ones back in your
search engine settings on chrome.
So, do you see how my keywords here are the full site?
I can click this menu icon, select edit, and then change the keyword to something shorter.
Now, just like we saw for the Wikipedia example, if I only want to search duckduckgo from my
browser bar, I can do that with the shortcut duck!
Amazing.
How cool is that?
It’s a game-changer, time-saver, just for you.
Well, those are my top 5 Google Chrome settings to change now.
Now I want to hear from you!
What are some Chrome settings you’ve changed and why?
Let everyone know in the comments below.
As always, if you liked this video, I want to know so give it a like, a share, or leave
that comment below.
You can click right about here to subscribe to my channel and right about here and here
for even more Google content.
Thanks for watching guys and see ya next time.