Hey, welcome to Invitehawk.. Enjoy your stay and hope you have a good time here.

Hey, welcome to Invitehawk.. Enjoy your stay and hope you have a good time here.

Hey, welcome to Invitehawk.. Enjoy your stay and hope you have a good time here.

Hey, welcome to Invitehawk.. Enjoy your stay and hope you have a good time here.

Does Chrome display the “Err Connection Reset” message when you attempt to open a website? If so, this is because Chrome is having an issue establishing a connection to your website. Luckily, there are some methods you can follow to potentially fix this issue in Chrome. Reboot Your Router Since this issue is related to your network, you should reboot your router and see if that fixes the problem. You can reboot most routers by pressing the power button on the router, letting the router turn off, and then pressing the power button again to turn the router back on. Use the power socket switch if your router doesn’t have a power button. If that doesn’t help and Chrome continues to have this issue, reset your router to the default settings and see if that helps. Keep in mind that resetting your router deletes all your settings and custom configurations on the router. Make Sure Your Internet Works When the “Site can’t be reached because the connection was reset” error message appears, check to see if your internet connection works. It might be that your router works just fine, but you aren't connected to the internet. RELATED: Got A Windows 10 Wi-Fi Problem? Here's How To Fix It You can verify your internet connection’s status by opening a site in a different browser on your computer. If the site loads, everything is okay with your connection. In case the site fails to load in the other browser, you might want to speak to your internet service provider (ISP) and seek its help. Disable the Proxy Server While a proxy server doesn’t normally cause any issues with your browsers, it’s a good idea to disable the proxy server, if any, on your computer and see if this fixes Chrome. Follow these steps to turn a proxy server off in Windows 10: Open the Start menu, search for "Control Panel," and click the first result. Select Large icons from the View by menu in the Control Panel. Click Internet Options. Head to the Connections tab in the box that opens. Click the LAN settings button at the bottom. Untick the option that says Use a proxy server for your LAN, and then click OK. Click Apply followed by OK to save your changes. Reset the Winsock Catalog The Winsock catalog holds the entries for the connections established on your computer. It’s worth resetting this catalog to see if your issue gets resolved. Resetting the Winsock catalog only requires running a command from the Command Prompt. Here’s how you do this: Open the Start menu, search for "Command Prompt." Click Run as administrator. Hit Yes in the prompt. Type the following command into the Command Prompt window and hit Enter. This resets the Winsock catalog. netsh winsock reset Reset the TCP/IP stack by entering the following command and pressing Enter. netsh int ip reset Release your current IP address using the following command: ipconfig /release Use the below command to renew your IP address: ipconfig /renew Lastly, run the following command to flush your DNS cache: ipconfig /flushdns Open Chrome and, hopefully, it should run just fine. Clear Your Browser Cache A possible reason Chrome keeps saying “Checking the connection” is that you have some faulty cache files in Chrome. Cache files are supposed to speed up your browser sessions, but sometimes, these files are the reason your browser runs slowly. Luckily, Chrome lets you easily clear your cache files, which can potentially fix your connection problem. Here’s how to reset the Chrome cache: Open Google Chrome on your computer. Click the three dots in the top-right corner, and select More Tools > Clear Browsing Data. Click the Basic tab at the top. Tick the Cached images and files option. Hit Clear data at the bottom. Disable Antivirus Programs An antivirus program is supposed to help you block malicious items on your computer. However, sometimes it ends up recognizing good items as bad ones. This can cause issues with Chrome making connection requests to your sites. In this case, your best bet is to turn the antivirus temporarily off and see if Chrome works. If it does, you either need to add Chrome to the exceptions list in your antivirus, or just get another antivirus program. You can turn off Microsoft Defender, the default antivirus in Windows 10, by following these steps: Open the Settings app on your PC. Click Update & Security on the resulting screen. Select Windows Security on the left. Click Virus & threat protection on the right pane. Select Manage settings from the Virus & threat protection settings section. Turn the toggle for Real-time protection to the Off position. Disable the Firewall Your firewall blocks suspicious network connections on your computer. It might be that your Chrome connections are considered suspicious by your firewall, and so Chrome is disabled from making any connection requests. This can cause Chrome to display errors like "Err connection reset." You can check if your firewall is indeed doing this by temporarily disabling the firewall on your Windows or Mac computer. Disable the Firewall on Windows 10 Launch the Control Panel. Assuming you’ve selected Large icons from the View by menu, click the Windows Defender Firewall option on your screen. Click Turn Windows Defender Firewall on or off on the left. Select Turn off Windows Defender Firewall in both sections, and click OK at the bottom. Disable the Firewall on macOS Click the Apple logo in the top-left corner and select System Preferences. Select Security & Privacy on the following screen. Click the Firewall tab. Click the Turn Off Firewall button. Resolving the "Err Connection Reset" Message in Google Chrome Chrome resets your connection for many reasons. If you ever come across a reset error in this browser, one of the methods above should help you rectify the problem.

irefox's Picture-in-Picture mode lets you pop videos out of their webpage to become an always-on-top floating window. It means that you can simultaneously browse other pages while watching a video. Here, we're going to show you how to enable and use Picture-in-Picture mode on Firefox. What Is Picture-in-Picture Mode? Picture-in-Picture mode is a Firefox feature that has been available for Windows since version 71, and for macOS and Linux since version 72. When watching most videos, you can click the Picture-in-Picture icon in order to pop the video out of the webpage. That video then becomes its own floating window, which you can resize and move anywhere on your screen, and it'll always remain on top. You can even control the video playback without needing to navigate back to the original webpage. How to Enable Picture-in-Picture Mode Picture-in-Picture mode is a standard Firefox feature that is enabled by default. However, you can hide the icon that activates it, so follow these instructions to check its status: Click the Menu Button (three horizontal lines). Click Options. Beneath Browsing, ensure that Enable picture-in-picture video controls is checked. How to Use Picture-in-Picture Mode To use Picture-in-Picture mode, hover over a video and click the Picture-in-Picture icon. It looks like two rectangles on top of each other. This will pop the video out from the page. Alternatively, you can right-click the video to open the context menu. From here, click Picture-in-Picture. Some websites like YouTube override the Firefox context menu, so you will need to right-click twice to access it (don't right-click on a menu item or it won't work). You can also press Ctrl + Shift + ] and Firefox will launch the most relevant video on the page into Picture-in-Picture. There are some videos that Picture-in-Picture mode isn't available for. This includes those without an audio track and those that are too small or short. For example, lots of videos on Twitter fall into this category. When using Picture-in-Picture mode, you can click and drag on the video to move it anywhere on your screen. Also, click and drag the sides of the video to resize it. To go full screen, double-click the video. Hover over the video, and you will see three icons. The top-right X icon pauses and closes the Picture-in-Picture video. Alternatively, the Picture-in-Picture icon will keep the video playing and return you to the original webpage. Finally, the play/pause icon toggle does exactly what you would expect. When using Picture-in-Picture mode, the original webpage will display a message that reads: "This video is playing in Picture-in-Picture mode." While you won't see the video in the player, you can still use the media controls. For example, on YouTube, you can adjust the video quality and enable auto-play. However, some features, like subtitles, aren't supported on Picture-in-Picture mode. RELATED:How To Watch YouTube In Picture-In-Picture Mode On Desktop And Mobile Picture-in-Picture Mode Keyboard Shortcuts You can use these keyboard shortcuts to control the video without having to navigate back to the original webpage: Space: Pause/play Ctrl + Down arrow: Mute Ctrl + Up arrow: Unmute Down arrow: Volume decrease Up arrow: Volume increase Left arrow: Back 15 seconds Right arrow: Forward 15 seconds Ctrl + Left arrow: Back 10 percent Ctrl + Right arrow: Forward 10 percent Home: Go to the beginning of the video End: Go to the end of the video RELATED:The Firefox Keyboard Shortcuts Cheat Sheet For Windows Multitask With Picture-in-Picture Mode Once you've used Firefox's Picture-in-Picture mode, you'll find it hard to live without. Now you can multitask—watch videos while browsing other sites, or while getting on with work. Picture-in-Picture mode isn't an exclusive Firefox feature. It's also available on mobile platforms, like Android and iOS.

Have you just switched to Google Chrome? If so, one of the first things you'll want to do is import your existing passwords into Chrome. Google Chrome actually allows you to import passwords from a saved password file, or from other browsers installed on your computer. Either way, it’s easy to import passwords into Chrome. Here, we'll show you several different ways to get the job done. Why Import Passwords Into Chrome? There are a couple of reasons why you may want to import your passwords into Chrome. Maybe you switched from another browser to Chrome, and you want to bring along all your saved passwords. Or, it might be that you cleared your saved passwords in Chrome. In this case, you can still import your password backup file (if you have one) to get access to your saved passwords. 1. Enable a Flag and Import Passwords Into Chrome While Chrome includes the option to import a backup CSV file of your saved passwords, this option isn’t visible by default. You need to head to Chrome's flags page, which lets you enable and disable various experimental features. Here, you can also make the password import option appear in Chrome. This is fairly easy to do. Follow these steps to get started: Launch Chrome on your computer. Type the following in the address bar and press Enter: chrome://flags On the flags screen, put your cursor in the search box and type Password import. You should see the Password import flag in the search results. To enable this flag, click the dropdown menu next to the flag and select Enabled. Click Relaunch at the bottom to relaunch Chrome. This will restore all of your open tabs. When Chrome opens, click the three dots in the top-right corner, and select Settings > Passwords on the following screen. Click the three dots next to Saved Passwords and select Import. Navigate to your CSV passwords file and select it to import it into Chrome. 2. Use a Command to Import Passwords Into Chrome Another way to import passwords into Chrome is by using a command. There’s a command that enables the import option in Chrome, and you can use this to import your passwords from a CSV file. RELATED:Some Windows Command Prompt (CMD) Commands You Must Know This works on both Windows and Mac computers, but the process differs slightly. Here, we'll explain how to do it on both operating systems. Import Passwords Into Chrome on Windows Open the Start menu, search for Command Prompt, and launch it. Type the following command into the Command Prompt window and press Enter. This brings you to Chrome’s executable file on your PC. cd "C:\Program Files (x86)\Google\Chrome\Application" Then, enter the following command and hit Enter. This enables the hidden password import feature in Chrome. After that, Chrome should automatically launch. chrome.exe -enable-features=PasswordImport In Chrome, click the three dots in the top-right corner and select Settings > Passwords. Click the three dots next to Saved Passwords, and you’ll see the Import option. Select this option to import your passwords into Chrome. Import Passwords Into Chrome on macOS Click the Launchpad in the Dock, search for Terminal, and open it. Enter the following command in the Terminal and press Enter. Chrome should then automatically open. /Applications/Google\ Chrome.app/Contents/MacOS/Google\ Chrome -enable-features=PasswordImport Click the three dots in the top-right corner of Chrome, and choose Settings > Passwords. Click the three dots next to Saved Passwords and select Import. 3. Enable the Hidden Import Option in Chrome One of the many ways to enable Chrome’s import option is to temporarily alter the code of the Settings page. This way, you simply need to change the value of an element, and the import option will appear. READ MORE: How To Fake Edit Website Text Using Google Chrome Here’s how you go about using this method: Open Chrome on your Windows or Mac computer, click the three dots in the top-right corner, and select Settings. Click Passwords on the following screen to go to your passwords section. Click the three dots next to Saved Passwords, and you’ll see Export passwords. Right-click on this option and select Inspect. From there, you'll see the source code of the current page. Find the element that has the ID menuImportPassword, remove the word hidden from its code, and press Enter. Click the three dots next to Saved Passwords and the Import option should now appear. Click it to import your passwords into Chrome. Unlike the flags method above, this isn’t a permanent change. You need to alter the code each time you want to make the import option visible. Since we usually only import our passwords once in a while, this shouldn’t be a huge issue for most people. 4. Import Firefox Passwords Into Chrome If you’re switching from Firefox to Chrome, you don’t need to manually import or export your passwords. There’s an option in Chrome that lets you automatically pull all of your information from Firefox. To use this method, both browsers must be on the same computer. Also, you can use this method on both Windows and macOS. This option lets you transfer the following data from Firefox into Chrome: Browsing history Favorites/bookmarks Saved passwords Auto-fill form data Here's how to use the method: Launch Chrome, click the three dots in the top-right corner, and select Bookmarks > Import Bookmarks and Settings. Select Mozilla Firefox from the dropdown menu. Tick Saved passwords if you only want to import your Firefox passwords. You can tick other options if you’d like. Hit Import and Chrome will start importing your Firefox passwords. Click Done when your passwords are imported. This method lets you import passwords from other browsers as well, including Microsoft Edge. Seamlessly Transfer Your Saved Passwords to Chrome If you have a CSV file containing your saved passwords, you can import all your passwords into Chrome in a few easy clicks, as shown above. This helps you autofill logins, and quickly access all of your online accounts. Chrome offers dozens of features that let you surf the web with maximum convenience. Some of Chrome’s features are still experimental, like the password import feature we just outlined, but you can still enable them from the flags page.

So you're facing the "Microsoft Edge Not Working" Error? Don't worry. We've got your back. In this article, you will learn the best methods to get your Edge browser up and running again in no time. But before that, let's have a look at what causes this error in the first place. Causes of Microsoft Edge Not Working Microsoft Edge is a browser developed by Microsoft that comes pre-installed with all the Windows Operating Systems. Although a great improvement over its predecessor, i.e. Internet Explorer, it too is subject to the occasional error, unexpected crashes, or getting stuck at launch. In the past, Edge users reported that their browser kept crashing while Google was set as their default search engine. Microsoft fixed the bug with an update. Some other errors can crop up from time to time. The two most common errors you might encounter on Edge are: The Edge browser won't launch at all. The Edge browser will crash after a launch. Either of these problems can affect your productivity if Edge is your default browser. Fix the "Microsoft Edge Not Working" Error There are several methods you can use. The seven below are the simplest you can try in a few minutes without resorting to installing the browser again. 1. Clear Browser Caches and Cookies Although it seems trivial at first, clearing the caches and cookies of your browser is often the first recommended method suggested to fix a variety of problems; and it’s not without good reason. Caches are the elements of a web page that your browser stores on your computer. Due to these caches, you don’t have to reload these elements from a previously visited site completely again. The downloaded files can include HTML files, CSS style sheets, JavaScript scripts, as well as graphic images, and other multimedia content. This helps your browsing speed by loading only the files that are new. Cookies, on the other hand, are used to save a user’s personal information like usernames, passwords, site preferences, etc. They are also used to track you across multiple websites. As caches are the copies of a web page at a particular time, they can become a problem when the said web page undergoes some changes. This variation between the cached copy and the online live web page might be the very cause of the crash of your Edge browser. Similarly, the cookies, which are very small in size (mostly in KBs), can eventually add up to occupy a lot of space. This will result in a slower browser experience. So it’s a good idea to clear the caches and cookies from time to time. Follow the steps below to get started: Click on the Menu (...) > Settings option from the top-right in the browser. In the left panel, click on Privacy, search, and services. Under Clearing browser data, click on Choose what to clear. Check the Cookies, Caches, and other required radio boxes and click on Clear now. Also, set the Time range to All time. Your cache and cookies will be cleared and your browser should start working again. 2. Install the Latest Windows Update If you’ve not updated Windows for quite some time, or have disabled the auto-update feature, you might be using an older, outdated version. Using an outdated operating system can lead to all kinds of problems. The problem of Microsoft Edge not working can be one of those too. Here’s how you can update your Windows: Press Windows key + I to open the Settings. Click on Update & Security. Now, click on Check for Updates. If there are new updates available, your Windows will download them automatically, and install them on the next reboot. If an outdated Windows was indeed the cause of your Microsoft Edge browser not working, then the error will be fixed now. 3. Close Other Apps, Tabs, and Extensions It could simply be the case that your computer is out of memory to spare, leading to a crash of the Edge browser. The first thing that you can try to free up space, is to simply close all the apps except the Edge browser. Next, you can close all the tabs apart from one which you need to use. You can also pause all your downloads if any are going on at the moment. And last but not the least, if you've installed any browser extensions, you should uninstall them to see if a rogue extension was causing the problem. Performing these steps can free enough memory to help Microsoft Edge run smoothly. 4. Update the Microsoft Edge Browser To ensure that it’s not an internal bug in the Edge browser that’s giving you the trouble, make sure that the browser is updated to the latest version. Click on the Menu (...) > Settings option from the top-right in the browser. Now, click on About Microsoft Edge. If there is a new update available, you can apply it from here. RELATED: Microsoft Edge Is Reborn: How Does It Compare To The Old Legacy Version? 5. Check Your Router’s Connection But what if the problem is not with your Windows or your Edge browser at all? It could be possible that this is actually a network issue. To diagnose the network issue, try this: If it’s a problem with your router, you can try to switch it off and then turn it back on again, and see if that solves the problem. Alternatively, you can try to connect to your router through another device to check if it is working. 6. Reset all Settings of Edge Performing a reset on all the modified settings of the Edge browser can be helpful, too. This is especially true if you are using the browser's Beta version. To reset your Edge settings, go to Settings > Reset settings > Restore settings to their default value > Reset. This will result in the removal of your Edge extensions, cookies, and temporary data and then you can start from a clean slate. 7. Run a SFC Scan System File Checker is a free tool designed by Windows to help you tackle system corruption issues if you face them. To use it, you’ll have to type the SFC command in a command prompt window. Follow these steps to get started: On the Windows search bar, enter command prompt and pick it from Best match. Click on Run as administrator. Type sfc /scannow and hit Enter. Restart your system after scanning is complete. If the problem was due to a system issue, it should be resolved through this method. Microsoft Edge Not Working Fixed Dealing with the "Microsoft Edge not working" error is an annoying problem for a lot of Windows users. Instead of fixing the issue, we often end up switching to other browsers. Through this article, we’ve tried to bridge that gap as simply as possible. After all, there's a lot to like about Edge and it has some features that even Chrome doesn't possess.

An app shortcut allows you to open any website in a standalone window, mimicking a local application. They are especially useful for web apps. In their own application window, web apps can be easier to manage and often look a lot nicer, too. App shortcuts are quick and easy to create. But they are still heavily reliant on Chrome and closely integrated with Google’s browser. In this article, you'll learn exactly how to use this feature in Chrome on macOS. What Is an App Shortcut? An app shortcut is a bit like a bookmark in your browser, but with added powers. Web apps such as Gmail or Twitter suit the format best, rather than traditional, document-focused sites. If you use the Pinned Tab feature, or otherwise have certain sites permanently open, it’s a good alternative. Note that app shortcuts are not the same as the extensions that you install from the Chrome Web Store. Web apps are a replacement for that feature anyway. READ MORE: Chrome Extensions To Vastly Improve Your Browsing Experience How to Add a Shortcut to a Website as an App You can add a shortcut to a website using the following steps: Open Chrome. Navigate to the website that you want to add as an app. Open Chrome’s main menu via the three vertical dots in the top right. Open the More Tools submenu, and click the Create Shortcut item. Make sure to tick Open as window to create a standalone app shortcut. Enter a name for the shortcut and click Create. When you add a shortcut, the original tab will close, and the shortcut will open in a new window. If the shortcut already exists, it will open without creating a duplicate. RELATED: How To Make Chrome Your Default Browser What Influences the Look and Feel of an App Shortcut? When you create a shortcut, its title will default to the title of the webpage. But if the page includes certain metadata, the shortcut will use an alternative title. This allows page authors to supply a preferred value for the app context. Often, this value will be shorter. Each site can configure other details, including the app’s icon and even some design aspects, such as color. How Does an App Shortcut Appear When Compared to a Normal Tab? App shortcuts intend to mimic local applications running in a separate window from your main web browser. The most significant default difference is the removal of the address bar. Since an app shortcut represents a single destination, tabs are no longer relevant. As a result, the tab bar disappears, although the app’s title remains. Some navigation icons are also unnecessary, since you are viewing one site in isolation. There are no forward or home icons by default. Sites can even configure their apps' display to hide all navigation icons. The global app menu is also reduced; it does not include the normal Bookmarks, People, Tab, or Help items. How Does an App Shortcut Behave? Links in the app that would normally open in a separate tab (or window) will open in the main browser application, not the app shortcut window. Links that would normally open in the same tab will load in the app’s window. Links to other domains, along with app shortcuts for non-secure sites, will display an extra bar at the top of the app’s window. This bar shows the domain alongside an icon that displays site information. In the case of a followed link, closing this bar has the same effect as clicking the back button. Although apps open in their own dedicated window, they still need an instance of the main Chrome application to be running. If you close Chrome and then open an app shortcut, Chrome will reopen alongside the app in its separate window. Closing the main Chrome window will not close apps, but closing the Chrome application itself will. The Chrome main menu (the three vertical dots) is very different in an app shortcut. The main omissions are those items that are window or tab-related. Global Chrome features such as Downloads or History will also not appear in the app shortcut. How Does macOS Treat App Shortcuts? In many ways, App Shortcuts appear as if they are full-blown, separate applications. If you use the App Switcher to move between applications using Cmd + Tab, you’ll see app shortcuts appearing just like any other. If you add an app shortcut to the Applications folder, you can use Launchpad to open it like any other application. You can drag an App Shortcut icon to the Dock and launch it just like a normal application. If you open Activity Monitor whilst an app shortcut is running, you’ll see it displayed alongside other applications. It can be inspected or forced to quit like any other. How Are Shortcuts Stored as Files? On macOS, Chrome stores app shortcuts in a new folder: /Users/[username]/Applications/Chrome Apps.localized/ This is only a default. You can move app shortcuts to any location you prefer and organize them how you want. Shortcuts themselves are folders named with the app’s title, followed by the APP extension. In macOS terminology, each folder is a bundle. This is a long-standing mechanism for collecting related files and grouping them together as if they were a single file. These bundles are quite lightweight; an instance of the Gmail shortcut app consists of five files occupying a total of 804K. The biggest file by far, at 749K, is the executable, app_mode_loader, that actually launches Chrome. This makes each app considerably larger than if it were a simple bookmark. But unless you’re working with thousands, you’re unlikely to see any significant storage impact. Are App Shortcuts Like Electron Apps? In appearance and behavior, app shortcuts are like Electron apps. Electron is a technology for building cross-platform desktop apps with web standards: HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. Common examples include Slack, Figma, and the Atom text editor. App shortcuts are generally quicker and easier to download. They will always be as up-to-date as their corresponding website. But app shortcuts depend on Google Chrome, and need a running instance of the browser to operate. Improve Your Web App Experience With Chrome App Shortcuts Chrome web app shortcuts are a halfway-house between standard document-focused websites, and more traditional local software applications. They offer an alternative means of running web apps, such as Gmail or Todoist, outside of your standard web browser. Running in a dedicated window can make a web app easier to manage in your desktop environment. It also looks a little cleaner, which can be useful when taking screenshots or including web apps in presentations.

With technology advancing at unprecedented levels and bandwidth becoming faster by the day, one would expect the internet to work even more efficiently. There are, however, some factors that may hinder our ability to enjoy a seamless internet browsing experience. Read on as we explore these productivity tips to help you enjoy faster internet browsing. 1. Use a Quick Minimal Browser It is important to use a web browser that is fast with sufficient security and privacy measures in place. Since your browser is your personal portal to the internet, you must ensure that you use one that provides a seamless internet experience. One factor that contributes to the speed of the browser is the page load time. This is the time that a browser takes to render a website, and is determined by the type of browser that you use and the number of extensions and add-ons on them. It is tricky to measure as there are many factors at play. But some fast browsers include Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, and Safari. Extensions and plug-ins that are not in use have the potential to slow down your computer and affect your browsing experience. They can deplete your system resources and could lead to crashes and bugs. Although there are some very useful extensions that make your life easier, it is always a good idea to audit your extensions and plug-ins regularly. 2. Optimize Your Browser Cache Whenever you are surfing the net and open a webpage, your browser automatically saves a copy of the files from that web page to your hard drive. This is stored in a browser cache on your computer and helps to load those specific web pages quicker in the future. Each time you revisit that webpage, your browser will only download those files that have changed since your last visit to that website. If your cache size starts to expand and you don’t often revisit specific websites, this extra cache load can slow down your browsing experience. Optimize your browser cache in Chrome: Open Chrome. Click More on the top right. Click More Tools and then Clear Browsing Data. Click All Time to delete your entire cache on Chrome. Check the boxes that appear next to Cookies and other site data and Cached images and files. Click Clear data. Optimize your browser cache in Firefox: Open Firefox. Go to the menu and click Options. Click Privacy and Security. Click Cookies and Site Data. Click Clear data. Check the box next to Cached Web Content. Click Clear. Close the About box when you are done. 3. Exercise Good Tab Management Users must make an effort to manage their tabs efficiently in order to have a more optimal browsing experience. While browsing many websites can be fun, having multiple tabs opened simultaneously can severely hamper your browsing speed. An ideal rule is to keep the minimum number of tabs opened as necessary. If there is a need to access multiple websites in a short space of time, you should consider bookmarking some of these websites for reference when you are in need of that information. Google Chrome has a great tab-grouping feature available under its selection of tools. Tab grouping allows you to open a group of websites simultaneously with a single click. You can customize the name and color of the tab group, and then reorder tabs within that group to your preference. This is particularly useful when working on multiple projects at once, or when you are comparing groups of products. In order to create group tabs, you can follow the steps below: Once a tab is opened in Chrome, right-click on that tab and choose Add tab to new group. Choose a name and color for that tab group. Open new tabs, right-click on each and click Add to group. Choose which group to send that tab to. All tabs within a group will be identified by their color. You can also try using tab management extensions for optimal performance. These help save memory by snoozing unused tabs, managing your sessions, previewing of tabs, and performing fast clean-ups. When on Chrome, you can try The Great Suspender while those of you that use Firefox can try Max Tab. 4. Maintain Your Computer When you have a slow internet experience, it is important to check if your computer is running slower than usual. If your computer is an older model and you are not in a position to get a newer model, you can consider some cost-effective methods to quicken your computer speed. Consider adding more memory to your computer to cater to the higher demands of modern websites and apps. Run defragmentation on your hard drive and help your file system operate more efficiently. Turn off certain background processes that you may not be aware are taking place, such as automatic software updates that hog bandwidth. Some viruses may cause your computer to run slowly, so it is important to scan your computer for malware and viruses regularly. Clear hard disk space by removing unwanted apps and programs from your computer. Simple Tips for Faster Browsing There are some workarounds you can use to help you optimize your browsing experience. But your success will depend on the kind of work you do online. These basic tips look into the main contributors to a slow browsing experience. Try using a few browser-specific add-ons and extensions to complement your browsing too.

Although Google Chrome maintains its position as one of the most popular browsers, that doesn't mean it's the safest or most customizable. Unlike Chrome, Firefox still maintains the speed, security, stability, and customizability that launched its popularity. It also makes it easy to modify your privacy settings, whether through customization options or third-party extensions. Let’s take a look at how you can bring Firefox to new heights of privacy, all while using simple tweaks within Firefox's settings. Why Use Firefox? Firefox’s foundation lies in its open-source nature. This makes it completely transparent while nurturing thousands of developers across platforms contributing to its development. This means that Firefox is: Owned by a non-profit company, Mozilla. Holds a massive number of extensions for every usage scenario. Completely open-source and free, allowing for a high-degree of customizability. Outside the ecosystem of giant corporations who are in the business of selling your data. Firefox also has built-in security and privacy features that make it easy to create an incognito browsing experience. There are always some quick privacy tweaks you can make as well. These privacy measures come out-of-the-box, and we'll show you how you can fortify them even further. 1. Fortify Your Firefox Browsing by Tweaking the Settings As is always the case, everything in life is about compromise. If you want to give up some measure of convenience for the sake of privacy and security, you have to disable some features. To harden Firefox, we first have to access the Options menu by clicking the three horizontal lines in the upper right corner of the browser. Under Options > Home, uncheck the box for Pages Saved to Pocket. This will disable web content from being saved to all of your devices connected with your Firefox account. Under Privacy & Security, you will see three levels of browsing: Standard, Strict, and Custom. Select Strict to block third-party websites from tracking you. If the Strict mode of browsing interferes with a specific site you want to visit, simply click on the Shield icon next to the website’s address, and disable Enhanced Tracking Protection by clicking on the slide button next to it. Still under Privacy & Security, scroll down to the History section. Within the dropdown menu, select Use custom settings for history. Then, check the box for Always use private browsing mode. This will require a browser restart. From this point onward, Firefox will never save history/autofill data. This effectively removes the accumulative data of your habits to be accessed, tracked, and analyzed by third-parties, such as Amazon, Facebook, Google, etc. In fact, to make a fresh start, simply delete all browsing data from the entire time range, if you haven’t done so already. Likewise, to avoid suggestions popping up when you are typing something in the address bar, you can deselect all the checkboxes under Address Bar. This further eliminates the collection of data stored on your device. Next, scroll down to Permissions. Click on Settings for each item, and check the Block new requests box. Select Save Changes to apply this setting. Scrolling further down to Firefox Data Collection and Use, uncheck all the boxes to make sure there is minimal interaction between your browser and Mozilla. This stops your browser from sending any telemetry data to Mozilla. Now to the interesting part. Under the Security section, you will see Deceptive Content and Dangerous Software Protection. At first glance, it may seem you will want to keep this checked. Unfortunately, Google is the one deciding what constitutes deceptive content, so uncheck that box as well. Moving on from the Security & Privacy section to Search, separate the search from the address bar for greater convenience. To do this, select Add search bar in toolbar. Make DuckDuckGo your default search engine instead of Google, and uncheck the Provide search suggestions box. This will further decrease your internet browsing footprint by not sharing your interests with the providers. In addition to DuckDuckGo, you can also add SearX privacy search engine. Lastly, syncing between devices is a convenient feature to have, but not necessary as you can simply copy your Firefox profile folder to another device. Therefore, you shouldn’t leave yourself open by creating and using a Firefox Account. 2. Hardening Firefox With the "About:config" Tweak So far, we have hardened Firefox using options that are clearly visible within its interface. However, more advanced security and privacy options are hiding under Firefox’s hood. Copy and paste (or type) "about:config" into the address bar to open them up. Uncheck the warning box, and click on the Accept the Risk and Continue. What we are interested to find is all references to "telemetry," so type it into the search filter bar. Double-click on the following results, and change their values to false: browser.newtabpage.activity-stream.feeds.telemetry browser.newtabpage.activity-stream.telemetry browser.ping-centre.telemetry toolkit.telemetry.archive.enabled toolkit.telemetry.bhrPing.enabled toolkit.telemetry.enabled toolkit.telemetry.firstShutdownPing.enabled toolkit.telemetry.hybridContent.enabled toolkit.telemetry.newProfilePing.enabled toolkit.telemetry.reportingpolicy.firstRun toolkit.telemetry.shutdownPingSender.enabled toolkit.telemetry.unified toolkit.telemetry.updatePing.enabled Now, click on toolkit.telemetry.server and delete its value box content. This will permanently disable any transmission of telemetry data between your browser and Mozilla, or anyone else who may be tapping into Mozilla. RELATED: Why You Should Switch From Google Chrome To Mozilla Firefox Moving on from telemetry, now we search for "experiments" references. These refer to Mozilla’s studies and test features, but they also create a collection of data that you do not want to accumulate. Accordingly, double-click on the following results to change them to false: experiments.activeExperiment experiments.enabled experiments.supported network.allow-experiments Lastly, you should disable networking prefetching by typing "prefetch" into the search filter. This is important because, as the word implies, it prefetches cookies from sites to load. Sometimes, it may speed up browsing, but it also may invite unwelcome scrutiny. You should arrange them with the following values: network.dns.disablePrefetch = true network.dns.disablePrefetchFromHTTPS = true network.predictor.enabled = false network.predictor.enable-prefetch = false network.prefetch-next = false 3. Importing an Already-Hardened Firefox Profile There are other options to explore if you are going for maximum security. However, it would be more time-saving to implement these features in bulk. One neat way of doing this is to override your own Firefox configuration profile with one that is already maximally security-oriented, like this one. Simply download it into your Firefox profile folder and unzip it. Depending on your operating system, here is where you should unzip the files: OSLocation Windows 7%APPDATA%\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\XXXXXXXX.your_profile_name\user.js Linux~/.mozilla/firefox/XXXXXXXX.your_profile_name/user.js OS X~/Library/Application Support/Firefox/Profiles/your_profile_name Android/data/data/org.mozilla.firefox/files/mozilla/your_profile_name Sailfish OS + Alien DalvikAlien Dalvik /opt/alien/data/data/org.mozilla.firefox/files/mozilla/your_profile_name Windows (portable)[firefox directory]\Data\profile\ Windows 10~:\Users\user_name\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\profile_name Once you have unzipped the downloaded profile, you need to make a default profile for your Firefox browser. Do so by typing "about:profiles" in your address bar, and hit Create a New Profile. You will be prompted to point to the folder of your new Firefox profile folder, which you have already done. It should be named "user.js-master." And that’s it. You can now make it your default profile with all the maximum security measures without manually shifting values for dozens of settings. Browsing Securely With Firefox Without using any extensions, you can make Firefox into a formidable privacy-enforcing internet browser. We recommend that you use all the above methods for the most private browsing experience. Of course, there are thousands of quality-of-life improvements you can still make by taking advantage of Firefox’s rich extension repository. Truly, few other browsers can boast to have this level of extensive customizability while remaining open-source and unaffiliated to moneyed interests.

You’re trying to access a website, but Chrome keeps on displaying the message: ERR_Connection_Refused. When this error occurs, you basically can’t open the website that you’re trying to connect to. And there are various reasons why this happens. Here, we take a look at some of the ways to potentially fix this issue in Chrome. 1. Check If the Website Is Alive When Chrome says the connection is refused, the first thing you need to do is to check if the website is online. It might be that the site has gone down, and the web host for that site is refusing your connection. Use an uptime checker, like Down for Everyone or Just Me, to see if the website you’re trying to open is online or not. This site should tell you about the uptime for any website you enter. 2. Reboot Your Router Once you’ve confirmed the site you want to visit is online, the next thing to do is to reboot your router. This is because your router may be experiencing issues establishing certain connections. You can reboot your router and see if that helps fix the refused to connect error in Chrome. This may or may not work, but there’s no harm in giving it a try. 3. Clear Your Chrome Cache Files Like every other browser, Chrome also stores cache files on your system. These files help Chrome servers load web pages faster, but sometimes, these files are the reason you have issues with the browser. Therefore, it’s a good idea to clear Chrome cache files and see if this resolves your connection issue. Here’s how to get rid of Chrome’s cache content: Click the three-dots at the top-right corner in Chrome and select Settings. Click Privacy and security on the left. Select Clear browsing data on the right. Tick Cached images and files, and click the Clear data button. 4. Change the DNS Server Chrome uses your DNS settings to resolve domain names to IP addresses. If your specified DNS servers are facing an issue, that might be the reason websites are refusing your connection. RELATED: What Is A DNS Server And Why Is It Unavailable? To potentially fix this issue, you can try using alternate DNS servers. Here’s how to do this on both Windows and macOS. Change the DNS Server on Windows Head into Settings > Network & Internet > Change adapter options on your PC. Right-click your adapter and click Properties. Select Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4) from the list and hit Properties. Tick the box that says Use the following DNS server addresses. Use 8.8.8.8 in the Preferred DNS server box and 8.8.4.4 in the Alternate DNS server box. Then, click OK. Relaunch Chrome and see if the problem persists. Change the DNS Server on macOS Click the Apple logo at the top left of your screen, select System Preferences, and click Network. Select your connection on the left, and click Advanced on the right. Head to the DNS tab. Remove your existing DNS servers by selecting them in the list and clicking the Remove (-) sign at the bottom. Click the Add (+) sign and add 8.8.8.8. Click the Add (+) sign again and add 8.8.4.4. Click OK and close the panel. If you already use the aforementioned DNS servers, you can switch to OpenDNS servers which are 208.67.222.222 and 208.67.220.220. 5. Disable the Proxy Server If you use a proxy server on your computer, it’s worth toggling it off to see if that helps fix the ERR_Connection_Refused error in Chrome. RELATED: What Is A Proxy Server? Disable the Proxy Server on Windows Open the Settings app, click Network & Internet, and select Proxy on the left. Turn the Use a proxy server option to the Off position from the right panel. Disable the Proxy Server on macOS Click the Wi-Fi icon in the menu bar and select Open Network Preferences. Select your connection on the left, and click Advanced on the right. Go to the Proxies tab. Untick all of the proxy options on your screen, and then click Ok at the bottom. 6. Turn Your Firewall Off Your firewall restricts what incoming and outgoing connections your computer can make. It’s a good idea to turn your firewall off and see if this helps you access the websites that otherwise don’t open. Disable the Firewall on Windows Head to Control Panel > System and Security > Windows Defender Firewall on your PC. Select Turn Windows Defender Firewall on or off on the left. Click the Turn off Windows Defender Firewall (not recommended) option in both Private network settings and Public network settings sections. Click Ok to save your changes. Disable the Firewall on macOS Open System Preferences and click Security & Privacy. Go to the Firewall tab and click the Turn Off Firewall button. 7. Disable Chrome Extensions You’ve probably installed some extensions in Chrome. Sometimes, these extensions cause issues with the browser and that can lead to connection errors like the one you’re experiencing. You can turn these extensions off, and then see if Chrome successfully connects to your websites. Here’s how: Click the three-dots at the top right in Chrome and select More Tools > Extensions. Disable each of the extensions on your screen. Relaunch Chrome and see if your site opens. RELATED: Shady Google Chrome Extensions You Should Uninstall ASAP 8. Reset the Chrome Browser Chrome actually offers an option that resets all your browser settings. If your connection issues are caused by any tweaked settings, this reset option should potentially fix that. This won’t remove your web history, bookmarks, and saved passwords. Here’s how to reset Chrome: Click the three-dots at the top right, and select Settings. Expand Advanced on the left, and click Reset settings. Click Restore settings to their original defaults on the right. Select Reset settings in the prompt. 9. Reinstall Chrome If nothing else works, you can reinstall Chrome and see if that finally helps get rid of the connection issues in your browser. Reinstalling Chrome doesn’t delete any data that syncs with your Google account. To uninstall Chrome on Windows, head to Settings > Apps, click Google Chrome, and select the Uninstall button. On macOS, use the free AppCleaner app to remove Chrome, as well as all of the files associated with it. After that, you can then download a fresh copy of Chrome and install it on your computer. Turning Refused Connections Into Accepted Connections While there are many reasons a website refuses your request for a connection, you can try some of the fixes above and see if they resolve the issue. In most cases, you should be able to get around your connection issues with these methods. Chrome, like other browsers, has its own fair share of issues. You never know what issue you’ll run into, but there are fixes for most, if not all, issues for this browser.

Over the past two decades, technological developments have dramatically improved internet speeds. Broadband and fiber connections have created lightning-fast networks where even high-definition media can be loaded in just a few seconds. That's not to say there isn't room for improvement. Changing your DNS settings is often cited as one of the easiest ways to optimize your internet speed. So, let's take a look at how DNS works and how to change your DNS settings. What Is DNS? When you enter a website's URL into your browser, it needs to be translated into the site's IP address to send and receive data. The Domain Name System (DNS) is the digital equivalent of a phonebook, providing a number (IP address) for a given name (URL). For example, if you enter www.makeuseof.com into your browser, the DNS server translates that into an IP address---in this case, 54.157.137.27. With over a billion websites currently online, it isn't practical to maintain a list that large. Instead, your DNS server stores a cache for a range of websites. If you try to access a site that isn't already cached, then your DNS server will request the entry from another server. Your default DNS server is likely to be provided by your ISP and isn't guaranteed to be the best performing server. A Question of Geography sommaill/DepositPhotos The infrastructure supporting the internet is a series of copper and optical cables which connect servers around the world. Data is carried across these cables in the form of electromagnetic waves, with speed limited to the speed of light. While we can't do anything to increase that speed, we can reduce the distance these waves have to travel. If a DNS server is located far away from you, then your browsing speeds will be impacted. However, the reality of the internet is more complicated than simple distance calculations would have you believe. Google Public DNS is one of the most popular DNS server alternatives and uses two IP addresses (8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4). These are known as anycast addresses, with multiple servers around the world responding to requests from these addresses. The servers responding to the requests vary throughout the day, depending on network conditions and traffic. Despite returning your queries from servers around the world, it is consistently ranked as one of the fastest DNS servers. They have achieved this by working with Content Delivery Networks (CDNs) to attach location data to DNS requests. In most cases, if you were to use a Canadian DNS server, then the CDNs would assume that you are in Canada. This has an impact on loading speeds, and the content you see will be optimized for a Canadian audience. CDNs have become essential to the operation of the internet, that they are a key component in whether you can really break the internet. Google and OpenDNS attach your IP address to the DNS requests. This means that the data is loaded from a server local to you, improving your overall internet speed. Does Changing Your DNS Increase Speed? mmaxer/DepositPhotos When planning a trip with Google Maps, you're presented with several different travel options. Some of the routes will take less time, even if they cover a greater distance. This could be due to many factors like traffic, transport changes, and average speed. When selecting a DNS server to increase your internet speeds, you'll be faced with a similar range of factors. Choosing the most advantageous path is known as route optimization. Some DNS servers, like those provided by ISPs, will experience heavy traffic, especially during peak times. Some servers have outdated records, or inefficiently route your data. The complex interplay between servers and connections makes route optimization integral to improving your internet speeds. Your ISP's DNS server may be located close by. However, their one-size-fits-all approach is unlikely to offer you the best performance. This is where a tool like Google's Namebench comes in handy. It offers a free speed test to help you find the fastest DNS to optimize your internet speed. Namebench analyzes your connection and recommends the best DNS servers explicitly tailored to you. Namebench isn't your only option; there are other ways to find the fastest DNS to optimize your internet speed, too. How to Change DNS Settings While your ISP likely has its own DNS server, it probably isn't the fastest option available. Instead, you'll want to change your operating system's DNS settings. There are three leading alternative DNS providers; Google DNS, OpenDNS, and Cloudflare DNS. How to Change DNS Settings on Windows 10 To change your DNS on Windows 10, head to Control Panel > Network and Internet > Network and Sharing and click on Change adapter settings on the left-hand side. This opens a list of all available networking devices. You'll be connected to the internet either via a wired Ethernet port or via a Wi-Fi adapter. Depending on your setup, right-click the internet-connected device and select Properties. Highlight the option titled Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4) and click Properties. Navigate to the Use the following DNS server addresses option. In this area enter the following IP addresses, depending on which DNS provider you want to use: Google DNS: 8.8.8.8, 8.8.4.4 Cloudflare IPv4: 1.1.1.1, 1.0.0.1 OpenDNS: 208.67. 222.222, 208.67. 220.220 Once entered, click OK to save these settings. You'll be returned to the Properties menu. From here, select Internet Protocol Version 6 (TCP/IPv6) and click Properties. You can now repeat the process for IPv6 DNS servers. Google DNS: 2001:4860:4860::8888, 2001:4860:4860::8844 Cloudflare IPv6: 2606:4700:4700::1111, 2606:4700:4700::1001 OpenDNS: 2620:119:35::35, 2620:119:53::53 Click OK to save your IPv6 DNS settings. You can then close all settings windows and return to your regular internet browsing. Once you've clicked to confirm those settings, you'll begin using your new DNS servers. How to Change DNS Settings on macOS To change your DNS on a macOS device, open System Preferences. From there, click Network > Advanced. On this page, navigate to the DNS tab. Unlike on Windows, you can easily add and remove DNS servers using the + and - buttons on the window's bottom left. Once you've clicked the + icon, you can enter the IP address of your desired provider. How to Change DNS Settings on an iPhone Suppose you want to change your DNS server on an iPhone, open Settings > Wi-Fi. Tap the 'i' icon next to your connected network. This will open a settings page for the wireless network you want to adjust. Scroll the page until you reach the DNS header. Tap the Configure DNS option. By default, this will be set to Automatic. Select Manual to enable further options. The Add Server field will appear Under DNS Server. Tap the button and enter the IP address of your desired provider. Once complete, tap Save at the top right of the screen. How to Change DNS Settings on Android The steps to change your DNS on Android vary depending on your device. However, for stock Android 9.0 and above, open Settings > Network and Internet. Tap on the arrow to expand the Advanced settings. By default, the Private DNS field will be set to Automatic. Selecting that option will open an input window. Tap Private DNS provider hostname. Here, you will need to use the DNS server's hostname, rather than IP address, as below; Google DNS: dns.google.com Cloudflare: 1dot1dot1dot1.cloudflare-dns.com The Need for DNS Speed While there is no silver bullet to improve internet speeds, you can make numerous smaller tweaks and improvements. These improvements work together to increase your overall internet speed. The DNS server you choose will play an essential role in this process. However well-intentioned, sometimes, errors will occur. Fortunately, they are reasonably straightforward to address.

If you've done any research at all into different browsers, you're familiar with the fact that Chrome can be a bit of a resource hog. Glance at your Task Manager or Activity Monitor, and you'll often see Chrome at the top of the list. But why does Chrome use so much RAM, especially compared to other browsers? And what can you do to keep it in check? Here's how to make Chrome use less RAM. Does Google Chrome Really Use More RAM? Several years ago, the only answer was Yes. Google Chrome's RAM-hungry reputation was well known. However, changes to Google Chrome have improved browsers' memory usage, especially compared to other popular browsers. At times, Mozilla, Edge, Opera, and Safari all use more RAM than Chrome. How do I know this? I ran a short test, opening a Facebook page, a YouTube video, the BBC Sport website, and Twitter in a clean browser. The results will interest you. There is Google Chrome, sitting happily in the middle of the other browsers. Sure, this is anecdotal, and there is more than enough evidence that Chrome eats more RAM than other browsers. If you have ever run your own browser RAM-use test, there's a strong chance you found Chrome using more RAM than other browsers. Google Chrome is absolutely one of the fastest browsers, but it needs a lot of RAM to take that title. Why Does Google Chrome Use So Much RAM? "Aw, Snap! Google Chrome ran out of memory while trying to display this webpage." That's the message you see when Chrome runs out of memory. To understand why Chrome uses so much memory, you need to understand how most modern browsers operate. Every app on your computer runs processes in your computer's RAM, where the hard work of running your computer takes place. RAM is temporary storage for all kinds of data, and it is very fast. Your CPU can access data held in your system RAM much faster than a hard drive or even an SSD. Chrome, Firefox, Opera, and Microsoft Edge store every tab, plugin, and extension in a different RAM process. This process is called isolation and prevents one process from writing to another one. Hence, when you open your Task Manager or Activity Monitor, Google Chrome displays multiple entries. If you look closely, you can see that each process only uses a small amount of RAM, but the load is very high when you add them up. How Does Google Chrome Manage RAM? Browsers like Chrome manage RAM this way to offer better stability and faster speeds. But Chrome still uses a lot of RAM. At least, in many cases, it appears to be using more RAM than other browsers. Here's a short explanation as to how Chrome handles RAM. The main reason for running each process separately is stability. By running each process separately, if one crashes, the entire browser remains stable. Sometimes, a plugin or extension will fail, requiring you to refresh the tab. If every tab and extension was run in the same process, you might have to restart the whole browser instead of a single tab. The downside is that some processes that single-process browsers can share between tabs must be replicated for each tab in Chrome. Splitting into multiple processes comes with security benefits, too, similar to sandboxing or using a virtual machine. For example, if a JavaScript attack occurs in one tab, there is no way to cross into another tab within Chrome, which may well happen in a single-process browser. Adding the amount of RAM usage in Chrome are plugins and extensions. Each plugin or extension you add to Google Chrome requires resources to run. The more extensions you have installed, the more RAM Chrome needs to run. Pre-rendering is a notable example. Pre-rendering lets Chrome start loading up a webpage that it predicts you'll go to next (it might be the top search result from Google or the "next page" link on a news site). The pre-rendering process requires resources, and so uses more RAM. But it also speeds up your browsing experience, especially for frequently visited sites. The flip side is that if there is a bug with the pre-rendering process, it can use more RAM than you might expect, slowing down other areas of your computer or making the browser tab unresponsive. Chrome RAM Use on Limited Hardware Devices Chrome has some answers for RAM use on low-power devices or devices with limited hardware. However, the general rule is that when Chrome runs on capable hardware, it will operate using the processes model explained previously. Whereas, when Chrome runs on a device with fewer resources, Chrome will consolidate into single processes to reduce the overall memory footprint. Using a single process allows for a reduction in resources but comes at the risk of browser instability. Also, Chrome is aware of how much memory it is using. It isn't mindlessly eating every bit of RAM it can find. Chrome limits the number of processes it can start depending on your system hardware. It is an internal limit, but when reached, Chrome switches to running tabs from the same site in a single process. Updates Attempt to Stop Chrome Taking Up Memory In late 2020, Google Chrome developers announced they would introduce a RAM-saving feature known as "PartitionAlloc Fast Malloc." Without delving too far into the feature's technicalities, PartitionAlloc should stop any single process consuming more than 10 percent of the total system memory. The improvement comes after Microsoft managed to reduce RAM use in the Chromium-based Edge browser using "Segment Heap," another improvement dedicated to reducing browser memory usage. In March 2021, with the release of Chrome 89, PartionAlloc went live. Google claims that the feature reduces memory usage in 64-bit Windows by more than 20 percent, with a further 8 percent reduction in memory use through rendering. The change is notable. If you're using any version Chrome from version 89 onwards (Chrome 93 is the latest version at the time of writing), your browser will discard old memory faster, reducing the RAM overhead and Chrome's reputation as a memory hog with it. RELATED:These Features Make Edge More Productive Than Chrome Is Google Chrome's RAM Usage a Problem? How much RAM does Chrome need? Is there a limit to the amount of RAM Chrome will use before it becomes a problem? The answer lies with your system hardware. Just because Chrome uses a lot of RAM doesn't mean that it is necessarily causing a problem. If your system isn't using the available RAM, it isn't doing you any good; your computer only uses RAM to access data quickly and speed up processing. If you're keeping your RAM as clear as possible, you're not taking advantage of the power of your computer. Just like on a smartphone, clearing out your running processes and the RAM might slow things down in the long run. That's why RAM cleaners and boosters are bad for your smartphone. Chrome Using Too Much Memory However, if Chrome is using too much memory, it could turn into a problem. When Chrome uses too much memory, it limits the amount available for other programs. Chrome could even begin to struggle to keep the important information from your browser available for quick access, negating the use of the RAM to begin with. When it comes down to it, Chrome's RAM usage is only a problem if it slows your computer down, be that your browser or your entire system. If you see Chrome using a lot of memory, but there are no negative performance consequences, it is not worth worrying about. For instance, I sometimes have 50 or more Chrome tabs open, using 2.5GB RAM or more. It sounds like a huge amount, but my system has 32GB RAM to use, so it isn't an issue. Try the same on a laptop with 4GB RAM, and you're going to have a bad time. If Chrome's memory use is slowing things down, it is time to take action. How to Make Chrome Use Less RAM There are several ways you can speed up your browsing experience and reduce the amount of RAM Chrome uses. The most important tool at your disposal is the Chrome Task Manager. Similar to the Windows Task Manager, the Chrome Task Manager shows the performance and consumption of each tab and extension within the browser. You can use the Chrome Task Manager to figure out what is using the most memory, then close them to free up space. In Windows, hit Shift + Esc to access the Task Manager. On a Mac, you'll need to open it from the Window menu. Select the process, then hit End process. Look out for tabs and extensions that have ballooned in size. Sometimes, a single Chrome tab can use lots of memory due to a bug or poor configuration. Sometimes, a Chrome memory leak will cause your browser to freeze (or even your whole system). Once you've killed off the resource-heavy processes, there are some other things you can do to fix frequent Chrome crashes.

West Midlands Police and the Federation Against Copyright Theft say they have dismantled a major illegal streaming operation in the UK. Two men and a woman have been arrested on suspicion of copyright infringement, fraud and conspiracy to commit fraud. Hundreds of thousands of customers are reportedly being greeted by a police message instead of their expected TV content. With pirate IPTV services providing access to thousands of TV channels at a cheap price, the Federation Against Copyright Theft is continuing its quest to disrupt piracy in the UK. FACT acts on behalf of broadcasting partners including Sky and for years has been cracking down on pirate suppliers of live sporting content. Today the anti-piracy company has announced what appears to be a particularly significant operation carried out in partnership with police in the UK. ‘Top UK Content Provider’ Targeted By Police Raids In common with many operations of this type, neither police nor FACT are providing the name of the IPTV provider/supplier targeted. However, the details released thus far indicate a player of some importance. According to a joint statement, West Midlands Police targeted what is being described as a “top UK content provider” that facilitated access to more than 100 separate pirate TV services. The operation was months in the planning and resulted in the arrest of three people. “Two men aged 53 and 35 and a 40-year-old woman were arrested on suspicion of copyright infringement, fraud and conspiracy to commit fraud. Our joint investigation is ongoing,” says Detective Sergeant Allan McDonald from the West Midlands Police Economic Crime Unit. “Hundreds of Thousands of Customers” Police say they were able to dismantle the illegal streaming network which they believe served hundreds of thousands of customers. “The streaming services in question illegally made available a large catalog of live TV and video content from around the world, including sports, for use on smart TVs, smartphones, tablets and illicit streaming devices,” the statement reads. “The operation, which was months in the planning, shut down the network, disabled the illegal streams and delivered an on-screen message to those who received the streams warning them that their access to the content was unlawful.” At the time of writing, TF has not received news from other sources concerning a shutdown or the displaying of any messages on devices configured for this service. We have asked FACT if it can supply a screenshot of the police warning message but if any readers have a copy or information on the operation, we’d certainly appreciate a tip. Update: FACT-supplied screenshot below In the meantime, it’s worth going over the joint statement in a little more detail to consider what this is about. Lack of Clarity on the Type of Service Shutdown It is not uncommon for so-called IPTV ‘resellers’ to be targeted by the authorities since they often sell access to one or more pirate IPTV providers. In this case, however, police say the targeted operation “provided illegal access to content to more than 100 separate pirate TV services.” That is a very high number of services for a reseller to be selling subscriptions to, almost unmanageable in fact. That leaves us with the possibility that this service may have aggregated content from 100 higher-level pirate TV providers and sold access to that package. That would perhaps make more sense since police say they were able to display a warning message on customer devices. What the police and FACT statement doesn’t claim is that 100 pirate providers have been shut down, merely that the service in question utilized 100 pirate services in its offering. The fate of those 100 services isn’t clear but we have asked FACT for comment and will update this article accordingly. In the meantime, Kieron Sharp, CEO of FACT offers the following comment: “We’re pleased to support West Midlands Police in their work to dismantle such a major network. This should be a serious warning to anyone motivated by the financial gains from engaging with piracy – it is a crime which will be taken seriously by Police.” Update: FACT has confirmed that the operation “targeted a major content source supplying reseller networks.”

The pirate movie screener season has started early this year. After two Netflix films leaked a few days ago, reportedly from festival screeners, a 'webscreener' copy of "The Card Counter" has just appeared online. All movies are linked to the pirate release group EVO, which appears to have multiple sources. Historically, pirated copies of movie screeners often start to leak on pirate sites around Christmas. This year Christmas has come early for pirates. A few days ago, two screener copies of the Netflix movies “The Power of the Dog” and “The Guilty” leaked online, ahead of their planned premieres. EVO The releases are linked to the piracy group EVO, which also leaked the first screeners early last year. The copies were ripped from so-called “webscreeners” that, according to EVO, were sourced from a film festival. The name of the festival wasn’t mentioned but the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) was a potential candidate, as it screened both movies. TIFF didn’t reply to our request for comment but soon after the leaks appeared, TIFF started to send DMCA notices targeting the leaks. While there is no confirmation that the leaks trace back to TIFF screeners, a new leak shows that – even if that was the case – EVO has more sources as well. “The Card Counter” Screener A few hours ago EVO released a screener copy of the Paul Schrader film “The Card Counter“. The film premiered at the Venice Film Festival earlier this month and it’s currently playing in theaters. The Card Counter.2021.WEBSCREENER.XviD-EVO As shown in the screencap above, the video is clearly marked as a screener and notes that the film is “Property of Focus Features,” which is the official distributor. The release notes don’t include any specific information about the origins of this screener but EVO thanks “Visionary” as the source. New Twist It is not clear if this most recent screener is also linked to a festival. However, TIFF doesn’t have the movie on its roster, so we can rule that option out. It’s not a habit of ours to cover all screener leaks in detail. However, since the earlier coverage was heavily focused on one possible source, “The Card Counter” leak adds a newsworthy twist. TorrentFreak reached out to Focus Features but the company didn’t immediately reply to our request for comment. If any new information comes in we will update this article accordingly.

Cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase has filed an application with the National Futures Association (NFA) to offer futures and derivatives trading on its platform. The exchange says its new offerings aim to “Further grow the cryptoeconomy.” Coinbase Registers to Offer Crypto Futures and Derivatives Trading Coinbase Global Inc. (Nasdaq: COIN) announced Wednesday via Twitter that it has filed an application with the National Futures Association (NFA) to register as a Futures Commission Merchant (FCM). The exchange wrote: This is the next step to broaden our offerings and offer futures and derivatives trading on our platforms. The exchange added that its goal is to “Further grow the cryptoeconomy.” The filing shows that the company is registered as Coinbase Financial Markets Inc. Crypto derivatives have become a huge market and most major cryptocurrency exchanges offer derivatives trading, including Binance, Okex, FTX, CME Group, and Kraken. In April, Coinbase announced that it had acquired Skew, a crypto data analytics firm that specializes in tracking the derivatives market. Coinbase is currently raising funds by issuing bonds. Initially, the company planned to issue $1.5 billion worth of senior notes. However, due to high interest, it has raised the amount to $2 billion. Coinbase said it intends to use the net proceeds from the offering “for general corporate purposes, which may include continued investments in product development, as well as potential investments in or acquisitions of other companies, products, or technologies that Coinbase may identify in the future.”

A committee of the U.S. House of Representatives has proposed to subject cryptocurrencies to the “wash sale” rule. Since cryptocurrencies are treated as property by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), they are currently not subject to the wash sale rule. This proposal attempts to close down a big crypto tax loophole. Crypto Included in New Proposal The Committee on Ways and Means, the chief tax-writing committee of the U.S. House of Representatives, proposed to subject cryptocurrencies to the wash sale rule Monday. If adopted, the rules will apply to crypto trades occurring after Dec. 31. The “wash sales” provision in the bill states: This section includes commodities, currencies, and digital assets in the wash sale rule, an anti-abuse rule previously applicable to stock and other securities. The wash sale rule in section 1091 prevents taxpayers from claiming tax losses while retaining an interest in the loss asset. The wash-sale rule was designed to discourage people from selling securities at a loss simply to claim a tax benefit. A wash sale occurs when an individual sells a security at a loss and then purchases that same security or substantially identical securities within 30 days. Shehan Chandrasekera, head of Tax Strategy at crypto tax software firm Cointracker, commented that with this wash sale proposal, the committee “is trying to close down a big crypto tax loophole.” He elaborated: Since cryptocurrencies are treated as property (IRS 2014-21), they are not subject to the wash sale rule. This allows you to harvest losses more aggressively in crypto than in stocks. You don’t have to wait 30 days. Ways & Means Committee is trying to subject crypto to the wash sale rule. According to Chandrasekera, “the new rules will not eliminate the tax benefit, it will defer the tax benefit.”

The world’s largest movie exhibition company, AMC Entertainment, has announced its plan to accept cryptocurrencies by year-end. AMC CEO Adam Aron says the entertainment giant will accept bitcoin, ether, litecoin, and bitcoin cash. AMC Prepares to Accept Cryptocurrencies AMC, the largest movie exhibition company in the U.S., Europe, and the world, has unveiled its plan to accept cryptocurrencies by the end of the year. As of March 31, AMC owned or operated approximately 950 theaters and 10,500 screens globally. AMC CEO Adam Aron tweeted Wednesday: Cryptocurrency enthusiasts: you likely know @AMCTheatres has announced we will accept bitcoin for online ticket and concession payments by year-end 2021. I can confirm today that when we do so, we also expect that we similarly will accept ethereum, litecoin and bitcoin cash. AMC unveiled its plan to accept bitcoin during an earnings call in August. The CEO detailed on Twitter at the time: “By year end, we will have the technology in place to use Apple Pay and Google Pay in our online ticketing, and in a breakthrough, we also expect by year end to accept payment online in bitcoin. That’s a historic step for AMC.” His tweet continues: “I see that many of you are crypto enthusiasts. AMC is pleased to get out in front, by planning to accept payment online in bitcoin.” Aron clarified:

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Hey, welcome to Invitehawk.. Enjoy your stay and hope you have a good time here.

Hey, welcome to Invitehawk.. Enjoy your stay and hope you have a good time here.

Hey, welcome to Invitehawk.. Enjoy your stay and hope you have a good time here.

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