Google Chrome might be the world's biggest web browser, but it's been known to slow down both Mac and Windows computers, especially affecting a system's battery and processors, with some reporting that the browser affects them even when it's not on.
'Chrome is Bad'
Chrome has millions of active users, but the cause has been unclear for many.
That is until one frustrated Chrome user on Mac found out in his research that the reason behind the Mac slowing down is due to the Chrome Keystone, an auto-update mechanism put in place by the company.
To explain the issue further, Loren Brichter, a software developer, created the website known as "Chrome is Bad," which also includes a detailed solution for the problem.
According to News18, Google's browser installs Keystone to your computer, which then hides itself from the Activity Monitor that can turn your computer much slower even not in use, but deleting both Google Chrome and Chrome Keystone can apparently make your computer "way, way faster, all the time."
Brichter detailed how he noticed the issue, saying that his Mac was slowing down and when he checked his computer's Activity Monitor, it did not show anything from Google using the system's CPU.
Finding Chrome Keystones
Nevertheless, he did notice that "WindowServer" had been taking 80% of his CPU usage, which is actually considered abnormally high.
The software developer tried the normal fixes, such as logging out users, rebooting his computer, and killing some apps, but it did not do anything until he remembered downloading Chrome to test a website.
From there, he proceeded to delete Chrome, and that's when he saw Keystone among other files included with the browser.
"I deleted everything from Google I could find, restarted the computer, and it was like night-and-day. Everything was instantly and noticeably faster, and WindowServer CPU was well under 10 percent again," Brichter wrote on his website.
He also did the same thing on his family's iMac from 2015 since he said it had been partially slow since they purchased the computer.
But as it turned out, the first thing they did was install Chrome when setting up the device, so he also deleted Chrome and all the Keystone files that was littering on the computer, saying that when he restarted the device, it was "so snappy" that it seemed like it was a "new computer."
How to Delete Google Chrome and Chrome Keystones on Mac
So, how do you delete Chrome Keystone?
- Go to the /Applications folder, then drag the Chrome to Trash.
- Click the Go menu in the Finder (on top of the screen), then choose the "Go to Folder..."
- Type in /Library then hit enter, then check LaunchAgents, LaunchDaemons, Caches, Application Support, Preference folders.
- Delete every Google folder and anything that starts with com.google.keystone... and com.google...
- Go back to the "Go to Folder..." then type in /Library and hit enter, then check all folders as with step 3.
- Repeat step 4.
- Finally, Empty Trash and then restart your Mac.
There are several other web browsers you can use if you want to avoid Chrome, such as Microsoft Edge or Safari, or Mozilla Firefox, among others.
This article is owned by Tech Times
Written by: Nhx Tingson
