The default Google Chrome settings come with the thumbnail function that stores the most visited websites, and that can slow down your internet connection and the browser performances will be reduced. At the same time, there are situations where people visit websites by mistake, following hidden links, for example. That can cause some problems, especially, for kids.
The good news is that you can solve the problem, and I’ll show you how to disable the Google Chrome thumbnail function in a few seconds. Best of all, it’s a free method that will speed up your web browser, and make it clean and faster.
Disabling the Google Chrome thumbnails
All you have to do is to add a small extension from the official Google Chrome web store called Empty New Tab Page. This lightweight extension with a size of 8 KB will be installed instantly, and you don’t have to restart your browser.
The small size will never affect the browser performances, and you will notice that all the new tabs that you open will be a blank page, with the default search bar at the top of the page as the below screenshot:
As you can see, there are no more elements on the page and all the thumbnails are gone. However, if your computer is used by someone else, make sure that he never disable the extension when using the browser. Or simply, verify the blank page function without thumbnails when you connect your computer.
This is the best way to turn thumbnails off in your browser, and best of all, you get a better user experience. If you want to enable, or, disable this extension. All you have to do is to click on the options menu, at the top right page in Chrome, then, select “Tools”, and finally, “Extensions”.
You will get the list of extensions that are installed in your browser, just find the one you’ve installed, and manage it from there.
Getting rid of the most visited pages in Chrome
If you think that Google Chrome added thumbnails for the most visited websites or pages, then, you can manually remove them by click on the thumbnail and delete it. Personally, I find this feature annoying and bad for user experience, if someone uses another person’s computer just to check something, then, his history of the recently visited websites will be there, directly on the homepage of the web browsers. That’s not the best thing we all want to have.
Stopping Chrome’s most visited websites tabs
Chrome on mobile has a similar feature that shows the most visited websites with thumbnails, so, to disable that, clear your browser history first, and double-check the Google home to see if there are any thumbnails that are not deleted. If you find one, delete it by clicking on it, you’ll find the option to remove that specific website with its thumbnails.
If you want to make the browser, even cleaner and faster, make sure to use the extensions that you really need and. There is no need for a tool that you use once a week. Just disable it and you can enable it when you need it. If you’re using a password manager tool, it’s better to delete all the generated passwords that are duplicates. Make things clean in your browser and things will be better.
Of course, it’s recommended to read reviews after adding any tool to your computer. Lots of adware programs come with spam extensions and even scammers. For that reason, you have to be careful when you add and software and read carefully the instructions.
If you find extensions that you’ve never installed, then you’re a victim of a hidden software. In that case, you need to install a powerful antivirus and never trust applications before verifying everything about it. Just search on Google and you will find the top antivirus software.
Why seeing the thumbnails?
Google Chrome wants to help users access their preferred website faster without the need to remember the full URL, so, it adds the most visited website with tabs for each one. That may look like a good feature for some, but not for everyone. In fact, if someone wants to add his preferred websites with thumbnails to the Chrome homepage, he can do that manually, and of course, he can remove them.
On the other, side, adding these annoying thumbnails automatically to the homepage when you just visit a website looking for information is not good. So, basically, thumbnails should not be added automatically by Google chrome because a user just visited a website. I saw many cases when Chrome added spam website thumbnails that people may accidentally click on because of an ad or adware installed on their computers without even noticing that.
