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How to Enable or Disable “Prefetch” in Google Chrome

How to Enable or Disable “Prefetch” in Google Chrome

By Mitch Bartlett 8 Comments

The Prefetch feature in Google Chrome takes up resources by caching pages you may never go to. You can modify a setting and enable or disable the Prefetch feature as you see fit using this tutorial.

What is Prefetch?

Also known as “prerendering“, the Prefetch feature in Google Chrome will cache pages that are linked on the web page you are currently on. This allows the page to load a bit faster when accessing it.

How to Disable Prefetch

  1. Click the “Menu”  button in the upper-right corner, then select “Settings“.
  2. Scroll down and select the “Advanced” option.
  3. Scroll down to the “Privacy and security” section, then toggle the “Use a prediction service to load pages more quickly” option to the left to disable Prefetch. Toggle it right if you wish to enable it.

Option 2 – Registry (Windows)

  1. Hold the Windows Key and press “R” to bring up the “Run” box.
  2. Type “regedit“, then press “Enter“.
  3. Note: You may have to create the “Google” and “Chrome” folders.
  4. Navigate to:
    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ Software \ Policies \ Google \ Chrome
  5. Right-click “Chrome” and select “New” > “DWORD 32-bit value“
  6. Give the value a name of “NetworkPredictionOptions“. Set the value data to:
    • 0 = Prefetch always enabled
    • 1 = Prefetch enabled on any network that is not cellular
    • 2 = Disable prefetch
  7. Restart the computer, and the setting will stick.

 Option 3 – Terminal Command (MacOS)

    1. From the Finder, select “Go” > “Utilities“.
    2. Open the “Terminal” application.
    3. Type the following, then press “Enter“:
      defaults write com.google.chrome NetworkPredictionOptions -integer <n>
      Where “<n>” is 0, 1, or 2 depending on what you wish to accomplish.

      • 0 = Prefetch always enabled
      • 1 = Prefetch enabled on any network that is not cellular
      • 2 = Disable prefetch
    4. Restart your Mac.

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Filed Under: Software Tagged With: google chrome

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. jjjaa says

    September 2, 2020 at 4:24 am

    No longer applies in version 85 or higher, Next!

  2. emilio says

    February 28, 2020 at 12:25 pm

    when i turn it on, my internet doesn’t work

  3. kaltunmohamoud says

    February 28, 2019 at 11:03 am

    Yes this was amazing thank yoou so much for this squeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!

  4. Josen says

    June 11, 2018 at 10:28 pm

    Encountered same problem as eman above (27.2,2018)

  5. Curtis Reagan says

    February 28, 2018 at 11:43 am

    Hello thanks for your anonymous browser but it takes longer to load and it kind of give me some problems proceeding my jobs.

  6. eman says

    February 27, 2018 at 9:43 pm

    couldnot disable the prefetch through option one ( doestnot work ) ,
    donot know how to use option 2 & 3

  7. thapelo says

    September 27, 2017 at 1:17 am

    how do I add the google and chrome folder

  8. wani says

    July 15, 2017 at 6:00 am

    I need your help please

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