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How to Enable or Disable “Prefetch” in Google Chrome

How to Enable or Disable “Prefetch” in Google Chrome

July 10, 2017 by Mitch Bartlett 15 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

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Md Rajib hossen says

    December 26, 2022 at 8:58 am

    iphone mood setrup please

  2. A.N.S says

    October 7, 2022 at 12:25 pm

    ultrasurf is not working for me

  3. basira says

    September 18, 2022 at 3:45 am

    MY Ultrasurf don’t work so can you help me out

  4. Wes says

    September 5, 2022 at 7:59 am

    I keep failing my companies phishing tests when I use outlook.office.mail with chrome. I think it is prefetching the trigger links in the message.

  5. James says

    June 6, 2022 at 3:18 am

    ultrasurf is not working for me

  6. sebas says

    July 23, 2021 at 1:31 pm

    muy buena

  7. Chidera says

    June 11, 2021 at 3:09 pm

    when turn on my internet stops to work, why

  8. jjjaa says

    September 2, 2020 at 4:24 am

    No longer applies in version 85 or higher, Next!

  9. emilio says

    February 28, 2020 at 12:25 pm

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

  10. kaltunmohamoud says

    February 28, 2019 at 11:03 am

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

  11. Josen says

    June 11, 2018 at 10:28 pm

    Encountered same problem as eman above (27.2,2018)

  12. 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.

  13. 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

  14. thapelo says

    September 27, 2017 at 1:17 am

    how do I add the google and chrome folder

  15. wani says

    July 15, 2017 at 6:00 am

    I need your help please

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Who’s Behind Technipages?

Baby and Daddy My name is Mitch Bartlett. I've been working in technology for over 20 years in a wide range of tech jobs from Tech Support to Software Testing. I started this site as a technical guide for myself and it has grown into what I hope is a useful reference for all.

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