I don’t always have time to turn on my TV to watch something. Usually, I’m balancing two or three things at once for work and trying to have something on in the background while I’m doing so. I have a few different laptops (for different work reasons), so I’m definitely in the minority of being able to use one as a separate screen if I want. But even if I were just using my laptop as my main entertainment, I’d still be streaming on it a ton.

That being said, sometimes streaming can overwhelm a computer. If you are doing too many things at once, it can buffer and run relatively slowly. The last thing you want while you’re getting to the good part of a show or movie is to deal with a slowed-down computer. I use this trick in my browser to make sure I’m getting as fast a performance as I can.

Cache and cookies are slowing you down

There’s so much that clings after the fact

You probably have heard of clearing cache or deleting cookies before. But you may not have realized how important it really is to your computer’s performance. Your browser takes bits of information from nearly any website that it delivers. If you’re like most people, you’ll hit the “accept all cookies” pop-up that shows up when you visit almost any website, just so you can actually look at the website.

This allows for data collection based on what you do on the website, meaning it will look at your search history, clicks, browsing options, and more. Websites are trying to learn more about you, so they can provide a more customizable version of their platform. At the end of the day, they want to make it more enticing to you in hopes that you’ll buy something from them.

When it comes to cache, it’s more about helping out the website rather than helping your experience using the website. Cached images and the background scripts of a website are locally stored on your computer, so they don’t have to load every time you use the same website. This means that your computer fills in the information if you’re revisiting a website, rather than the website having to load it all over again.

To speed up the process, cached files are stored, allowing the website to load more quickly. However, this eventually reaches a breaking point because, if you’re storing many cached files, they’re stored locally in your browser and consume a significant amount of storage space. With less storage space for newer websites, those newer ones and any subsequent tasks you’re asking your browser to do are slowing down. By clearing them regularly, you free up some much-needed space.

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Clearing them out is a big help

This gives your browser a better chance

It’s not difficult to clear out your browser’s cache and delete cookies. By freeing up space, you’re giving your browser the ability to run the most up-to-date version of a website. Remember, if you’re storing cookies, you are basically keeping data from the specific time that you first visited them and agreed to keep them. Clearing out the storage frees you up to get rid of older data that might not be relevant anymore.

Another reason why you should clear out your cookies and cached files is that they could be storing more vulnerable data, meaning that newer versions of the site could have better security features. If you don’t eliminate them, cached files can be the target of malware.

Clearing cached files and cookies can delete your saved usernames and passwords for websites that you need to log into.

The settings for clearing out cookies and cached files are typically found in the Settings menu under privacy and security. You can choose to delete recent history or all of your history. Freeing up storage will help your browser run faster. This eliminates the load times it can take to stream your content. If you’re experiencing a browser that is loading more slowly and struggling to play your content smoothly, freeing up the storage is a safe first step to ending the problem altogether.

Browser hardware accelerator should be turned on

This is a hidden feature to boost your video

Something that you may not be aware of is that your browser can offload its video rendering from the CPU to the GPU. By turning on browser acceleration hardware, you’re basically telling your computer’s processor that it can take a break, and it’ll shift around the responsibilities of running a video to other hardware.

By doing so, you’re freeing up the CPU to run the browser more effectively and smoothly. This is often turned on in browsers, as it makes sense to use the GPU for video purposes. But you can check it by going to your settings menus in your browser.

For Google Chrome, if you go to Settings -> System -> Use graphics acceleration when available, you can toggle that on and assist your browser in streaming content more efficiently. Video playback takes a good amount of storage, and having the GPU handle it gives the CPU more bandwidth to deal with other tasks.

Other ways to stream better on your computer

The browser matters

All streaming is not the same on your laptop or computer. Not only does it depend on how well your browser is working, but it also matters which browser you’re using. For streaming purposes, users should consider Microsoft Edge. If you’ve never used Microsoft Edge before, it offers some unique features that make it ideal for streaming.

It has a feature called Clarity Boost that actually makes your videos sharper and clearer. This isn’t indicative of what streaming service you’re using, as this helps any streamer. It is the only Windows browser that supports 4K streaming for Netflix, making it feel like you’re watching something on your TV when you’re probably sitting with your laptop in your lap. It’s also the only browser on a Windows computer that supports Dolby Audio, boosting the​​​​​ entire experience while you’re streaming.

If you’re a Mac user, Safari is the smart choice, as it is the lone browser on macOS that supports 4K streaming on Netflix. You do need a Mac from 2018 or later in order to do this, as it needs to have a T2 security chip. While Chrome is overall the fastest browser to use, it doesn’t have the support for these features on streaming services.

Take some steps to ensure your browser is working for you

With some simple tweaks, you can clear the unnecessary files from your browser and make it stream more efficiently. Giving your browser a chance to share some of the load of streaming the video is why you should add a browser hardware accelerator. Focusing on which browser you use based on the kind of operating system you have can also play a factor in your streaming efficiency. At the end of the day, getting the best streaming experience is not far out of reach with some changes.