Speed up Google Chrome when it's sluggish/freezing

Google Chrome will sometimes have a corrupt user profile, which will cause it to run sluggishly or freeze. These are the instructions for Windows only.

Here is how to fix it:

0) Close Chrome completely (all windows of it)

1) Go to the search bar at bottom right and type: %localappdata% and hit enter

2) From there, navigate to the folders Google -> Chrome -> User Data

3) Find a folder called "Default" or "Profile 1". Copy that entire folder.

4) Now delete the original folder you just copied

5) Restart Chrome. No profile will be logged in, or your old profile might be partially logged in. Click on the profile/user button at top right, and sign in to your profile, or create a new one if you just want to start totally fresh. If you have a Google acount linked to your profile, log in to that.

6) Close Chrome again, and restart

7) Once in, it will probably ask you which profile you want. Delete the partially logged in one, then click on the one you just logged into above.

8) Test that everything runs fast now. If it does, then go to that copied folder from #3. Then copy over the files called "History" and "Bookmarks" into the newly created "Default" or "Profile 1" (whichever folder shows a date of creation from just now). That will restore your history and bookmarks.

9) Close Chrome once more and restart


Enjoy it running faster!

FYI, this will also clobber your extensions, so be aware of that beforehand, and note down which ones you have, redownload them, and make sure you have all the passwords to log back into the ones requiring that.

Otherwise, good tip though. Keep 'em coming!