The basic browser settings are familiar to many. However, in addition to them, the system includes hidden information that developers mainly use. Some functional features of browsers are experimental, understandable only to professionals, others will add convenience to the user.
Which browsers have Flags?
Hidden functions are available in popular browsers such as
- Chrome;
- Opera;
- Yandex.
The hidden tuning system is available through the Edge command. To make it work, go to the browser and in the search bar of any search engine write:
- about: flags \u003d\u003e Enter.
Changes in hidden browser settings can affect page loading speed, enabling additional functionality, disabling some unnecessary functions. They are not recommended for modification by inexperienced users, as the browser system can be completely broken. However, for the curious, active, all the time looking for something, system information can be useful as an experiment.
How do I get to the hidden Mozilla menu?
The covered menu of any browser is accessible through the above address, which you need to type in the browser bar. For each browser manufacturer, these settings are opened through a specific search engine... If for browsers yandex, google these are flags, then for FireFox this is about: config
The list of hidden settings will appear as a kind of links.
If you click on one of the links from the list, you will have access to the new functionality of your browser.
Hidden settings functionality
For example, the Override software rendering list from Chroma settings is responsible for hardware acceleration of the product. If you enable it, the browser will have access to more random access memory and other PC resources. However, the enabled setting will reduce the loading time of video pages, among other things.
Experimental canvas features - Also responsible for web browsing. They are an integral part of HTML5
The enabled GPU Accelerated Canvas 2D feature will unload the main processor by loading the CPU of the video card. This will affect much better performance when showing "heavy" pages.
Composited render layer borders auto-wrapping function adjusts the width of paragraphs to fit on the screen.
The list of hidden features is impressive. To speed up the browser, it is enough to enable the processing of pages using the GPU and the option of a secondary source for displaying web resources.
Disable experimental pipelining for HTTP requests.
List of hidden options in Mozilla FireFox yet more. The approach to improving browser functionality is somewhat different. Option assignments are manually changed or even re-created. The easiest way is to copy and paste the required functionality into the "Search" field.
You need to double-click on the search line. A functional dialog box will appear. You need to enter the appropriate parameters into it, for example:
Click ok.
Now some important parameters:
security.dialog_enable_delay - 0 will remove the inhibition of installed add-ons
layout.word_select.eat_space_to_next_word - false when selecting part of the text by double-clicking will not capture the space after the text
layout.spellcheckDefault -2 organizes spell checking work
browser.display.focus_ring_width - 0 will remove the dashed addition to the link
browser.urlbar.autoFill -true will enable automatic appearance of the address in the search bar
Everyone knows that in order to get to the menu at Chrome, you need to click on the Wrench in the upper right corner.
However, there are a few features that are not available from the menu, which you can only see with chrome: // commands.
Below are the 12 most useful chrome: // commands that everyone should know.
1.chrome: // flags
From here you can enable some experimental features that are hidden in the browser Google chrome... Please note that as mentioned on this page, since they are experimental, they may not work as expected and may cause questions. You will enable these features and use them at your own risk.
2.chrome: // dns
This page displays a list of DNS that your browser has polled.
3.chrome: // downloads
This function is also available from Menu-\u003e Downloads, as well as by pressing Ctrl + J.
4.chrome: // extensions
This feature is also available from Menu-\u003e Options-\u003e Extensions.
5.chrome: // bookmarks
This function is also available from Menu-\u003e Bookmarks-\u003e Bookmark manager, as well as by pressing Ctrl + Shift + O.
6.chrome: // history
This function is also available from Menu-\u003e History, as well as by pressing Ctrl + H.
7.chrome: // memory
First it will redirect to "chrome: // memory-redirect /". This will show the memory that the Google Chrome browser is eating, as well as all other browsers running on the system (including Firefox). It also displays all processes associated with the browser with the PID, the process name, and the memory they are occupying.
8.chrome: // net-internals
All network information is displayed here. Use this page for information on browser generated network events. You can also export this data. One of important functions on this page is "Test". If the page failed to load, you can open "chrome: // net-internals" -\u003e "Test" -\u003e the address that failed to load and click on the "Start Test" button, then the test will pass and a report will appear on why the page cannot be opened.
9.chrome: // quota-internals
This function shows information about disk spaceused by the browser.
10.chrome: // sessions
This page displays information about sessions.
11.chrome: // settings
This function is also available from Menu-\u003e Settings (Windows), and Menu-\u003e Options (Linux). All available browser options can be configured here.
12.chrome: // sync-internals
Synchronization information and statistics are displayed here.
Added from comments:
chrome: // gpu-internals /
What video card functions are supported and what are included
chrome: // print /
Great opportunity for Windows owners to save the page in pdf
Finally, to view all available chrome: // commands, type chrome: // about / or chrome: // chrome-urls / in the address bar of your browser.
In addition, all the commands mentioned above can also be called using the about command:
For example, these are the same commands that return the same thing.
Google Chrome is a powerful and functional web browser that has a ton of features in its arsenal for fine tuning... However, not all users know that the "Settings" section contains only a small part of the tools for working on improving the browser, because there are still hidden settings, which will be discussed in the article.
Many web browser updates add new features and functionality to Google Chrome. However, such functions do not appear in it right away - at first they are tested for a long time by everyone, and you can get access to them in hidden settings.
Thus, hidden settings are test google settings Chrome, which are currently under development, can therefore be quite unstable. Some parameters can suddenly disappear from the browser at any time, and some remain in the hidden menu without getting into the main one.
It is quite easy to get into the hidden settings of Google Chrome: to do this, using the address bar, you will need to follow the following link:
chrome: // flags
The screen will display a list of hidden settings, which is quite extensive.
Please note that it is strongly discouraged to change the settings in this menu thoughtlessly, as it can seriously disrupt the operation of the browser.
How to use hidden settings
Activation of hidden settings, as a rule, occurs by pressing the button near the required item "Enable" ... Knowing the name of the parameter, the easiest way to find it is using the search string, which can be invoked using the keyboard shortcut Ctrl + F .
For the changes to take effect, you will definitely need to restart your web browser by agreeing to the program's suggestion or by doing this procedure yourself.
Below we will consider a list of the most interesting and relevant to the day hidden Google Chrome settings, with which the use of this product will become even more comfortable.
5 hidden settings to improve Google Chrome
1. "Smooth scrolling". This mode will allow you to smoothly scroll the page with the mouse wheel, significantly improving the quality of web surfing.
2. "Quickly close tabs / windows". Useful function, which allows to increase the response time of the browser for almost instantaneous closing of windows and tabs.
3. "Automatically delete the contents of the tabs." Prior to the adoption of this function, Google Chrome consumed a huge amount of resources, and also due to this, and wasted significantly more battery power, and therefore users of laptops and tablets refused this web browser. Now everything is much better: by activating this function, when memory is full, the contents of the tab will be erased, but the tab itself will remain in its place. Opening the tab again will reload the page.
4. "Material Design at the top of the Chrome browser" and "Material Design at the rest of the browser interface". Allows you to activate one of the most successful designs in the browser, which has been improved for several years in the Android OS and other Google services.
5. "Create passwords". Due to the fact that each Internet user is registered on more than one web resource, special attention should be paid to the strength of passwords. This function will allow the browser to automatically generate strong passwords for you and automatically save them in the system (passwords are securely encrypted, so you can rest assured of their safety).
We hope this article was helpful to you.
Experienced users are well aware of the presence of a section with experimental settings in Chrome, located at chrome: // flags... This is where Google programmers hide new, not yet tested browser functions from the eyes of inexperienced users. We have selected for you those that you can safely activate and use right now.
1. Enabling smooth scrolling
Users have been expecting this feature probably from the very moment the first release of Chrome was released. And finally, the developers got their hands on it. To activate it, enter the address shown below and select the "Enabled" value from the pop-up menu.
Chrome: // flags / # smooth-scrolling
2. Mute the tab
If in any tab you play music player or a video is playing, Chrome marks the tab with a small loudspeaker icon. However, this icon can also be used to quickly mute the sound. To do this, you need to activate the option at the following address:
Chrome: // flags / # enable-tab-audio-muting
3. Quickly close tabs and windows
This option makes the interface more responsive and speeds up surfing. After activating it, tabs will close much faster, regardless of the process associated with them. In fact, this only affects graphical interface, but visually it seems that Chrome is starting to work a little faster. Activate the option at this address:
Chrome: // flags / # enable-fast-unload
4. QUIC protocol support
QUIC (Quick UDP Internet Connections) is a new experimental Internet protocol developed by Google. It is designed to speed up Internet connections as opposed to the current tCP protocol... Although at the moment it is not very widespread, still when referring to google servers it can give some speed boost. You can activate it at the following address:
Chrome: // flags / # enable-quic
5. Creating passwords
When this setting is active, Chrome will automatically generate strong password in the event that you are on the registration page. Very convenient function, which, together with the built-in password storage service, will help you completely abandon third-party solutions... You can activate this option at the following address:
Chrome: // flags / # enable-password-generation
And what are hidden chrome settings are you using?
What if you come across the phrase Chrome Flags Enable Npapi? Such unknown words often lead us to a dead end. We are trying to deal with them, but in vain. Of course, if you are a programmer, then you already know what will be discussed. But if you happen to find out that you need to somehow include these four English words, don't worry, it's not as difficult as it seems.
Browser
Let's start in order. We will talk about some of the tools that used to work in chrome browser... It is a fairly well-known web browser from google, which now occupies a leading position among all its "colleagues", a program based on the free Chromium browser paired with the Blink engine.
This is a young app that came out in 2008. It has already been updated many times and is now using version 59. The browser is not without its drawbacks, but it is still considered convenient, fast and safe.
Options
Next, let's move on to Chrome Flags. Like any program, the browser has prepared some hidden features for specialists. They will be especially useful for programmers. There are many hidden options here that are not found in the settings menu. But this does not mean that some of the functions will not be needed. ordinary user... There are those that can make surfing the Internet more comfortable.
So, to get there, you need the chrome: // flags command. This line must be entered into the browser and press Enter. You will see a page with a large set of commands and options. There is no point in studying them all. In addition, despite the presence of descriptions, it is not so easy for the average reader to understand their capabilities. But there are those that can make your work with the browser simple and fix some bugs.
Basic commands
Rewrite all features found in the chrome: // flags menu. it makes no sense. You can consider the main ones that can really come in handy. For example, here you can change the translation bar to an icon. It usually appears on foreign websites. You can ignore the autocomplete prohibition. It happens that this function is enabled for you, but directly separate pages prohibit its use. To do this, you can try using this option.
There is an option to include automatic fix mistakes. So, if you enter text somewhere, the browser will help you “become more literate”. The app can predict your desires. One of the options loads the page faster because it knows the final position of your finger on the touch device.
If there is no Internet, you can use the function that fetches pages from the cache and allows them to be viewed.
There are a number of commands in the chrome: // flags menu that are responsible for performance. You can check for compatibility, enable Direct 3D to speed up your work, or quickly close tabs and windows.
Architecture
Since it is clear from our set of words that Enable is responsible for enabling the function, and, accordingly, Disable for disabling it, let's move on to the incomprehensible word NPAPI. This, as you might guess, is an abbreviation. Translated into Russian, we get the "Netscape plug-in programming interface".
In simple terms, this is some kind of architecture through which plugins can appear. Most likely, the question will arise, what are the software modules that can be connected to the program. At the same time, plugins will complement the application and expand its capabilities. These modules look like a library for users.
NPAPI appeared a long time ago, along with one of the first Netscape browsers, hence the name of the architecture. Later, this architecture, which developed plugins, was adopted by all existing web browsers. But that was a long time ago. Already a couple of years ago popular browsers began to abandon it, and plugins began to lose their functionality.
Renouncement
Since we are talking about the chrome: // flags / # enable-npapi command, we will further consider the history of the relationship of this architecture with the Google Chrome browser. Since this web browser was introduced in 2008, it is from this point that support for plugins with the Netscape Plug-in API began. But already in January 2014, the developers decided to abandon them and stopped supporting them.
In general, things have been going towards refusal for a long time. Firstly, this is due to the fact that the architecture itself is from the nineties, and really it would be time to change it to a newer one. After it was locked by Windows in Metro mode, there were suspicions about the danger of the interface.
In order not to leave plugins unattended, it was decided to develop PPAPI on our own. It is, according to programmers, safer. After that, all plugins were transferred to it. And to have an alternative Flash Playerwhich worked with the Netscape Plug-in API, the Pepper Flash Player was launched.
Disconnection
Before you enable NPAPI in Chrome Flags, you need to think about security. It is not for nothing that almost all browsers have abandoned this architecture. When I disabled it, all plugins by default stopped working. But the most popular ones still functioned for a while. Among them were Silverlight, Unity, Google Earth, etc.
Already the 42nd version of the browser came out with the Netscape Plug-in interface disabled. Although some workarounds did exist. With the 45th version, this has ceased to be possible. NPAPI features have been disabled and removed from the web browser.
Turning on
Many immediately rushed to look for ways to turn it on. Chrome Flags Enable Npapi has finally come in handy for many. This command allowed the interface to be used. This was necessary for those who often visited sites with the Netscape Plug-in. And until the moment when Google Chrome finally cut off all the paths to the interface, it was still possible to get to it.
To do this, you had to open a browser and enter chrome: // flags / # enable-npapi in the address bar. It was easy to enable the interface in the line of the same name with a highlighted inscription. Below appeared the "Restart" button. By the way, next to the inclusion there was information that this method is suitable for those who work with browser versions from 42 to 45. This feature will be disabled later.
conclusions
This is how we got acquainted with a difficult concept that was relevant back in 2014. Now this command is unlikely to work, since for Google Chrome history with NPAPI ended, as, in general, and for many other browsers. Now those who work with plugins of this interface can use special applications of the project Mozilla, Safari, Konqueror and a couple of other web browsers.
The chrome: // flags command also remains. You can enable many options with its help. But you won't be able to activate NPAPI plugins. Google offers to work with newer standards, including HTML5 and NaCL.
