What to do if Internet Explorer tabs freeze or open slowly

February 2023 · 6 minute read
Internet Explorer Tabs Freeze or Open Slowly Strugling with your current browser? Upgrade to a better one: OperaYou deserve a better browser! 350 million people use Opera daily, a fully-fledged navigation experience that comes with various built-in packages, enhanced resource consumption and great design. Here's what Opera can do:

Internet Explorer is counting its last days, but it still has a certain amount of users. And these users are certainly facing some issues with Microsoft’s outgoing browser, even if it’s more stable than ever.

If your Internet Explorer constantly crashes, freezes, or hangs in Windows 10, 8.1, 7, or maybe it won’t even start, you’ve come to the right place.

One of the main concerns of IE users is that their tabs take a lot of time to open or freeze. If you only encounter performance problems within the browser, then you should take a look at your settings.

This issue can be caused by a cluttered browser cache as well as outdated or malicious browser add-ons. 

We found the most common causes that make your Internet Explorer tabs load slowly or freeze and comprised an easy-to-follow guide on what you can do.

  • Clear IE Cache
  • Check Your System
  • Check if the certain add-on is causing problems
  • Change Internet Settings in Registry Editor
  • Additional Solutions
  • What to do if IE crashes, freezes, or opens slowly?

    1. Clear IE Cache

  • Click the Settings icon.Internet Explorer Tabs Freeze or
  • Select Internet Options.
  • Under the Browsing history section, click on the Delete button.Internet Explorer Tabs Freeze or
  • Select what you want to delete and click on the Delete button.Internet Explorer Tabs Freeze or
  • The browser automatically selects temporary files, cookies, and history as these are the files that take up space and slow down your browser. If you want to keep any of this data or delete something else, just tick the corresponding box.

    You can also clean the Internet Explorer with the help of a third-party cleaning tool. For more information on keeping your system clean, this post will take you through some of the best registry cleaners for Windows 10.

    Our top recommendation is CCleaner, a cleanup tool that will erase browsing data and free up disk memory within a few clicks.

    The software will enhance your PC’s performance with reliable features like custom cleaning for Internet cache or cookie files.

    In addition, you can delete temporary files or duplicates from your system, analyze your disk health, and clean outdated files or broken settings on your PC.

    2. Check Your System

    Next, you can run sfc/scannow command in the Command Prompt to check your system for errors.

    Also, you may scan your system with efficient antivirus software.

    And finally, go to Internet Explorer, click Tools, Internet Options, Security, Reset all Zones to Default level.

    If these system tweaks didn’t help you, try some other solutions listed below.

    3. Check if a certain add-on is causing problems

    Maybe some of your add-ons is giving you a problem.

    So, run Internet Explorer without add-ons and see if things get any better.

    To disable all add-ons in Internet explorer, do the following:

    Expert Tip: Some PC issues are hard to tackle, especially when it comes to corrupted repositories or missing Windows files. If you are having troubles fixing an error, your system may be partially broken. We recommend installing Restoro, a tool that will scan your machine and identify what the fault is.
    Click here to download and start repairing.

    If it works fine, then one of your add-ons is obviously causing problems.

    Use Manage add-ons tool, to disable each one after the other to find which add-on is causing the problem. When you notice which add-is the problem, delete it.

    You can also disable add-ons if you go to Internet Options, Advanced tab, and click on Reset tab and Restart IE.

    This option will reset Internet Explorer and delete all temporary files, disable all add-ons, plug-ins, toolbars and set all the settings to default.

    This is maybe the quickest way to fix the problem with add-ons, after you perform it, you’ll have to install everything again.

    But if the problem is not with your add-ons, try some of the solutions listed below.

    4. Change Internet Settings in Registry Editor

    If none of the solutions listed above worked, you may try to make a few changes in the Registry.

    But make sure to create a backup of your system, because playing with Registry Editor could be dangerous sometimes. Find out more in the post 5 best backup software for Windows 10.

    Here’s what you need to do to edit your Registry:

  • Run Regedit and navigate to the following key:
    • HKEY_CURRENT_USERSoftwareMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionInternet Settings
  • Right-click in the right page and select New
  • Create a New DWORD value called MaxConnectionsPerServer
  • Double-click MaxConnectionsPerServer and give the value as 10
  • Create another new DWORD with the name MaxConnectionsPer1_0Server
  • Double-click it and give the value as 10
  • Save and Exit from the registry
  • Restart Windows
  • You should also check if the following registry subkey is enabled:

    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESoftwareMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionInternet SettingsUseCoInstall

    If it isn’t, no problem. But if it is present and its DWORD value is set at 1, change this value to 0, Click OK, and Exit.

    5. Additional Solutions

    You can always try Microsoft’s in-house troubleshooting tool, Microsoft Fix It. Just download it, choose the cause of your problem, which is crashing Internet Explorer, in this case, and it will try to fix it.

    Microsoft Fix It usually fixes common problems with Internet Explorer, like freezing, running slow, security issues, etc. And it could be also effective this time.

    You can also use Software Rendering instead of GPU Rendering and see if the problem still exists. To enable this setting, do the following:

    If everything else fails, you can always try a different browser, such as Opera. It is light and easy to use, plus it gets constant updates that keep it stable and secure.

    Every user can switch to the Opera browser without any effort, importing all information from the old browser in seconds.

    The browser is highly customizable, with tons of integrated apps and functionalities, a built-in VPN, an integrated adblocker, personalized pinboards and bookmarks, and more to go.

    ncG1vNJzZmivmaOxsMPSq5ypp6Kpe6S7zGigp6yVp7umwIyer6mkn6eys3nTmpmsZZansqbGxGaqpaenZA%3D%3D