The Speculative Loading
Google Chrome is built for speed. One of the ways it achieves fast page load times is through a feature called “Preload pages” (formerly known as Network Action Prediction). When you visit a webpage, Chrome analyzes the links on that page and attempts to guess which one you are most likely to click next. It then automatically downloads the HTML and assets for that predicted page in the background before you even click anything. While this makes your browsing feel instantaneous, it silently consumes a massive amount of background bandwidth and can drain battery life on laptops by forcing the CPU to render pages you might never actually visit.
Disabling Background Preloading
To conserve your network data and stop Google Chrome from automatically preloading web pages in the background, you must adjust the browser’s performance and privacy settings.
Open Google Chrome. Click the three vertical dots in the top-right corner of the window and select Settings from the dropdown menu. In the left-hand navigation pane, click on Performance. Look for the section labeled Speed. You will see a toggle switch labeled Preload pages (this setting tells Chrome to load pages faster by predicting your actions). Click the toggle to switch it to the Off position (the switch will turn grey). Alternatively, in older versions of Chrome, this setting is located under Privacy and security > Cookies and other site data, labeled as “Preload pages for faster browsing and searching.” Once disabled, Chrome will only consume bandwidth when you explicitly click a link or type a URL.