When you turn on your computer or laptop, chances are that you will want to access a website you regularly use, your chosen search engine (typically Google for myself) or perhaps a collection of social networking sites. If you use Chrome as your web browser (instead of Internet Explorer) within settings you can easily save your regular ‘go to places’ and these will open automaticaly when you click on the Chrome icon.

To set your start up pages go to chrome://settings/ and scroll down to ‘On startup’. Here you can check ‘open a specific page or set of pages’. You will need to ‘add a new page’ and then paste in the URL. Alternatively if you have your chosen pages already open you can click ‘use current pages’.

The other option is to check ‘continue where you left off’ and those pages will automaticaly re-open. Quite useful if you are working on a project and have multiple pages open!

You may also wish to choose your preferred search engine. Simply choose from Google, Yahoo, Bing or Ask Jeeves. These settings can then be saved and re-visited at any time.

Further tips from Google Chrome Help

1. Sign in to Google Chrome

When you sign in to the Chrome browser, you can save and sync things like your bookmarks, history, passwords and other settings to your Google account. Then, you can get to them on any device.

Find out how to sign in to Chrome.

2. Make your own profile

You can have multiple people use Chrome on the same device, each with their own settings, bookmarks and themes.

If you have different accounts, like work and personal, you can use Chrome profiles to keep your bookmarks, extensions and settings separate.

Find out how to add a Chrome profile.

3. Make Chrome yours with apps, extensions and themes

Download and use apps and extensions or personalise Chrome on your computer with a fun theme. You can find new apps, extensions and themes on the Chrome Web Store.

• Apps are programs that can be used within Chrome.
• Extensions are extra features that you can add to Chrome.
• Themes appear around the border of the browser and show a background when you open a new tab.

Find out how to use Chrome apps and extensions and customise Chrome with themes.

4. Open a specific page or continue where you left off

Set up Chrome to load your favourite page when you first open Chrome on your computer. Or, you can continue where you left off on the pages that you had open the last time you used Chrome.

Find out how to set your start-up pages.

5. Browse in private or delete your history

If you don’t want Google Chrome to save a record of what you visit and download, you can browse the web privately in incognito mode. You can also delete your history, cookies and other information: remove all of it or just some from a specific period of time.

Find out how to use Incognito mode and delete your information.