When facing a system slowdown on a Chromebook, clearing your cookies is a good first step—but it’s not always enough. Then again, a full factory reset might be overkill, creating a lot of work to reestablish your preferences. Fortunately, ChromeOS’s latest update has come up with a happy medium known as a “Safety reset.”
ChromeOS 131 Will Have a Safety Reset Feature
Now rolling out for Chromebooks, the freshest ChromeOS version has a variety of helpful features, including theSafety reset. The option allows you to clean up your Chromebook similar to a “Powerwash,” or factory reset. However, it doesn’t completely nuke everything you’ve put time into, like all your saved passwords.
Here’s a breakdown of how a Safety reset differs from a Powerwash:
Safety reset
Chrome settings
Chrome shortcuts
Extensions
Temporary site data
Browsing history
Saved passwords
ChromeOS 131 Gets Flashy
While the Safety reset is probably the biggest improvement we’ll see from the new OS, there are other updates to note. Namely, Chromebook notifications will be bigger and brighter—literally. According toGoogle Support, your notifications can now be accompanied by a flash on the screen to ensure you don’t miss them, which is useful if you’re hearing impaired or when using screen magnification.
For those of you who are not into being flashed, don’t worry—this isn’t a required setting. you may toggle the notification flash on and off inSettings>Accessibility>Audio and captions.
Aside from flashy notifications and other glitzy updates, like theChromebook’s new Quick Insert key, the new restoration function strikes me as very pragmatic. Don’t get me wrong, sometimes it’s necessary to blow everything to smithereens, if it means your machine will run smoothly again. But, it will cost you time and memories. This lighter reset is the perfect “Goldilocks” feature. When completely wiping your system is too “hot,” but clearing your cookies is too “cold,” a Safety reset could be just right.
