Any ideas why I'm getting a delay after clicking "Save as" or "Download" in Google Chrome

1. Disable hyperlink auditing

^{(Click images to enlarge)}

2. & 3. Clear your cache as this CAN actually slow down initial download connecting - since it looks for previous metadata FIRST.

(In Settings -> Clear browsing data... -> select any non-defaults as suits you.)

4. Check for bad/old/suspicious certificates (malware, etc. can be injected via certificates being implanted and sites being redirected ---cert pinning only helps if these are not system trust certs (for list of valid/common ones your search engine of choice should return a healthy list)

(In Settings -> Manage Certificates -- you must click Show advanced settings first to see it)

The same happens on my computer. I have the default download directory set up to save to an external USB hard drive.

The drive always has to spin up before the file is saved. You can hear and see this process very clearly.

I know this isn't technically an 'answer' per se. However, it drives me nuts too! What I have found is that Chrome is checking for updates, which causes the delay.

Next time it happens, click the customise icon in the top right corner, click 'About Google Chrome' and just below your existing version, you will see it checking for updates. Once that process has finished, the downloads begin as normal.

It usually only happens to me once per 'session', but it's still infuriating and I don't know how to prevent it from occurring.