I Fixed My Annoyingly Slow Roku During a Commercial Break. Here’s How

If your Roku keeps buffering or freezes at the most dramatic moment of a show, let’s get one thing straight: It’s probably not broken — just neglected.

Before you dramatically declare it dead and start shopping for a new Roku, have you tried the ridiculously simple fixes? We’re talking about clearing the cache, forcing a software update or — and this is a big one — the ancient, all-powerful trick of unplugging it for a minute. And if your device is a few years old, it could also be time to finally delete those 12 channels you never watch.

Seriously, a five-minute refresh is all it takes to fix. Stop suffering through a stuttering stream and give your Roku the quick tune-up it’s begging for.

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How to clear your Roku TV cache

This process isn’t as straightforward on a Roku TV as it is on other devices. Following these steps will improve your device’s performance and clear its cache. Keep in mind that your Roku TV will restart.

Reset Roku TV in the settings

1. From the main menu, go to the end of the list and select the Settings menu.
2. Within Settings, find System and open it.
3. Scroll down to Power and select it.
4. Select System Restart and click Restart to confirm.

This will turn off your TV and clear the cache but it will not factory reset it. Your Roku TV should turn back on in about 30 seconds. If this doesn’t work, you can try using the hidden remote function to reset the TV instead.

Reset Roku TV with remote

1. Go to the Home menu and make sure the highlight is over the Home option on the left.
2. On your remote push the Home button five times.
3. Push the Up arrow once.
4. Push the Rewind button twice.
5. Push the Fast Forward button twice.
6. Wait for your Roku to restart.

Uninstall the app

If resetting the Roku TV doesn’t solve the issues with slowing, you may have to uninstall and reinstall the app you believe is causing the issue. As a warning, all users and settings will be removed from the app and you will need to set this back up upon reinstall.

1. Highlight the app, but do not open it.
2. Push the * button on your remote.
3. Select Remove Channel from the popup.

How to factory reset your Roku TV

For those still having issues, you may be better off doing a factory reset of the whole Roku TV. This will remove all your users, sign-ins and apps, making it the same as if you had just brought it home from the store.

1. From the menu, select Settings.
2. Find System and select it.
3. At the bottom of the System menu, go to Advanced System Settings.
4. Select Factory Reset and enter the code underneath the number pad on the right to confirm reset.

For more coverage, read about how you can set up a VPN on Roku and learn how your streaming device might be tracking you.