Prevent news site videos from loading

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steve48
Posts: 53
Joined: May 14th, 2012, 6:55 am

Prevent news site videos from loading

Post by steve48 »

It seems that many internet news sites automatically download videos when one clicks on a story. I often find myself in a situation with limited bandwidth and would prefer not to have these videos clogging whatever bandwidth is available. Are there configuration settings in Firefox to prevent videos from loading?
Steve
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JayhawksRock
Posts: 10433
Joined: October 24th, 2010, 8:51 am

Re: Prevent news site videos from loading

Post by JayhawksRock »

Try pref > media.autoplay.enabled set to false
and/or maybe > media.block-autoplay-until-in-foreground set to true
"The trouble with quotes on the internet is you never know if they are genuine" ...Abraham Lincoln
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Reflective
Posts: 2283
Joined: February 15th, 2007, 11:13 am

Re: Prevent news site videos from loading

Post by Reflective »

Hit Ctrl+Shift+A to open the extensions manager, click Plugins and then for Shockwave Flash, use the dropdown to set it to "Ask to activate".

For HTML5 video you can install this extension: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefo ... ay/?src=ss
steve48
Posts: 53
Joined: May 14th, 2012, 6:55 am

Re: Prevent news site videos from loading

Post by steve48 »

Thanks JayhawksRock and Reflective for the suggestions. Here’s what I have found.

Setting media.autoplay.enabled set to false allows adobe.flash to load but not play. Then setting media.block-autoplay-until-in-foreground to true doesn’t appear to do anything.

Setting Shockwave Flash to "Ask to activate" adds a popup that asks "Allow to run adobe.flash?" The choices presented are “Allow Now” or “Allow and Remember”.

These settings appear to keep Firefox from running the video. Is there a way to keep the video from even loading?

I added the extension for the HTML5 video. As far as I am aware, it has not come into play. Perhaps the internet news sites I look at do not use HTML5?

Appreciate the help.
Steve
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JayhawksRock
Posts: 10433
Joined: October 24th, 2010, 8:51 am

Re: Prevent news site videos from loading

Post by JayhawksRock »

How about going into Windows control panel and disabling Flash totally and see if HTML5 can take care of most of your needs.... or mess with the Flash settings there to get what you want
"The trouble with quotes on the internet is you never know if they are genuine" ...Abraham Lincoln
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therube
Posts: 21703
Joined: March 10th, 2004, 9:59 pm
Location: Maryland USA

Re: Prevent news site videos from loading

Post by therube »

sites automatically download videos when one clicks on a story
Perhaps the internet news sites I look at
URLs?
Fire 750, bring back 250.
Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 6.1; en-US; rv:1.9.1.19) Gecko/20110420 SeaMonkey/2.0.14 Pinball CopyURL+ FetchTextURL FlashGot NoScript
steve48
Posts: 53
Joined: May 14th, 2012, 6:55 am

Re: Prevent news site videos from loading

Post by steve48 »

Hello therube,

Here are a couple of new stories with video that automatically runs when I go to the web page:

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2017/03 ... badly.html

http://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/20 ... at-90.html
Steve
steve48
Posts: 53
Joined: May 14th, 2012, 6:55 am

Re: Prevent news site videos from loading

Post by steve48 »

I have Firefox Shockwave Flash plugin. I do not find an Adobe Flash plugin in my Firefox.

What is the difference between Flash and Adobe Flash and Shockwave Flash?

Thanks.
Steve
shanayaoberoi10
New Member
Posts: 2
Joined: March 20th, 2017, 12:10 am

Re: Prevent news site videos from loading

Post by shanayaoberoi10 »

on windows 11 there is a tab that allows you to stop videos from playing in your browser. i have updated many times and with each update, firefox has gotten more unstable and slower. stop patting yourselves on the back. you are not helping the casual user. DO I NEED TO GO BACK TO INTERNET EXPLORE 11 TO GET A FASTER, MORE STABLE BROWSER?
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