BROWSE THE WEB FASTER
Disable auto-play videos to make pages open faster
The more data a website contains, the longer it’ll take to appear in your browser. That’s why text-only sites load in a jiffy, while pages packed with adverts, photos, trackers and videos (which their owners insist on uploading in HD, then set to play automatically) take an aeon to open.
Website creators don’t seem to care. News websites are stuffed with video clips that leap noisily into life uninvited. Not only do they get in the way while you’re trying to read, but they slow down page-load times and could even make your browser crash. And don’t get us started on full-screen video backgrounds (this kind of nonsense: https://mediaboom.com).
Chrome now mutes the audio on some auto-playing videos by default, but that doesn’t do an awful lot to speed up pages. To block videos from playing automatically in Chrome and Firefox, you need to dig deep into your browser’s hidden configuration settings. To go straight there in Chrome, type chrome:// flags/#autoplay-policy in the address bar then press Enter. Click the ‘Autoplay policy’ dropdown menu, select ‘Document user activation is required’ (see screenshot below), and then click Relaunch Now. In Firefox, type about:config?filter=autoplay, click ‘I accept the risk!’ to bat away the warning, and then double-click ‘media. autoplay.enabled’ to change true to false.
You can also set your browser to block all images. It’s a dramatic move but could make all the difference if you’re on a slow or metered connection. In Chrome, type chrome://settings/content/images then click the toggle so it says ‘Do not show any images’. Chrome also now lets you block images on certain websites only – handy if you like a particular site but find its images are too big to load fast (not ‘optimised’, to use the jargon). To block all images in Firefox, go to ‘about:config’ using the steps above, then type permissions.default.image into Search and press Enter. Double-click the top line, set the value to 2, and then click OK.
Block adverts and trackers
There’s nothing quite like online advertising to put the brakes on your browser while also annoying the living daylights out of you. To deal with the scourge, use an ad-blocking extension such as Adblock Plus (all major browsers, https://adblockplus.org). This free, open-source tool automatically blocks ads and pop-ups so the rest of a site’s content can load much faster.
Added bonuses: ad-free pages are easier to read (fewer gaudy distractions) and less likely to hoodwink you with ads disguised as impartial content. For an even bigger speed boost, set Adblock Plus to block all trackers as well as the trackers it deems most impertinent. Right-click the Adblock Plus toolbar icon, click Options, and then tick ‘Block additional tracking’ and ‘Block social
Adblock Plus, Ghostery, Onetab and many other extensions we recommend here demand some hair-raising permissions. In Chrome, they want to ‘Read and change all your data on the websites that you visit’. In Firefox, they want a whole list of privileges including ‘Access (to) your data for all websites (and) browser activity’ (see screenshot right). Crumbs.
Here’s more bad news. These permissions are everywhere. Browsers now request them as standard for extensions that affect the way websites load. It’s not sinister, it’s simply how these tools work. For example Adblock Plus needs to access internet data going to and from your browser, so it can spot and block ads en route.
It’s great that browsers are being transparent. However, we worry that the alarmist wording may scare many normal users away from using tools that could improve their web experience. What’s more, when everything comes with a dire warning, people ignore the warnings - until a malicious extension slips through.
Our advice is to be cautiously cautious. Don’t be over-concerned by these permissions, but do remember that extensions have privileged access to everything you do in your browser, and some unscrupulous developers can take advantage. Always read an extension’s description before installing it, and check the developer’s website. For more advice on choosing trustworthy tools, see page 57.