Today a client mentioned that videos are playing automatically on their computer and it annoys them.
Hey, it annoys me too! Why oh why do websites insist on force-feeding you content you might not actually want to hear? Please, web developers, give us the option to actually play your video if we want to. In fact, there is a particular web publication that I read frequently that does this on just about every page.. Yuck!
Anyway, the aforementioned person was using Firefox, and here’s how you disable this annoying feature on Firefox:
Select PREFERENCES, select APPLICATIONS, locate video formats and select ACTION for each item, such as QuickTime or Flash, and then select “always ask”.
For Internet Explorer (IE9 – if you are using something older… Uhmmm Time to upgrade!)
TOOLS / SETTINGS (Gear Icon) , Safety, Select “ActiveX Filtering”… Now when you visit a website (such as www.YouTube.com), Flash should NOT play. You will get a warning saying you need to upgrade your Adobe Flash Player. If you should want to view the Flash content, find the blue circle with a line through it to the right of the URL bar and you can enable for that site
For Chrome users, you can download extensions like “Stop Autoplay”. If you need assistance, I can type that up for you too =-)
Happy surfing…
Comments 4
Your suggestion is exactly what I did a couple years ago. It works a lot of the time, but not all the time.
For example, when I click a story on CNN or ABC news that I want to read, not watch, they still start up even though active x filtering is activated and the little blue circle with a line through it is showing up next to the refresh button. The story still plays. They have figured a way around it. Here is a reply that I posted to those websites that have people that do not understand why we do not want to watch. It is not just annoying, it is expensive.
“Yes, but the problem is, when an ad comes on that we don’t want to watch, there is no pause button. Also the main reason we do not want the video to start automatically is we are on metered data. Yes, I know, some people do not know what that is. When you live in a city, or highly populated area, like the Florida Panhandle, or anyplace where a lot of people are concentrated, you usually have unlimited data, no meters, and you pay for unlimited data. But when you live in rural areas, or sparsely populated areas, internet come to you via satellite or line of site from a tower (we do not have cable TV in rural areas either). You pay for your internet by how much data you use. So if videos come on automatically, I have to pay for something I don’t want or use. I can much cheaper read the article than watch it on video. Some people think they know all there is to internet, but come to find out they do not.
People: the most expensive cost to you is:
1 – those videos USE your computer resources
2 – look at the heat that builds up (CPU) (graphics card) from those UNWANTED videos. It will damage your system. Recent check: [my] system runs at avg. 98 degrees – a Web page with many videos – received ALERT your CPU has reached 148 degrees and climbing!
3 – Those videos WILL slow down YOUR computer. When it looks like ‘there is something wrong with my [your] computer’ – it starts all over again. You will be told “maybe you have a virus or malware”. Does that sound familiar to you?
NOTE: the advertisers and web page designers are using the latest computer technology designing those Web pages and videos. They work great on THEIR systems. But YOU will be led to believe you NEED to UPGRADE! People wake up – You are ‘food’ for those company executives!
The “Adobe Flash” cannot be toggled to “Ask to Activate.” It must either be “Always activate” or “Never activate.”
I do not understand HOW it is OK for WEB page designers to be able to USE OUR computer resources for advertisements AND content that is not welcomed.
As the poster said – We pay for the service.
The laws need to be written to make this activity a crime. It IS a form of BULLYING.