Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Computing/2014 November 5

= November 5 =

Automatic loading of videos and other crap in Firefox
Hi all. I have a little netbook with Windows and Firefox, and I'm bored with my machine slowing down to a crawl when I open a tab with some stupid blog or news site, which auto-loads ads and gifs and videos. Especially the videos irritate the hell out of me. Where's the off button? Thanks, Drmies (talk) 05:46, 5 November 2014 (UTC)


 * Adblock Plus, Flashblock -- Finlay McWalterᚠTalk 09:33, 5 November 2014 (UTC)
 * Vouching on them too. Been using ABP for more than seven years and I'd say surfing the web is a breeze with intrusive ads pruned off. Blake Gripling (talk) 11:02, 5 November 2014 (UTC)
 * Thanks! I'm going to give that a try. Appreciate it! Drmies (talk) 15:11, 5 November 2014 (UTC)


 * Adblock is very effective at removing adverts - it's kinda amazing that it works that well - and I use it all the time in both Chrome and Firefox.  The only slight problem is that by refusing to view adverts, you're denying revenue to those sites that are funded by adverts.   For some sites, that's not important - but for small niche sites that you love, that are created and maintained by individuals or small, interesting businesses - you might want to consider telling Adblock NOT to block adverts from those sites.   It's nice to have the freedom to get rid of the annoying clutter - but with freedom comes responsibility - and if everyone blocked ads from every site, the consequence would either be an Internet dominated by big businesses - or the need to make micropayments to view interesting sites that would otherwise have been funded by adverts.  SteveBaker (talk) 15:27, 5 November 2014 (UTC)


 * I like the related, but different product NoScript. It is not specifically targeted at ads per se, but it will stop most autoloading of anything that uses javascript (as most annoying stuff does). It also has very nice customization for whitelists, allowing partial scripts, etc. SemanticMantis (talk) 17:09, 5 November 2014 (UTC)
 * Thanks--I just installed that. Let's see if it helps. Thank to all, Drmies (talk) 22:38, 5 November 2014 (UTC)
 * It gets the Hulk Seal of Approval, for what that's worth. Before I found it, I hadn't realized just how many scripts are running everywhere, especially the invisible ones. So much nicer to just use what you came for. InedibleHulk (talk) 00:08, 7 November 2014 (UTC)
 * This is a pretty good solution, but I've noticed that some unwanted third-party tracking sites I particularly distrust (Facebook) have resorted to old-fashioned web bugs. A solution to that has been to edit the hosts file, but I think I recall reading recent Windows versions were messing with that, presumably to make it more difficult? Wnt (talk) 01:22, 7 November 2014 (UTC)
 * I solved that by not using Facebook. They can probably still follow me, but only like a regular marketer (fairly anonymously). Fun Fact: It quickly starts feeling normal again to lose touch with people you wouldn't have otherwise bothered to call, write or visit. InedibleHulk (talk) 02:45, 7 November 2014 (UTC)

Google Apps for Cyanogenmod
I just installed Cyanogenmod 11 on my phone (Redmi 1S), and their version 20140606 of Google Apps. But there's no Play Store, shouldn't it be included? Thanks! --RM — Preceding unsigned comment added by 121.247.216.191 (talk) 18:59, 5 November 2014 (UTC)
 * Odd, I went ahead and downloaded the same zip and found that the Play Store apk file isn't in there (based on the name of it from my own phone which is phonesky.apk) Palmtree5551 (talk) 19:50, 5 November 2014 (UTC)


 * Isn't it /system/priv-app/Phonesky.apk ? -- Finlay McWalterᚠTalk 20:27, 5 November 2014 (UTC)
 * It may very well be on 4.4 but I was looking at my phone which is on 4.2.2 since my tablet (a Nexus 7) is not with me at the moment Palmtree5551 (talk) 21:38, 5 November 2014 (UTC)

I solved the problem. I reinstalled Cyanogenmod 11 and the same version of Google Apps, this time making sure not to boot the device in between. It works well. The key is install Google Apps immediately following Cyanogenmod, without rebooting it in the middle. --RM — Preceding unsigned comment added by 121.247.216.191 (talk) 07:51, 6 November 2014 (UTC)