Hughesnet Community

one answer for data drain!!!

cancel
Showing results for 
Search instead for 
Did you mean: 
yorkytime1
New Poster

one answer for data drain!!!

Well thanks to Glasswire and Gwalk I now have one answer to the dreaded data drain.  I opened Foxnews to read a news article.  Suddenly notice meter was dropping like a rock!!!!  Here is the screen shot of FireFox and Foxnews! 

29 REPLIES 29
Gwalk900
Honorary Alumnus

Great find Yorktime !
Your post illustrates how to use monitoring software to zero in on problem areas.

There are settings within a browser to limit things like tracking, crash reporting and other things that use data needlessly.

There are also browser extensions that will block ads and scripts from running.

I'm at work on my tablet but I'll try to link to them tomorrow.

I used to go to cnn.com for my morning news fix until they changed their delivery format that auto loaded videos and advertising .
BirdDog
Assistant Professor

Strange, I use Adblock Plus and no problem with ads and videos loading on CNN. Sometimes, quite rarely,  I do have to manually select the sidebar video elements manually I want blocked when they switch things around. No automatic loading after that though.
yorkytime1
New Poster

Thanks Gwalk.  Look forward to any tips you can provide. 

BirdDog.  I have AdBlock Plus installed.....but still the data drain happened on the Foxnews page.  I was aware of a news video and shut that off immediately...but still lost 110 MB of data!!!
Chris11
Alum

Hello yorkytime,

Thanks for posting this. Great example of how a little bit of tracking can give you answers to frequent questions on data usage. I also use Adblock Plus, it is an extension to Chrome which can be added to all major browsers except from my experience Internet Explorer. Here is the link for Chrome if you need it.

https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/adblock-plus/cfhdojbkjhnklbpkdaibdccddilifddb

When searching to add this extension in other browsers just make sure the provider group or "Offered by" tag says adblockplus.org. Used them for years and have never had an issue. Sometimes there are things that creep through, mainly because developers are finding more and more ways to counteract ad blocking. The great thing about this particular extension is that you can right click on a element(ad, commerical, etc) and manually block it for future site visits. 

Another quick tidbit. When first installing you should be directed to a welcome page where you can easily enable unwanted tracking from websites through cookies, extra malware protection, and a few others. I'm sure more community members will chime in as well. If you need more help, we are here for you. 

Thank you,
Chris
yorkytime1
New Poster

Chris,  I'm pretty much a bulldog when it comes to solving a problem.  LOL  I already have ad block plus installed with all my browsers.  Must investigate reason for data drain....but for sure it was Foxnews page this morning. 
GabeU
Distinguished Professor IV

Strange, Gwalk, that you don't go to CNN anymore due to the automatic videos, when it was your instructions that enabled me to stop them in Chrome.  LOL. 

GabeU
Distinguished Professor IV

Wow, that's a lot of unexpected downloading for one site, and not even from videos!  That's just crazy.  With blocking the auto videos in CNN it barely uses any data now when I go there.  I can't imagine what the 110MB would be.  Nuts.   
yorkytime1
New Poster

Yes Gabe it is nuts.  I just saw my meter dropping.....it was only about 5 or 6 minutes.  Just appalling.  I'm trying to find a way to block all their "stuff".  I only want to check news not wipe out my whole day's worth of data.  110 MB it just crazy.
HughesNetCorpor
New Member

I use both Chrome and Firefox...
If I type the following.....       about:plugins     ........ into my browser all of the plugins I have will come up and from there I can enable/disable them..
I went ahead and disabled a few of them so that when I go on to websites like CNN or Fox News, the video content on those pages do not automatically stream.
I simply right click on any video clip I want to watch and this enables the plugin to do it's things and stream the content...

I just learned how to do this last week, lol.....but I have no doubts that this will cut down on data usage and give me more control of those things I want to watch versus those things that automatically start streaming whether you want it too or not..
Gwalk900
Honorary Alumnus

Gabe,
I just got PO'd that they did that so I just "took my business elsewhere".
GabeU
Distinguished Professor IV

Lisa2U,

It's time for me to ask you for some help.  How do you do that in Chrome?  I've added exceptions to the plugins on Chrome, and have them set to block.  Do I make the change where I have the exceptions added, or do I just change "plugins" to "let me choose when to run plugin content"? 

GabeU
Distinguished Professor IV

Gwalk900,

That's completely understandable.  There're a couple of sites that I will no longer go to, as well, due to them having over thirty ads pop open while on the main page.  The AdBlock Plus stops it, but it irked me nonetheless, so I don't go to them. 

HughesNetCorpor
New Member

simply open a new tab and type the following into your browser..or you can just copy and paste it directly into the address bar..either way

about:plugins

when you do that the page will display all of the plug ins that you have 
adobe flash, etc..
I disabled the following plugins on mine...
Widevine Content Decryption Module
and
Native client

I also unchecked the "always allowed to run" on all of the plugins listed on my page except for PDF viewer.
HughesNetCorpor
New Member

oh and I also learned that if you want your broswer to open with BLANK pages..you can simply go into your chrome settings and set your home pages and tabs to the following..

about:blank
HughesNetCorpor
New Member

AND...this all works the same way with Firefox/Mozilla browser too 🙂
GabeU
Distinguished Professor IV

Thanks.  I found it and did so.  I'll see how it goes.  I appreciate the help. 
HughesNetCorpor
New Member

Gabe, i noticed that if I went into the settings and click on the 'let me choose' option, my settings would not stay like that for some reason. They would revert back... When I do it directly from the browser, my settings remain the same unless I change them myself
..
GabeU
Distinguished Professor IV

Ah.  I may have tried that before and experienced the same thing, as it seems it should stop things from playing.  But, of course, without it remaining that way, it's kind of pointless.  LOL.

Now, if I could just do the same with IE.  I don't  think IE wants to allow people that much control.  There's probably a program or app somewhere that might work, but I don't like to run an app or program unless it's very well known. 

HughesNetCorpor
New Member

My Adblocker works great for ads..I don't get any, BUT, the automatic video streaming on CNN it didn't block..it wasn't until I manually changed my settings from the about:plugins page that any/all streaming content that websites have stopped..
I can now view CNN without any of the videos loading...and it's a matter of simply right clicking on the video and enabling it to make it run..
HughesNetCorpor
New Member

Gabe..it does remain the same if you manually set it using the about:plugins page...
for whatever reason if you do it via the settings page on chrome, it doesn't always stay that way...