How to Disable Web Page Auto-Refresh For Various Browsers

Imagine, you are reading a web page, or are playing a flash game, then suddenly the page refreshes itself and you have to do your reading (or play the game) from the start again. Annoying, isn’t it? Some sites update their content frequently, so the webmaster add the auto-refresh function to ensure their readers get the most updated content. Some just add it to increase their ad impression. From the end-user point of view, I find this to be very disruptive, a complete waste of time and consume unnecessary bandwidth.

The auto-refresh function can be implemented either with the HTML META tag <meta http-equiv="refresh" content="600">, or with javascript. For javascript auto-refresh function, you can use adblock extension to disable javascript for that website. For the HTML Meta auto-refresh, it can only be disabled if the browser supports it. Let’s see how we can disable it in Firefox and Internet Explorer.

Disable Auto Refresh in Firefox

In Firefox, go to Preferences -> Advanced. In the General tab, check the box “Warn me when the web sites try to redirect or reload the page“.

Disable Auto Refresh in Internet Explorer

In IE 7 & 8, go to “Tools -> Internet Options -> Security“, click on the Custom Level button.

Scroll down the list until you see the entry “Allow META REFRESH”. Select “Disable”

It is understandable that some websites update frequently, so the auto-refresh function will enable its readers to get the latest content.

Disable Auto Refresh in Opera

In Opera, go to “Preferences -> Advanced” and click on the “Network” entry. Uncheck the box “Enable Automatic Redirection”.

Chrome and Safari

At the moment, Chrome and Safari do not come with any feature to disable the HTML Meta auto-refresh tag. We will update this as soon as it become available.