Broswer Refreshing -- is there any to stop this function via firewall ?

[vhelp]

Hi everyone

I have a slight problem. Opera seems to like to D/L things at ramdom times.

Like right now, its downloading something to the browser. I've looked at all the TABs I
have opened and there was nothing (refreshing) in them. So, Im guess that it is Opera
doing some behind the sceme things.

I have lots of TABs open during my browsering the internet session. And I'd like to stop it
(opera or tabs) whenever it does this because I don't feel it is criticle to the browser every
day! Especially since I'm on dial-up.

Q1: Is there any way to that I can stop it by using my 'Defender Pro Firewall' ??
Q2: also, can I stop individual TAB's from D/L'ing or Refreshing though they do this on their own ??

Thanks,
-vhelp 4632

[guns1inger]

A1 : You can only do it via the firewall by manually blocking and unblocking. Unless you can identify a particular port or particular dll that is doing the downloading, in which case you might be able to block just that port or dll. Otherwise, any attempt to block Opera doing this will stop Opera doing anything

A2. Pages download automatically for many reasons. It could be something as simple as a timed refresh of the page to keep everything to current (old style), or just a lot of dynamic content - news tickers, advertising etc.

There are other things that could be causing regular refreshing, including RSS feeds.

[AlanHK]

I suggest you ask questions in the Opera newsgroups :
news://news.opera.no/
news://news.opera.no/opera.general

Anyway, the "Transfers" window should show you any files being downloaded.

The firewall could block Opera downloading, but then it wouldn't work at all.

Also if you r-click on a page, you will see a "Reload every" option, controlling how often a page is refreshed. Normally not enabled, maybe you turned it on.

Under Tools/Preferences/Advanced/History some options may affect you: Cache is default 20 MB. If you increase this, you will reduce the amount of data you need to transfer. Below that are options for how often to check cached pages on the server. If you increase the time, it will use your cache copy rather than fetching a new one. Though for forums, you probably want to check for updates fairly frequently.

And today I received a notification of a new version of Opera, 9.27, asking me if I wanted to upgrade. But I don't think it will do it without asking.

Some pages seem to have a javascript to force a refresh (to load new ads, usually). If I notice that I may disable javascript for that page while it's open. It's very annoying when the page goes blank for a few seconds when it reloads while you're trying to read it.

[vhelp]

And today I received a notification of a new version of Opera, 9.27, asking me if I wanted to upgrade. But I don't think it will do it without asking.

Yeah. I got that notice while Opera was loading up when I first started it. I went ahead and
downloaded it anyway. It took me to their website where you coulddownload the 4.816kb file.
I haven't installed it yet. I am considering do so but at a later date/time. Right now, I'm fine
with my current v9.24 version. I don't know. I don't think I would trade it in for firefox. I just
think it is better, at least for the ways I use it -- firefox would be too clumsy otherwise.

Here's the direct download link, case you want to consider it:

--> Opera_9.27_Eng_Setup.exe

I know I can block the unexpecting transfers in the background of Opera or TAB activities through
my firewall. I actually use it when I need to try and stop such activities. Sometimes it works and
some it doesn't, but only when those transfers are persistant -- the one's that I don't know about,
etc.

Thanks for the tips guys.

-vhelp 4638

[guns1inger]

I don't use Defender Pro, so you will have to do the leg work yourself (help files, forums etc), but most decent firewalls will tell you what processes are accessing the net and let you tweak from there. See what detailed information your firewall can give you. Just shut down anything extraneous so you can concentrate on what is really doing the accessing. Are you absolutely sure it is Opera ?

Also, do you have any toolbars installed (google, yahoo etc) as these often have a life of their own as well.

[vhelp]

I'm not sure exactly where its coming from. But I have a hunch that it is from one of the TAB's
that is loading or refreshing in the backgroun. In Opera, when something is refreshing, the url
bar will highlite in blue with a percentage complete. But that doesn't happen after a quick look
through all the tab's. So how do I know when my browsering is transfering (that is, receiving) ??
I have an external modem. It has lights. I see it flashing. My computer is not transfering data,
but receiving it. I think I may have mislead you all to some degree. But what I was refereing to
was the *receiving* that my browser is doing behind the scemes. So I go through all the tabs
but nothing is refreshing. So, it must be some java doing some things in the background where
the browswer (opera) is not being informed, hence not communicating back by showing a percentage
complete. This would lead some into believing that something is amis or whatever. That's kind of
how I feel at the moment.. when these things happen.

-vhelp 4640

[AlanHK]

So, it must be some java doing some things in the background

F12: Uncheck "Enable Java".
Turn it on if you actually need it. I hardly ever do.

And F12: "Enable plug-ins"-- turn this off to block Flash, sometimes useful to stop annoying ads loading.

[guns1inger]

Have you watched what your system does when Opera (or any other browser) is loaded ?

All operating systems from Windows 95 onwards (yes, including OS X and Linux) do a lot of communicating if they are on a permanent connection. They check for updates, poll the connection just to make sure it is there, refresh DHCP leases on a regular basis (most routers has a default lease refresh of an hour).

It might not even be your computer receiving the data. Depending on your connection type and modem/router setup, it could simply be the modem communicating with the ISP for house-keeping (again, DHCP lease renewal, keep alive pings etc), with nothing coming down to your computer.

There is a fine line between being careful and being paranoid.

You still haven't proven yet that it is Opera doing the receiving. The modem talking doesn't tell you anything other that there was communication. It doesn't tell you from whom, to what, or why. This is where the firewall logs come in.

[vhelp]

Ok. I found out who it was. It was this website (or forum) that was sending me and taking
things off my computer. This wite was doing this all weekend long and part of last week,
though it wasn't till now that I cought them/it doing whatever it is (was) doing to my internet
surfing. I don't know what exactly it/they were doing on my computer, (receiving mostly, but
also sending back) and if you think about it, you can prob conclude that they were hiding
under the influence of sending me whatever while it was "sniffing" from off my computer. Course,
I could be all wrong, but then, you have to you ask yourself, "why is this going on persistantly
and non-stop ?" and then you have your answer. Anyway, here is the website address, as was
in my url box. You can examine it (them) if you want, maybe even some of you visit there on
occassion. I don't know.

--> http://cauphilippe.blogspot.com/2007/04/informations-tutorial-about-encoding.html

But so far, I have not had any internet unresolved internet polling (sniffing) on my computer,
since

-vhelp 4641