NoScript causes all tabs to 'reload' when launching browser?

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DIV
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Joined: Tue Aug 29, 2017 3:10 am

NoScript causes all tabs to 'reload' when launching browser?

Post by DIV »

Does NoScript 'classic' (version 5.1.8.4) cause all tabs to be actively 'loaded' when launching a browser?
Specifically SeaMonkey version 2.49.4.

I like to launch my browser with all of the tabs that were open from the last session when I last closed it. Sometimes (read, "usually") this amounts to a large number of tabs. The browser should be — and I think is — smart enough not to download content for all of those tabs until I decide I want to look at them. Indeed, specifically in SeaMonkey I have ticked under Edit > Preferences > Browser > When restoring sessions and windows: "Restore 3 tabs at a time".
Yet practically speaking, with NoScript installed, after booting up my laptop and launching SeaMonkey with all of its tabs, dozens of megabytes of content is downloaded, and the cumulative CPU time consumed by SeaMonkey today was 8 minutes (!!), at typically 10 to 20% CPU usage. After — I presume — going through all of the tabs, checking for what scripts should be allowed/disallowed, eventually this calms down, and SeaMonkey may then be consuming say ~5% (as I am typing here), or down to perhaps as low as ~2% (if I leave it alone). Although there are some horrible websites that consume heaps of resources if unchecked, and hence one of my motivations for having NoScript in the first place. So I do appreciate what NoScript offers.

I see under about:config in SeaMonkey there are numerous options/preferences of the form noscript.autoReload.* . Can any of these be used to help prevent all tabs from being actively loaded in SeaMonkey? I want the tabs to just be ready to click on, with content only loaded (and scripts parsed) on a just-in-time basis.

Thanks,
DIV
Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 6.3; WOW64; rv:52.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/52.0 SeaMonkey/2.49.4
DIV
Posts: 8
Joined: Tue Aug 29, 2017 3:10 am

Re: NoScript causes all tabs to 'reload' when launching brow

Post by DIV »

APPENDED PRELUDE
I was — like a number of users [1] — not a fan of the default behaviour of every tab being a candidate for reloading whenever a temporary permission is granted.
It took me a surprisingly long time to find the setting that would instead prevent NoScript from reloading other tabs besides the current one [2]. And, by the by, I happen to agree that the subsidiary option should be greyed out when it is not in effect (i.e. when the parent option is not ticked) [3].

However, after addressing this problem I am still facing the above issue.

1. https://forums.informaction.com/viewtop ... 541#p97593
2. https://forums.informaction.com/viewtop ... 10&t=18975
3. https://forums.informaction.com/viewtop ... 520#p71956
Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 6.3; WOW64; rv:52.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/52.0 SeaMonkey/2.49.4
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therube
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Re: NoScript causes all tabs to 'reload' when launching brow

Post by therube »

You've already found the cause.
in SeaMonkey I have ticked under Edit > Preferences > Browser > When restoring sessions and windows: "Restore 3 tabs at a time".
Change that to 'Only restore tabs when I need them'.


(FF defaulted to that a long time ago.
I've long felt that SeaMonkey should too.
As it is, I need to make that change every time I create a new Profile.)


NoScript does not affect the loading of a tab.
NoScript may affect the loading of JavaScript in a tab.
The browser (in SeaMonkey the user is still allowed to make a change, in, FF, not so much anymore) determines how the tabs load.


Separately, NoScript on a permission change, can reload only the current tab, or all tabs affected by the permission change.
Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.9.1.19) Gecko/20110420 SeaMonkey/2.0.14 Pinball NoScript FlashGot AdblockPlus
Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 6.1; Win64; x64; rv:52.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/52.0 SeaMonkey/2.49.5
barbaz
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Joined: Sat Aug 03, 2013 5:45 pm

Re: NoScript causes all tabs to 'reload' when launching brow

Post by barbaz »

off-topic:
@DIV, NoScript 5.1.8.4 is outdated. Please upgrade to latest NoScript Classic from https://noscript.net/getit (5.1.9 at time of writing).
*Always* check the changelogs BEFORE updating that important software!
-
DIV
Posts: 8
Joined: Tue Aug 29, 2017 3:10 am

Re: NoScript causes all tabs to 'reload' when launching brow

Post by DIV »

Hello, therube: thanks for the advice. I have made the change you suggested now, and will try it out.

Maybe I had been misinterpreting the setting I had chosen.
The three options available are
  1. Restore all tabs immediately
  2. Restore x tabs at a time
  3. Only restore tabs when I need them
where x is some user-specified number, which I set to 3 (probably it was the default).

I had interpreted the middle option as meaning that whenever I would view a tab, two others (probably the neighbour on the left and the neighbour on the right) would also be loaded (anticipating that I might like to look at them next), but nothing else would be loaded.
So here is what I thought the options would do, in case I was resuming from a previous session with many tabs open (as usual):
  • Restore all tabs, a few at a time, as soon as possible
  • Restore only x tabs when the browser launches; if the user later clicks on an as-yet-unloaded tab, then load it and (x − 1) neighbouring tabs
  • Restore only 1 tab when the browser launches; if the user later clicks on an as-yet-unloaded tab, then load it — but not any neighbouring tabs
In other words, I thought that if I set x=1 in the second option, then it would function the same as the third option.

But from your advice, it seems I was mistaken, and what actually happens is:
  • Restore all tabs, all at the same time, as soon as possible
  • Restore all tabs, x at a time, as soon as possible
  • Restore only 1 tab when the browser launches; if the user later clicks on an as-yet-unloaded tab, then load it — but not any neighbouring tabs
I hope I've understood this correctly now.

Sorry if I was accusing NoScript of something it wasn't responsible for!

—DIV
Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 6.3; WOW64; rv:52.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/52.0 SeaMonkey/2.49.4
DIV
Posts: 8
Joined: Tue Aug 29, 2017 3:10 am

Update on tab loading/reloading

Post by DIV »

I can confirm that choosing "Only restore tabs when I need them" in SeaMonkey seems to have prevented the undesired behaviour.
—DIV
Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 6.3; WOW64; rv:52.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/52.0 SeaMonkey/2.49.4
DIV
Posts: 8
Joined: Tue Aug 29, 2017 3:10 am

Re: NoScript causes all tabs to 'reload' when launching brow

Post by DIV »

barbaz wrote:off-topic:
@DIV, NoScript 5.1.8.4 is outdated. Please upgrade to latest NoScript Classic from https://noscript.net/getit (5.1.9 at time of writing).
Hello, barbaz.
I've now updated. Thank-you for the tip-off.

Actually I'd thought I was either up-to-date or nearly up-to-date. Now that you mention it, I have a vague recollection about updates no longer being pushed out automatically for 'classic' (5.x) versions of NoScript — but I could be mixing that up with one of the numerous other software applications that are keen for me to install updates from time to time....

Previously it was possible to see dates that the current & previous 5.x NoScript versions were released, on the relevant Firefox Add-ons page, but now it only has past 10.x versions. FWIW, I did find some much older (circa 2007 to 2016) versions (1.1 to 2.2) of "YesScript" for SeaMonkey on the SeaMonkey Add-ons page. But maybe the SeaMonkey Add-ons page should now have also a new entry for 'NoScript classic' added to it?
The past versions of classic NoScript still appear on the official "changelog" page, but these have apparently never included a date (although I think it'd have been nice to include).

—DIV
Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 6.3; WOW64; rv:52.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/52.0 SeaMonkey/2.49.4
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