InformAction Forums

First I want to say I love NoScript and Ive been using it for a long time, but don't know how to use any advance features. I took a look at the FAQ and did some searching but didn't find my answer. I'm trying to read the article on this page http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/tes ... ,3103.html and there are over a dozen websites "linked" (or whatever the term is) to that page. My problem is that I don't know what website is controlling the script that lets me use the drop down menu to browse the other pages in the article at the bottom of the article. My question is, "Is there a safe way to discover which "3rd party site" (correct term?) to allow to get the functionality of the drop down bar? Or do I have to start enabling each site and figure it out by process of elimination(seems unsafe)? Maybe there is a way to use something like FireBug to discover what site has control of it?" I couldn't figure it out though.

In this case, that's a very good question.
And a quick look reveals nothing obvious.
Stinks that they revert to whatever it is that they're doing to get that dropdown to work.
After a few TAA's it still wasn't working, & then finally ... but no time to figure out which particular domain(s) might be required.

(I hate sites that are so convoluted for such simple, in my mind, things.)

I know I could get it working if I start allowing them and that page isn't very dangerous, but the idea is that one of the websites I would 'allow' could be potentially dangerous. I just use the middle mouseclick hotkey to use the "security and privacy" service and figure out what websites are just used for ads, etc. So there is no technical way to figure out which piece of the page is linked to which website? I saw guardian posting some technical answers around, maybe he might know of something different that would help.

bestofmedia.com

Don't ask me why, but that looks like it.

I guess cause they're calling various external JS routines from bestofmedia (among other places).

Look up "bestofmedia" in Wikipedia (hey, I'm a poet, and didn't know it!), and see where it directs you.

Agree that the site ratings service gives information only on safety, not on function, although sometimes, user comments will give info like the above.

WikiP may, or may not, be a useful or reliable source, but it doesn't hurt to try. I have, often, and it frequently tells me what I need to know -- usually, in the negative sense (data-mining company, etc.)

There is also a sticky thread here about sites whose only purpose is advertising, tracking, etc., with 100+ of the most common listed. Certainly not all-inclusive by any means, but it can eliminate those right off the bat for you. None of the sites at Tom's were listed there, though.

Agree that this is a bit tedious, but you're certainly doing the safe thing by not blindly TA-ing sites.
After visiting many sites over time, one sees the same script sources over and over again, and knows that they're not needed.

Also, the NoScript Quick Start Guide was recently updated to include sites that use related sites, typically with names containing "cdn", "img", or "static", to help serve their content. Also not applicable here, but reviewing that may help to recognize the right site to allow in the future.