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Isolating locally saved copies of websites.

Posted: 2019-10-07, 21:20
by cosmo666
I've had pretty good luck 'hobbling' websites/pages which take over and hold hostage local resources -- some to the point where I find it necessary to exit from the browser entirely -- by doing a 'Save As' a file to a local drive, using .html, mht, or maff. Then, reload the page as a 'file:///<saved_filename>'.

However, recently, I wanted to read an obituary out of the local newspaper (The Oregonian), which was so riddled with advertising junk, so saved it as per the above. This time, the original page managed to reload itself from its original external sources, effectively cancelling the 'file:///<filename>' URL.

It seems to me I ought to be able to control what runs, and what doesn't run on my local system. I have, more or less, accepted the reality that re-asserting control of one's local desktop is going to require finding, or forking and modifying an existing browser in order to accomplish that end. However, if anyone out there shares my concerns, and could offer some insights and/or links to insights explaining how best to attack this problem, much appreciated.

I do believe providing a 'freeze-local' button of some kind built-in to Pale Moon would be a good idea. Perhaps a page-specific 'suspend scripting & css' toggle(?)

Once again, thanks to Moonchild and the entire team that keeps advancing these invaluable tools.

Re: Isolating locally saved copies of websites.

Posted: 2019-10-08, 02:38
by Walter Dnes
cosmo666 wrote:
2019-10-07, 21:20
However, recently, I wanted to read an obituary out of the local newspaper (The Oregonian), which was so riddled with advertising junk, so saved it as per the above. This time, the original page managed to reload itself from its original external sources, effectively cancelling the 'file:///<filename>' URL.
Quick-n-dirty solution... disconnect from the net before loading 'file:///<filename>'. That could be any of turning off the network (requires root permission) or turning off your modem or pulling out the ethernet cable.
cosmo666 wrote:
2019-10-07, 21:20
It seems to me I ought to be able to control what runs, and what doesn't run on my local system. I have, more or less, accepted the reality that re-asserting control of one's local desktop is going to require finding, or forking and modifying an existing browser in order to accomplish that end. However, if anyone out there shares my concerns, and could offer some insights and/or links to insights explaining how best to attack this problem, much appreciated.
This might be better-handled at the OS level. If a page is so bad that Pale Moon itself is frozen, then a command issued to Pale Moon won't work. I leave a handful of profiles open in separate workareas. They are launched from my program launcher like so...

/home/waltdnes/pm/palemoon/palemoon -new-instance -p default
/home/waltdnes/pm/palemoon/palemoon -new-instance -p dslr
/home/waltdnes/pm/palemoon/palemoon -new-instance -p graphs
/home/waltdnes/pm/palemoon/palemoon -new-instance -p palemoon
/home/waltdnes/pm/palemoon/palemoon -new-instance -p puppy
/home/waltdnes/pm/palemoon/palemoon -new-instance -p wuwt
/home/waltdnes/pm/palemoon/palemoon -new-instance -p wxforum
/home/waltdnes/pm/palemoon/palemoon -new-instance -p wxshort
/home/waltdnes/pm/palemoon/palemoon -new-instance -p youtube

To get the process ID of each profile, run "top c" in a wide terminal (at least 125 characters). The PID is the number on the far left, and the commandline (including the profile) is at the right side. Advantages...

1) I have 8 gigs ram on my desktop, so I leave some forums open all the time. This means that I don't have to re-open and try to figure out where I was when I shut down.

2) A while ago, it was a thing for scammers to grab control of your browser, and have a voice tell you that they've detected an infection on your system, and you won't be allowed back on the net till they fix it. Please call 1-800--XXX-XXXX and have your credit card ready. With multiple profiles, I could kill just the one profile without killing every browser instance. This also applies to idiot webpages that freeze the browser.

3) Different settings for different profiles.

* I use ANM (Advanced Night Mode) extension, which is great for most sites. Youtube and DSLReports don't come out good... but they do have their own "dark mode". I run the Youtube and DSLReports profiles without ANM.

* Some sites require Firefox Compatability User Agent mode or other tweaks to function properly. I can set this for the specific profile.

4) Make tracking more difficult. If I had Youtube. Pale Moon forum, and DSLReports forum open in one profile, then doubleclick.net 3rd-party cookies from one site could match 3rd-party cookies from the other sites. In separate profiles, they are isolated, and have nothing to match against.

Re: Isolating locally saved copies of websites.

Posted: 2019-10-08, 02:38
by New Tobin Paradigm
Off-topic:
Dnes is drunk again.

Re: Isolating locally saved copies of websites.

Posted: 2019-10-08, 02:56
by moonbat
cosmo666 wrote:
2019-10-07, 21:20
I've had pretty good luck 'hobbling' websites/pages which take over and hold hostage local resources -- some to the point where I find it necessary to exit from the browser entirely -- by doing a 'Save As' a file to a local drive, using .html, mht, or maff. Then, reload the page as a 'file:///<saved_filename>'.
Why on earth are you not using an adblocker like everyone else here? Get uBlock Origin or Adblock Latitude and learn to create filters for them. Can't load resources when the adblocker strips out the code that does the loading.

Re: Isolating locally saved copies of websites.

Posted: 2019-10-08, 03:25
by New Tobin Paradigm
Don't forget ABPrime, such as it is.