How to conserve data on prepaid / pay-as-you-go internet plans

Chris P · May 13, 2013

I don't think this has been covered, but might help those of us who don't have unlimited internet plans for whatever reason. Most of what the internet shows us are useless pictures we don't really need. So, conserve your data by turning off the pictures.

Firefox: Go to the orange Firefox pull down at the top left, and select "Options." Under the "Content" tab, de-select "Load images automatically."

Internet Explorer: Under your "Tools" icon at the top right, go to "Internet Options." Under the "Advanced" tab, scroll down about 2/3 of the way and de-select "Show pictures."

To turn off pictures on AW only, see This Post by dpaterso in another thread.

If there is a picture you want to see, you can right click on the blocked image and select "View Image Info" and it will give you a preview of the pic.

The only problems I've had is sometimes when I'm buying something or submitting a form, the buttons don't always show up, or the captcha image doesn't display. In those cases, I turn the images back on and reload the page. You might want to copy any of the forms you've filled out, though, as refreshing sometimes deletes what you've filled out (retyping a cover letter can be a pain!).

Feel free to post any other data-saving techniques!

Alexys · May 13, 2013

If you're using Firefox, I would suggest installing the ImgLikeOpera extension rather than turning off image loading the primitive way. It will allow you to load a single image into the page from the context menu, among other things.

Also, if you're trying to conserve bandwidth, make sure you're not autoloading Flash. Depending on your setup, you may want to get a click-to-play add-in for your browser, or even uninstall the plugin altogether (and reduce your security holes).

Being selective about what Javascript you let run may or may not help—some scripts load additional resources from the server.

Chris P · May 13, 2013

How much does something like AdBlock Plus help? I've had it for years (I didn't know Facebook had ads!) so I haven't compared data use without it. It seems it would help, since you're not downloading all those pics.

Reziac · May 13, 2013

You can turn a lot of this stuff on and off more conveniently with Prefbar:

http://prefbar.tuxfamily.org/

And tho supposedly it doesn't work with every version, so far it's worked in every Moz-family browser I've installed it into. (I can't live without it.)

Shelley_Hernandez · May 14, 2013

Not downloading anything unless you absolutely need to is obvious. unless it's a government form you need or something like that, or if you need the software to one of your hardware devices and you don't have the CD that came with it.

Avoid YouTube at all costs. video consumes a lot of your bandwith.

Reziac · May 14, 2013

Chris P said:
How much does something like AdBlock Plus help? I've had it for years (I didn't know Facebook had ads!) so I haven't compared data use without it. It seems it would help, since you're not downloading all those pics.

Some sites are about 80% ads, tho increasingly that's javascript rather than images. So yes, it can be significant, but there's no good way to block inline javascript. (Turning JS off just stops it from running.)

Also, sites that use this here vBulletin forum software -- if they didn't clean out the old crap when an update was done, what should be a 20k base page can wind up as much as 400k. (Looks like AW's is all cleaned up, but another site I use ... isn't.)

WriterTrek · May 14, 2013

I use noscript and manually enable scripts that I need to run on each page.

Not sure if that saves data or not. Probably not much?

Deleted member 42 · May 14, 2013

Reziac said:
Also, sites that use this here vBulletin forum software -- if they didn't clean out the old crap when an update was done, what should be a 20k base page can wind up as much as 400k. (Looks like AW's is all cleaned up, but another site I use ... isn't.)

It involves a lot of tweaking; I'm dreading the next upgrade, which is still some months down the road, but there's a lot of kruft to remove.

Deleted member 42 · May 14, 2013

Turning off images in email if you're using an email client or app (Outlook, Eudora, Mail.app, etc.) will save bandwidth because the images don't have to download.

You can turn them on for individual emails.

Reziac · May 14, 2013

Medievalist said:
It involves a lot of tweaking; I'm dreading the next upgrade, which is still some months down the road, but there's a lot of kruft to remove.

Having looked at the cruft on other vBulletin sites -- I wonder why the hell it doesn't auto-remove when the update runs, because it was all marked by version. The site I griped of had like 5 or 6 old versions in the base pagesource that ALL were dated and commented out, obviously BY the update itself, so it's not like it doesn't know! Wasn't aware it had to be hand-removed, but that explains the problem elsewhere.

I could see keeping the immediate previous version in case it had to be reverted, but every version back to the beginning of time??!

I didn't see any of that old crap in the AW page I just peered at, for which we stuck on limited connections thank you profusely.

Chris P · May 14, 2013

Shelley_Hernandez said:
Avoid YouTube at all costs. video consumes a lot of your bandwith.

Ssshhhh! Just saying the name probably consumes half a meg.

Chris P · May 16, 2013

Argh! I just learned a 20 MB lesson: turn OFF automatic updates on all of your programs; Adobe Acrobat, Windows Updater, Firefox, or anything else. I wait until I have a free connection somewhere and go on an updating binge.

I thought I had them all turned off, until just now

Reziac · May 16, 2013

And don't forget the update settings on all your browser plug-ins. (Tho I lately caught GoogleEarth ignoring the setting and updating itself whether I liked it or not.)

Deleted member 42 · May 16, 2013

Reziac said:
I didn't see any of that old crap in the AW page I just peered at, for which we stuck on limited connections thank you profusely.

Every time I look at source I see something that needs tweaking

Reziac · May 16, 2013

WriterTrek said:
I use noscript and manually enable scripts that I need to run on each page.

Not sure if that saves data or not. Probably not much?

Not for a given page (since the JS is usually part of the initial page, not called separately), but since the ad scripts often call some further page or image or whatever, it can't hurt. More importantly, enabling only needful scripts helps prevent infections from opportunistic malware, which is occasionally carried in ad scripts from otherwise-legitimate sites.

I usually start with all JS blocked, and allow it one host at a time til everything I need works.

Reziac · May 16, 2013

Medievalist said:
Every time I look at source I see something that needs tweaking

I thought that was the very nature of ~~writing~~ source code! :Huh:

Chris P · Jun 6, 2013

Another thing I think I knew but forgot until I updated Firefox and it returned all my setting to default.

In the Options, under "Applications," turn everything you can to "Ask first" to prevent auto-downloads of pdfs, auto-running of videos, etc. In the pop-up box when it asks you, it will usually tell you the size of the document and you can decide to cancel it before a monster pdf eats up 90 MB of your data.

bearilou · Jun 6, 2013

Chris P said:
In the Options, under "Applications," turn everything you can to "Ask first" to prevent auto-downloads of pdfs, auto-running of videos, etc. In the pop-up box when it asks you, it will usually tell you the size of the document and you can decide to cancel it before a monster pdf eats up 90 MB of your data.

Oooh. That is one I hadn't considered. *goes to do now*

I won't lie, I'm so glad to know I'm not alone in this issue (of limited bandwidth). Many friends don't understand me *cries* when they link a youtube and I ask 'how long is it'.

My first painful lesson in all of this, though, were the automatic updates. I'm fiercely rabid about it.

Deleted member 42 · Jun 6, 2013

I'd also suggest opening up all the sites/threads you know you want to look at in advance, then logging off once they are loaded. There's some data transferred even when you're not actively loading a page.

A reading offline service like Evernote might work for you as well.

RemaCaracappa · Jun 15, 2013

The obvious one I think is to use wifi as much as possible.

bearilou · Jun 15, 2013

RemaCaracappa said:
The obvious one I think is to use wifi as much as possible.

And when the nearest free wifi is over half an hour away?

Cathy C · Jun 15, 2013

I still have a Windows XP machine and one of my favorite data conservation things was to use an old program called IE-SPYAD. It's a tiny little thing (like half a meg.) All it does is upload a huge long list of known infected sites and common sites where ads come from into your Restricted Sites list.

It helps limit data by blocking any popup ads on sites that originate from the restricted sites. Trust me, you'll notice a LOT of them blocked. The nice thing with the list is you can remove them if you encounter a site that you want to visit. But it always gives me pause to visit if it was in the list to begin with. Y'know?

I don't know if there's a comparable program past WinXP or for other platforms. But maybe someone else knows.

If you still have an XP machine, here's a clean download from PCWorld magazine.

All you do is unzip the files and then open the folder using Windows Explorer. Click on the Registry Entries file in each of the folders and that's it. It just adds the list into the Restricted Sites list and your computer will do the rest.

If you later decide you don't like it, click on the uninst version and it'll remove the list. Just that simple. There are folders for ads and for adult/XXX sites. Pick the ones you want to block and you're good to go.

Deleted member 42 · Jun 15, 2013

bearilou said:
I won't lie, I'm so glad to know I'm not alone in this issue (of limited bandwidth). Many friends don't understand me *cries* when they link a youtube and I ask 'how long is it'.

AW works strikingly well with all images turned off in the Browser.

The major UI (User Interface) graphic elements are all augmented with simple text links.

Also: If you've got drive space, increase your browser cache size a bit. That means more image data will be stored on your computer, instead of fetching it again.

I'd turn off popup windows in your browser prefs. You can tell your browsers which ones you want to accept, but generally, a legit popup is reachable by other means; i.e. AW PM notifications.

Remember to compose posts/emails offline, then copy and paste them.

Chris P · Aug 10, 2013

The new Firefox has removed the option to unselect "load images automatically." Instead, you will need to download the free add-on called Image Block: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-us/firefox/addon/image-block/ It will put a button on the top right (next to your favorites button). It's actually handier than the old way.

Medievalist said:
AW works strikingly well with all images turned off in the Browser.

The major UI (User Interface) graphic elements are all augmented with simple text links.

I actually like AW better with the images off. It displays how many posts I have in a thread, and when I last posted, so I know if it's a recent thread I'm actively commenting in, or an older one I've moved on from. It's also easier to "go to the last post" since it's spelled out. The only things missing are the text color and smilies buttons (and probably other buttons I don't use very often). Oh, and when someone replies with a picture or smilie I can't see them. I almost went off on someone until I loaded pictures and saw the "sarcasm" and "hug" smilies.

And something you folks with images on don't know: Medivalist is so great we've run out of appropriate compliments, as are Cathy C and Berilou while RemaCaracappa is well respected and Reziac has a golden reputation. Turn off images and reload the page if you don't know what I'm talking about.

Chris P · Aug 10, 2013

bearilou said:
Many friends don't understand me *cries* when they link a youtube and I ask 'how long is it'.

My current employer, who has 150 people in Uganda, and about 3000 people in remote villages around the world, forgets this too and sends us videos or links to them on the Facebook pages. They sometimes get testy replies from me.

How to conserve data on prepaid / pay-as-you-go internet plans

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