Russ Harvey Consulting - Computer and Internet Services

Browser Troubleshooting

Tips for troubleshooting web browser issues

Can't See New Content? | Browsing Issues | Troubleshooting
Browser Help: Firefox | Chrome | Edge | Safari | Opera

Four small candy tiles with HTTP on them.

If you're having trouble viewing content properly or if your browser stops working, these browser-specific resources can help you to recover.

If you can't see any content, check to see if the issue is with a specific website or if your connection to the Internet is broken.

Is it Browser-specific?

Google Chrome is now the world's dominant browser. Many browsers have been rebuilt using Chromium.

If you're using an older browser, upgrade to something current. Using unsupported software is dangerous.

Can't See New Content?

Sometimes you'll have problems viewing what you expect on a webpage. Either updated content isn't showing or something is displaying incorrectly.

This is usually because the browser is displaying cached (locally-stored) content rather than refreshing the content from the website. Browsers use caches to avoid having to repeatedly download similar content from the Web such as style sheets, graphics, etc.

If reloading the page doesn't work try clearing the cache or a hard reset (forced refresh).

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Browsing Issues

This section looks at some browsing issues that may be simply annoying or threaten your privacy and security.

Disable Annoying Video Autoplay

You land on a site and all of a sudden a video is playing. You're annoyed for many reasons including

Stop HTML5 Autoplay

HTML5-based video initially lacked the capability to control HTML5 video (Firefox was the first to block video autoplay in 2015). Older versions required you to go into the advanced settings (e.g., entering “about:config” into Firefox's address bar) — not recommended for most users.

See Stop HTML5 Autoplay for details.

Disable SSO

Single sign-on (SSO) uses your Google, Facebook, Windows or Apple ID to log into third-party sites. Google calls this “third-party sign-in.”

Google Chrome offers the ability to disable SSO (third-party sign-in):

Microsoft's Work & School Accounts

Windows offers the ability to log in to your work or school account instead of using a personal account.

Firefox disables Windows SSO option by default.

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Troubleshooting

Help if something goes wrong with your web browser:

Firefox Help

Google Chrome Help

Microsoft Edge

Microsoft Edge is the default browser for Windows 10 and 11 but is also available for Android and iOS devices.

IE 11 is no longer accessible.

 

You can reload Internet Explorer sites with IE mode in Microsoft Edge.
Microsoft

Safari

Safari is the default browser on macOS and iOS.

The Windows version is no longer developed and is unsafe to use.

Opera

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Related Resources

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RussHarvey.bc.ca/resources/browser-troubleshooting.html
Updated: April 3, 2023