# Script?? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 21, 2016, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/script/760502 "2016-07-21T16:27:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![koufax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/7ea924/32.png) [@koufax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/koufax)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2016, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/script/760502/1 "2016-07-21T16:27:06Z")
"A script on this page may be busy, or it may have stopped responding. You can stop the script now, open the script in the debugger, or let the script continue. This keeps happening, locking my machine up for minutes at a time. Can I do anything to stop these “scripts”?? Thanks in advance. ---
**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2016, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/script/760502/2 "2016-07-21T17:14:36Z")
I’d try clearing your cache first of all. Do you have an ad-blocker on your browser? It might well be some sort of advert software that’s causing the problem. But it might be some sort of problem on the server holding the site you’re visiting, and there’s not a lot you can do about that. ---
**Author:** ![aldiboronti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc348/32.png) [@aldiboronti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aldiboronti)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2016, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/script/760502/3 "2016-07-21T17:24:30Z")
If you’re using Firefox you can get the [Noscript](https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/noscript/) addon. No scripts will then be run without your specific permission. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2016, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/script/760502/4 "2016-07-21T17:34:46Z")
In Chrome (and Firefox I assume) you can go to Advanced Settings and turn off JavaScript from running. Lots of sites won’t work, but you can do it. ---
**Author:** ![koufax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/7ea924/32.png) [@koufax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/koufax)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2016, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/script/760502/5 "2016-07-22T04:04:08Z")
> [@aldiboronti](#): > > If you’re using Firefox you can get the [Noscript](https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/noscript/) addon. No scripts will then be run without your specific permission. hey, this worked!! Thank You ---
**Author:** ![skdo23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a5b964/32.png) [@skdo23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/skdo23)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2016, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/script/760502/6 "2016-07-22T15:35:40Z")
> [@aldiboronti](#): > > If you’re using Firefox you can get the [Noscript](https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/noscript/) addon. No scripts will then be run without your specific permission. Will this cause any problems when visiting certain types of websites? ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2016, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/script/760502/7 "2016-07-22T15:46:54Z")
> [@skdo23](#): > > Will this cause any problems when visiting certain types of websites? Sure, lots of sites use JavaScript and they won’t work or will become wonky. Make sure you know what you’re turning off. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2016, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/script/760502/8 "2016-07-22T22:03:27Z")
> [@Telemark](#): > > Sure, lots of sites use JavaScript and they won’t work or will become wonky. Make sure you know what you’re turning off. But you can always tell _NoScript_ to allow scripts from those websites. But I’ve found that a lot work reasonably well without it – often the scripts are just serving up ads, or powering the ‘click here to donate’, ‘like us on Facebook’, etc. buttons – and I can do fine without those. ---
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2016, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/script/760502/9 "2016-07-22T22:36:17Z")
> [@skdo23](#): > > Will this cause any problems when visiting certain types of websites? > [@Telemark](#): > > Sure, lots of sites use JavaScript and they won’t work or will become wonky. Make sure you know what you’re turning off. Practically any website you can view on a smartphone and a desktop/laptop requires JavaScript. Turning off the scripting in your browser will cause problems for you viewing the site. ---
**Author:** ![aldiboronti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc348/32.png) [@aldiboronti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aldiboronti)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2016, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/script/760502/10 "2016-07-23T16:13:46Z")
> [@Duckster](#): > > Practically any website you can view on a smartphone and a desktop/laptop requires JavaScript. Turning off the scripting in your browser will cause problems for you viewing the site. If a site doesn’t function properly (and as **[t-bonham@scc.net](mailto:t-bonham@scc.net)** posted many work perfectly well without scripts) then if you trust the site you can whitelist it or temporarily allow it or allternatively just allow the scripts you need and block the rest. It’s child’s play to manage and I wouldn’t browse without it now. ---
**Author:** ![Reply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reply/32/15952_2.png) [@Reply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reply)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2016, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/script/760502/11 "2016-07-24T18:59:03Z")
It’s better (and easier) to just get Adblock Plus or uBlock Origin. That blocks useless third-party javascripts (ads, etc.) while leaving the first-party ones alone. If a first-party script is broken, there’s something wrong with their website and you should write them or go somewhere else anyway, not just break even more stuff by turning off javascript altogether