# Why is my computer's memory decimated by this news web site? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 19, 2011, 6:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-my-computers-memory-decimated-by-this-news-web-site/586013 "2011-06-19T06:07:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Koxinga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/4af34b/32.png) [@Koxinga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Koxinga)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2011, 6:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-my-computers-memory-decimated-by-this-news-web-site/586013/1 "2011-06-19T06:07:33Z")
. . . and is there any way I can stop it from happening when I visit? It’s the Wall Street Journal’s [site](http://asia.wsj.com). I’ve tried adjusting settings on both IE and Firefox to prevent automatic loading of images and Java, and also tried an image blocking add-in on Firefox. To no avail: every time I open this page, my whole computer – not just the browser – slows to a crawl, and if I open multiple tabs, or keep tab open for more than a couple of minutes, my computer becomes nearly unusable. And merely closing the web site doesn’t fix it: the sluggishness persists even after I completely close my browser(s). On my work computer it’s not so bad but for my home computer the only way I can get back to normal is to restart the machine. I’ve never had this problem with another web site. (Though unless you’re logged in as a subscriber, I’m not sure if you’ll see the same problems on the WSJ’s public site.) What on earth could it be doing, and how do I stop it from doing it? ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2011, 6:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-my-computers-memory-decimated-by-this-news-web-site/586013/2 "2011-06-19T06:17:51Z")
Is there some software you use both for home and work that is always resident in the background like anti- virus software or similar? Have you tried upgrading your IE to the lastest version? Does it also slow to crawl with google chrome? ---
**Author:** ![Koxinga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/4af34b/32.png) [@Koxinga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Koxinga)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2011, 6:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-my-computers-memory-decimated-by-this-news-web-site/586013/3 "2011-06-19T06:24:27Z")
> [@astro](#): > > Is there some software you use both for home and work that is always resident in the background like anti- virus software or similar? Work and home use different anti-virus software, and as I say, no other web site has this problem. > [@](#): > > Have you tried upgrading your IE to the lastest version? Yup, no effect. > [@](#): > > Does it also slow to crawl with google chrome? Don’t know, I don’t have google chrome. But it happens with the latest IE and with Firefox. ---
**Author:** ![IAmNotSpartacus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/cc9497/32.png) [@IAmNotSpartacus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IAmNotSpartacus)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2011, 7:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-my-computers-memory-decimated-by-this-news-web-site/586013/4 "2011-06-19T07:38:03Z")
Have you tried disabling Flash? ---
**Author:** ![Dereknocue67](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/6de8d8/32.png) [@Dereknocue67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dereknocue67)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2011, 8:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-my-computers-memory-decimated-by-this-news-web-site/586013/5 "2011-06-19T08:25:19Z")
I’m running Firefox and occasionally experience the same thing on that site. Like you, I haven’t been able to figure it out. ---
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2011, 8:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-my-computers-memory-decimated-by-this-news-web-site/586013/6 "2011-06-19T08:55:53Z")
It seems to me it’s the flash player. I look at my CPU meter and it’s about 17%. When I go to the site, my CPU meter shoots up to 65%. Then when I hit the disable flash button on my browser (I used K-Meleon), it falls back down to 17%. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2011, 12:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-my-computers-memory-decimated-by-this-news-web-site/586013/7 "2011-06-19T12:01:50Z")
It opens straight up for me with no effect on the rest of the PC. I’m using Google Chrome and have 8 GB of RAM installed. My first thought is that the amount of memory required is exceeding the amount you have and therefore the system has started paging. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2011, 12:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-my-computers-memory-decimated-by-this-news-web-site/586013/8 "2011-06-19T12:28:09Z")
Using Opera here. The WSJ site used to really put a hit on my browser but not so much anymore. Maybe went away when I upgraded my browser? Huffington Post is another bad one. I think it’s a lot of poorly done Javascript. ---
**Author:** ![Cugel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cugel/32/1199_2.png) [@Cugel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cugel)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2011, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-my-computers-memory-decimated-by-this-news-web-site/586013/9 "2011-06-19T13:17:55Z")
> [@Koxinga](#): > > I’ve tried adjusting settings on both IE and Firefox to prevent automatic loading of images and Java, and also tried an image blocking add-in on Firefox. I’m using FF 3.6.17, Adblock Plus and NoScript. Snappy loading, no memory or CPU spiking. ---
**Author:** ![Koxinga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/4af34b/32.png) [@Koxinga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Koxinga)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2011, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-my-computers-memory-decimated-by-this-news-web-site/586013/10 "2011-06-19T13:44:39Z")
> [@Cugel](#): > > I’m using FF 3.6.17, Adblock Plus and NoScript. Snappy loading, no memory or CPU spiking. Woo hoo, thank you **Cugel** , and thank you SDMB! (& everyone else who responded.) Tried the above, and it seems to work just as Cugel said. I’ll keep trying it for the next few days, but I’m optimistic now. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2011, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-my-computers-memory-decimated-by-this-news-web-site/586013/11 "2011-06-19T22:56:34Z")
> [@Koxinga](#): > > Woo hoo, thank you **Cugel** , and thank you SDMB! (& everyone else who responded.) Tried the above, and it seems to work just as Cugel said. I’ll keep trying it for the next few days, but I’m optimistic now. It should work with 4.0.1 as well. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2011, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-my-computers-memory-decimated-by-this-news-web-site/586013/12 "2011-06-20T03:10:27Z")
Maybe your computer had a lot of investments in Greek stocks. ---
**Author:** ![Dog80](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/6bbea6/32.png) [@Dog80](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dog80)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2011, 9:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-my-computers-memory-decimated-by-this-news-web-site/586013/13 "2011-06-20T09:56:31Z")
Try updating Flash and Java. ---
**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:** [June 20, 2011, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-my-computers-memory-decimated-by-this-news-web-site/586013/14 "2011-06-20T16:06:38Z")
> [@Koxinga](#): > > . . . and is there any way I can stop it from happening when I visit? It’s the Wall Street Journal’s [site](http://asia.wsj.com). It’s owned by Rupert Murdoch. Why would you bother reading (or believing) anything from this site? The havoc this does to your computer memory is matched by what it is doing to your brain.