Google has implemented a "prefetching" tool that affects some searches conducted in Firefox and other Mozilla browsers. Prefetching loads the top result of a search into the browser's cache (using Mozilla's prefetching protocol), so that if you click on that result it loads quickly. The (potential) problem is, that page's cookies and other gunk gets downloaded to your hard drive even if you don't visit the page. Thanks, but I'll take my chances with bandwidth delays. Mozilla users can prevent prefetching by following these steps:
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In a blank tab, type "about:config" (without the quotes) in the address bar.
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In the list that appears, highlight "network.prefetch-next" (no quotes).
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Right-click the highlighted line.
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Select Modify from the right-click menu.
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In the dialog box, change the value from "true" to "false" (no quotes).
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Click OK.
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Close the tab or use it to go somewhere.
1. Thank you so much.
When I right-clicked it it gave me the option to "toggle" I selected that and it changed it to "userset - boolean -false". Is this the same end result I needed?
Natasha Robinson
Posted at 4:42AM on Dec 19th 2005 by Natasha Robinson