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  #1  
Old May 25th 19, 09:58 PM posted to alt.windows7.general,microsoft.public.windowsxp.general
freeman
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Posts: 37
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What is the best URL to use when opening a browser.
Something that will try to get to the internet but will not be
political, sales or anything but a benign web page or just blank.
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  #2  
Old May 25th 19, 10:23 PM posted to alt.windows7.general,microsoft.public.windowsxp.general
VanguardLH[_2_]
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Posts: 10,881
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FreeMan wrote:

What is the best URL to use when opening a browser.
Something that will try to get to the internet but will not be
political, sales or anything but a benign web page or just blank.


For a quick load of a web browser that doesn't have it waste time
rendering a home page that you may not intend to visit in a particular
web session, use about:blank. You can specify it as the URL in a
command line to load the web browser (e.g., "chrome.exe about:blank") or
specify it as the home page. However, whether or not you can specify
about:blank for a new tab depends on which web browser you use but which
you did not identify.

In Firefox, about:blank can be specified as the home page. It can also
be specified as the "page" to load for a new tab. In Firefox, you want
to configure it to load a blank page for the home tab or new tabs. The
problem, as I recall, in Firefox is that specifying about:blank has that
string shown in the address bar, and you have to erase or overwrite it
to put in a new URL. Using Blank Page in Firefox's options doesn't
populate the address bar, so there's nothing there to get in your way of
entering a URL.

In Chrome, about:blank can be specified as the home page (first tab that
opens when the web browser loads) but not for a new tab. Google wants
you to use their default new-tab page. You need to use an extension to
force Chrome to load about:blank for a new tab instead of the "new"
new-tab page. I use:

https://chrome.google.com/webstore/d...icelkfffkloemh

but there are others. As I recall, I picked this one because it didn't
leave about:blank in the address bar that I had to erase before I could
enter a URL there.

about:blank is an internal resource. It is defined within the web
browser. There is no having to make any Internet connection nor does
any web site get visited. In Firefox, the about: pages are internal.
In Chrome, the chrome: pages are internal (although some common about:
pages are also supported, like about:blank).

No matter what site you specify that fits your criteria for benign means
the web browser has to load, has to query a DNS server (to convert the
domain name to an IP address), go through the hops in a route to reach
the site, wait for the server to respond, establish a web session,
deliver its content, and have the web browser render that web page.
Using about:blank makes no network connection, no DNS lookups, no
jumping through nodes in a route to a site, and no content to render.
If you want the web browser to just load and then you decide how to use
it then use about:blank as its home page and for its new-tab pages,
select Blank Page for home and new tabs (if that option is available),
or use about:blank for the home page and an extension to use about:blank
for new tabs.
  #3  
Old May 25th 19, 10:58 PM posted to alt.windows7.general,microsoft.public.windowsxp.general
David E. Ross[_2_]
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Posts: 1,035
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On 5/25/2019 1:58 PM, FreeMan wrote:
What is the best URL to use when opening a browser.
Something that will try to get to the internet but will not be
political, sales or anything but a benign web page or just blank.


What browser are you using?

--
David E. Ross
http://www.rossde.com/

Donald Trump lied his way onto the Forbes 400 richest people list.
https://tinyurl.com/yx9ebrqz
  #4  
Old May 26th 19, 12:24 AM posted to alt.windows7.general,microsoft.public.windowsxp.general
John Dulak[_2_]
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Posts: 61
Default Browser Blank

On 5/25/2019 4:58 PM, FreeMan wrote:
What is the best URL to use when opening a browser.
Something that will try to get to the internet but will not be political, sales
or anything but a benign web page or just blank.


I use the local weather page from the National Weather service almost like a
"home page". No real ads and useful too. You can customize your location from here;

https://www.weather.gov/

If you are not in the US there are no doubt similar sites for other countries

There is also the "Time and Date" site;

https://www.timeanddate.com/

HTH & GL

John

--
  #5  
Old May 26th 19, 01:06 AM posted to alt.windows7.general,microsoft.public.windowsxp.general
Paul in Houston TX[_2_]
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Posts: 999
Default Browser Blank

FreeMan wrote:
What is the best URL to use when opening a browser.
Something that will try to get to the internet but will not be
political, sales or anything but a benign web page or just blank.


There are billions.
Pick one.

  #6  
Old May 26th 19, 01:55 AM posted to alt.windows7.general,microsoft.public.windowsxp.general
Paul[_32_]
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Posts: 11,873
Default Browser Blank

FreeMan wrote:
What is the best URL to use when opening a browser.
Something that will try to get to the internet but will not be
political, sales or anything but a benign web page or just blank.


I like about:blank or aboutlugins for Firefox.

You could cook something similar up with the chrome://
items that do similar things on Chrome.

I don't consider loading an actual URL to be wise or necessary
in a browser. It's a distraction. I expect a browser
to come up in a "not busy" state, due to all the
behavior being satisfiable from resources inside
the profile folder itself.

I'm not a fan of browsers that "self-decorate" or form
a billboard of their latest (useless) feature. I would
smash such things, if I didn't have better things to do.

about:blank is a bit austere, and it's hard to tell
whether the browser is working properly (compared to
getting stuck and turning white). Using aboutlugins
on the other hand, puts a bit of text there to dress it
up, and you can tell whether it has indigestion or not.

Paul
  #7  
Old May 26th 19, 02:50 AM posted to alt.windows7.general,microsoft.public.windowsxp.general
Mayayana
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Posts: 6,438
Default Browser Blank

"FreeMan" wrote

| What is the best URL to use when opening a browser.
| Something that will try to get to the internet but will not be
| political, sales or anything but a benign web page or just blank.

I use about:blank. It doesn't need to go to a URL
until I decide I want to go somewhere. You don't
need to "prime the pump".

On my main machine, though, for daily use, I use
my own links page. I wrote a simple webpage that I
store locally. The browser loads that. It's got several
common destination links as well as my bookmarks.
Often I'm going to duckduckgo. Clicking a link in the
window is slightly easier then going to the bookmarks
menu.


  #8  
Old May 26th 19, 03:14 AM posted to alt.windows7.general,microsoft.public.windowsxp.general
David E. Ross[_2_]
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Posts: 1,035
Default Browser Blank

On 5/25/2019 1:58 PM, FreeMan wrote:
What is the best URL to use when opening a browser.
Something that will try to get to the internet but will not be
political, sales or anything but a benign web page or just blank.


Windows 7
SeaMonkey 2.49.4

I set the preference variable browser.bookmarks.autoExportHTML to True,
which exports my bookmarks to an HTML file in my profile every time I
terminate SeaMonkey. I then set my home page to be that HTML file. I
did this because it seemed that I was constantly opening my bookmarks,
and I wanted see the color-coding (red for visited and blue for not
visited) for each bookmark.

--
David E. Ross
http://www.rossde.com/

Donald Trump lied his way onto the Forbes 400 richest people list.
https://tinyurl.com/yx9ebrqz
  #9  
Old May 26th 19, 05:10 AM posted to alt.windows7.general,microsoft.public.windowsxp.general
J. P. Gilliver (John)[_4_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 2,679
Default Browser Blank

In message , VanguardLH
writes:
FreeMan wrote:

What is the best URL to use when opening a browser.
Something that will try to get to the internet but will not be

***^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^* **

political, sales or anything but a benign web page or just blank.


For a quick load of a web browser that doesn't have it waste time
rendering a home page that you may not intend to visit in a particular
web session, use about:blank. You can specify it as the URL in a


That doesn't "try to get to the internet". (I presume FreeMan wanted to
use it as a quick check that he has connectivity.)

FWIW, I just use https://www.google.co.uk/advanced_search?hl=en ; it's a
relatively simple page, no big graphic. Amend for your local Google. For
those who are allergic to Google, some other search engine such as
DuckDuckGo maybe.
[]
No matter what site you specify that fits your criteria for benign means
the web browser has to load, has to query a DNS server (to convert the
domain name to an IP address), go through the hops in a route to reach
the site, wait for the server to respond, establish a web session,
deliver its content, and have the web browser render that web page.


You can probably avoid the DNS step (unless the page fetches from other
sources for e. g. its scripts or images) by explicitly specifying an IP
instead of a domain name in the URL; however, you'll have to keep that
up to date as URLs change.
[]
--
J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/1985 MB++G()AL-IS-Ch++(p)Ar@T+H+Sh0!:`)DNAf

"When the people fear the government there is tyranny,
when the government fears the people there is liberty." - Thomas Jefferson
  #10  
Old May 26th 19, 07:51 AM posted to alt.windows7.general,microsoft.public.windowsxp.general
R.Wieser
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Posts: 1,302
Default Browser Blank

FreeMan,

What is the best URL to use when opening a browser.


For now ? Or for forever ? And what do you call a "benign web page" ?

You're setting us up to fail (rejected by you because of rules you didn't
mention), which is probably why you won't get many answers.


But you /could/ figure our what your favorite webstrip or information page
is, and pick that (easiest solution)

You could also generate a static local page with, for example, a "quote of
the day", an image outof a series of them stored in a folder.

Heck, you could see if you could use (or find) scripting to create a
fishtank (or something like it).

Personally I've created a local static webpage with a number of links to
services I often use (Google search anyone ?). Very beign, but also rather
usefull. :-)

Regards,
Rudy Wieser


  #11  
Old May 26th 19, 12:08 PM posted to alt.windows7.general,microsoft.public.windowsxp.general
Paul[_32_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 11,873
Default Browser Blank

R.Wieser wrote:
FreeMan,

What is the best URL to use when opening a browser.


For now ? Or for forever ? And what do you call a "benign web page" ?

You're setting us up to fail (rejected by you because of rules you didn't
mention), which is probably why you won't get many answers.


But you /could/ figure our what your favorite webstrip or information page
is, and pick that (easiest solution)

You could also generate a static local page with, for example, a "quote of
the day", an image outof a series of them stored in a folder.

Heck, you could see if you could use (or find) scripting to create a
fishtank (or something like it).

Personally I've created a local static webpage with a number of links to
services I often use (Google search anyone ?). Very beign, but also rather
usefull. :-)

Regards,
Rudy Wieser



There is actually a benign web page. It's used millions of times
a day when Windows machines start up all over the world. They
contact this, and get the "shortest answer" you can imagine.
The little network icon on a WinXP machine, depends on testing
that it can reach this web page. There is also a DNS nameserver
test, but that's not web-browser-worthy.

http://www.msftncsi.com/ncsi.txt

Paul
  #12  
Old May 26th 19, 01:55 PM posted to alt.windows7.general,microsoft.public.windowsxp.general
Mayayana
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 6,438
Default Browser Blank

"Paul" wrote

| There is actually a benign web page. It's used millions of times
| a day when Windows machines start up all over the world. They
| contact this, and get the "shortest answer" you can imagine.
| The little network icon on a WinXP machine, depends on testing
| that it can reach this web page. There is also a DNS nameserver
| test, but that's not web-browser-worthy.
|
| http://www.msftncsi.com/ncsi.txt
|

I wouldn't call it benign if it allows Microsoft to
keep a log of remote machines.

What you're talking about is Network Location
Awareness service. Some people may need that.
I've always had it disabled. I also did something
to disable the taskbar icon in XP. I don't remember
why now. I unchecked the network option
to "Show connectivity icon in taskbar". Now it
sometimes shows up, sometimes doesn't. The reason
I did that was not security or privacy. I seem to
remember that it was doing a lot of disk access
for no reason, but I can't remember for sure.
Whatever it was, it was doing it constantly in
order to keep the icon relevant!


  #13  
Old May 26th 19, 03:00 PM posted to alt.windows7.general,microsoft.public.windowsxp.general
VanguardLH[_2_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 10,881
Default Browser Blank

J. P. Gilliver (John) wrote:

VanguardLH WROTE:

FreeMan wrote:

What is the best URL to use when opening a browser.
Something that will try to get to the internet but will not be

***^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^* **

political, sales or anything but a benign web page or just blank.


For a quick load of a web browser that doesn't have it waste time
rendering a home page that you may not intend to visit in a
particular web session, use about:blank. You can specify it as the
URL in a


That doesn't "try to get to the internet". (I presume FreeMan wanted
to use it as a quick check that he has connectivity.)


Just use a ping for that, like "ping google.com" for a connectivity
check. No need to load a huge program by comparison.

Per the OP's request:
- What is the best URL when opening a [web] browser.
- ... *OR* just blank.

You can probably avoid the DNS step (unless the page fetches from
other sources for e. g. its scripts or images) by explicitly
specifying an IP instead of a domain name in the URL; however, you'll
have to keep that up to date as URLs change.


Seems a waste of a bookmark. Unless the OP is performing this operation
often enough to remember whatever is the current IP address for a web
server, they'll need a bookmark to remember it (until and if it
changes).
  #14  
Old May 26th 19, 05:26 PM posted to alt.windows7.general,microsoft.public.windowsxp.general
Paul in Houston TX[_2_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 999
Default Browser Blank

VanguardLH wrote:
J. P. Gilliver (John) wrote:

VanguardLH WROTE:

FreeMan wrote:

What is the best URL to use when opening a browser.
Something that will try to get to the internet but will not be

***^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^* **

political, sales or anything but a benign web page or just blank.

For a quick load of a web browser that doesn't have it waste time
rendering a home page that you may not intend to visit in a
particular web session, use about:blank. You can specify it as the
URL in a


That doesn't "try to get to the internet". (I presume FreeMan wanted
to use it as a quick check that he has connectivity.)


Just use a ping for that, like "ping google.com" for a connectivity
check. No need to load a huge program by comparison.

Per the OP's request:
- What is the best URL when opening a [web] browser.
- ... *OR* just blank.

You can probably avoid the DNS step (unless the page fetches from
other sources for e. g. its scripts or images) by explicitly
specifying an IP instead of a domain name in the URL; however, you'll
have to keep that up to date as URLs change.


Seems a waste of a bookmark. Unless the OP is performing this operation
often enough to remember whatever is the current IP address for a web
server, they'll need a bookmark to remember it (until and if it
changes).


Interesting how different people interpret things differently.
I took the op's post to mean not blank.
"anything but a benign web page or just blank."

  #15  
Old May 26th 19, 05:47 PM posted to alt.windows7.general,microsoft.public.windowsxp.general
Char Jackson
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 10,449
Default Browser Blank

On Sun, 26 May 2019 11:26:21 -0500, Paul in Houston TX
wrote:

Interesting how different people interpret things differently.
I took the op's post to mean not blank.
"anything but a benign web page or just blank."


This page is pretty simple, responds very quickly, and serves to verify
Internet connectivity:

http://www.isitthef5.com/


--

Char Jackson
 




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