Quick Start

Getting Started

  1. Install ScriptSafe:
    1. Chrome: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/scriptsafe/oiigbmnaadbkfbmpbfijlflahbdbdgdf
    2. Firefox: https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/addon/script-safe/
    3. Opera: https://addons.opera.com/en/extensions/details/scriptsafe-2/
  2. You may be asked if you want to enable syncing. Syncing will save your settings so it’s synced on other devices. You are free to click on Cancel, which will disable syncing (which you can enable at any time). Note: Opera currently does not have syncing capabilities for extensions.
  3. After this, you can start browsing the web!
  4. Let’s try to watch a YouTube video: go to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z_AbfPXTKms
  5. You’ll notice that the page seems to be broken. This means ScriptSafe is working! In the browser toolbar, click on the red deny icon and a panel will appear. This is where you’ll be going to to allow/block domains.
  6. Click on the green “Allow” button to allow youtube.com (or the “Temp.” button to temporarily allow it)
  7. The tab will refresh but the video still doesn’t play. Click on the now green checkmark icon and you’ll see s.ytimg.com is blocked. Click on the “Allow” button to whitelist it (or the “Temp.” button to temporarily allow it).
  8. The tab will refresh and the video should now start playing!
  9. Feel free to click on the “Options” link at the bottom of the panel to access ScriptSafe’s options page. More info on the Options page here.

A Good Approach

When visiting a site with ScriptSafe enabled and default mode to “Block”:

  1. If the site is usable or readable even with things being blocked, no action is usually needed on your part.
  2. If the site is “broken”, open the ScriptSafe panel and click on “Temporary” under the domain or under “Blocked Items” to temporarily allow items to load.
    • Typically it is best to do this for items that are being loaded by the same domain, or for known library hosts (e.g. ajax.googleapis.com).
    • You may need to repeat this step a couple of times because there are usually additional requests being made after allowing items to load.
  3. Once the site loads properly, click on “Allow” for the items you temporarily allowed in step #2 to save them to your whitelist.

Over time you will find ScriptSafe will learn quite quickly and allow you to use your favourite sites without disruption – all while protecting you.

If you are performing a mission-critical task (e.g. online shopping) and can’t be bothered to test which items to allow, click on the red “Disable” button in the bottom-right corner of the panel and select a duration you’d like to temporarily disable ScriptSafe for (5 minutes, 15 minutes, 30 minutes, 1 hour), or “Forever”.

The ScriptSafe Panel

You can access the panel by clicking on the ScriptSafe icon in your toolbar (which will vary based on the blocking status).

  • Top of the Panel:
    • “ScriptSafe vx.x.x.x”: brings you to the extension store
    • Options: options page where you can customize ScriptSafe
    • Log: log page listing the 25 most recent allowed/blocked items
    • Refresh icon: refreshes the current tab
    • X: closes the ScriptSafe panel
  • Blocked/Allowed Resources – resources that were allowed/blocked by ScriptSafe from being loaded
    • You can hover over each domain to see the type and full addresses of resources
  • If default mode is “Block”: Allow All Blocked for Session – temporarily allow all blocked resources (if any)
  • If default mode is “Allow”: Block All Allowed for Session – temporarily block all allowed resources (if any)
  • Revoke Page Temp. Permissions – clear out all temporary permissions for the current tab
  • Revoke All Temp. – clear out all temporary permissions for all tabs
  • Bottom of the Panel: various links and a button to disable ScriptSafe

Tab Icon variations

  • Red with a Deny icon Red with a Deny icon – the domain is blacklisted or your current mode is Block and the tab domain is not included in any list
  • Green with Checkmark Green with Checkmark – the domain is whitelisted or your current mode is Allow and the tab domain is not included in any list
  • Blue with Exclamation Mark Blue with Exclamation Mark – either the tab domain or a resource loaded in the tab has been temporarily whitelisted/blocked
  • Grey with Exclamation Mark Grey with Exclamation Mark – ScriptSafe has been disabled

Domain Options

  • Allow – the current tab’s domain will be whitelisted (e.g. www.youtube.com)
  • Trust – the current tab’s entire domain will be whitelisted, meaning all subdomains will also be whitelisted (e.g. trusting www.youtube.com will also allow a.sub.domain.youtube.com)
  • Deny – the current tab’s domain will be blacklisted
  • Distrust – the current tab’s entire domain will be blacklisted
  • Temp. – if your current mode is Block (default), clicking on “Temp.” will temporarily allow domains for the current browsing session. If mode is Allow, it will temporarily block domains for the session.
  • Clear – the domain is whitelisted/blacklisted and this will remove it

Quick Notes

  • If anything is temporarily allowed/blocked on a tab, the tab icon will always be a blue exclamation mark Blue with Exclamation Mark. This is not a bug; it’s to call your attention that something on that page has been temporarily allowed/blocked.
  • If you have “Prevent Clipboard Interference” enabled, note that it may prevent mouse clicks from working properly on websites (such as Gmail and the mail checkboxes). Simply allow the domain under “Clipboard Interference” in the panel.