Solved Automatic page refresh in IE

Does anyone know if it is possible to set a window in IE to automatically refresh after x seconds or x minutes? Say I want to keep the Vista Forums main menu page open but want it to refresh automatically every 30 seconds so I don't have to keep pushing the refresh button to do so and thus be able to notice new posts faster (as I don't refresh manually anywhere near that often).

Thanks in advance for any assistance you can provide. I'm using IE9 Beta, but suspect the procedure, if it exists, will exist and be the same or similar in IE7 or IE8.

Glad to help
How can I turn ON auto refresh in Internet Explorer 7 | Computer Tips And Tricks, Gadgets, How-To, Life - 2.0 Style

Hi Richard,

Thanks for the reply and the link.

I found that setting and it was already enabled. Nowhere does it allow one to specify a time interval (and that would seem necessary). In any event, even if the interval is pre-programmed and cannot be controlled, the pages don't refresh even after hours so that can't be the case. I suspect META REFRESH is somehow different than page refresh (though I'll admit I'm not certain exactly what it does mean).

In essence, unless I'm missing something (and since it was already enabled, it can't be the need to close and reopen all IE Windows or reboot or anything like that), this procedure doesn't seem to do the trick. I don't think it has to do with IE7 vs IE9 either because the option does exist in the menu so it must still do whatever it does.

It did seem like it would be applicable, but alas... Any other ideas? Can you do it on your system even if you're using W7 rather than Vista? Can anyone reading this do it on their systems (using any version of IE or Windows)?

Thanks again!

This is a feature that I really never wanted for myself, but now that I am looking at the feature, mine is enabled, too. I guess that means that after a certain interval of time the page will refresh with meta refresh

richc46 said:

Yrefresher download and reviews from SnapFiles

Click to expand...

Thanks! That did the trick. The only thing you have to remember is to turn if off if you're typing or changing anything or it wipes out what you've done when it refreshes (which, of course, I learned the hard way - LOL!). Then when done, you can turn it back on if you're just in reaction mode. While I was already being notified of responses to subscribed threads from Live Messenger, I couldn't see changes to other threads or new threads without refreshing the screen. Now I can read a book and just glance over to see changes as the screen automatically refreshes. Yet another feature IE should have that instead requires a 3rd party program to accomplish - (sigh!).

I honestly have no idea what META REFRESH is or does, but I don't think it has anything to do with refreshing pages like this add-on does. Like I mentioned, I've left the screen as is for hours and it never refreshed during that entire time - so I really doubt it's a matter of waiting long enough (because surely that's long enough by anyone's standards). I may search a bit to see if I can find out more about it when I have some free time.

Thanks again. I appreciate the help and an easy and effective solution. +rep in a few moments.

Rather than having a window auto refresh you could try this (how I monitor the site) - http://www.vistax64.com/livepostcut.php

z3r010 said:

Rather than having a window auto refresh you could try this (how I monitor the site) - [URL="http://www.vistax64.com/livepostcut.php"]http://www.vistax64.com/livepostcut.php[/URL]

Click to expand...

Thanks, John! I wasn't aware of this feature and will create a shortcut for it.

There should be a link to this version of it in one of the menu's but I must have wiped it - Live Post

I use the first cut down version though as I have a few open on one screen.


Edit - "Live posts" added to the quick links menu on the main skins.

Thanks John !!!!! very cool.


Lorien, have you considered a portable firefox? Mozilla Firefox, Portable Edition | PortableApps.com - Portable software for USB, portable and cloud drives

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/reloadevery/ here it is


it has some sort of extension that allows you to do just that.

John, I didn't notice the EDIT until quite a bit later. Thank you very much - it's a lot easier getting to it from the menu than from a favorites bar shortcut (and the two versions are quite similar - but as I need to see only one at a time unlike you, I like the one one the menu bar rather than the one you use because it contains more details of the post). If I'd known this was possible, I'd never have asked the question, but now I have both and that's even better.

Carmine, I'm a die-hard IE user and this certainly isn't enough to make me switch. I'm not sure what would be enough - nothing I can think of at the moment or that I can imagine would happen and IE wouldn't eventually get something equivalent or that I couldn't live without. I do have both Firefox and Chrome as backups (and for testing and to help answer questions about them), but I practically never use them except as noted. FWIW, I consider Firefox superior to Chrome and it would be my first choice as a backup if I had problems with IE and needed something else while fixing them (or to fix them). But I'd be back to IE ASAP. I appreciate the suggestion (and the time to search out the add-on), but I have absolutely no intention of converting from IE.

Thanks everyone for the assistance and suggestions and changes. They are much appreciated and have much more than answered my original question. This has made my work easier and improved my ability to service the OPs and that was the intent behind the question in the first place.

I'm a PC and an IE user only as well. Glad to see others feel the same way !

I mention cause I used to use it on my win2000 rig.