To really get ahead of noisy intrusions, you’ll need to prevent videos from autoplaying. To unmute, right-click a muted tab and choose Unmute Site. Once you do, any pages that share the same domain (such as ) will launch with the mute option turned on. You can also use this option as a preemptive strike, muting a page before it begins making noise. This will immediately shut up the page and turn the noisy icon into a silent speaker with a line through it.

If you see that icon, right-click on the tab and choose Mute Site. When a page starts playing sound, a little speaker icon will appear on that page’s tab, next to the “X” on the right. Google’s browser comes with a strong first line of defense: the ability to mute specific tabs. Here’s how to restore peace and quiet in Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Apple’s Safari, and Microsoft Edge.

And if they don’t do the trick, you can employ third-party add-ons to take control. Luckily, the most popular web browsers have settings that will help you silence the unwanted noise. You have to shut up these distractions before you can actually see the content you want. Pop-ups appear on screen, you accidentally run your mouse over an ad that bursts into life, and an inescapable autoplay video follows you as you scroll down the page. You follow a link to an article-and suddenly your speakers blare.