Can you imagine life without Netflix at this point? We can, but we’d rather not. Netflix is a rare example of a paid subscription service that is beloved but the overwhelming majority of its users. In fact, several large-scale surveys conducted in the past few years have shown that people would happily pay even more than they’re paying now for Netflix’s service. Having thousands and thousands of shows, movies, documentaries, and specials always available at your fingertips is a luxury that people simply aren’t willing to give up. And of course the main draw for Netflix has become original content. The company has become one of the biggest and most successful studios in the world, with a budget of billions of dollars and a record number of awards. Netflix subscribers look forward to the release of new original series, movies, and stand-up comedy specials more so than any third-party content, and that won’t change anytime soon.
Of course, nothing is perfect and that includes Netflix. There are a few common complaints people have about the service, but we have some fantastic news: The one thing people hate the most about Netflix has finally been fixed, and all you need is a free extension for Google’s Chrome browser.
Allow us to paint a picture: you get home late from work on Friday night and you only have one thing on your mind. Netflix just released a new season of one of your favorite shows, and you can’t wait to binge it. You quickly shovel some dinner down your throat and then head for the living room to fire up Netflix. Then, as soon as you do… BOOM, the video preview of Mowgli starts to play automatically and blares through your sound bar, sending you searching for your remote in a panic to turn down the volume and flip away from the annoying autopreview. Phew, you’ve finally pressed the down arrow and highlighted a different show so Mowgli would stop playing. BOOM, you’ve landed on another show with an auto preview that starts playing and makes you even angrier.
There’s precious little question that autoplaying previews are most users’ least favorite thing about Netflix. In fact, we would go as far as to say that we absolutely hate them. Netflix often listens to user feedback and makes adjustments as a result, but this is one area where the company refuses to budge. Thankfully, a third-party developer is here to step in and fix the problem.
A free extension called Netflix Classic for Google’s Chrome web browser was recently released by a developer called thfc06. As you may have guess by now, the plugin stops Netflix’s previews from autoplaying, leaving you to navigate to the content you’re looking for without any interruption or elevated blood pressure. Here’s the description:
Harken back to the glory days of no weird hover states, autoplaying videos, and annoying Who’s Watching prompts.
Hate going to Netflix to be surprised and confused by all of the autoplaying videos and strange hover effects? Feel like you’re out of control? Take back that control with Netflix Classic! Netflix Classic gets rid of all autoplaying videos on Netflix, forces the browser to take you to dedicated title pages for each video you click on, and, as a bonus, gets rid of the annoying Who’s Watching prompt every time you visit the website. Enjoy!
This extension is completely free in the Chrome Web Store, and we recommend installing it immediately.
