Auto Mute on All Websites With This Chrome Extension
Muting entire websites in Chrome might be the best update Google has ever made to the browser, but it could still be better. Sure, disabling every site with annoying pop-up videos is great, but what if you didn’t have to deal with audio at all? With AutoMute, you never have to hear any sound from your browser again.
AutoMute is a third party extension that does exactly what its name suggests. Once you install the software, each new tab will display the Google Chrome mute icon. If there is a site that you really want to listen to audio from (like YouTube or maybe Lifehacker), you can whitelist that entire domain. You can also whitelist a specific page if you want to hear audio but still don’t trust the rest of the site.
One problem (and it’s a small one) is that AutoMute doesn’t integrate directly with Chrome’s own mute feature, so you can’t right-click a tab to enable it. Instead, you need to click on the AutoMute extension icon, which should appear to the right of your browser’s address bar after installing it. It can take a while to get used to this inconsistency, but it’s worth it so as not to lose the peace of mind that comes with turning off the entire internet with a single click.