CNN tries to start Vive Cosmos

[johnx65]

Every time i visit the website CNN.com, the console software immediately starts. I can stop the software, and close it, but it restarts on every page, it then tries to start steamVr, and ultimately i start to get errors popping up in the console software. I do not have the cosmo turned on, when this happens. So far i have only found it happen on CNN. If i use a script blocker on the website, the software stops trying to start.

What is going on with the website/software that is making this startup? is there some kind of security/privacy that should be blocking the websites loaded on the PC while the Cosmos is disabled?

[T]

There is a common problem with Firefox that starts steamvr when you visit sites that have some VR related scripts. Go to about:config, find dom.vr.openvr.enabled and set it to false(default is true). No idea why Firefox still does it after so much time or why sites embed these scripts.

[HackPerception]

 

@johnx65 - 

As @T said, this has to do with a flag on the website trying to launch SteamVR in order to drive a WebVR/WebXR experience. It's not specific to the Cosmos - it's a general WebVR/WebXR behavior that will occur if you have SteamVR installed, regardless of your headset of choice. WebXR is still in early days - there's some major UX gaps in how it's been implemented on some sites as you've discovered firsthand.

If you're using Chrome rather than Firefox, you'd want to navigate to type chrome://flags in your address bar and then find the "webvr" on the resulting page and set that flag to disabled.

Chrome:

Firefox:

 

 

 

[johnx65]

awesome, greatly appreciated! It was becoming so annoying.