......posted the hint about using the Esc key to stop animations happening on a web page.

I just cannot recall who it was and have been searching and trying to remember for days. I use the Esc key on just about every page I view here and on many other pages on the net. I find the animations to be amusing generally but some just annoy the hell out of me so I`m very grateful to whoever posted that particular hint.

It was mike32768, in the thread on Inappropriate Icons.

Thank you FlopsyMopsy and thanks very much to you Mike!

A good and quick way of temporarily stopping animations but if you ever want a more permanent way...

Firefox:
* Type 'about:config' in the Address Bar and press 'Go' (or keyboard Enter).
* Type 'animation' in the 'Filter' box and press Enter
* Double-click on the 'image.animation_mode' entry.
* Type 'none' in the text box that appears (says 'normal' by default) and press Enter.

Internet Explorer:
* Open Internet Options
* Select the 'Advanced' tab.
* Scroll down to 'Multimedia'.
* Untick 'Play animations in webpages' and click OK.

Thanks Tellywellies but I don`t appear to have a "filter box" in the list.........

The Filter box isn't in the list. The Filter box appears when you type about:config into Firefox's Address bar and press Enter. Then type animation into the Filter box that appears.

Ah thanks Tellywellies that worked a treat, sorry you had to spoon feed me I haven`t slept yet and it`s 7.30am.

No bother at all . I just did a small screen capture of the setting in case there was still difficulty. These things are often only easy after the first time of doing them.