The refresh command is built into the webpage html. It could have been set for any number from every 30 seconds to every 5 minutes... the problem with turning off the feature in a web browser is that your telling the browser to turn that feature off for all web sites you visit. This then requires you to “refresh” pages manually. Its conceivable that the websites you revisit will show you the last cache version of the page and not the updated page the website wants you to see.
“the problem with turning off the feature in a web browser is that your telling the browser to turn that feature off for all web sites you visit.”
Easy fix for that. Instead of going and turning off META refresh for all sites in the internet zone, go to Drudge, and in the security tab, click “Restricted Sites”, then click the Sites button and add Drudge to the list. You can set the security level back down to medium, if that is the only site in the list, and then click the Custom Level button to disable META refresh just for sites on the Restricted Sites list.
That way, META refresh doesn’t work for Drudge (or any other annoying sites you put in the Restricted list), but it still works on non-annoying sites that need it.