diff --git a/resources/settings.yaml b/resources/settings.yaml
index 48f8373a..d3ef9ea8 100644
--- a/resources/settings.yaml
+++ b/resources/settings.yaml
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ game:                auto   # auto, or one of the 'folder' values below.
 lastGame:            auto   # auto, or one of the 'folder' values below.
 enableDebugLogging:  false
 updateMasterlist:    true
-autoRefresh:         true
+autoRefresh:         false
 
 # Games. The four types are 'Oblivion', 'Skyrim', 'Fallout3' and 'FalloutNV'. They correspond to each base game's libespm and libloadorder settings.
 games:
diff --git a/src/gui/app.cpp b/src/gui/app.cpp
index 0630c7da..cbb7acf6 100644
--- a/src/gui/app.cpp
+++ b/src/gui/app.cpp
@@ -431,7 +431,7 @@ namespace loot {
                 return false;
         }
         if (!_settings["autoRefresh"])
-            _settings["autoRefresh"] = true;
+            _settings["autoRefresh"] = false;
 
         if (_settings["windows"])
             _settings.remove("windows");
@@ -447,6 +447,7 @@ namespace loot {
         root["lastGame"] = "auto";
         root["enableDebugLogging"] = false;
         root["updateMasterlist"] = true;
+        root["autoRefresh"] = false;
 
         std::vector<Game> games;
         games.push_back(Game(Game::tes4));