What Web Browser do you recommend?

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What Web Browser do you recommend?

Microsoft IE
3
3%
Mozilla Firefox
43
44%
Google Chrome
39
40%
Opera
3
3%
Other
9
9%
 
Total votes: 97

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Kasey Chang
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Re: What Web Browser do you recommend?

Post by Kasey Chang »

I have both Firefox and Chome. I think I use Chrome 95% of the time, and only occasionally will i bring up Firefox for special occasions.
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Re: What Web Browser do you recommend?

Post by $iljanus »

I've switched to using Firefox on my phone and computer with no regrets. Safari isn't bad either which gets used on my iPad.
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Re: What Web Browser do you recommend?

Post by Kraken »

Kasey Chang wrote: Sat Jan 04, 2020 12:27 pm I have both Firefox and Chome. I think I use Chrome 95% of the time, and only occasionally will i bring up Firefox for special occasions.
Opposite here. Firefox is my daily driver; I use Chrome when FF chokes on some javascript, as it does every now and then.
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Re: What Web Browser do you recommend?

Post by hitbyambulance »

Kraken wrote: Sat Jan 04, 2020 4:34 pm
Kasey Chang wrote: Sat Jan 04, 2020 12:27 pm I have both Firefox and Chome. I think I use Chrome 95% of the time, and only occasionally will i bring up Firefox for special occasions.
Opposite here. Firefox is my daily driver; I use Chrome when FF chokes on some javascript, as it does every now and then.
do you have examples of websites with this problem? i have never run into this with Firefox.
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Re: What Web Browser do you recommend?

Post by Anonymous Bosch »

Firefox is my primary browser, though I do also have the Chromium-based Epic Privacy Browser installed for sites better-suited for Chrome (although to hitbyambulance's point above, I don't know of any sites that really necessitate usage of Chrome).
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Re: What Web Browser do you recommend?

Post by Kraken »

hitbyambulance wrote: Sat Jan 04, 2020 5:17 pm
Kraken wrote: Sat Jan 04, 2020 4:34 pm
Kasey Chang wrote: Sat Jan 04, 2020 12:27 pm I have both Firefox and Chome. I think I use Chrome 95% of the time, and only occasionally will i bring up Firefox for special occasions.
Opposite here. Firefox is my daily driver; I use Chrome when FF chokes on some javascript, as it does every now and then.
do you have examples of websites with this problem? i have never run into this with Firefox.
The Capital One website. When you change the renewal terms of a CD, the "Accept" button doesn't function. Graphically it looks like it depresses, but nothing happens; AFAIK that is the ONLY button on that site that won't take a click, and yet it always works in Chrome.
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Re: What Web Browser do you recommend?

Post by Kasey Chang »

Strangely, I had the opposite problem. My Chase bank website doesn't like Chrome and I can't enter a custom amount to pay. Works fine in Firefox.
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Re: What Web Browser do you recommend?

Post by Lassr »

I also use Firefox 95% of the time. I use Chrome to view the NWS Doppler radar motion loop, for some reason that does not work in Firefox at home.
At work, also Firefox, because Chrome does not work with a majority of the applications we use.

I've also installed Brave, a new browser, it seems ok but really haven't given it a thorough test drive.
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Re: What Web Browser do you recommend?

Post by Zaxxon »

Still rockin' Vivaldi here on PC. On mobile mostly Chrome as the Vivaldi beta still has issues with LastPass.
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Re: What Web Browser do you recommend?

Post by hitbyambulance »

Lassr wrote: Tue Jan 07, 2020 1:40 am the NWS Doppler radar motion loop, for some reason that does not work in Firefox at home.
i was going to reply to this specifically, but this is more of a general response - if anyone is having problems getting a certain functionality of a site working in a specific browser, try clearing the cache just for that website. here are the instructions for Firefox:

https://www.winhelponline.com/blog/clea ... y-website/

(e.g. the NWS doppler radar motion loop is working for me in Firefox - on Linux, even)
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Re: What Web Browser do you recommend?

Post by Zitterbacke »

Zaxxon wrote: Tue Jan 07, 2020 1:49 am Still rockin' Vivaldi here on PC. On mobile mostly Chrome as the Vivaldi beta still has issues with LastPass.
2nd that.
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Re: What Web Browser do you recommend?

Post by Pyperkub »

Update Firefox:
The version you want to be running (ie: that is safe from the vulnerability) is Firefox 72.0.1 and Firefox ESR 68.4.1 or higher. Firefox browsers for mobile devices are not known to be affected.
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Re: What Web Browser do you recommend?

Post by hitbyambulance »

feature in Firefox i haven't noticed before - a shaky 'chainlink' icon in the URL bar when the current site is using some form of DRM (e.g. streaming media)

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/enable-drm
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Re: What Web Browser do you recommend?

Post by Daehawk »

Crap. FireFox updated fully just now....version 74.0...having to reset options I forgot I was using....also both my gmail and yahoo mail alerts hotkeys are gone..sigh

Aww and my address bar is gone..its one huge search box...grumble grumble..........no wait the addy box is there its my dedicated search bar thats gone Fixed this one.

Oh Lord all of my shortcuts I dragged to the desktop are stock windows symbols now...they were Greenman and Fanatical..all custom ones from the site themselves. Maybe a reboot will fix those.

Got Gmail Notifier back in. But when i click the browser hotbar icon it open a little bitty window instead of a new browser tab. I set it like I used to to open the browser tab but its not doing that. I remember this drove me crazy years ago when i first fooled with this.

It appears Ive had this problem at least 3 other times as Ive posted threads on it...not found how I fixed it yet. Maybe I should use X-Notifier

Ooorrrrr maybe not. Seems I was using that for yahoo...but now I dont recall my gmail or yahoo logins and passes...fuck

Ok got x-notifier working for yahoo. Still working to make gmail notifier work right. Also reinstalled adblock plus. Was getting ads all over and had no idea why lol.

There think I fixed it all. I hope. And I hope I haven't missed something. All these texts lines are edits..wow.

Strangely FF kept my classic tabs addon..either that or it made default tabs as classic built in.
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Re: What Web Browser do you recommend?

Post by hitbyambulance »

Mozilla laid off 25% of their workforce today

https://blog.mozilla.org/blog/2020/08/1 ... g-mozilla/
As I shared in the internal message sent to our employees today, our pre-COVID plan for 2020 included a great deal of change already: building a better internet by creating new kinds of value in Firefox; investing in innovation and creating new products; and adjusting our finances to ensure stability over the long term. Economic conditions resulting from the global pandemic have significantly impacted our revenue. As a result, our pre-COVID plan was no longer workable. Though we’ve been talking openly with our employees about the need for change — including the likelihood of layoffs — since the spring, it was no easier today when these changes became real. I desperately wish there was some other way to set Mozilla up for long term success in building a better internet.

But to go further, we must be organized to be able to think about a different world. To imagine that technology will become embedded in our world even more than it is, and we want that technology to have different characteristics and values than we experience today.
https://www.theverge.com/2020/8/11/2136 ... enue-focus
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Re: What Web Browser do you recommend?

Post by Anonymous Bosch »

I'm dusting off this old chestnut to recommend Thorium - The fastest browser on Earth.

Essentially, this is the best-performing fork of Chromium I've ever used, minus all the cruft typically included by most other browsers, which also provides some terrific improvements for privacy and security.

I found out about it after watching the following Chris Titus Tech video, which aptly sums up what makes it so remarkable:



So, have a butcher's, and see for yourself if it doesn't live up to its subhead as 'The fastest browser on Earth.'
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Kasey Chang
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Re: What Web Browser do you recommend?

Post by Kasey Chang »

I use Chrome on my desktop and main phone. I have a tablet that I usually use Vivaldi on because I'm too lazy to swap it out (and because it's a Fire tablet I sideloaded play store onto)
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Re: What Web Browser do you recommend?

Post by Blackhawk »

I'm still using Firefox, because I got sick of Chrome's bullshit (mostly tied to Google having the reins and 'tweaking' things to their benefit.) I tried Vivaldi a year or two ago, but absolutely hated it (their bookmark system is the worst I've ever seen, and their support for any email other than their own is non-existent.) I have thought about trying one of the alternative Chrome implementations, but I've got Firefox actually doing what I need it to, and the process of switching, importing, organizing, and training a new system - well, there just isn't enough benefit to justify the hassle.
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Re: What Web Browser do you recommend?

Post by hitbyambulance »

Anonymous Bosch wrote: Thu Oct 19, 2023 3:37 pm I'm dusting off this old chestnut to recommend Thorium - The fastest browser on Earth.
Firefox is what i'm still using, but i have a Chromium installation on my work PC for work-related purposes - i'll replace it with Thorium
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Re: What Web Browser do you recommend?

Post by Exodor »

hitbyambulance wrote: Fri Oct 20, 2023 1:53 pm Firefox is what i'm still using, but i have a Chromium installation on my work PC for work-related purposes - i'll replace it with Thorium
You could just use Edge - it's been Chromium based for years now.

Using FireFox at home and quite happy with it.
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Re: What Web Browser do you recommend?

Post by hitbyambulance »

Exodor wrote: Fri Oct 20, 2023 1:55 pm
hitbyambulance wrote: Fri Oct 20, 2023 1:53 pm Firefox is what i'm still using, but i have a Chromium installation on my work PC for work-related purposes - i'll replace it with Thorium
You could just use Edge - it's been Chromium based for years now.
i actually do use Edge (on Linux, even....) to ensure maximum compatibility with (and only with) our stupid online Microsoft products - Outlook, Office 365, Teams and Sharepoint. i wouldn't mind replacing THAT with Thorium.
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Re: What Web Browser do you recommend?

Post by Pyperkub »

I use FF/Chrome/Edge for different purposes, but my primary browser is Firefox (with ublock/javascript toggle and other privacy add-ons - I have to use noscript as the javascript blocker on mobile - so if a page doesn't load on FF mobile and has a sh*t-ton of scripts, but I really need to get to the page in a hurry, I'll use Chrome on android, but that's ONLY for emergencies. PC browsers Chrome and Edge are generally only for specific work-related sites (most internal to work).
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Re: What Web Browser do you recommend?

Post by Carpet_pissr »

Still using Vivaldi after switching a couple to three years ago, but have been getting the itch to switch again recently.

Will check out Thorium, but having used Edge at work for the past 2 years, I actually like it and use it on my personal laptop now.

Doesn’t feel as ‘snoopy’ as Chrome, but is it?

Any reasons more people (here) aren’t using it?
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Re: What Web Browser do you recommend?

Post by hitbyambulance »

Carpet_pissr wrote: Sat Oct 21, 2023 3:10 am Still using Vivaldi after switching a couple to three years ago, but have been getting the itch to switch again recently.

Will check out Thorium, but having used Edge at work for the past 2 years, I actually like it and use it on my personal laptop now.

Doesn’t feel as ‘snoopy’ as Chrome, but is it?

Any reasons more people (here) aren’t using it?
i wouldn't use Edge at all, but since i use it _exclusively_ for work-related tasks* i figure it's my company's problem if MS is snooping on my work activities (and make no mistake, they almost certainly are to some degree. i did disable all the tracking settings i could find).



* though i can probably move away from Edge to Thorium. i have to stay on a stupid Chrome-engine browser for Microsoft cloud apps - they don't support Firefox fully.
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Re: What Web Browser do you recommend?

Post by Anonymous Bosch »

Carpet_pissr wrote: Sat Oct 21, 2023 3:10 am but having used Edge at work for the past 2 years, I actually like it and use it on my personal laptop now.

Doesn’t feel as ‘snoopy’ as Chrome, but is it?

Any reasons more people (here) aren’t using it?
If you value the notion of browser privacy, the following ZDNet article, though several years old, sums up how and where Microsoft's Edge browser falls short:

A professor says Edge is the worst for privacy. Microsoft isn't happy
ZDNet.com wrote:

Then along came an apparently impartial referee to offer a truly grim assessment.

Professor Douglas Leith, from the School of Computer Science and Statistics at Trinity College, Dublin, decided to examine web browser privacy in some detail. Detail is what academics do.

His conclusions made for bracing reading.

Leith studied how all the main browsers communicate with backend servers. He described his results like this: "We find that the browsers split into three distinct groups from this privacy perspective. In the first (most private) group lies Brave, in the second Chrome, Firefox and Safari, and in the third (least private) group lie Edge and Yandex."

I confess to feeling more than one volt of jolt here. Not only is Edge said to be one of the two least private browsers, but Firefox and Chrome are at the same level?

And there I was believing you could trust Google no more than you can toss a tennis ball at a whale and expect it to see it again. And there I was thinking Edge had wonderful built-in privacy, mostly because Microsoft said it had and I'm monstrously gullible. And there I was trying Edge and finding it a very likable, speedy browser.

The issue, as far as Leith is concerned, is that Edge (and Yandex, if that is your browser bent) doesn't link to browser installations, but the device's hardware.

Because of this, says Leith: "Both send persistent identifiers than can be used to link requests (and associated IP address/location) to backend servers."

The ultimate effect is that, over time, the data collected can reveal your identity. Which doesn't sound ideal. Especially as there's apparently nothing the user can do to prevent it.

I thought it was time to contact Microsoft for its view and receive an identifiable response.

I sense the company isn't happy. It wonders the research -- performed, oh no, on a Mac -- adequately compared like to like.

A company spokeswoman told me: "Microsoft Edge sends diagnostic data used for product improvement purposes, which includes a device identifier. On Windows, this identifier enables a single-click ability to delete the related diagnostic data associated with the device ID stored on Microsoft servers at any time (from Windows settings), something which is not offered by all vendors."

She added: "Microsoft Edge asks for permission to collect diagnostic data for product improvement purposes and provides the capability to turn it off at any later point. This diagnostic data may contain information about websites you visit. However, it is not used to track your browsing history or URLs specifically tied to you."

So that settles it. Surely you're regularly turning your permissions on and off. Or perhaps not.

Of course, all human wailing about privacy rarely does too much good.

Most people have no idea how and how often their data is being laundered, nor to whom. Most have given up, believing it's all out there, all the time, even as we rail against our domestic conversations being recorded by Alexa and her sisters.

Tech companies have insisted they're getting better at this privacy thing. They've even started to (say they) care.

Ultimately, though, it seems they still prefer to know everything about us. In a discreet, respectful way, of course.
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Re: What Web Browser do you recommend?

Post by Exodor »

Carpet_pissr wrote: Sat Oct 21, 2023 3:10 am Still using Vivaldi after switching a couple to three years ago, but have been getting the itch to switch again recently.

Will check out Thorium, but having used Edge at work for the past 2 years, I actually like it and use it on my personal laptop now.

Doesn’t feel as ‘snoopy’ as Chrome, but is it?

Any reasons more people (here) aren’t using it?
Unless you like Google storing everything you do (including unfinished entries in the address bar) I would avoid Chrome.
n the first (most private) group lies Brave, in the second Chrome, Firefox and Safari, and in the third (least private) group lie Edge and Yandex."
Placing Firefox on the same level as Chrome as far as privacy is utterly laughable.
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Re: What Web Browser do you recommend?

Post by Anonymous Bosch »

Exodor wrote: Sat Oct 21, 2023 9:07 pm
In the first (most private) group lies Brave, in the second Chrome, Firefox and Safari, and in the third (least private) group lie Edge and Yandex."
Placing Firefox on the same level as Chrome as far as privacy is utterly laughable.
Only if you completely ignore the particular analysis the professor performed, and remove his comment from the narrow context of what he was specifically addressing. Because his analysis wasn't measuring traditional web tracking and advertising ecosystems, or methods for detecting and blocking trackers. It was precisely focused upon how browsers contact back-end infrastructure and provide telemetry, i.e. the collection and transmission of user data from the device. Because while transmission of user data and telemetry data to back-end servers isn't necessarily intrinsically considered a privacy problem, issues arise when that data can be tied to a specific user, as he observed.

Here's the conclusion of the analysis, which should further clarify the specific context of the comment you quoted:
School of Computer Science & Statistics, Trinity College Dublin, Ireland wrote:We study six browsers: Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Apple Safari, Brave Browser, Microsoft Edge and Yandex Browser. For Brave with its default settings we did not find any use of identifiers allowing tracking of IP address over time, and no sharing of the details of web pages visited with backend servers. Chrome, Firefox and Safari all share details of web pages visited with backend servers. For all three this happens via the search autocomplete feature, which sends web addresses to backend servers in realtime as they are typed. In Chrome a persistent identifier is sent alongside these web addresses, allowing them to be linked together. In addition, Firefox includes identifiers in its telemetry transmissions that can potentially be used to link these over time. Telemetry can be disabled, but again is silently enabled by default. Firefox also maintains an open websocket for push notifications that is linked to a unique identifier and so potentially can also be used for tracking and which cannot be easily disabled. Safari defaults to a choice of start page that potentially leaks information to multiple third parties and allows them to preload pages containing identifiers to the browser cache. Safari otherwise made no extraneous network connections and transmitted no persistent identifiers, but allied iCloud processes did make connections containing identifiers.

From a privacy perspective Microsoft Edge and Yandex are qualitatively different from the other browsers studied. Both send persistent identifiers than can be used to link requests (and associated IP address/location) to back end servers. Edge also sends the hardware UUID of the device to Microsoft and Yandex similarly transmits a hashed hardware identifier to back end servers. As far as we can tell this behaviour cannot be disabled by users. In addition to the search autocomplete functionality that shares details of web pages visited, both transmit web page information to servers that appear unrelated to search autocomplete.
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Re: What Web Browser do you recommend?

Post by Pyperkub »

Firefox Mobile is getting even better soon:
In an update posted to its blog on November 1, Mozilla announced that Firefox 120 will feature at least 200 new Android extensions. When it debuts in December, Firefox mobile will be backed by a “fully open” extension ecosystem. Mozilla is encouraging developers to migrate to this ecosystem and create extensions to resolve recurring internet browsing problems.
The extension ecosystem aims to address recurring annoyances such as ads and cookie consent forms, enhancing the user experience on Firefox mobile.
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Re: What Web Browser do you recommend?

Post by Carpet_pissr »

Anonymous Bosch wrote: Thu Oct 19, 2023 3:37 pm I'm dusting off this old chestnut to recommend Thorium - The fastest browser on Earth.

Essentially, this is the best-performing fork of Chromium I've ever used, minus all the cruft typically included by most other browsers, which also provides some terrific improvements for privacy and security.
OK, I am typing this using Thorium. Since I am not knowledgeable about such things, do you think it's as safe as say Edge, or Vivaldi or the like, for me to install my Bitwarden extension? The download page for the browser looks...sketchy. :D

It IS noticeably faster than the other browsers I've used though.
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Re: What Web Browser do you recommend?

Post by Anonymous Bosch »

Carpet_pissr wrote: Thu Nov 09, 2023 5:26 pm
Anonymous Bosch wrote: Thu Oct 19, 2023 3:37 pm I'm dusting off this old chestnut to recommend Thorium - The fastest browser on Earth.

Essentially, this is the best-performing fork of Chromium I've ever used, minus all the cruft typically included by most other browsers, which also provides some terrific improvements for privacy and security.
OK, I am typing this using Thorium. Since I am not knowledgeable about such things, do you think it's as safe as say Edge, or Vivaldi or the like, for me to install my Bitwarden extension? The download page for the browser looks...sketchy. :D

It IS noticeably faster than the other browsers I've used though.
Absolutely, as it's basically an open source, better optimized Chromium fork minus any corporate bloat and telemetry. Broadly speaking, open source software tends to be considered more secure than proprietary counterparts. But this is also why its web site seems less well-polished and orchestrated as compared to the likes of Microsoft, as the video I posted about it observed, so don't let that particular aspect put you off.
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Re: What Web Browser do you recommend?

Post by Carpet_pissr »

Anonymous Bosch wrote: Thu Nov 09, 2023 5:52 pm
Carpet_pissr wrote: Thu Nov 09, 2023 5:26 pm
Anonymous Bosch wrote: Thu Oct 19, 2023 3:37 pm I'm dusting off this old chestnut to recommend Thorium - The fastest browser on Earth.

Essentially, this is the best-performing fork of Chromium I've ever used, minus all the cruft typically included by most other browsers, which also provides some terrific improvements for privacy and security.
OK, I am typing this using Thorium. Since I am not knowledgeable about such things, do you think it's as safe as say Edge, or Vivaldi or the like, for me to install my Bitwarden extension? The download page for the browser looks...sketchy. :D

It IS noticeably faster than the other browsers I've used though.
Absolutely, as it's basically an open source, better optimized Chromium fork minus any corporate bloat and telemetry. Broadly speaking, open source software tends to be considered more secure than proprietary counterparts. But this is also why its web site seems less well-polished and orchestrated as compared to the likes of Microsoft, as the video I posted about it observed, so don't let that particular aspect put you off.

OK, thanks for that, I'm trusting you! Will stop using Edge at this point, since so many of you here poo-poo'd it wrt privacy (thanks! I legit thought it was one of the better ones for whatever reason).

As for Thorium and the website, the guy could use some marketing tips, though - just very basic stuff like "maybe have an obvious DOWNLOAD button", or even "don't make your potential users hunt for how to download your speedy, speedy browser".

We aren't all github-heads (gits? :P) out here!
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Re: What Web Browser do you recommend?

Post by Blackhawk »

Github always gives me a headache.

I've never understood exactly what the appeal in a 'faster' browser is. In practice, it's usually the difference between a split second and a split second and a half every ten minutes. None of them are really 'slow' unless you've got a slow connection/hardware.
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Re: What Web Browser do you recommend?

Post by Kraken »

Blackhawk wrote: Fri Nov 10, 2023 1:23 am Github always gives me a headache.

I've never understood exactly what the appeal in a 'faster' browser is. In practice, it's usually the difference between a split second and a split second and a half every ten minutes. None of them are really 'slow' unless you've got a slow connection/hardware.
For me, it's about the interface and customization, then privacy. I've got Firefox set up just right and it doesn't monetize my footprint, AFAIK. Milliseconds don't matter.

But I browse on a proper computer 95% of the time. The mobile landscape is up to you kids to figure out.
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Re: What Web Browser do you recommend?

Post by hitbyambulance »

https://protonvpn.com/blog/google-ip-protection/
Google wants to convince you its service is private while simultaneously collecting your intimate data and preventing competitors from doing the same. IP Protection walls off your data from the rest of the internet while sealing Google’s surveillance apparatus on your side of the wall.
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