Hey everyone,
I can say with complete certainty that I have avoided actual CHROME for MANY years now, I cannot remember the last time I used it, (possibly 6 years ago?), I've used Firefox, Opera, and now Brave and I thought this would be a nice time to get a bit of community feedback on what browsers you have all had success with etc.
In my experience I've spent the longest time with OPERA, it is the fastest of all for me, customizable in plenty enjoyable ways so that it feels like its "mine" whilst auto blocking rudimentry ads etc, but come on we use extensions for that which I will get to soon.
The only reason I've become frustrated with Opera is constantly having to relog into sites since the great cookie monster bill that reshaped the internet into an "I agree to cookies" mess, Opera seems to fervently forget my sign-ins which is just enfuriating.
I've switched to Brave now, and I'd like to hear from others if its as good as it looks at face value? I feel like it's EVER SO SLIGHTLY slower than Opera, but I might just not be used to it just yet. Its overall look is very clean and smooth, and it has a more robost AdBlocking system and some sort of baked in reward scheme for allowing non-privacy infringing ads to pay you for viewing them? I'll probably update this thread someday in the future if that's actually just a total gimmick or not, or someone else could tell me their experience?
I didn't use firefox for very long, it has always felt sluggish to me, so I cannot even rightfully comment on it without sounding like a hater.
the extensions I never go without are:
- Ghostery - the king of all ad blockers, when in tandem with ABP you get almost completely ad free experience, not even youtube ads make it past this double whammy.
- AdBlock Plus - I'd be very surprised if anyone isn't using this one, its by far the most common I think?
- FBPurity - this removes all ads on Facebook, if you've never tried it, give it a go, it will make you dread using the app on your phone when you see how many ads this incredible extension blocks.
It'd be nice to hear from the (even) more paranoid in the community who despise google's control over our browsing habits, and I'd love to hear opinions on Brave, (OR any alternative browser I've not come across) for the sake of keeping things clean, lets NOT discuss TOR but if you're desperate we can chat about that on discord :g:
I hope its a great weekend for you all!
Man I have to note that the single biggest WOUNDING thing that Brave is missing compared to Opera is the sidepanel that keeps whatsapp / messenger / telegram and other messaging services accessible from anywhere without having to switch tabs!
That is a feature I'm going to miss in a massive way!
Use Chrome you peasant
My mate uses vivaldi and loves it. Not used it myself am a chrome user
Edge ftw
I went back to Firefox once it changed to Quantum. I use it with Ublock Origin (UO) extension and it works like a dream. You can mess about with UO to your hearts content depending on how paranoid you are. I use Chrome now and then but don't see any real world speed advantage to either browser. I tend to stick with Firefox as it has far more useful extensions, is actually working hard to create a more private Internet.... and I like foxes.
I am a lazy chrome user ... chrome is shiny :biggrin:
I've tried Brave and I really like it.
It's pretty much the same as Chrome and has the extensions I use so all good from me. I do use Mouse Gestures which is great for flipping between pages as well.
So far it's a thumbs up for me.
If I'm really smurfing I will use EPIC browser.
ie7, no competition
Quote from: albert;441454ie7, no competition
Can't argue with that :flirty:
The new Edge browser is pretty good, actually.
Quote from: OldBloke;441456Can't argue with that :flirty:
The new Edge browser is pretty good, actually.
So is a triple chocolate, extra tall, extra whipped cream milkshake with a pure honey topping...... but you know you shouldn't :)
Quote from: OldBloke;441456The new Edge browser is pretty good, actually.
It ought to be, it's based on Chromium! :getmecoat:
Recently left chrome, having 2 video windows open (youtube and twitch or twitch and netflix) resulted in stuttering and buffering (hardware accel on or off).
Switched over to firefox and after changing a few things in the config files to make it's fullscreen notifications dissapear quicker i havent had any problems. No stuttering, no buffering, nothing.
I have removed a lot of the useless buttons off the search bar and only have the ones i need, love the customiseability. Also use ABP.
My issue is I am quite integrated into the google ecosystem.. is there an alternative that lets me sign into all of my google services as seamlessly as chrome, does anyone know?
Ben I think you should really try Opera
Netscape Navigator 3.0
Used to love Netscape.... and newsgroups.
Quote from: Penfold;441538(snip) and newsgroups.
What was it alt.binaries,erotica.wobbly.........
Quote from: SithAfrikaan;441480Ben I think you should really try Opera
I'm giving it a go now. Only used for a few days so far, but seems good.
Chrome was stuttering with video playback in multiple tabs. Not acceptable, so need to look elsewhere.
Only thing Opera lacks atm is a translator that works on the fly, but perhaps I can find one.
Quote from: Chaosphere;441650I'm giving it a go now. Only used for a few days so far, but seems good.
Chrome was stuttering with video playback in multiple tabs. Not acceptable, so need to look elsewhere.
Only thing Opera lacks atm is a translator that works on the fly, but perhaps I can find one.
Maybe try the google-translate addon? I'm not familiar with it but I cannot imagine its bad.
Let me know how you get on, and get using the sidebar it is SO versatile! https://addons.opera.com/en-gb/extensions/details/google-translate/ (https://addons.opera.com/en-gb/extensions/details/google-translate/)
I gave it a quick go but it just seemed to enable manual translation, rather than automatic on the fly website translation (which is what I actually want). Warrants more fiddling though.
ooooh liking Opera. Not sure about the sidebar, I'd really like it to be customisable so I can choose more icons and their running order but overall not too shabby. Still think Brave is a good option unless I'm missing something.
Right click the side bar an explore I guess? Its contantly getting updates, the most recent of which is this "workspace" tool, not sure what that even does lol. But yeah I've gone back to Opera since having whatsapp etc in the sidebar without having to switch tabs to reach it is simply fantastic.
Quote from: SithAfrikaan;441246The only reason I've become frustrated with Opera is constantly having to relog into sites since the great cookie monster bill that reshaped the internet into an "I agree to cookies" mess, Opera seems to fervently forget my sign-ins which is just enfuriating.
Yeah, so this is starting to become a deal-breaker for me... I'm honestly tempted to just go back to chrome :/
Shame as I don't get the video issues in Opera, and I do like the WhatsApp integration... But man, I can't remember my passwords and I keep having to look them up in Chrome anyway xD Infuriating.
Quote from: Chaosphere;441938Yeah, so this is starting to become a deal-breaker for me... I'm honestly tempted to just go back to chrome :/
Shame as I don't get the video issues in Opera, and I do like the WhatsApp integration... But man, I can't remember my passwords and I keep having to look them up in Chrome anyway xD Infuriating.
Keepass or 1password or any of the others will integrate surely?
What BrotherT said, there are addon's available dude have you tried those?
An observation after I upgraded to the 2004 release of Windows 10 yesterday. I decided to try the new Edge, did a full clone of my setting from Chrome and found it quite easy to get used to, it was just Chrome by another name....wrong:
[ATTACH=CONFIG]5448[/ATTACH]
This is with my usual 30+ tabs open. Fully loaded up, no videos running. Both on my secondary monitor which, is connected to the on board Intel GPU.
Edge is using 35% of my 9700K CPU whilst Chrome is quiet and well behaved whilst idle. I restated both browsers simultaneously and the CPU hit 100%, but Chrome again dropped to practically zero whilst Edge was still above 35%.
Not good use of CPU cycles from Edge methinks!
That's nasty! Thanks for the info Albert, Edge still seems to have some way to go me thinks!
I'm busy trailing a 7day premium of my favourite browser extension (Ghostery)'s new desktop monitoring program which comes with VPN etc, its called Ghostery Midnight.
So far the VPN is the fastest and most easy I have ever used, compared to Cyberghost which I have no complaints about but have noticed latency in the past.
If anyone is curious, take a look at https://www.ghostery.com/midnight/ (https://www.ghostery.com/midnight/) or at the very least try their extension, which natively blocks trackers etc.
Share your thoughts please, since I'd be curious if supporting this team is money well spent or money well thrown in the bin...... :D
Decisions about Ad Blocking and VPN's often comes down to not much more than personal choice. There are loads of viable solutions all very legitimate choices. Although Ghostery seems to be unique in offering ad blocking and a VPN. £12 isn't a ridiculous price to pay for a VPN and if you get browser protection thrown in, bonus.
Two thoughts:
First is that Ghostery is owned by Hubert Burda Media which is a large German media company. I'm not sure why a company like that would be interested in providing an ad blocker as it makes a good chunk of it's profit from advertising?
Second is that Ghostery doesn't actually provide it's own VPN but is a reseller for FoxyProxy (https://foxyproxy.com/order/), so it is actually FoxyProxy you are getting your VPN from. FoxyProxy will charge you £7.33 a month or £5.50 if you go for the annual plan. So you could go direct to FoxyProxy and then install one of many free ad blockers all of which IMHO are the equal of Ghostery. Free VPN's are usually dodgy but not so Ad Blockers.
Maybe consider Ublock Origin (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UBlock_Origin) (my favourite and IMO the best blocker) or Privacy Badger (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Privacy_Badger) by the Electronic Frontier Foundation and others.
+1 for Smilo's comments. I also run a solo VPN plus Ublock. I run PIA (which I sometimes have speed or DNS issues with) as a backup VPN, and my main VPN is VPNsecure.me which I have had no issues with. I think the VPN was about £30 for a 'lifetime' deal (or 10,000 days) which adds up to considerably cheaper than Ghostery.
I decided to go with ProtonVPN and not had any issues and speeds are pretty good. Expensive but wanted to see how the other half live :)
They are also all very privacy and Swiss and no logs. I used them for a year then went Express VPN as cheap is good :D
Quote from: smilodon;444346Decisions about Ad Blocking and VPN's often comes down to not much more than personal choice. There are loads of viable solutions all very legitimate choices. Although Ghostery seems to be unique in offering ad blocking and a VPN. £12 isn't a ridiculous price to pay for a VPN and if you get browser protection thrown in, bonus.
Two thoughts:
First is that Ghostery is owned by Hubert Burda Media which is a large German media company. I'm not sure why a company like that would be interested in providing an ad blocker as it makes a good chunk of it's profit from advertising?
Second is that Ghostery doesn't actually provide it's own VPN but is a reseller for FoxyProxy (https://foxyproxy.com/order/), so it is actually FoxyProxy you are getting your VPN from. FoxyProxy will charge you £7.33 a month or £5.50 if you go for the annual plan. So you could go direct to FoxyProxy and then install one of many free ad blockers all of which IMHO are the equal of Ghostery. Free VPN's are usually dodgy but not so Ad Blockers.
Maybe consider Ublock Origin (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UBlock_Origin) (my favourite and IMO the best blocker) or Privacy Badger (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Privacy_Badger) by the Electronic Frontier Foundation and others.
I also run uBlock! What an incredible extension!
Thanks for the comments Smilo, but when I looked up Ghostery it said that the parent company is https://cliqz.com/en/about (https://cliqz.com/en/about) but I see that they have suspended Cliqz maybe they sold to the one you mentioned?
I've been happy with CyberGhost VPN like I said for over 2 years now, I'm just exploring I guess :-D
Thanks for the responses dudes
Cliqz is a subsidiary company of HBM. Specifically HBM has a majority holding in Cliqz... whatever than means? All looks perfectly legit and maybe HBM are just hedging their bets. I'm also assuming that as a media company and publisher they use online advertising in their publications. I don't know it as a fact.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghostery