I started with the Mosaic browser and over the years I’ve tried out 24 different ones but prefer something that’s Gecko-based like Firefox, LibreWolf, Floorp, or Waterfox. The reason is the ability to customize pretty much everything, and no hand-holding with Google.
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No argument with you there. I think Mosaic may have been the very first browser I tried; Netscape and others in that era were among the early ones I tried too. I’m keen on customizing too so Firefox and LibreWolf are usually on most of my systems, but I use other browsers too; I like comparing them and trying out various things. Firefox works in almost all of my current scenarios, but I’ve resorted to Google based browsers too in order to access certain things and I do enjoy testing Ungoogled Chromium - that completely removes the Google components, so when I do want that other stuff that’s the Chrome/Chromium variant I typically visit.
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I thought about using Ungoogled-Chromium, but you have to check the Google Chrome Store to get the URL of an extension, so I won’t go near it.
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I like what I can tweak, make my own, and something I can at least trust a little. Firefox since always and have never been fickle about it. Helium since I found out about it a few months ago. It’s slick, a little faster, and uses a little less resources than Firefox. I am in it right now and it’s got the extensions I care about: keepassxc and ublock origin - oh, and I add chromium search bar because I don’t like the whole omni approach to the address bar; that’s for urls. I do allow connecting to helium services because that’s the only way to keep extensions updated and I’m not too fond of that approach, though I understand they put everything through their servers in order to provide the security/privacy they claim, tool for. Still, wtf, something else to trust and that’s getting pretty old.
I had a routine in DORiS that set up security profiles for each browser; basic, solid stuff, but I removed it because, it’s your browser.
Back in the day I used Opera and loved it, with the adguard panel, woot!
A browser has been basically an OS since all the retooling web 2-3 stuff and I hate it. I wish we would stop convoluting stuff and kitchen-sinking.
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Okay, that’s certainly up to you. I’ve personally found Ungoogled Chromium to be the most efficient full featured Web browser available. The main code WAS written by Google. The difference between Google Chrome, or in this case, Chromium, is that the Ungoogled Chromium code removes all instances of callbacks to anywhere, so there’s no tracking in it.
Then again, if you are concerned about tracking the few times you visit ANY site that’s remotely related to Google or Chromium, then that is definitely a deal breaker.
My question would then be “What browser, if any, do you trust?” Practically all of them are providing tracking information somewhere, even if you constantly “clean up” after them. The original Web Browser designs were created by software efforts paid for by the US Department of Defense or some organization related to them. Ungoogled Chromium does as well as anything to remove excess tracking, but I doubt that any browser doesn’t leave some kind of footprint everywhere it goes, just like a person walking somewhere. You may TRY to cover your tracks, but modern technology has ways of spotting you almost anywhere. How do you protect yourself from that? I’d say only hermits in a cave come close, but they can be found too!
I’m curious how you post in this forum without someone “seeing it”.
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Yes, the Chromium engine was developed and maintained by Google, and when I tried Ungoogled-Chromium it requested the URL extension from the Google Chrome Store, so it appears it’s not really ungoogled unless you use no extensions at all. Google is a data collection agency, so ANY association with them is a deal breaker for me. I was a proponent of the Google search engine when it first arrived on the scene, and now I don’t go near it.
The browsers currently residing on my system are Firefox, LibreWolf, and Waterfox, though I’ve also used Floorp in the past. I’ve tried numerous Chromium-based browsers in the past, but most, if not all, wouldn’t allow me to fully configure, and when I decided to go Google-free I stopped using all of them.
I’m not worried about someone seeing something I post in the forum unless the forum is collecting my personal/computer information and sending it off to Google.
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Be wary of which deals the other browser makers have with other institutions then. I’m pretty sure, at least at some points in history they’ve made deals with Google and that’s why I made my comment to you earlier today. While their sponsors may differ today, who knows, maybe those other sponsors get paid by Google, so I’d research and watch closely if you’re that much objected to anything with Googly-ness in it!
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It’s no secret that Mozilla accepted enormous amounts of money from Google to insert their search engine into the Firefox browser, but users can easily bypass the Google search engine. I’m not paranoid about avoiding Google, but I do avoid them whenever possible.
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