Browser privacy - for those interested......

[topt]

I know many people are not that bothered about data collection but for those interested it may be worth reading the following -

https://www.theregister.co.uk/2020/02/27/edge_and_yandex_browser_privacy_shame/

 

Quote

Microsoft Edge and Yandex are "much more worrisome" compared to Brave, Chrome, Firefox and Safari, according to a paper on browser privacy (PDF) published this week.

The report is mainly about information sent out when a user types into the URL/search bar.

I think the results are based on a standard install so there are tweaks which can be made to mitigate some of it - certainly for Firefox.

[Stocky]

Another reason to use Brave.

[SpaceKadet]

I actually deleted Edge from my Win10 system. There is not a trace of it... Wish could do the same with Microsoft Firewall and Defender. <deleted> piece of junk.

 

[SpaceKadet]

 

54 minutes ago, pdtokyo said:

May i ask how you achieved an Edge-less Win10 setup?

 

My understanding is that Edge components are baked into Win10 and frequently refreshed at Win10 update time. I've managed to relieve myself of the symptoms of Edge but not the disease itself ... ditto Cortana (which is starting to sound like a real-life actual virus)

 

....

It was some years ago that I had problem with Windows10 complaining about broken app drivers, and defaulting to open some applications in Edge. Well, it can be very frustrating to have PDF documents opening in Edge, especially when you have Adobe Reader, so I decided to remove Edge completely. Searched on Google and found a description. There was even an batch file supplied to make it easy.

Sorry can't be of more help.

 

I should also say that this was a few years ago, and Edge has not been reinstalled with updates.

Windows Firewall and Defender is next....

[radiochaser]

1 hour ago, pdtokyo said:

May i ask how you achieved an Edge-less Win10 setup?

 

My understanding is that Edge components are baked into Win10 and frequently refreshed at Win10 update time. I've managed to relieve myself of the symptoms of Edge but not the disease itself ... ditto Cortana (which is starting to sound like a real-life actual virus)

 

Back on topic, i stumbled on Ghostery, which i'm running as a Chrome extension.

 

It's pretty neat, zaps a lot of stuff within a second of navigating onto a new page. Click on the taskbar icon and it shows what it's blocked automatically ... and reassuringly also shows what's not blocked.

 

i use the free version and i don't believe it's generated any spam or sales pitches in the 6 months i've used it.

 

Here's how it views this TV page (sorry Google, Taboola and Amazon) ... another click of the 'Block All' button zaps the Facebook thingy too.

 

 ...

Thanks for that browser tip. 

[DannyCarlton]

On 2/28/2020 at 7:08 AM, topt said:

Microsoft Edge and Yandex are "much more worrisome" compared to Brave, Chrome, Firefox and Safari, according to a paper on browser privacy (PDF) published this week.

I use Firefox. I found Chrome to be the worst. When logging on certain sites (cough, cough) have full access to your personal information on your Google account.