Which Second Browser

[LevelBest]

I only have Chrome at the moment and would like a second browser that is good with privacy and not being tracked etc, I've downloaded Fire fox this morning and just unstalled it as I find it slow (even slower than Chrome) and slows my computer down. Any suggestions for a quick browser that is good with privacy etc?

 

[townsbg]

If you want privacy ditch chrome (now) and go with a move privacy oriented derivative. Chromium is one of them. Chromium (web browser) - Wikipedia

 

[LevelBest]

Thanks for that, I'll take a look at it, I've also been looking into LlibreWolf.

 

[file3456]

LibreWolf is one and so is Ungoogled Chromium. Just don't install any add-ons... (for Ad/malware domain blocking consider Pi-hole for use with these browsers in a vLAN. I wouldn't go full on broad sword with that approach since it's hard to fine tune on the fly if you have to allow this or that domain, etc).

Do note that when you increase the security and privacy of your browser fingerprint, some websites won't play nice. I'd use LibreWolf as the everyday driver and Ungoogled Chromium for the bank, PayPal, Amazon, eBay, etc.

Also, the browser is just the beginning. But you just asked about the browser.


BTW-

Chromium (stupid name) is just a code base developed by Google back in circa 2008. It is what Chrome is built upon. As well as a whole crap ton of other browsers and interfaces. I'm almost certain my Spotify player in Windows 7 uses Chromium and I think Github does as well. There's also Google web component BS and if websites foolishly chose to use Google code then niece browser like Pale Moon et al may fail loading the page properly. Not only that, these sorry ass websites UA sniff and discriminate based on your UA (User Agent). "We support a free and open web." Well Fing do it! Google is taking over the Internet one bit of code at a time and Microsoft is dictating what you can do with your computer via the TPM and UEFI BS and whoring it out with telemetry.

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It basically means all packets are sent through a crafty proxy where they are stripped, manipulated and forged as necessary. Any websocket crap in the packet? Striped or falsified for website satisfaction. The UA? Set specific for each or all websites. WebGL? Randomized. Same with WebRTC and canvas data. All this is at the packet network layer and can be controlled. All 7 layers of the OSI model need to be scrutinized.

A project kinda like that is Privoxy.

 

[townsbg]

I suspect that the OSI model is way beyond the OP and he certainly didn't ask about it.

 

[file3456]

When I use certain terms on this and other forums I know very well most of the people I'm talking to don't understand jack of what I'm talking about because it may be way over their head. Knowing that I sometimes try to link each acronym and what have you as well as cite some sources hoping the user will use the unbelievable amount knowledge at their fingertips to look it up. They could always get an idea from Wikipedia and view its linked sources. I also don't type just for the user but anyone in the world that may come across the thread or my post. I mean, how many times have you "Googled it" and came across a forum like this and read through the responses?

So having said that, I'm not going to dumb down for the sake of "clarity" and would hope that the user takes the time and does his/her research in EVERYTHING I submit. And besides, I do go out of my way with more than one paragraph trying to explain and help the poster. I don't expect for anyone to know anything I say. If they ask then I'll try to explain it, but so far very few have asked for clarification.

 

[Aardvarkly]

I am certain that more than one user here appreciates your replies, even if they don't acknowledge it.

 

[file3456]

Thanks.

Question: Does this statement apply to you? I mean, how you found this specific post after some seven months?

I also don't type just for the user but anyone in the world that may come across the thread or my post. I mean, how many times have you "Googled it" and came across a forum like this and read through the responses?

 

[Aardvarkly]

I came across it in a forum search. I was wondering what alternatives people were looking to use now that Chrome and some of its cousins are giving the third finger salute to W7 users.

 

[file3456]

https://www.sevenforums.com/news/42...windows-7-8-1-early-2023-a-2.html#post3515569

 

[Uitlander]

I only have Chrome at the moment and would like a second browser that is good with privacy and not being tracked etc, I've downloaded Fire fox this morning and just unstalled it as I find it slow (even slower than Chrome) and slows my computer down. Any suggestions for a quick browser that is good with privacy etc?

I'm currently running Waterfox Classic, Comodo Dragon, IceDragon, and Epic Privacy Browser. None have given me any grief so far. I have Advanced Chrome downloaded, but still cannot do anything with zip files, so it awaits my tech guy to install it. Aside from these, there is Ungoogled Chromium....I'll likely have it installed on MX Linux at the next housecall. So long as you avoid Firefox and Chrome your privacy is way better off, but it's questionable just how privacy oriented the others are. It seems to be a question of degree more than anything.

 

[Justin Denial]

And I need to move away from Chrome also. How do I remove all traces

Traces of Chrome after I make backups of Bookmarks, and ...? Chrome would cause a hangup every 2 weeks, and I uninstalled it and reinstalled and all was there. Obviously there's some housekeeping to get rid of all Chrome footprints and claw marks.. Help / input appreciated.

Minor pain is transitioning the wife to a new browser ... nope --- going with older version of Waterfox Classic and thinking about chromium Thanks

 

[Justin Denial]

How do I find the latest STABLE Chromium ( version) ?

There's a lot to choose from, I downloaded installer for : ( 108.05359.125 12/28 3:32 !) but before I go 'crazy' is there a 'best ' stable version for Win 7? And, when does one update to the next Stable version. How does the average Joe know? Thanks, and Happy NEW Year.

 

[LevelBest]

I've downloaded Firefox this morning and am just setting it up. It is a little faster than Chrome which is welcome. It has downloaded with the latest version and so far so good. I notice that it offers a Mozilla VPN. Anyone using this?

 

[file3456]

Don't trust some free VPN no matter who owns it. The price is your data...

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Well, don't trust ANY VPN actually.

I use one myself, but I know the limitations and I tried to chose the best provider I could which really doesn't mean much since I don't know how they run their servers and whatnot.

 

[LevelBest]

Don't trust some free VPN no matter who owns it. The price is your data...

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Well, don't trust ANY VPN actually.

I use one myself, but I know the limitations and I tried to chose the best provider I could which really doesn't mean much since I don't know how they run their servers and whatnot.

Thank you, that also seems to be the consensus from the several videos I watched last night, so I won't pursue that.

To go with the new Firefox browser I have also got StartPage as the search engine and that says it does not track you etc. At least it moves me away from google and chrome etc. The laptop seems a lot happier and quicker running Firefox than Chrome and I uninstalled chrome last night.

Update; I spoke too soon; appears that FFis interfering with windows explorer in it won't allow it to open. Appears to be a problem so am searching for a solution as I would like to keep FF.

 

[file3456]

There are lots of things you can do to Firefox to help make it a little bit more "privacy" friendly. And I hate to say it, but don't trust those alternative search engine providers either. SwissCows, StartPage, DuckDuckGo, etc. What I would do is learn how to deploy your own SearX server. You can read about that here, or use someone else's server here. Just pick an instance and add it to your search engines if you show the search engines alongside the address bar. Make sure you click the cog (gear) to change the settings...Note though, don't trust it since it's someone else's server.


For Apache, you can run this locally (yes, on your computer) with everyone's favorite LAMP stack XAMPP or Wampserver. You could also spin up a LMAP stack in VMware. What the hell is LAMP? Linux Apache, MySQL, PHP.

Install with apache — Searx Documentation (Searx-1.1.0.tex)

XAMPP Installers and Downloads for Apache Friends

Google Code Archive - Long-term storage for Google Code Project Hosting.

This is more applicable for Windows 10 with WSL (Windows subsystem for Linux).

I like XAMPP myself. Love that software. I actually created my website in that sucker on my laptop in the Summer of 2015 or thereabouts and then deployed it live. Had to edit the database though for it to work live.

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Firefox Profilemaker


All these settings are in the file called prefs.js found in the Mozilla folder under the hidden AppData folder in Windows. Prefs.js is a readable text document. You could use Notepad++ to open it... I do.


BrowserLeaks - Web Browser Fingerprinting - Browsing Privacy


No idea what the Explorer issue is about. Have any add-ons installed? Maybe create a new thread on the matter.

 

[Uitlander]

I only have Chrome at the moment and would like a second browser that is good with privacy and not being tracked etc, I've downloaded Fire fox this morning and just unstalled it as I find it slow (even slower than Chrome) and slows my computer down. Any suggestions for a quick browser that is good with privacy etc?

Epic Privacy Browser, a secure chromium-based web browser with Encrypted Proxy and AdBlock | a free, unlimited VPN private browser for Windows, Mac, iOS and Android

This browser changes your IP address according to What's My IP Address? Networking Tools & More

Not too sure just what that means concerning your ISP, but it appears to fake the address when you go to other sites. It works well on Win 7 (never had a problem other than my banks block it).

 

[Phredtx]

I am using Firefox 113.0.2 (64-bit), and it works fine. I did make some changes that noticably improve performance. Using the advanced level of the Configuration Editor; i.e. about:config, I was able to get close to what I consider the maximum download performance for my system. Note: I use FDM and almost all I download are mp3, pdf and txt files. I don't use social networks or watch videos. Here's the link to the Mozilla help page:

Configuration Editor for Firefox | Firefox Help

I THINK these are the changes I made to the JScript Script File (prefs.js) to improve download performance:

user_pref("network.dns.disableIPv6", true);
user_pref("network.http.pipelining", true);
user_pref("network.http.pipelining.maxrequests", 8);
user_pref("network.http.proxy.pipelining", true);
user_pref("network.http.referer.disallowCrossSiteRelaxingDefault.top_navigation", true);
user_pref("network.proxy.type", 0);
user_pref("network.trr.mode", 5);
user_pref("network.trr.uri", "https://mozilla.cloudflare-dns.com/dns-query");
user_pref("new Boolean", true);
user_pref("new", true);

PLEASE BE VERY CAREFUL MESSING WITH THESE SETTINGS... but I guess you could always remove Firefox with Programs in the Control Panel, then reinstall it.

 

[file3456]

PLEASE BE VERY CAREFUL MESSING WITH THESE SETTINGS... but I guess you could always remove Firefox with Programs in the Control Panel, then reinstall it.

No, just delete the prefs.js file and Firefox will automatically rebuild it.


BTW - The prefs.js file is human readable. Use any text editor to view its contents. I prefer Notepad++. I simply right click the file and open with Notepad++.

For me, Notepad++ has been indispensable. I use it and its abilities and plugins everyday.