Google Chrome

[danno50]

Are there any disadvantages to using Chrome as a browser. I have always used Safari. Downloaded Chrome some time ago and tried it but never really liked it. Decided to try it again (after reading some of the threads discussing Adobe Flash). It is very much faster than Safari. On one of my favorite forums I constantly get slow responses, thought it was due to high traffic? Using Chrome on the same forum, there are no hangups or slow responses, seems lightning fast in comparison to how it was running in Safari.
I have been trying to stay away from Google, I do not have it set as the default search engine on my iMac. I do this because of some of the privacy concerns I have read about that are associated with using Google. Also, there seems to be an extra step to clear the browsing history in Google compared to Safari?
I would appreciate any thoughts or discussion in regards to using Chrome vs Safari.
Thanks
Dan

 

[harryb2448]

Who knows as you have not supplied Mac or operating system details.

Should you be using say El Capitan, there was a Safari 10 version released last month.

 

[danno50]

Sorry Harry, I have a mid 2011 iMac running OSX 10.11.6 and Safari 10.0.
Dan

 

[KevinJS]

I downloaded Chrome in order to use Google Hangouts, before a Safari plugin became available. I found that within seconds of booting it up, the temperatures of my MBP rocketed and the fans ran flat out.

I must have an updated version now because it no longer does it, but it was enough to put me off.

I'm Flash-free now. I uninstalled it afte the last round of updates were advised. I installed Ghostery and found that it sped Safari up considerably. No more waiting for Google Adsense to find an ad that's written well enough to actually render.

 

[Randy B. Singer]

Are there any disadvantages to using Chrome as a browser.

Like a lot of folks, I try to stay away from Google products if I can, because Google has such a bad reputation for tracking, user analytics, and generally harvesting users' data.

Why limit yourself to trying just Safari and Chrome? The "best" browser for you is the one that you like best.

Did you know that there are literally over 200 browsers for the Macintosh? (Really...!)
http://www.knutson.de/mac/www/browsers.html
(This page lists all of them, with short reviews. If you find it to be inaccessible, try again later. It is currently being updated.)

Each of them has its own feature set and philosophy.

I've only tried a handful of them, but I really like all of these, for different uses:

Safari for it's general competence and decent speed. (it does need some maintenance now and then to maintain its performance.)

Firefox for its compatibility with just about any Web page and it's available plug-ins.

Epic for its ability to block ads, trackers, and for overall security.

Opera for it's advanced feature set. Recently Opera has begun to include ad blocking and a free VPN service!

Waterfox for its speed (if you have the hardware to support that speed).

Vivaldi and Brave are two new Mac browsers that have quite a bit of potential.

Since they are all free there is no reason not to download as many of them as you like and try them, and see which one *you* think is best.

 

[danno50]

Thanks Randy! My intent in the question was exactly as you say, the bad reputation of Google for tracking etc. I use duckduckgo as a search engine in Safari, however, could not seem to get duckduckgo set up as my default browser in Chrome. Anyway, not relevant now as I will try some of your other suggestions for browsers.
Thanks
Dan

 

[harryb2448]

Just think about Google letting duckduckgo in to Chrome? It would be against their interest. One thing that worried me about Chrome is the 'Google Helper' software added, I am told, to add tracking.


https://www.wired.com/2014/10/google-chrome-helper/

Randy could you please check the link. Get a 'Not Found on knutson.de' message.

 

[danno50]

Thanks for the reply Harry. Yes, I see your point, if duckduckgo doesn't allow tracking it kind of goes against what Google wants to do. Chrome did let me set Bing as the default browser, they have a very short list of browsers which can be set as default.
Thanks
Dan

 

[Randy B. Singer]

Thanks Randy! My intent in the question was exactly as you say, the bad reputation of Google for tracking etc. I use duckduckgo as a search engine in Safari, however, could not seem to get duckduckgo set up as my default browser in Chrome. Anyway, not relevant now as I will try some of your other suggestions for browsers.

If you want to use Google as a search engine (and you should, because it is by far the best one), you can use it with all of the tracking and other evil stuff stripped out, by using this search engine instead:

StartPage
https://www.ixquick.com/

This search engine takes your query, strips out all identifying information, and then submits it to Google!

 

[Randy B. Singer]

Randy could you please check the link. Get a 'Not Found on knutson.de' message.

As I said: "http://www.knutson.de/mac/www/browsers.html
(This page lists all of them, with short reviews. If you find it to be inaccessible, try again later. It is currently being updated.)"

I can't tell you when they will be done updating the site. They've been down for days in the past.

If you are in a hurry to see the site, you can access an old version of it here:

http://web.archive.org/web/20160405143307/http://www.knutson.de/mac/www/browsers.html

Note that in April of 2016 that site listed 216 separate browsers available for the Macintosh!

 

[Randy B. Singer]

If you visit:

http://web.archive.org/web/20160405143307/http://www.knutson.de/mac/www/browsers.html

You might be really interested in what the author has to say about Google's Chrome!

"[29 October 2015] I haven't written much about this browser, mainly due to my privacy-related concerns and unwillingness to accept some of the decisions Google has made in terms of user control of the software. I object to Google's ways of handling installation, updating, default settings, transmission of private data to their servers, and so much more. That's why I simply refuse to 'bow down to the Man' and re-install and use it, even for testing purposes only. Because I believe this approach to providing a browsing experience is so fundamentally flawed, I also can't recommend its use by others: For more secure alternatives, check out the Chromium, Aviator and Epic projects."

 

[lclev]

I run Google chrome with Ghostery and Ublock origin. I also have DuckDuckGo as my default search engine. You can add it in Settings -> manage search engines -> scroll down to the bottom of the second window and there is a place to add other search engines.

Now as for tracking, having read all the posts, it does give me something to think about. I had thought about Epic just for variety. I just like the ability to open Chrome on any of my computers and have my bookmarks all the same.

Lisa

 

[danno50]

thanks everyone for all the additional replies and advice. After reading the last post by Randy B. Singer, I definitely will not be using Chrome as my browser. Lisa. I did go to Settings -> manage search engines in Chrome. It let me add duckduckgo as a search engine, however, it would not give me the option of setiing it as the default. Randy, thanks also for the advice on ixquick, I do have it bookmarked and use it once in awhile. Maybe I will try to set it up as the default search engine.
Anyway, have decided to abandon Chrome and take Randy's advice to check out the other available browsers. It is not that I am real unhappy with Safari, it just seems to hang up occasionally on two of my favorite forums.
Thanks
Dan

 

[KevinJS]

thanks everyone for all the additional replies and advice. After reading the last post by Randy B. Singer, I definitely will not be using Chrome as my browser. Lisa. I did go to Settings -> manage search engines in Chrome. It let me add duckduckgo as a search engine, however, it would not give me the option of setiing it as the default. Randy, thanks also for the advice on ixquick, I do have it bookmarked and use it once in awhile. Maybe I will try to set it up as the default search engine.
Anyway, have decided to abandon Chrome and take Randy's advice to check out the other available browsers. It is not that I am real unhappy with Safari, it just seems to hang up occasionally on two of my favorite forums.
Thanks
Dan

On iphone forums, we have had occasional problems for several years with the forum hanging up. One problem was so severe that it caused a massive temperature increase on both Macs and iPhones. Since the problems seemed to affect people in certain parts of the world while leaving others alone, we concentrated on targeted ads as the most likely cause. It appears that Google Adsense is not particularly choosy when it comes to throwing ads at you. Using Ghostery to block Adsense works a treat. All forums load faster and there are no hangups.

And a huge thank you to Randy for the info on ixquick. A quick look at Ghostery while on the page shows that there is no tracking whatsoever going on. Google searching can't be beaten. Being able to search without being followed around the web is the icing on the cake. That will be my search method in future.

 

[pigoo3]

Anyway, have decided to abandon Chrome and take Randy's advice to check out the other available browsers. It is not that I am real unhappy with Safari, it just seems to hang up occasionally on two of my favorite forums.

Not exactly sure what the hangup is on those "two favorite forums". But you might be "throwing the baby out with the bath water" so to speak if you're going to ditch (at least partially) both Safari & Chrome. Of course if you find an alternative (with positive results)...please let us know.

Always want to learn new things!

- Nick

 

[MacInWin]

I refuse to knowingly use any Google product because of the data harvesting. Use Safari and Opera, both with DuckDuckGo as default. I'm willing to have a less optimum search for privacy. I know that the web in general knows a lot about me, but I use Ghostery and AdBlock to try to cut it down some, or at least make it harder. Maybe it doesn't matter because my personal data has been stolen in the OPM breach and two others (I now have 6 independent "watchers" on my financial world as a result of the thefts). But I'm not going to voluntarily knowingly contribute.

 

[KevinJS]

I refuse to knowingly use any Google product because of the data harvesting. Use Safari and Opera, both with DuckDuckGo as default. I'm willing to have a less optimum search for privacy. I know that the web in general knows a lot about me, but I use Ghostery and AdBlock to try to cut it down some, or at least make it harder. Maybe it doesn't matter because my personal data has been stolen in the OPM breach and two others (I now have 6 independent "watchers" on my financial world as a result of the thefts). But I'm not going to voluntarily knowingly contribute.

My wife used to do market research. Part of her job was paying people to fill out questionnaires, and it was often difficult to get people to agree to do it, yet we habitually give away valuable information in exchange for a bit of convenience. I've been as bad as anyone, and probably worse than most, but I'm tightening up now. If Google et al want information, they can ask for it, and pay for it.

I read, and almost dismissed, something about Google relaxing the rules that it set for itself. Apparently, they no longer see fit to separate the information from the person who supplied it, so their data mining could be sold to people who would like specifically to talk to YOU.

 

[Randy B. Singer]

It is not that I am real unhappy with Safari, it just seems to hang up occasionally on two of my favorite forums.

I really like Safari myself. But it does need tending to to keep it running really well. Here are three secret tricks to keep Safari running like a top:

1) Freshen up Flash

Uninstall the copy of Flash that you have installed with this uninstaller (don't skip this step! Just updating Flash doesn't always work as well):
https://helpx.adobe.com/flash-player/kb/uninstall-flash-player-mac-os.html

Then download the latest version of Flash directly from Adobe, and install it:
Adobe Flash Player End of Life

Download a free trial or buy Adobe products | Adobe Free Trials and Downloads

2) Delete the QuickTime plug-in preferences

Close all browsers.

In the Finder

Option-click the Go menu

Your ~/Library (user library) will appear in the menu; choose it

Go into the Preferences folder

and delete this file (it will be rebuilt the next time that you launch your Web browser):

com.apple.quicktime.plugin.preferences.plist


3) Delete all of your Flash cookies (this cannot be accomplished using your browser's preferences settings; they don't effect Flash cookies)

Quit your browser(s).

Go into System Preferences --> Flash Player --> Storage --> click on the "Delete All" button --> enable: Block All Sites From Storing Information On This Computer

Now click Local Storage Settings by Site… and see if any Flash cookies are actually being stored on your computer. Delete any that you don't recognize by clicking on them to select them, and then clicking on the minus "-" button box.

Restart your browser. It's likely that your browser will now perform noticeably better.

 

[danno50]

Not exactly sure what the hangup is on those "two favorite forums". But you might be "throwing the baby out with the bath water" so to speak if you're going to ditch (at least partially) both Safari & Chrome. Of course if you find an alternative (with positive results)...please let us know.

Always want to learn new things!

- Nick

What I mean by hangups is that when I click on a thread or next page on a thread, it seems to freeze up and sometimes after 15 seconds or so still has not moved. Usually, if I hit the back arrow and resubmit the page request, the response is quick. Occasionally, it will seem to freeze up for two or three requests in a row. One of the forums is on the same platform (hope this is the right term) as this one, and I rarely have hangups. The other forum is on a completely different platform and they happen fairly frequently. The forum that give the most probems has about 12,000 members but usually no more than 200 to 300 on line at any one time.

In response to the posts regarding google, I plan to stick with Safari, with duckduckgo set as a default, until I get a chance to try some of the other browsers suggested. I also use ixquick occasionally.

Regards
Dan

 

[KevinJS]

@danno50 When you say "platform" you are likely referring to the forum software. This forum uses vBulletin, as do many others. Another that I'm familiar with is Xenforo.

The software will make no difference to the hang ups that you describe, and in my experience, neither will the implementation of various features.

The big difference seems to be down to which company owns the forum and where they get their advertising revenue from. Some ads are just plain evil and can make a forum unusable as the software struggles to load the ad.