starwatcher | Entries tagged with google-fail

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After my last post, I thought I'd check out the "private browsing" that my brother mentioned. I couldn't find the settings he mentioned, in either IE or Firefox, so I resorted to DuckDuckGo. (Seems a competent search engine, but much harder to type than Google. Also, replacing "I Googled" with "I DuckDuckGoed" will be really awkward.)

ANYway...

It turns out that "private browsing" does NOT prevent other places from knowing what you're doing. It only stops things from being compiled in your computer's history. Here's what Mozilla Support says:

Warning: Private Browsing doesn't make you anonymous on the Internet. Your Internet service provider, employer, or the sites themselves can still track what pages you visit. Private Browsing also doesn't protect you from keyloggers or spyware that may be installed on your computer.

What does Private Browsing not save?

Visited pages: No pages will be added to the list of sites in the History menu, the Library window's history list, or the Awesome Bar address list.

Form and Search Bar entries: Nothing you enter into text boxes on web pages or the Search bar will be saved for Form autocomplete.

Passwords: No new passwords will be saved.

Download List entries: No files you download will be listed in the Downloads window after you turn off Private Browsing.

Cookies: Cookies store information about websites you visit such as site preferences, login status, and data used by plugins like Adobe Flash. Cookies can also be used by third parties to track you across web sites. For more info about tracking, see How do I stop websites from tracking me?

Web cache files: No temporary Internet files or cached files from web pages will be saved.

And there's some other stuff at the link. But if private browsing won't help me "hide" from intrusive sites, while at the same time not forming a history for me to access if I need it, I think it's not worth it. YMMV; proceed as you choose.

BTW, sorry for spamming this subject, but I think this is definitely a case of needing as much info as possible. Individuals can decide whether they want to do something about it, or just ignore it.

And, for latecomers, or future perusers of what the hell was going on, you can find all the posts and links about this subject under my google-fail tag.

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I sent the links I found yesterday to my family. My brother gave us an added tip -- both the Firefox and IE browsers can be set up for "private browsing". Although it occurs to me... if you keep a lot of tabs or windows open, and expect them to be automatically restored when something glitches and you need to reboot your computer, this may interfere with that. I'm only guessing, here, but it may be something to research. (PS - reading brother's explanation, it certainly looks like that might happen.)

Anyway, here's how...

For those truly concerned, both IE and Firefox have private browsing capabilities. This is a browser function that lets you surf without saving any history, cookies, temp files, or the assorted stuff that they use to track you. In I.E. start the browser, then click tools, and look for "in private browsing" For the firefox users, click on the the drop down arrow in the firefox button (upper left corner of screen) and select "start private browsing".

A while back, I did find an option in Firefox that, when you start a new session (like, reboot), it automatically recreates all the open windows you had last time. We'll see if that works the next time my computer insists on a reboot.

Click on Tools - Options - General. The first line under there says,

Startup
When Firefox starts: Show my windows and tabs from last time

The other options are blank page or home page.

This has restored windows I hadn't yet saved (phew!). We'll see if it still works with private browsing.

And now -- breakfast, then work. See you on the flip side.

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I forget who pointed the way, but

arduinna has a very informative post about what Google is doing, some more sites where you can shut off the data-mining (with explanations how to do it), and some suggestions how to decrease Google's impact in our computers.

I've just loaded the Ghostery she suggested, and getting it set up was a little tricksy, but it already seems to be doing the job. Now to select a new search engine...

*sigh* I've spent an hour on this, and I still have two hours of homework ahead of me. Grr....
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Thanks to

sholio for the reminder and link...

Starting March 1st, Google will be interconnecting all its faces on the web, such as Gmail and Youtube. BUT!

anjak_j shows us how to [a] clear your web history from Google, and [b] turn off the feature that keeps track of new history. It wasn't at all difficult, and now I can keep using Gmail without worrying about who's collecting what, where.

(Well, until their next marvelous innovation. Dammit! I went to Gmail because I was tired of switching every time I switched providers. And now it looks like they'll eventually toss that idea in the dust, as well. *grumps*)

Only another day and a half, folks. If you have a Google-recognized account (I think that also includes Yahoo groups and Flickr), this is probably a good idea. Even if you have "nothing to hide", I think it's the principle of the thing; *I* decide how much I want to share, dammit, not come corporate machine.

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