Google search is useful for certain types of data. Have used for years while logged out of my Google account. Ignored their enticements to stay logged in all the time. Recently however, if I’m not logged in to Google search results have turned to Spanish or Italian. So can’t read it them. I went through the trouble of logging in to my Google account today and it is indeed set to English. Yet, the minute I signed out, search results reverted back to Spanish. Insane.
Interesting, however, that when I logged in today to see what was happening Google thought I was logging in from Milan Italy. Possibly somebody’s hijacked the account. But unlikely. And changing the password should have solved the issue. But it didn’t. More likely, my anti,-virus VPN provider software has spoofed them into thinking I’m Italy, as it’s designed to hide your real location. Nutty for sure.
Yes, I use DuckGo for more sensitive searches and I like Bing too. But there are some financial tables Google displays better. Anybody else ever run into this? Be damned if I’ll stay logged in to Google all the time.
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Could also have to do with having enabled AI on Bing recently, Enjoying it, but it seemed to switch my default browser from Google to AI. I run Norton anti-virus and, other than deleting the app, I can’t turn off its VPN.
I’m logging out for a while. Just can’t take the political stuff that keeps creeping into the investment discussions. I have loads of good investment news to read now on FT / Barron’s / Bloomberg - without having to deal with all the right-wing interference.
Yesterday a pop-up wanted me to change browser to AI . Hell no !
But yeah, it's getting harder to get meaningful search results.
Just my opinion., but don't be logged into anything when you do search.
BTW - With the ad-blocker off, the foreign language problem disappeared.
Thanks / OJ
https://appadvice.com/app/adblock/691121579
Hey, just noticed a lot of stuff stored on Bing browser. Cleared it. I did install their new “AI” app shortly before problem surfaced. Possibly that was the issue. Whatever it is, even Apple’s technical staff couldn’t spot it. Time will tell. Hope the smoke misses your area @Catch. Was bad here from the fire near Grayling a few days ago. Better now.
We had the worst smoky day I can ever remember on Tuesday. Looked like very heavy fog on the highways, although you could see the headlights of approaching cars well enough. That was partially from Canada, but more from a fire 50 miles to the East of us in the Grayling Michigan area. That is now contained. Sounds like we’ll get rain in a few days if we can wait that long. Like many, I live among some very dense woodlands.
Regards
Someone is not having a nice day.
I am quite worried about password hacking now with AI out there. I fear that even the most sophisticated passwords will soon be vulnerable to being easily broken by AI. 2-factor authentication is a must, of course. As far as ChatGPT goes, I was disappointed after throwing a few softball questions at it. One I used was “Should I invest in BRK.B?” The answer was clearly composed in a series of 4 or 5 sentences, but quite unremarkable as far as any insight into the stock or investing goes. You could do much better putting the same question up on the board here.
Google seems to be tracking & storing every web-page I visit. Even with DuckGo the “default” browser, when I go into google or safari and click “History” all my recent searches come up. In addition, when I do a search with Bing (Microsoft) Google somehow sees and records that search. I deleted the Chrome browser app thinking it would help. Did not. When I tried to change the Google privacy settings it told me I would need to sign into my Google account to do that. They know I have an account because gmail is one email I sometimes use.
DuckGo if accessed directly for a search, does the trick. But as the “default browser” it doesn’t keep Google from recording my every move. I have to assume that all this tracking eventually gets sold somewhere. Really creepy. I’ll give firefox a try and see if that helps any. Do you recommend apps or websites from DuckGo and Firefox?
It’s gotten worse. Now when I pull up the firefox browser (just installed) Google comes up! Damn. Can’t seem to get rid of Google.
Kripes. It must be that if Apple has a provider as one of your email sources that provider has access to all your searches no matter what you do. To test it I pulled up AOL (another email provider) without logging in. And, yep, AOL also has stored all my recent searches.
I’ve set the firefox app to “strict” privacy which is supposed to prevent tracking, but Google somehow tracks firefox searches. As I’ve said, I am not signed in to Google.
FIREFOX FOCUS - Upgraded app seems to be working. I’ll continue to check to make sure. It apparently wipes itself when you close the browser.
Can't write regarding Duck or Apple browsers; but with Google and AOL which both use Chrome for a browser, ctrl and 'h' keys will bring up clear history. With Google, first you'll see 'clear browsing data' at left side. After selecting this, the next page will have choices of clear browsing, downloads and cookies. If these are not already check marked, you may do so now. THEN select 'clear data".
For AOl, same almost, ctrl and 'h' keys. Then select 'clear footprints now', new window and then select 'clear footprints now a second time.
At least a starting point for these two browsers, that should now be cleared.
Stay safe everybody.
https://brave.com/
Check-out the drop-down menus, up top.
It's supposedly got tracking and ad-blocking functions built-in.
@hank
Take some pics and share them, next time you're out on the bike.
Brave is very highly rated from my recent reading. I think your warnings about Bing (Microsoft) were accurate. I’ve finally come around to deleting any apps or links to them.
Trying to compartmentalize now. Chrome for everyday searches. DuckGo for MFO and other sites I visit often. Firefox “Focus” only for the most sensitive sites related to banking, etc. BTW - DuckGo can be configured to save all your favorite sites and login information as well if you ask it to.
One thing about Firefox is there are a couple different versions. The “Focus” version is the one that does an automatic erase of all your login information every time you close it. For that reason you probably don’t want “Focus” as your default browser. Setting it as default will cause problems. Currently have the older version of Firefox set as default. Seems to be OK.
A work in progress for sure.
Yikes. Only been using Firefox for 8-10 weeks. And reserve it only for financial sites where I actually transact business. Maybe 50 logins to date. Sounds like every time I log in to a financial site, about 50 different trackers try to tag along. Really scary.
Hard to say how many of those are malicious. Suspect some of my anti-virus apps and the like might follow.
Yikes - if you don’t clear out your search history properly, you’re going to have hundreds of trackers following you around (or attempting to) - even if using some other browser. Makes you wonder what kind of trouble others, who may not have our degree of experience, diligence or sophistication may be in for when they go online.
The online capabilities of THIEVES makes my blood boil.