How to avoid search engine targeting adverts

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Tubetec
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How to avoid search engine targeting adverts

Post by Tubetec »

Often now when you search something online the top couple of suggestions are AI targeted advertising ,
I found out a way to prevent these ad suggestions from appearing ,
its very simple and so far it works a treat , you simply place a curse word (Like 'Fuck') in front of the search terms and the AI turns its nose up at it , :lol:
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AnalogJoe
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Re: How to avoid search engine targeting adverts

Post by AnalogJoe »

I use Brave as a browser, which blocks ads. I also no longer use Google, I use Brave Search. I actually get better results most of the time, since it became almost impossible to find what I was looking for with Google at some point due to Google bias in favor of ads, paid results, or whatever.

I still use Google every now and then, though, but I am pretty happy with Brave Search.

The AI assistant of the Brave search engine, "Leo", is also quite good.
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mediatechnology
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Re: How to avoid search engine targeting adverts

Post by mediatechnology »

Until last week or so Brave browser/search/AI was my daily driver but I've found it to be increasingly hard-left leaning. An example of that was a recent news search which produced "news from the left/news from the right." The news from the right was from the whores at Google.

About the only time I use Google is for maps and sometimes to check how my sites are indexed. That's it. Google is CIA/DARPA.

Yandex browser/search is excellent if you can force the results into English. It has one of the least-biased best-indexed results and is what Google used to be. The chrome-based browser is excellent. I use Yandex a lot for medical information related to the Covid scam because they are not paid to suppress legitimate results like the whores at Google, Bing et al. Yandex does not use Google/Bing indices. Brave does in addition to their own search.

I ditched FireFox years ago because it became a leftest bloated mess and replaced it with Waterfox. I like Waterfox a lot. My daily drivers are Waterfox and Yandex.

With Waterfox I use UBlock Origin and with the chrome-based browsers their internal ad blocker. I rarely see ads unless they are served up directly from the site.

Lycos, Swisscows and Seekr are also pretty good search.

Check out Grok from X. I like it.
Tubetec
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Re: How to avoid search engine targeting adverts

Post by Tubetec »

I tried Brave one time , but there was something about it I didnt like , forget what it was now .
Opera I did try recently enough ,but just for visiting one site where the admin reccomended its use for the VPN .
I used use Comodo Icedragon at one point way back , used it for a good few years , but eventually it seemed to fall to far behind the latest Firefox version and became problematic .

I still love my old fashioned paper maps , Ordinance Survey Ireland goes back to our time under colonial rule , as the name suggests its was primarily done to allow the crown forces to position artillery for maximum impact . The half inch to one mile format was made from scaled back military maps ,and basically every building and outhouse upto the early 1960's appears on it . Of course there a little out of date by now , not including many modern motorways and primary roads , but still its by far the best way to navigate the back roads of rural Ireland .
SCAN0126.JPG
A scan of South East Cork from a half inch OSI map ,
As you can see theres always more than one way to get from A to B , that and local knowledge made it very difficult for loyalist forces to operate back in the bad old days.
You can see the large green area east of Cork city , this is prime farmland and was the source of much the grains used in whiskey industry in Midleton ,
As youd expect , much of this was gifted to people loyal to the crown of England , with large stately homes on farms encompassing hundreds of acres a regular sight as you drive through .
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mediatechnology
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Re: How to avoid search engine targeting adverts

Post by mediatechnology »

I love old paper maps and historical aerial images.

I have the USGS topo maps for our area which, unlike most of Dallas, is geographically interesting. We live on an escarpment.

One day I found an old 1930s aerial of our area and discovered a buried bit of North Texas and Natural Gas/Energy history.
I saw this strange scar...

Turns out out neighborhood was home to one of the first six long-distance natural gas transmission lines in the world and the first long distance gas line for Magnolia Oil Company which later became Mobil Oil. It was called Magnolia Index #1. https://www.proaudiodesignforum.com/ima ... rative.pdf

I knew that it was here but until I saw the old aerial and started looking I had no idea that it was historically significant.
I applied for an historical marker, received approval for it, but couldn't find a property owner interested in siting the monument.
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mediatechnology
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Re: How to avoid search engine targeting adverts

Post by mediatechnology »

From this morning's Ask Woody:
NordVPN publishes one of the most extensive reviews of browser security

NordVPN is a well-known provider of a top-rated virtual private network application. The company doesn’t offer a Web browser, which means its reviews can be fairly free of competitive influence. NordVPN wants end users to have a good browser as a first line of defense against surf tracking and adware that may expose you to malware. (To be sure, no browser can be as effective against hackers as a strong antivirus program.)

Earlier this year, NordVPN published its latest rankings of Web browsers, with special emphasis on each product’s privacy and security features. The full review of 13 popular browsers is available free at the company’s cybersecurity blog.

The company rates each of the browsers from best to worst, with 5 out of 5 stars being the best possible score and 1 out of 5 being the lowest. The latest ranking is as follows:

Firefox. 5 out of 5 stars.
Epic. 5/5.
Tor Browser. 4/5.
Brave. 3/5. (See note below.)
Waterfox. 4/5.
Vivaldi. 4/5.
FreeNet. 4/5.
Puffin. 4/5.
Safari. 3/5.
Chromium. 3/5.
Chrome. 2/5.
Opera. 2/5.
Microsoft Edge. 1/5.

Why is Microsoft Edge rated so low? (It’s the 13th browser out of the 13 that were tested.)
Heikki
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Re: How to avoid search engine targeting adverts

Post by Heikki »

mediatechnology wrote: Mon Apr 28, 2025 4:16 am From this morning's Ask Woody:
NordVPN publishes one of the most extensive reviews of browser security

NordVPN is a well-known provider of a top-rated virtual private network application. The company doesn’t offer a Web browser, which means its reviews can be fairly free of competitive influence. NordVPN wants end users to have a good browser as a first line of defense against surf tracking and adware that may expose you to malware. (To be sure, no browser can be as effective against hackers as a strong antivirus program.)

Earlier this year, NordVPN published its latest rankings of Web browsers, with special emphasis on each product’s privacy and security features. The full review of 13 popular browsers is available free at the company’s cybersecurity blog.

The company rates each of the browsers from best to worst, with 5 out of 5 stars being the best possible score and 1 out of 5 being the lowest. The latest ranking is as follows:

Firefox. 5 out of 5 stars.
Epic. 5/5.
Tor Browser. 4/5.
Brave. 3/5. (See note below.)
Waterfox. 4/5.
Vivaldi. 4/5.
FreeNet. 4/5.
Puffin. 4/5.
Safari. 3/5.
Chromium. 3/5.
Chrome. 2/5.
Opera. 2/5.
Microsoft Edge. 1/5.

Why is Microsoft Edge rated so low? (It’s the 13th browser out of the 13 that were tested.)
https://nordvpn.com/blog/best-privacy-browser/

That NordVPN blog post reads more like advertisement for NordVPN than anything else.

https://privacytests.org/ actually tells what is tested.
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mediatechnology
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Re: How to avoid search engine targeting adverts

Post by mediatechnology »

Thanks for that link. I recognize that site and had forgotten about.

Mulvad looks to be more secure than Brave which is interesting because I recently downloaded it but haven't installed it yet.

Hadn't head of LibreWolf. Will investigate.
I am liking Waterfox a lot. I've used it on and off but came back to it.
Heikki
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Re: How to avoid search engine targeting adverts

Post by Heikki »

Librewolf is a fork of Firefox. It’s not much different from Firefox. One big criticism I have seen against Librewolf is that the developers are pretty hostile towards conservatives or anyone who engages in thoughtcrimes.
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mediatechnology
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Re: How to avoid search engine targeting adverts

Post by mediatechnology »

Heikki wrote: Mon Apr 28, 2025 1:12 pm Librewolf is a fork of Firefox. It’s not much different from Firefox. One big criticism I have seen against Librewolf is that the developers are pretty hostile towards conservatives or anyone who engages in thoughtcrimes.
That's unfortunate.
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