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am i the only who loves chrome here ? lol

i feel everyboy hates it

I'm pretty hooked on it. It syncs easily (Firefox struggles with my work computer's VPN). It's fast. It is a memory hog, but I have plenty of memory. I have everything in my Google account (with regard to tracking, ads, etc) turned off. So I'm not overly worried about whatever data Google is using from my Chrome usage. It can't really be linked to me anyway - a fact that most people overlook when talking about this stuff.

Definitely not saying there shouldn't be concerns about big tech using our data. But the truth of what the real risks are lies somewhere in the middle. You have the people who don't care at all about their data and how it's being used. And then you have those on the other end of the spectrum who think big tech is out to get them all the time. And honestly, those people just need to be completely off the grid to truly feel safe.
 

Have you not been reading this thread? Chrome is a data harvesting pig.

As with most articles from Forbes "contributors", they have click-baity headlines and articles that do have truth, but are also laced with FUD. Another great example (from the same author):


The whole point of that iMessage article is to tell you the "bad news" that Apple has no intention of adopting RCS, therefore making iMessage less secure when texting using SMS. Nothing inherently false about that, but it's delivered with a tone of hyperbole. The Chrome article is similar - though not quite as blatant. Some truth, some FUD...

The irony is how much tracking those Forbes pages do when you're reading their articles.
 
Yeah. Hold tongue with the index finger and thumb on at least one hand. Jump up and down. Made a wish upon a star. Hope for Chrome to play nice. Or a better way… Select Chrome icon. Press Command-Delete. If MacOS asks for authorization, authorize. Empty Trash. Chrome now uses less memory.
 
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15GB...that's how much RAM chrome was using...I switched to Edge like everyone said... Gonna give that a try
 
I wouldn't scoff at Chrome. I used to feel prejudice against it. As time went by and my hardware became less supported, I started going over various browsers, from Sea Monkey to the old and new Firefox, to Chrome, and Waterfox until going for Chromium. Running it, I suddenly realized why Chrome's share is the biggest. Memory consumption is the only real issue, but sheer performance, speed, versatility, and endurance in the long term are the highest selling points and make up for all the drawbacks. It far surpasses any other browser. It's on the cutting edge, so even if you lag on older Chrome, you're guaranteed to reap the fruits of browsing the Internet for many years to come, which is the fact that makes Safari shamefully underpowered and not equipped to withstand competition.
Chromium is the only way to break out of the closed circle and use the modern web for the old hardware. Privacy is not the biggest concern when your choice is limited, and I have yet to feel the impact of Google's omnipresent station.

The total memory is a bit more than 1GB. True I don't open more than 3-5 tabs. But modern PCs have made a giant leap in the realm of memory speed and capacity, so 1 GB is not an issue worth even shrugging one's shoulders.
 

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As with most articles from Forbes "contributors", they have click-baity headlines and articles that do have truth, but are also laced with FUD.

Sadly when some people don't like what an article says, or when it counters their narrative, they simply attack the credibility of the article.

A very simple web search for both topics will yield many articles supporting both of the harvesting and memory hog opinions. Sorry your favorite browser is a bad actor, perhaps you could try another chromium based browser without all the spyware/malware/bloatware?
 
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Sadly when some people don't like what an article says, or when it counters their narrative, they simply attack the credibility of the article.

A very simple web search for both topics will yield many articles supporting both of the harvesting and memory hog opinions. Sorry your favorite browser is a bad actor, perhaps you could try another chromium based browser without all the spyware/malware/bloatware?

That's not very productive. I could do the same thing... Sadly when some people don't like what someone else says, or when it counters their narrative, they simply attack the credibility of the statement.

There, see?

That's not what I'm doing here. I said there was truth in both articles I quoted - that's not discrediting. But Forbes contributors are notorious for click bait headlines - factual articles, but laced with a bit of fear mongering (again, it's the contributors, the ones who are not actually employed by Forbes). A very simple web search will yield many articles supporting this.

My point was simply that it's not as bad as some people want to make it sound (the narrative you subscribe to). It shouldn't be ignored. People do need to be aware of what data is being harvested. I don't disagree that Chrome harvests a sh**load of data and is a memory hog (I even stated that). Big tech absolutely needs to be kept in check. But the risk to your humanity isn't as much as you and others want to make it sound. That's all I was trying to say.
 
The fact that this statement exists is wild

“Google claims the new Memory Saver feature means Chrome uses up to 40% and 10GB less memory.”

My brother in Christ how do you consume up to 10GB of memory in the first place
Which means it is using 25 GB to reduce 40% to 15 Gb (10 GB reduction)
 
My point was simply that it's not as bad as some people want to make it sound (the narrative you subscribe to).

I don't subscribe to a "narrative" per se on this topic but I do follow tech rather closely and Chrome, as well as most Google products, have a less than stellar reputation when it comes to privacy. I don't believe I said anything that wasn't factual.

But Forbes contributors are notorious for click bait headlines - factual articles, but laced with a bit of fear mongering (again, it's the contributors, the ones who are not actually employed by Forbes).

Let's be real, sadly this accounts for almost all headlines in today's world.

But seriously, what do you find click-baity about the headline "Why you shouldn't use Google Chrome after new privacy disclosure" there is nothing about the title of that article that reeks of click bait. Maybe if the title was "Will you die if you use Chrome?" then I might agree with you.

What information in the article would you describe as FUD? Please be specific as to why. I thought the article was fairly straightforward considering the style of the day.

People do need to be aware of what data is being harvested. I don't disagree that Chrome harvests a sh**load of data and is a memory hog (I even stated that).

That is all I said, I did not engage in hyperbole for fud in my post. I simply reacted to @Love-hate 🍏 relationship 's post about "loving" Chrome and not seeming to understand why "everyone hates it". Chrome and Google have a very valid reputation. The article I copied from another member was simply low hanging fruit that saved me from looking for a source that would better suit you though in todays media I am not sure I could find one as they almost all engage in click-baity practices.

Seems like we are on similar pages here, just semantics. I whole wholeheartedly agree that we should be able to read articles that have accurate titles and factual information without narratives or spin but........
 
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Seems like we are on similar pages here, just semantics. I whole wholeheartedly agree that we should be able to read articles that have accurate titles and factual information without narratives or spin but........

I think you're probably right and I did just get caught up in semantics. We'll go forward hoping for better journalism in the future, and hopefully both get to enjoy our weekends.
 
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Solution = MS Edge. It’s my main browser now, been using it for a year and a bit, very impressed.
Chromium Edge was good from the Beta days out to about a year. Now it is a bloated POS. The shopping stuff, the side bar, preloading, trying to force BING and it's default setting so, so hard is just turned it into a bad option for me.

Microsoft constantly does this. They just bloat the living shiiiiiiiiiite out of their software to the point I and others simply do not want to use it.

I moved to FireFox for personal stuff about 4 months ago. I just downloaded Chrome a few days ago, first time in 3 years and I was suprised how much snappier it is vs Edge. I use Chrome only to login into O365/Azure with two different profiles. It actually works faster than Edge on a M series Mac.
 
Another tip: You don't need to use Chrome. If you really need to use a Chromium browser for whatever reason then at least use Edge. If you care about the future of the internet and your privacy then you should not be using Chromium at all and that means using Safari (if you don't care about Privacy) or Firefox (If you do care about Privacy) . If anything happens to Firefox or Safari then Google will basically own the internet.
At this point do you really think using another browser helps anything? Google had 200 billion in Ad sales in 2021. If they are not collecting data, they are buying the data. I bet half the apps on your iPhone sell their data to Google. Firefox gets most of its money to operate from Google.

Chrome works and works well, better than Safari in many ways. Yes it collects data, the same data your credit card company, cell provider, and so many others collect data. Apple gave the CCP 270 billion in money and tech to gain access to their markets. Including giving the CCP the keys to the iCloud data center in China, as in crypto keys.

If you think you are actually keeping data from Google by using Firefox or Safari...that is laughable at best. It is like putting a stick in a raging river and hoping it will stem the flow of water.
 
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Firefox, thirty seconds adjusting settings and uBlock Origin really is all you need. Made the switch back a couple of years ago and have never been happier with my browsing experience. Even use Firefox on my iPhone. I know the browser engine is the same as Safari (for now, let's see what the EU have to say about that) but having it sync with my desktop is nice.
Firefox on your iPhone = ads. Safari + Wipr = no ads.
 
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This. This. And I'll say it again. This.

Edge is a hidden gem in Microsoft's software stack. It's as if all the best developers work in this project, and the result is probably the best Chromium build I've used.

Edge has had energy management for months now and it works brilliantly. It doesn't get anywhere near as bloated as Chrome, and updates are frequent and bring many cool features. (They were also one of the first browsers to offer native Apple Silicon build. Months and months before Google managed to roll a version for Chrome).

I've been using it for just over 2 years now, and I haven't looked back. I recommend it to everyone.
Microsoft is slowly bloating Edge to death. It is slower than Chrome in many tests. The settings section, compared to Chrome, is so crazy. It has become the QVC of web browsers. It and MS Teams are in a race to see which one dies from bloating first.
 
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I have a better solution:

1: Drag Chrome to the Trash Can,
2: Right click trash can
3: Click empty
4: Click okay.
5: Open Safari
6: Browse away.
7: There is no step 7.


There, much better browser that’s already preinstalled on all Macs.

(And if you are paranoid about privacy, just enable private browsing mode. That’s the default at all Apple Stores anyways.)
Step 8, get to a website (many to choose from) that Safari falls down on. Re-install Chrome to actually use the site.
 
Lots of praises here but I'm my experience Edge is no better than Chrome in memory management, recently it's so bloated it feels like a giant adware, their sleeping tabs features barely do anything, this tab discarding approach in recent versions of Chrome is more efficient in saving memory. If you have a base model MacBook I recommend choosing at least 1h discard. You can enable these flags in Arc too.
Edge the QVC of web browsers. So effing bloated. Shopping pop downs, preloading web sites to feel faster and suck down RAM, Side bar popping out on the right. The list of stuff I have to disable on Edge when I login to a computer with it for the first time, just keeps on growing.

Do this, open settings on Edge and then do it on Chrome. Can you see the insane bloat on Edge?
 
If you use Firefox on iOS/iPadOS you can't use any content blockers though, right? I use Firefox on desktop but I'm still on Safari on mobile because Wipr blocks ads for me but as far as I know can't be activated on any third-party browsers.
You are correct. No browser except Safari has ad blockers, Wipr being the best IMHO. I use FireFox on the Mac and Windows are my default. On one Windows PC, some older Windows 10 Dell computer I use in my basement as a workbench computer for looking up stuff, I have the icloud bookmark sync on. So when using Safari all of my book marks on iOS, iPad OS are in sync.
 
I know everyone loves to **** on Chrome because it isn't made by Apple but for anyone curious, this change makes a HUGE difference! I can go back to having Chrome as my default browser instead of switching between this and Safari. Yay!
 
As has been said, Google is the king of data mining as advertising is their core business. They can’t and won’t avoid it.

Yes, Firefox has tracking too but it’s not the same as being reliant on it for income. Remember, Mozilla is a 501(c)3 and needs your data far less than even Apple.

My primary choice is Safari and for those sites that don’t work with Safari (come on Apple!) I use Firefox.

Interestingly, I’m becoming a fan of Microsoft lately. Maybe I’ll try Edge. I moved my e-mail away from Go, read-your-emails, ogle last year and found Microsoft to be quite stable. Office for Mac is great too.
Think outside the box. How many ways can EVERYONE mine your data?

Credit card companies know everything you buy, and where you bought it from and when. Cell phone providers know every single DNS call your smartphone makes, where you made it from and when. Do you not think, JUST those two entities, sell your data to Google and anyone else wanting to pay for your data? How much does Google pay Apple to make Google the default search provider, across their products? What % of Apple device users bother to change the default?

Your choice of web browser, to thwart data collection, is like hoping a snow flake will shut down a volcano.
 
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