I thought that was the same for most browsers though. Usually for update checks & the like. Not all phone-homes are necessarily malicious. I've used it on & off since it was released. It does indeed have bug-free periods occasionally. I think that its internal adblocker (ini file) is excellent. Unfortunately it is impossible to just switch on & off. Plus, unlike Chrome, you can actually totally uninstall Iron from your computer. AFAIK this can't really be done easily with Chrome. Unless you have a Ph.D in computing or something. Jeez, where do I start? Why do I need to sign-in to Google Earth these days? Why do they want my mobile (cellular) phone number? How about this & this for a start.
It's been a while since I've used Maxthon 2. I know it's still available. I can't remember if it had Gecko or WebKit.
It's been over a week & I'm still impressed with Maxthon 3. I don't know why it isn't giving Chrome a better run for it's money (so to speak).
I misread your statement, you are right on about "everyone should be concerned about google's privacy".
OK. I'm still a tad mystified why Google want me to sign-in to Google Earth. Surely connecting everything from your mail address to Google Earth can't be a good security move?
No and will never try it again! Tried it quite a while back out of curiosity although I did read their EULA prior to installing it and was concerned about privacy. Curiosity killed the cat. Chrome leaves a heck of a lot remnants behind after removing it which are almost impossible to delete. I try to stay away as much as possible what Google is concerned.
What are you referring to when you say signing in to Google Earth? Is this some sort of account thing? (I have no Google account of any kind) I use Google Earth and have never had to sign in to anything. By the way, the mobile phone bs for Gmail is supposed to be for "spam prevention". Like that will prevent me from heading up to a Walmart, picking some dinky 40 dollar toss-away phone up that needs no real account, and using that. It's mostly for harvesting data and Google Voice.
It does leave a bunch behind, that's true. It also leaves the updater service running and a helper service, which you have to manually kill in task manager in order to remove the leftovers.
If you kill those services before you remove Chrome they'll be removed. There's an open bug about this I think but it has to do with the windows task service.
At one time you just downloaded Google Earth & used it. With version 6.2.2.6613 it appears you have to sign in with your GMail account, especially to use certain functions on it (you can use it without signing in, but some functions can't be used). I have had a GMail account for nearly four years, so I am technically now part of the Borg collective. Google? Harvest data? Nah ... Well, at least it's better than harvesting body parts, I suppose that will be next for the Google Borg. Honestly, I didn't realise Google were evil when I signed up for their mail. I've been assimilated by accident. I do love Google Earth though. I just don't see why it has to be tied into my GMail account.
All google products are tied together so that they can correlate data. So now if you Google Earth some address in NY you might get more results in your Google search for NY or your Google Maps suggestions will be more likely to be in the US etc. Weird that you have to sign in to Earth though. Youtube you don't and search you don't.
I knew that there would be a 'logical' explanation. I am just concerned about its security ramifications. I could just be paranoid of course.
What functions are you referring to? I'm using the current version and I've played with a lot of things within it, no sign-in required yet.
I think it is when you click on certain buildings in 'Ground Level View' that have been digitally rendered in 3D, such as landmarks & the like. It asks you to sign in for further information. I normally am signed in, so I only noticed it once or twice. Unless I've imagined all of this, which is a distinct possibility. It is also the first version of GE (on my notebook) that I have had to render in Open GL.
I don't think you're imagining things, I think what may be happening is that when you hover over certain things on a map (shipwreck locations are a prime example), there are extra features at times, like videos that will pop up. You may just be hitting locations like that. Though I still have not ran across anything yet that made signing in to view such mandatory. Do you have any examples on hand that I can check in my own application? Also, I wonder if it may just be a regional thing?
For some reason I can't stand it. I love Opera. It has everything I need and doesn't slow me down and give me server errors a million times a day. My secondary browser is IE9.
As much as I often complain about Chrome not working out for me, I think in your case there's another underlying issue going on whether from extension overload, bad install or network issues.
Lol, can't replicate it eh? *suspicious eye* I'll hop in there and report back any findings..though it would help if you gave me some sort of area to look in, lol. Edit: What are you drinking? Lol. I've visited multiple landmarks like the Eiffel Tower, the White House (which, oddly, isn't replaced by a 3D image and isn't blurred out..and it's a recent image..very unusual for government buildings in Google Earth), etc. Nothing ever asked me to sign in to anything, and I was clicking on pics, videos, you name it.
