Did the browser wars finally end in 2014?

For torrent files I double-click them from downloads folder, magnet links can run torrent client directly from within browser.

EDIT: when you downloaded torrent file, you can click on right arrow and choose an option "Always open files of this type". After that all torrent files will be automatically opened by default client.

 

It used to break a fair few Wikipedia pages and some online dictionaries I used. Although I've recently checked with Chromium (on Ubuntu) and it seems fine now. As Chrome was synched across my devices I stopped using extensions that crashed my old Belnea laptop when it ran Vista. I think only Maxthon didn't regularly bluescreen Vista for me. So I'm guessing this was a Vista problem. Nothing new there then lol.

 

ohh ok, I might try Chrome another time in this case

 

You might have missed my other post, but can you tell me how to put tabs on bottom in Maxthon v4? You said it was possible, but I can't find a way to do it.

Same over here, and that goes for all browsers based on the Chrome/Webkit engine, like Maxthon and Opera Blink. BTW, I also noticed that even on a fast machine, Firefox just feels a bit heavy, and uses a lot more CPU time than Opera 12.

 

Find 'Skins' in Settings.



Then choose this icon.

 

Despite I just had a relatively minor issue with Chrome, even if it has been fixed I'm probably not going to use Chrome again. Simple reason is I want to avoid Flash as I don't need it most of the time, the possible vulnerabilities aren't worth to consider. Still a fancy web browser nonetheless.

 

You can type chrome://plugins/ in address bar, find Adobe Flash Player and disable it.
You can also change settings - content settings and choose "Click to play" for plugins. This way you can start flash content on demand.

 

A remarkable wealth of settings in;

chrome://plugins
chrome://flags

I tend to tweak, especially disabling asynchronous DNS for speed and security issues. I want Norton Connectsafe handling DNS, never anything else, and never round robin between software/hardware.

 

Yes a lot of settings. I try to leave them alone, except few well documented and those that I don't expect to cause any problems.

 

Did you notice Chrome removing some settings as the versions progress?

Opera has been pulling more out still, which sort of disturbs me. ;-)

 

Yes they can add or remove them when they release new versions. I don't check them regularly so I don't know what was removed or added in latest versions.

 

I couldn't agree more, furthermore the big change with all browsers was triggered by the fact of trying to keep up with Chrome's irresistible penetration of the market in just a few years. Competition is healthy.

 

Every major Browser has it own merits as a stand-alone Browser. One can't compare how easily security controls in IE are all in one managed place. One cannot compare how flexible Firefox is.
Yet Mozilla may go the way of the Dodo bird as it's lost it's cash injection from Google since the mega-million search engine dream days are over.

Is this yet another Browser Wars thread.

 

I think Chrome being bundled with other software and being advertised by Google has more to do with its popularity than the fact it doesn't break anything. I wonder if Google is labeling the installers Mortal Raptor mentioned as malware? Last time I tried to download utorrent with Chrome it was surely labeling it as malware.

 

If what Google publicly disclosed is all about Chrome's info sending, you can disable most of them. One exception is Google Update which you at least sometimes have to execute (download & install new Chrome every time when update is avialable don't solve the problem), but you can view its code and no PII will be sent, and still you can block part of info sending by firewall.

 

That depends on statistics and its methodology, other statistics show Chrome is more popular.

BTW, Opera 12.x was good browser, I had used it. But it was abandoned, and new Blink Opera is no more Opera at all. They even ditched Opera Link and bookmark (thanks to their usage statistics), though it seems they will recover them. Many people including me resisted their decision to ditch Presto Opera, but couldn't change their mind.

 

This is the point, and the reason for I wrote " Google's world ". Google pushes on integration between all his programs and services and we don't know what's under the hood.

 

Yup, there can be unreported function. This is why I still don't use Chrome for sensitive web browsing even after I disabled all of known sending function.

 

That is why I don't use it. I have enough of Google at the server end without having to install their client software.

Posting this and surfing happily with Opera 12.17. The browser wars are over because we have so much choice these days including using outdated versions of Opera. I'm not worried about security. That is dealt with elsewhere in my setup. I do have javascript blocked which is the main security risk. Html code can't do much damage.

 

Chrome has garnered World dominance in some cases for the wrong reasons. One being many features are baked in and phone them home to Google.
These are not positive aspects of a Browser features on should look for when shopping for one.

My .02 on Chrome.

 

Not having it installed is still better overall.

 

All browsers seem to phone home these days. Either they validate certificates, or run phishing/malware checks, or updates. Opera for example dials home twice every web page you load. The easiest way to prevent this is to block it in host file, or on the router/UTM level. However functionality/security overall would be reduced by doing this, and updates would need to be manually pushed. It's really almost unavoidable unless you want less security, and extra work. I disable all Google checking except for malware/phishing, and updates. Everything else is disabled/blocked. The malware/phishing database Google uses is exceptionally good - at times - so I do not see the need to reduce security of browsing by blocking it.

I should probably invest some time into sniffing traffic of various browsers, and seeing what they are doing. I'd prefer a browser that doesn't gather metrics, or mine for anything. Or a method to setup Chrome to not do anything (even error reporting). So I really want to spend time in the new year looking into this, and creating a template on how to deploy in my home for best privacy. Anyone have any suggestions that don't actually break functionality, or require the use of an obscure or reduce support browser?

 

Yes. http://www.insanitybit.com/2012/06/02/the-definitive-guide-for-securing-chrome/ I uncheck everything in the privacy setting except enable malware and phishing protection and I check send do not track header and I go into cookie setting and check keep local data until I close my browser and block third party cookies and site data and click to play plugins and do not allow no websites to activate my webcam and mic and do not allow automatic downloads of multiple files and do not allow sites to track my physical location and do not allow sites to access my desktop and do not allow sites to disable my mouse and go into about:flags and enable "disable sending hyperlink auditing pings" and I use https everywhere and umatrix and ublock extensions.

 

I tend to agree with this. It is used on pages like Google Translate as well. It was this Google malware filter that informed me that malware (a trojan) had been detected passing onto my notebook. I was running SeaMonkey (on Windows Vista) at the time and translating a Russian journal with SM's built-in (Google) translator. Symantec's Norton AV and Spybot S&D missed the trojan completely. SUPERAntiSpyware didn't miss it though. Out of those three security apps guess which one I still use on Windows?

 

Let me guess, uhm... uhm... Spybot? =V

For security, then IMO it is better to enable the browser's malware and phishing protection. For privacy, IMO it is better to disable them. And this is where security and privacy don't meet. I myself disabled the phishing and malware protection of any web browser that I use, simply because I don't need them, and also because I want to go all out doing my no-blacklisting security setup.