Firefox Add-on : Greasemonkey

Discussion in 'other software & services' started by John Bull, Dec 9, 2010.

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  1. John Bull

    John Bull Registered Member

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    This may be old hat to many of you, but to me it is a newbie.

    In order to get rid of that virus impersonating Google Search Sidebar, my months of frustration have resulted in me considering Greasemonkey as the ultimate deterrent. All the other hundreds of suggestions I have seen and tried do not work for me. Anyway, Greasemonkey looks a great plaything.

    Before I put my foot down and hear that dreaded "click", I would appreciate comments from those members who use Greasemonkey, advising if it is easy to use, their general comments and particularly HOW to use it.

    I have a script ready to banish this Google sidebar to infinite Hell and only need some nice persuasion and comfort from our experts to press the button.

    Thank you.
    John
    PS - Can a Monkey use it ? If YES, then I can.
     
  2. Bambo

    Bambo Registered Member

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    That is like asking if it is safe to try Firefox. Of course it is, go ahead. 2 things to be aware of though. One is you probably need an experimental nightly to make Greasemonkey work on Firefox 4 https://arantius.com/misc/gm-nightly/ And a brilliant idea to make an account on userscripts.org so you can favorite installed scripts. Then they send out email when ever there is an update and when logged in you can easily see if any has been updated lately. If script target a specific site like Google and they change something script must adjust. Using half broken scripts is not a good idea. Some scripts do have internal update check but not close to all. Rest is plug&play and output proportional to your ability to find and use the best scripts :) Right now there are 60,241 scripts to chose from.
     
  3. Fad

    Fad Registered Member

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    I haven`t used Greasemonkey for a long time so can`t comment directly on that, but just to ask - didn`t the Hide Google Options Firefox addon work for you ?

    That`s what I use here to hide that annoying left hand panel

    http://www.seotools.com/hide-google-options/index.htm


    I will have another look at GreaseMonkey though, it`s been quite a while and there may be more relevant scripts for me to use now :thumb:
     
  4. ReverseGear

    ReverseGear Guest

    U can use greasefire to isntall scripts without going to userscripts.org and greasemoneky shows u if there's and update avaialbale for a script
    and greasefire will show u all the scripts for the page u r on..nice complementary addon to greasemonkey
     
  5. Johnny123

    Johnny123 Registered Member

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    I'm guessing that you want to get rid of the iGoogle sidebar. I don't use Greasemonkey, but there's an extension called Customize Your Web which you can use to very easily get rid of the sidebar. And yes, a monkey can do it ;)
     
  6. John Bull

    John Bull Registered Member

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    I love the implication of a "Hide Google Options" plug-in, but when I look at it, the script is in Chinese gobble-de-gook : what the hell does that all mean ?

    OK, I`ll download it, but not unless I can see a proper script and not a page of meaningless hieroglyphics produced by some Ying-Tong amateur in Beijing. John
     
  7. Rainwalker

    Rainwalker Registered Member

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    Hmm..could someone look into this ?
     
  8. Bambo

    Bambo Registered Member

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    Forgot mini issue no. 3. Look up security concerns with scritps and why it is a good idea to only use userscripts.org unless source/sites look very safe. You can have a look at their forum, like the 2 sticky posts here http://userscripts.org/forums/3 . I think they do some automated "reviewing" of each script, are scanned for known problematic code or something like that. If script is not hosted on userscripts.org I guess you should take it easy and research a bit. Risk might be low but since you post on a security forum. Almost no matter wanted feature you can find alternatives so which to use? Test, focus on update rate/date, comments/reviews. Not any different than Firefox extensions.
     
  9. John Bull

    John Bull Registered Member

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    All these scripts look attractive. I presume using Greasemonkey to activate - a factor that I am unfamiliar with as explained in my OP.

    It would be a great benefit to mankind if all the AV suppliers incorporated this Google virus into their programs so that Google would be blocked unless this sidebar is removed. Perhaps that would entice the brainless cretins at Google to take notice of the millions of users voicing their strong objections.

    We would not need to mess about with scripts on Greasmonkey then - would we ?

    I am at fault perhaps that the reason for my journey has diverted traffic away from the purpose of my thread. This is to solicit the experiences of our many users in using Greasemonkey and to comment on it`s value and worth.

    Surely it is highly dangerous to download a facility like Greasmonkey so that any cobbled up script from a myriad of unknown sources can be glibly plonked into our system to create possible mayhem. What is the use of us having all our sophisticated security when we personally invite high risk, dubious scripts to be let loose on our otherwise clean PC`s ?

    John
     
    Last edited: Dec 10, 2010
  10. John Bull

    John Bull Registered Member

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    Latest development.

    My eternal search for a "Hide Google Options" that gets rid of that obnoxious L/H sidebar is over. After many hours of searching the web`s massive output on the subject, I found this :- https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/161661/.

    It is a legitimate Firefox add-on, takes only a few seconds to install and works perfect. No more Google sidebars. A Hide/Show button is placed at each side of the screen to allow either Hide or Show the left or right hand Google rubbish.

    All over. I only wish the thousands of angry users could find this add-on, it would release the web of countless Megabytes of objectionable material.

    I no longer need Greasemonkey.

    Thank you all.
    John
     
  11. Fad

    Fad Registered Member

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    Unfortunately this doesn`t work when you disallow Google with NoScript...the link to Hide/Show doesn`t appear :(
     
  12. John Bull

    John Bull Registered Member

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    My delight is based on Google being allowed in NoScript and in my other minders. I have no restrictions to Google anywhere.
    Perhaps this FF add-on needs Google cookies etc. in order to work.

    Since I installed this add-on 2-3 days ago, I have not had a single instance of that damned L/H sidebar polluting my screen. I have the Left on Hide and the Right on Show.

    John

    PS :- I don`t know what on Earth the Google playschool is doing, ignoring such a massive World-Wide objection. The L/H sidebar is 55 mm., the R/H sidebar is 85 mm., that makes a huge 47 % of a total width space of 300 mm. taken up with utter crap !

    Edit :- I am adding screen shots of the ouput from this FF add-on. The Show/Hide buttons are underlined in red and I have the L/H sidebar hidden.
    It all works to perfection. No more stupid Google sidebars if you hit Hide.

    L/H sidebar shown :-
    Google 1.JPG
    L/H sidebar hidden :-
    Google 2.JPG
     
    Last edited: Dec 13, 2010
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