You may have been familiar with Google Chrome and want to switch to another browser. You may also are aware about Chrome's privacy issues and big chance it's your reason to quit it. So, this is a help for you, in a series of Helps like this, to know the secrets behind Chrome and alternative browsers like Mozilla Firefox you can use. This article is written for GNU/Linux users however other OSes users may take benefit too. Happy browsing!
Subscribe to UbuntuBuzz Telegram Channel to get article updates.
See also our Help Quits: GitHub | WhatsApp
Issues with Chrome
- Compilation of Built-in Malware in Chrome by GNU Project.
- Chrome Spyware Level is Extremely High by Spyware Watchdog.
- Spying to your private life by Consumer Watchdog.
- PRISM Break recommends to replace it.
Alternative Browsers
There are several other browsers you can choose to replace Chrome. Listed below all Free Software browsers that are available on Ubuntu as well as other GNU/Linuxes or simply made available to install.
Mozilla Firefox
Already prebuilt in Ubuntu and all other GNU/Linux distros except few. If you use Ubuntu, Mint, Fedora, and openSUSE you already had Firefox. Important note: Trisquel's, Debian's, PureOS', and Tor's own browsers are all modified versions of Firefox. [DOWNLOAD]
Iridium
Chromium-modified browser with security promises, without privacy issues that can be installed on Ubuntu. [DOWNLOAD]
Ungoogled Chromium
Chromium-modified browser with Google integration removed. [DOWNLOAD]
Icecat
GNU Operating System's web browser modified from Firefox, secure & free from proprietary software, with LibreJS by default. [DOWNLOAD]
Falkon
Formerly QupZilla, KDE's web browser that is simple, lightweight and fast. [DOWNLOAD]
Epiphany
Also known as Web, the GNOME's web browser. [DOWNLOAD]
Midori
Small, lightweight web browser. [DOWNLOAD]
This list excludes Internet Explorer, Opera and Vivaldi as these are Proprietary Software which are the same as Chrome.
Best Practices
With this article I suggest you to use Firefox instead. For Ubuntu users, nothing should change as it is already preinstalled on the machine. For other OSes users, check your system for Firefox and use it, otherwise simply download and install it.
Search Engine for You
Changing Chrome may lead to changing your search engine too. Because it is the source of issues in Chrome. If you are ready to quit Google Search as well, here's list of search engines we use you can use. What you need to do? Simply change default search engine to one of these.
Startpage.com: search results are taken from Google with privacy promises.
DuckDuckGo.com: popular search engine rival to Google which actively advocates privacy and actually used by default by secure technologies like Trisquel, PureOS, and Tor Browser.
SearX: search engine that results combine multiple other search engines' such as Google, DuckDuckGo, Bing, etc. Visit Searx.org.
Extensions For You
Once you use Firefox, you can enjoy your life with addons (extensions in Chrome's terms) which are Free Software and useful here.
uBlock Origin: to block all advertisements everywhere including those at YouTube.
HTTPS Everywhere: to protect your connections with security especially when you are at public wifi places.
xBrowserSync: to securely synchronize your bookmarks across different computers you have. With this, you will not need Google Sync anymore.
DownThemAll!: The best download manager and accelerator made for Firefox users. Now rebuilt for Firefox Quantum technologies.
Resources
Switching Software: also known as SwiSo is a friendly collection of good alternative software choices easy to read for beginners.
PrivacyToolsIO - a friendly recommendation list of alternative software and service which are safe to our privacy.
PRISM Break - a serious resource of alternative software and service to help us opt-out Global Surveillance by Gafam and others.
See Also
We already covered some browsers mentioned in Ubuntu Buzz.
- Upgrading Trisquel's Abrowser
This article is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.