A few notes about the Brave browser

Topic

New Reply

I just started testing the Brave browser and I’m impressed. Built-in ad blocking. Tracker blocking (AskWoody still has some Twitter trackers, which I’
[See the full post at: A few notes about the Brave browser]

2 users thanked author for this post.

rodcallen, Nathan Parker

Reply | Quote

Replies

Thanks for the notice… but so far, Firefox 70.0.1 & its Enhanced Tracking Protection are working fine for me. If Brave provides a higher level of protection, I’ll consider it. I can accept Google, Maps & its snooping on my smartphone, but not on my browser or laptop. That’s just me… though the Assistant is popping up with recommendations that I don’t even ask for lately. Maybe time to turn it Off… if I Can? Not sure if it’s gestures or movement that does it… & I’m Still on Android 7.1.2 (Nougat)!

Bought a refurbished Windows 10 64-bit, currently updated to 22H2. Have broke the AC adapter cord going to the 8.1 machine, but before that, coaxed it into charging. Need to buy new adapter if wish to continue using it.
Wild Bill Rides Again...

Reply | Quote

@WildBill –

This first part is off topic, so I’ll keep it brief.

If you want to turn off the assistant, check out the info on the following page by Digital Trends:

https://www.digitaltrends.com/mobile/how-to-turn-off-google-assistant/

I made it in text on purpose to avoid having a clickable link, showing there’s no funny business going on. I’ve also been to the page myself to see just what was there. On it, you’ll find the answer to your question about turning off the assistant as well as info on how to tweak its settings to reduce the amount of recommendations you don’t want.

Ok, enough of the off topic stuff! I will download but not install the Brave browser after reading @douglas9x ‘s post below. Apparently it’s a real chore to get rid of the browser’s traces if you decide you don’t like it too well.

However, I’m looking for something to use on sites that don’t render well in FF (my current default browser) to the point of being unusable. I have even resorted for some of them to trying them in the portable version of FF with the browser configured as is right out of the box and sadly for some sites it hasn’t helped. For those, I’ve had to resort to (GULP!) using Internet Explorer.

After reading more about the Brave browser, I may decide to install it after all, but will keep @douglas9x ‘s post below in mind if I decide to uninstall it.

Reply | Quote

anonymous wrote:

However, I’m looking for something to use on sites that don’t render well in FF (my current default browser) to the point of being unusable.

Are these sites you would be willing to cite?  I’ve yet to see such a site during the Chrome era, and I wonder if my default blocking of scripts has anything to do with it. I keep hearing about things that don’t work in Firefox, and it usually ends up being some other thing, like ill-advised useragent sniffing or the like. I’d like to see it.  Firefox and Chrome are both meant to be standards-compliant, so if a site works in Chrome but not Firefox, the problem is either that the site is badly coded, or Firefox is.  Whichever it is should be fixed, of course.

Vivaldi is the only Chromium derivative I know of that has what I consider to be a decent (though not great) UI.  Most of them keep the Chromium UI, which I find to be just awful.  Vivaldi is the only one that brings back the menu bar (which finally works as it should) and the status bar, though tabs between the URL bar and the content remain elusive, as does the ability to place addon icons in the taskbar.  The theme scheme (consisting of four color settings, a slider for corner rounding, and three checkboxes,) is also frustratingly limited, painfully flat, and low in contrast in some areas no matter what settings are chosen… but even so, compared to Chromium itself, Vivaldi is in a different league.  No other Chromium browser maker seems to be interested in fixing the UI for those of us not interested in the Chrome minimalism.

As for the blocking built into any given browser… unless it is as effective as the standard-bearers, uBlock Origin for ads, Privacy Badger for trackers, or uMatrix/NoScript (either will work) for trackers and other scripts, it won’t make a difference to me, as I am going to be using those extensions even if they only offer a slight bit of improvement over the built in one.  If Google continues to try to neuter adblocker extensions, though, the built-ins could be a good choice, as they will not be subject to the limitations Google imposes on extensions.

Several of the makers of Chromium-based browsers have said that they will revert the Google limits on extensions that limit the functionality of adblockers, but if the developers of those extensions cater to Chrome, it won’t matter that some browsers can still run the full-power adblockers, because there won’t be any.  In that case, a built-in adblocker becomes a “killer” feature, as they say.

Dell XPS 13/9310, i5-1135G7/16GB, KDE Neon 6.2
XPG Xenia 15, i7-9750H/32GB & GTX1660ti, Kubuntu 24.04
Acer Swift Go 14, i5-1335U/16GB, Kubuntu 24.04 (and Win 11)

Reply | Quote

…AskWoody still has some Twitter trackers, which I’m running down right now…

According to my copy of Firefox 70.0.1, those are:  platform.twitter.com, syndication.twitter.com, cdn.syndication.twimg.com, abs.twimg.com, and pbs.twimg.com.

Platform.twitter.com, syndication.twitter.com and cdn.syndication.twimg.com also leave behind Cross-Site tracking cookies according to Firefox 70.0.1.

All of the above have been noticed on the main AskWoody.com home page, they aren’t listed for this page by my copy of Firefox.

I used Firefox’s privacy report feature to obtain the above information.

1 user thanked author for this post.

woody

Reply | Quote

Anonymous poster from #2012994, just above, here. When I said

they aren’t listed for this page by my copy of Firefox.

I meant that those trackers were only found on the main AskWoody.com page, the “home” page for this entire site, they weren’t found on the page this thread is on. I hope that clears up any misunderstandings anyone might have after reading that post, thereby reducing the amount of head scratching going on.

Reply | Quote

When you uninstall Brave you will be faced with a real task removing all traces….even with Revo Uninstaller……i’ll stick with Ad Guard and Vivaldi

1 user thanked author for this post.

Microfix

Reply | Quote

douglas9x wrote:

When you uninstall Brave you will be faced with a real task removing all traces…

Well, that one’s a bit easier on Linux.

“sudo apt-get purge brave-browser brave-keyring ; sudo rm -rf /home/*/.config/BraveSoftware /home/*/.cache/BraveSoftware “

Reply | Quote

[Ascaris]

And as an added plus, you get full control over the updates.

Dell XPS 13/9310, i5-1135G7/16GB, KDE Neon 6.2
XPG Xenia 15, i7-9750H/32GB & GTX1660ti, Kubuntu 24.04
Acer Swift Go 14, i5-1335U/16GB, Kubuntu 24.04 (and Win 11)

• This reply was modified 5 years, 5 months ago by Ascaris.

Reply | Quote

Didn’t like the initial automatic connections to servers for the default screen statistics. At the time of testing june/july 2019 there was brave’s own advertising which just reminded me of avasts tactics.
What I did like was the speed/ responsiveness of the browser, far quicker than Chrome/firefox but just couldn’t bring myself to trust the browser for mission critical/private stuff..never say never, it was too early for that particular browser switch/companion for me on windows.

@douglas9x I encountered the very same with regards to uninstalling brave earlier this year, the remnants were strewn everywhere: prog files, prog data, user profile xxx, user profile default and the registry..needed major manual surgery.

Windows - commercial by definition and now function...

Reply | Quote

Main issue with alternatives to Chrome like FF is that they are slower. How is Brave’s speed vs. Chrome?

Reply | Quote

Brave is very fast – partly because it efficiently strips ads.

3 users thanked author for this post.

rodcallen, Nathan Parker, Kranium

Reply | Quote

Woody (and all),

Thanks for calling attention to “other” players in the browser world!

I tried Brave a few months ago, but there was no way to simply turn off the phoning home for updates (and whatever else). My non-Windows firewall alerted me to the very frequent outbound stuff. Searching Internet revealed they had no intention of changing that so I uninstalled.

Yeah, updates are good for security, but I want “on-demand” check for updates.

Chromium based Iridium Browser seemed cool, but it has NO update mechanism, so one has to manually download and install every update. The other extreme…

Currently trying and liking (primary) Waterfox (still uses most old Firefox add-ons, yet gets updates). Also, (secondary) Vivaldi with auto-updates turned off (I check fairly regularly myself), though mixed reviews on Vivaldi’s privacy.

Reply | Quote

I’ve been flirting with the Brave browser since the early versions.

In the early releases, the open tabs were shown right above the Web page contents, whereas in the current version the tabs are shown at the top of the screen above the URL line, which strikes me as illogical.

On the other hand, in the current version, when you print a Web page to PDF, the hyperlinks on the page are preserved in the output file, which is a big plus for my work.

I like it that Brave offers a way to donate to the sites that we visit, but in my view they need to simplify the method, it’s a convoluted process that will deter everyone except uber-geeks. (And it didn’t seem to work in Windows 7 or Linux, IIRC.)  I suspect the idea won’t really take off until they can link your payments to something that “normal people” will grasp immediately, like a credit card number.

 

Keep Running Windows 7 Safely for Years to Come  
Make Windows 10 look and work like Windows 7

Reply | Quote

The tabs on top of the URL bar thing bugs me too, and it’s spread like a virus throughout the browser market, with all of the major current browsers (that are available for Windows or Linux desktops) having that layout.

Mozilla, of course, copied that format (and the default removal of the File, Edit, View… menu bar) from Chrome years ago with the Australis interface, and they doubled down on that in Firefox Quantum by removing the Firefox button (in the upper left of the title bar by default, if I remember) and putting its contents in the hamburger button on the far right side of the URL bar, just like Chrome, and with the exact same menu as Chrome too.

Brave got the tabs on top of the URL bar when they adopted Chromium as their base.  It supposedly had a lot more customizability available when they used the Muon engine (Muon also being the name of the KDE Package manager… different thing!), but now it’s like so many of the Chromium descendants… very little customization.  Many Brave users are requesting the old options back, but so far, the answer has been no.

Vivaldi is the most customizable of the Chromium descendants, and while it offers the tabs on the bottom and on the left, it still does not allow them to be right above the web content.  At least Firefox allows them to be moved with a custom .css stylesheet, which is the sole reason Firefox is even installed on my PC at all anymore.  Without that, if Waterfox went away, I’d go to Vivaldi, not Firefox.

How much longer Firefox will have this feature (the ability to use userChrome.css and userContent.css) is a big question mark, but my prediction is that it will be removed at some point soon (within the next year would be my guess).  Chrome doesn’t have that feature, so it’s probably going to be axed at some point in Mozilla’s never-ending quest to be Chrome.

Dell XPS 13/9310, i5-1135G7/16GB, KDE Neon 6.2
XPG Xenia 15, i7-9750H/32GB & GTX1660ti, Kubuntu 24.04
Acer Swift Go 14, i5-1335U/16GB, Kubuntu 24.04 (and Win 11)

2 users thanked author for this post.

EstherD, Cybertooth

Reply | Quote

FWIW PaleMoon still has options from the GUI.

Just because you don't know where you are going doesn't mean any road will get you there.

1 user thanked author for this post.

Cybertooth

Reply | Quote

I like using Brave over Chrome. Most of the time I use Safari on my Mac, but when I need to test stuff based on Chromium, I prefer to use Brave over Chrome.

Nathan Parker

Reply | Quote

I have found Brave to be fast. I like to have a few options when browsing the web, so I keep Brave around as an available browser, in case Firefox or another browser I use isn’t the best browser to use for a particular website.

Group "L" (Linux Mint)
with Windows 10 running in a remote session on my file server

Reply | Quote

Maybe it’s time for an all-out browser comparison to choose the best going forward into this Orwellian age?

Reply | Quote

I’m not displeased with the Comodo Dragon (sic) browser from security firm, you guessed, Comodo.
It’s another Chrome/chromium derivative, with Google tracking removed and a handful of custom extensions built-in. Il also accepts standard Chrome extensions from the Google store (which is not the case of other browsers built on chromium base; as for Brave, I don’t know one way or another).

And for those who prefer Mozilla-based, Comodo also offers their in-house variant dubbed Ice Dragon (that I have not tried).

Both downloads available (free) from the website, comodo.com. I am NOT affiliated with Comodo, just a user.

Added notice : The Dragon’s version updates follow Chrome’s own, after some delay, except for important security updates which are included sooner – this IMO is an advantage.
Also, after installing the Dragon, and after updating it, it /will/ pop up (once) an offer to install some Comodo security suite – which you are free to decline. Perso I decline it: not recommending pro or against.

Reply | Quote

For what it’s worth, when I did a test for Brave a while back, I didn’t install it.  I used the portable version.  Perhaps others will find that method useful.

https://www.askwoody.com/forums/topic/brave-browser/#post-1959140

Win 8.1 (home & pro) Group B, W10/11 Avoider, Linux Dabbler

2 users thanked author for this post.

woody, MrJimPhelps

Reply | Quote

From a business standpoint, the only browser I’ll consider is Chrome because it has group policies.  I block all plugins that aren’t approved and force it to be default.  No more popups and hijacked settings.  Show me another browser that can do that.

Reply | Quote

techweenie wrote:

From a business standpoint, the only browser I’ll consider is Chrome because it has group policies.  I block all plugins that aren’t approved and force it to be default.  No more popups and hijacked settings.  Show me another browser that can do that.

The new Chromium-based Edge browser (beta for now, to be released in January) is configurable via group policy:  https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/deployedge/microsoft-edge-policies

IE mode (built-in) is also controllable via the same interface.

Reply | Quote

Firefox does have group policy support nowadays too. https://www.ghacks.net/2018/03/10/firefox-60-ships-with-windows-group-policy-support/

I’d think that with those features you’d probably want the ESR branch and some listed on https://github.com/mozilla/policy-templates/blob/master/README.md are only going to be in the next ESR release (68.2 is current, some of those are marked as supported in 68.3), so depends on what specifically you need it to do.

Reply | Quote

Brave Browser has already replaced  Chrome (and Vivaldi) as my Chromium-engined browser of choice.  I don’t use all of Vivaldi’s features; I don’t like Google’s possible hooks into their browser for their own purposes.  Brave has a similar interface to Chrome but much better privacy protections.

There are a few situations where I need to disable Shields (2-factor auth through Azure<->Duo being my best-known one) but I think it’s one of the most mature options in a world of browsers.  And while I like Firefox (and use it), Brave feels snappier.

We are SysAdmins.
We walk in the wiring closets no others will enter.
We stand on the bridge, and no malware may pass.
We engage in support, we do not retreat.
We live for the LAN.
We die for the LAN.

Reply | Quote

I’ve disliked Chrome for years.  Only had it installed as a test/failover browser in case Firefox isn’t happy.

 

Then when Firefox we totally belly up on my 10.12 mbp, I uninstalled all traces of it and switched to Brave.  Super fast!  Very happy with it so far.

Hey look! Another Feature Update!

You mean I shouldn't click Check for Updates?

Where is the Any key?

Reply | Quote

sites that don’t render well in FF

Very frequent.
Waterfox serves well for those cases.

Reply | Quote

carpintero wrote:

sites that don’t render well in FF

Very frequent. Waterfox serves well for those cases.

Very frequent? I don’t recall this ever happening, let alone frequently. Can you provide an example of a site? (Heh… after rereading some of the thread after I wrote that, I see I made this same comment a year ago in the thread. I’d still like to see such a site!)

If Firefox doesn’t render a site properly, I don’t know why Waterfox would do any better. It’s the same rendering engine, though a bit older. I have had sites that refused to work correctly with Waterfox Classic (though it was not a rendering issue… it was worse).

I’d like to like Brave, but the built-in adblocker (still not as good as uBlock Origin, so I’d end up using uBO anyway), social media blocker, and better privacy don’t negate that awful Chrome UI.  Older versions of Brave had a better/more customizable UI, as I’ve read, but when they moved to Chromium, they had to put those features on hold… and all this time later, they still remain on hold.

 

Dell XPS 13/9310, i5-1135G7/16GB, KDE Neon 6.2
XPG Xenia 15, i7-9750H/32GB & GTX1660ti, Kubuntu 24.04
Acer Swift Go 14, i5-1335U/16GB, Kubuntu 24.04 (and Win 11)

Reply | Quote

Isn’t chromium a google product?

Reply | Quote

I uninstalled Brave and have yet to completely remove it’s traces or files. For instance, if doing a search for it Brave App shows up instantly, and it has the common line under the App (word) for it under the Brave Heading and if clicking on it it just fades to grey color and nothing opens there’s no right click and i found one more Brave file that i deleted in the registry and checked a few times to find Brave and it shows nothing left in Browser by B-r-a-v-e.
Any suggestions on what the left over icon looking ‘app’ is?

Reply | Quote