So what do you use for Search?

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Many many years ago I used Altavista as my main search engine.  Now I’m in evaluation mode for folks in my office that want a GOOD search engine but i
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Susan Bradley Patch Lady/Prudent patcher

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L95, lmacri

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I use a variety of search engines spread among several different browsers. For years my two main search engines have been Startpage and DuckDuckGo, while more recently I’ve been trying out Mojeek, Presearch, and Brave’s own search engine—all with good results.

Bing and Google are personae non gratae in my office and get suppressed as much as is feasible.

The first search engine I used back in the day was Lycos. I can’t remember exactly why I drifted away from it, it’s been so long, but IIRC it had to do with the interface getting increasingly cluttered with ads, notifications, headlines, and whatnot. This is the first time Lycos has popped into my head in years; for purposes of this post I just checked to see if they’re still around, and they seem to be, sporting a clean-looking interface.

I do remember moving from Lycos to Google. I liked it that they used to number the search results, 20 to a page, as I could mentally say, “OK, I’ll click on numbers 2, 9, 14, and 17.” This was in prehistoric days, before I knew one could right-click on a link to open it in a new tab or window. (Wasn’t there a time when right-clicking didn’t do anything special?) Of course, as awareness grew of Google’s appetite for users’ data, I migrated away from them and can’t even remember the last time I opened a Google search page.

 

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I use DuckDuckGo with Chrome, Google search with Firefox ESR, Google search with iPhone.
Never see ads.

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I remember Altavista from far more years back than I’d like to think about! Still, I seem to also remember that I mostly used Yahoo back in the day. Today, I’m sticking to DuckDuckGo on every browser and device.

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Susan Bradley wrote:

What about you? What are you using for search these days?

Bing, which can be set not to display chat responses with results:

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I have been using DuckDuckGo for quite a while now instead of Google on my Chrome browsers. I also use the Brave Search engine when I use Brave. I definitely would never go near Bing or even Edge itself and I am completely uninterested in AI ‘assistance (interference!)’ at the moment and probably for the foreseeable future.

Many thanks to you and the rest of the team for your articles and advice over the years. Keep up the great work.

Cheers,

John (Yorkshire, UK)

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I use DuckDuckGo with Chrome and use DuckDuckGo on my iPhone. Stop using Google because Ads from Google showed how much personal information Google was “mining” from my PC. After filing my income tax I got an ad for income tax software (different from what I used) to get as much as $XXXX in my return. The $XXXX was the exact amount (to the penny) of what my return was.

HTH, Dana:))

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L95

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I’ve used DDG pretty much from when they first appeared on the scene. I use it on the pc with Firefox, and on my mobile

I’d rather tear out my own fingernails than use Google

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Steve S., WSBirdLady, WSbobby-p, bbearren

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DuckDuckGo +1 – on all devices!

May the Forces of good computing be with you!

RG

PowerShell & VBA Rule!
Computer Specs

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WSbobby-p, bbearren

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DuckDuckGo on all computers.

Using Firefox on my Windows 10 Home 22H2 laptop (currently up-to-date v 126.0), and with Firefox current esr release, v 115.10.0 esr, on my Windows 7 machines that I dare to keep running

Also, I use Bitdefender Total Security and Bitdefender Premium VPN on ALL my computers.

I will use Google as a second choice when I absolutely am forced to.

Will no longer use Bing under any circumstances! I simply no longer trust Microsoft, so I try to avoid helping them invade my privacy and monetize me. If nothing else, Windows 11 proves what their intentions are in this regard

Sure, I know that Google is doing much the same thing. HOWEVER, you basically can’t use the Internet or access most websites without using a Google product (e.g. click on all the pictures of “bicycles”).

I do NOT allow my smartphone to connect to the Internet, PERIOD! Just phone calls and text messages. Way too much to lose with even one bad link one might accidentally click on!

I must be doing something right, as I do not receive any targeted advertising for anything I’ve actually browsed for and/or looked at (on ALL of my computers or my smartphone)

Android, another Google product ROFL.

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I’ve been using DuckDuckGo since it was in Alpha; before that StartPage.  I still keep StartPage as an option, but very rarely use it.  I kicked Google to the curb years ago, and have never, ever used Chrome or Bing.  I keep Edge uninstalled from my PC’s and laptop.

My phone is Android (I don’t care in the least for anything Apple), but DuckDuckGo is my search engine and Firefox is my browser.

Always create a fresh drive image before making system changes/Windows updates; you may need to start over!

We all have our own reasons for doing the things that we do with our systems; we don't need anyone's approval, and we don't all have to do the same things.

We were all once "Average Users".

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a, L95, WSbobby-p

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I belatedly saw this post and as a result I , at least for now, am using DDG. It did choke on me once last night but the same search this AM seems to go fine so maybe they were having problems? Else, it seems okay. Will try for a while as default in FF. You have a big influence on me – I trust your thoughts. Thanks.

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a wrote:

DDG. It did choke on me once last night but the same search this AM seems to go fine so maybe they were having problems?

Wonder if what you observed may have been related to this.

 

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very likely. thanks.

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Out primary search engine is DuckDuckGo.

On occasion we use Google Advance Search  https://www.google.com/advanced_search .

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I have been using the free version of Perplexity on both PC and iPhone. It is fast- gives you a choice of context to narrow the search through the use of the Focus button. No ads yet and very clear results with a copy button if you like it or redo button if you don’t.

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I know this in politically incorrect but I use google, simply because it gives me quickly what I want/need. I have tried duck and bing and many others but they just give me a collection of results that is what they want me to be interested in, not what I want, and is not helpful to me. Yes I know that google is biased but I have learned how to live with it and get what I want. I am very lazy. google, for me, is  very much least effort to get what I want.

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wavy

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DuckDuckGo is the primary search engine on all devices here.

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Startpage and Brave Search are primary for me, but I will at times repeat a search using Google, Bing or Yandex just as a double check to see if I get different results, particularly if I’m having difficulty finding the information I want. I experiment with others as well.

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Checking other search engines just to see if I got what I want is wasted time to me. I don’t have it.

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I mainly just use DDG for searching and have noticed improvement since it started.  There are times however, when I want Google to know something that I either like or don’t like.  I may be wrong, but I feel like maybe my likes & dislikes will be noticed and put on there for others to see.  So I use Google sometimes.

Being 20 something in the 70's was far more fun than being 70 something in the insane 20's

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DuckDuckGo only on Firefox for several years now on my PC.  No browser used on my Pixel6 phone.

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DuckDuckGo. Started using it regularly a year or two ago on my Windows 10 computer, mostly with Firefox. It’s gotten better over time. Example: Early on, to search for a USPS tracking number, I’d have to add “USPS,” although that wasn’t necessary for FedEx or UPS. Now, however, the tracking number alone gets me the USPS webpage. Also, the hits have become more relevant over time. Won’t go back to Google.

Jo-Anne

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DDG on all devices. Always has been.  Too old to change and too private a person to put up with the all invasive Google trying to continually pre-empt my line of thought. I use a MS computer for a modicum of control. Google on tablet and ‘smart’ phone is all I can stand.

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1) Brave  2) Duckduckgo  3) Perplexity

Once in a while I will do a search using Google to see what the non-tech mainstream user is seeing and the clever things Google might have added to trip them up.

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DuckDuckGo on all browsers, all computers. No Bing or Edge here.

If I feel DDG isn’t giving me satisfying info, I’ll use Brave Search or even Google Search if I’m really desparate. All my browsers have NoScript and Ublock Origin installed with nearly all the urls for Google blocked. I’ll temporarily unblock Google only as necessary. All browsers are set to delete cookies and history on close, except for a few whitelisted sites. At the end of every day, I run PrivaZer which also has those sites whitelisted.

 

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Susan Bradley wrote:

Many many years ago I used Altavista as my main search engine.

So did I. I only stopped using it after Yahoo bought them out and replaced the excellent Altavista engine (which they then owned!) with the vastly inferior Bing. I noticed that it was generating a lot of nonsense results that had nothing to do with what I was looking for, and upon further investigation, I saw the “powered by Microsoft Bing” tagline at the bottom.

Reluctantly, I tried Google at that point, for the first time really. By that time, Google had been the dominant choice for many years, but I never had a reason to try it. Google wasn’t as good as Altavista had been, but it was a whole lot better than Yahoo with Bing.

In time, I replaced Google with Startpage, which uses Google’s search results but anonymizes the search, eliminating the tracking and the distortion of the search results according to what the algorithm calculates will be more likely to get the user (about whom Google will typically have a great deal of information) to visit their sponsored links.

Eventually, Google (as a company) disgusted me so much that I went to Duck Duck Go, even though its results are generally even worse than Google or Startpage. I think Bing is behind the curtain at DDG, and it’s no better than it was in the Yahoo years, and I am no fan of Microsoft, but Google is worse.

That is still what I use now. DDG for a first go-to, or Startpage when DDG falls on its face.

The other search engines I have looked at are all much like those two. It’s Google’s or Bing’s results served up by someone else.

Now I’m in evaluation mode for folks in my office that want a GOOD search engine…

There isn’t one, IMO.

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L95

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This thread was useful for me: see post above – discovered Startpage, but wasted 15 min finding that it now does either only BING or both BING and Google with no way to select which one.

BUT in the process I discovered a couple settings in google/settings(gear)/more settings – I set “search customization to OFF, and /other settings – “autocomplete with trending searches” to OFF. I’ll see if that makes a difference. Can’t hurt. But my little trial of present Startpage was not-useful-for-me.

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Ascaris wrote:

In time, I replaced Google with Startpage, which uses Google’s search results but anonymizes the search, eliminating the tracking and the distortion of the search results according to what the algorithm calculates will be more likely to get the user (about whom Google will typically have a great deal of information) to visit their sponsored links. Eventually, Google (as a company) disgusted me so much that I went to Duck Duck Go, even though its results are generally even worse than Google or Startpage. ….. That is still what I use now. DDG for a first go-to, or Startpage when DDG falls on its face.

Ascaris:  Why do you use DuckDuckGo as your first choice,  when you say that its results are worse than  Google or Startpage?  You mentioned the virtues of Startpage, including the fact that its search results are equivalent to Google but anonymizes the search,  so I don’t understand why you don’t use Startpage as your first choice.

 

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I use Duckduckgo 99% of the time.

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I forgot to mention that I do occasionally use Google Maps and its Street View.  I find this very useful before heading out to a new place.  I already know what it looks like.

Being 20 something in the 70's was far more fun than being 70 something in the insane 20's

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I use DuckDuckGo most of the time.

Although, like @Charlie, I prefer Google Maps instead of the Apple Maps DuckDuckGo uses because it has the “street view” function where Apple Maps doesn’t when used on non-Apple products like Windows PCs and Android phones.

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yes to google maps on my desktop and phone.

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I switched from Firefox to Edge as Firefox was getting bloated and using too much RAM that could not be controlled. I had Google set up as the default search engine. Since moving to Edge, I have been using Bing and don’t mind it at all. It works for me when I want to find something.

I do prefer Google Maps and use that.

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I mainly use Startpage. In a pinch, when I am at a computer whose browser isn’t set up for Startpage, I use Duck Duck Go.

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