One of the first steps you can make in kicking Google out of your life is to use a browser like Firefox, Safari, Brave, Opera, or any other you can find. As an engineer who spends a lot of time on the Linux command line, I actually like to use the all-text Lynx from time to time.
Unfortunalty, when it comes to Firefox (my browser of choice), just switching to it from the Chrome spyware isn’t enough to keep Google’s nose out of your business. In fact, a lot of people might be surprised to know that Google is one of Firefox’s biggest benefactors. In fact, Firefox probably sends as much of your browsing history back to Google as Chrome. Thankfully, there are two easy things one can do to prevent this.
First, I go to Preferences and under Privacy & Security > Manage Exceptions, and enter as many Google URLs I can think of. The list is quite extensive but with these, I manage to keep Google’s grubby hands out of my cookies file. When you block a URL, you have to block everything before the .com part but nothing after it. This includes the https:// part. Here’s what mine looks like.
Some other important ones are:
https://www.google-analytics.com
https://www.googleanalytics.com
https://googleanalytics.com (seriously, they’re sneaky fucks)
https://apis.google.com
https://accounts.google.com
https://ads.googlesyndication.com
https://www.googlesyndication.com
https://www.gstatic.com
Every once in a while I check the cookies and search for “google”. If I find any new termites, I add them to the list.
In the next step, in the address bar, type “about:config”. Go ahead and bypass the scary warning. I was actually banned from the Firefox sub on Reddit for sharing this info., which really isn’t a big secret or software hack in the first place. Most people just don’t know about it.
This is the real beauty of Firefox, you can do a lot in here to customize your browsing experience, more so than any other browser allows. As for evicting Google from your browser, simply search for the word “google”. You’ll see about 20 references to it. These are mostly to support the “safe browsing” feature in Firefox, but if you’re not an idiot who spends his time on nefarious websites or clicking on links in SPAM, you really need don’t need their “protection”. Besides, it’s just a backdoor way for Google to find out where you go on the web, even if you don’t use a single Google service. I’m a big fan of duckduckgo.com, by tht way. And no, they don’t get their results from Google, that’s a myth, too.
All you have to do is delete the URLs in the text boxes. This will not break your browser. It won’t hurt a damned thing and will help you maintain your privacy. The only things I don’t delete are the boxes with numbers showing last and next update check times. In fact. I usually add a couple of 9s to the front of the “next time” box but as you can see, I didn’t do that here. No matter. I deleted all the URLs so it doesn’t know where to go anyway. It doesn’t produce any errors, either. Like I said, this editing has not affected by browsing experience at all.
Lastly (or firstly), go back to Edit > Preferences > Privacy & Security and under Cookies and Site Data, click the Clear Data button to erase all of the cookies in your browser, or Manage Data and delete only the ones you want.
Now, even though you’ve blocked their cookies, they can still track what you do because so many websites use their “free” services for things like fonts, drawing maps, etc. I take it a step further by not allowing them to do that by editing my hosts file. Both Windows and Linux has one. I include Facebook’s crap too. Be warned though, this can break some websites. I keep a backup hosts file that doesn’t include these lines so that I can occasionally do things like visit my real estate agent’s website, which sadly can’t do anything without Google’s crap.
Just add these lines:
127.0.0.1 facebook.com
127.0.0.1 www.facebook.com
127.0.0.1 facebook.net
127.0.0.1 www.facebook.net
127.0.0.1 connect.facebook.net
127.0.0.1 google.com
127.0.0.1 www.google.com
127.0.0.1 google.ca
127.0.0.1 www.google.ca
127.0.0.1 google.co.uk
127.0.0.1 www.google.co.uk
127.0.0.1 google.ie
127.0.0.1 www.google.ie
127.0.0.1 ajax.googleapis.com
127.0.0.1 apis.google.com
#various other G services – main pages
127.0.0.1 accounts.google.com #} comment out if you need to use G-mail
127.0.0.1 mail.google.com #}
127.0.0.1 gmail.com #}
127.0.0.1 www.gmail.com #}
127.0.0.1 sites.google.com
127.0.0.1 code.google.com
127.0.0.1 maps.google.com
127.0.0.1 groups.google.com #} real Usenetters don’t use Google Groups
127.0.0.1 gg.google.com #}
127.0.0.1 plusone.google.com
127.0.0.1 fusion.google.com
127.0.0.1 plus.google.com
127.0.0.1 goog.le
#and here’s where everything else originates. What a mess!
127.0.0.1 domains.googlesyndication.com
127.0.0.1 video-stats.video.google.com
127.0.0.1 4.afs.googleadservices.com
127.0.0.1 pagead2.googleadservices.com
127.0.0.1 partner.googleadservices.com
127.0.0.1 www.googleadservices.com
127.0.0.1 apps5.oingo.com
127.0.0.1 www.appliedsemantics.com
127.0.0.1 service.urchin.com
127.0.0.1 pagead2.googlesyndication.com
127.0.0.1 googlesyndication.com
127.0.0.1 ads.googlesyndication.com
127.0.0.1 www.googlesyndication.com
127.0.0.1 adwords.google.com
127.0.0.1 googleanalytics.com
127.0.0.1 ssl.googleanalytics.com
127.0.0.1 www.googleanalytics.com
127.0.0.1 google-analytics.com
127.0.0.1 .google-analytics.com
127.0.0.1 ssl.google-analytics.com
127.0.0.1 www.google-analytics.com
127.0.0.1 www.googletagservices.com
127.0.0.1 ssl.googletagservices.com
127.0.0.1 .googletagservices.com
127.0.0.1 googletagservices.com
127.0.0.1 www.gstatic.com
127.0.0.1 csi.gstatic.com
127.0.0.1 doubleclick.com
127.0.0.1 .doubleclick.com
127.0.0.1 gan.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 .doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 ad.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 ad-g.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 googleads.g.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 ad.ie.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 static.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 partner.googleadservices.com
127.0.0.1 ssl.gstatic.com
127.0.0.1 clients.google.com
127.0.0.1 clients1.google.com
127.0.0.1 clients2.google.com
127.0.0.1 clients3.google.com
127.0.0.1 clients4.google.com
127.0.0.1 clients5.google.com
127.0.0.1 clients6.google.com
127.0.0.1 clients7.google.com
127.0.0.1 clients8.google.com
127.0.0.1 clients9.google.com
127.0.0.1 clients0.google.com
127.0.0.1 sassets.vevo.com #} some Youtube-related ad servers
127.0.0.1 2975c.v.fwmrm.net #}
127.0.0.1 m.v.fwmrm.net #}
127.0.0.1 .fwmrm.net #} 127.0.0.1 ytimg.googleusercontent.com # needless Youtube-related graphic clutter
127.0.0.1 html5shiv.googlecode.com
127.0.0.1 b3.caspio.com
127.0.0.1 buttons.googlesyndication.com
127.0.0.1 googleusercontent.com
127.0.0.1 lh0.googleusercontent.com
127.0.0.1 lh1.googleusercontent.com
127.0.0.1 lh2.googleusercontent.com
127.0.0.1 lh3.googleusercontent.com
127.0.0.1 lh4.googleusercontent.com
127.0.0.1 lh5.googleusercontent.com
127.0.0.1 lh6.googleusercontent.com
127.0.0.1 lh7.googleusercontent.com
127.0.0.1 lh8.googleusercontent.com
127.0.0.1 lh9.googleusercontent.com
127.0.0.1 s.googleusercontent.com
127.0.0.1 s0.googleusercontent.com
127.0.0.1 s1.googleusercontent.com
127.0.0.1 s2.googleusercontent.com
127.0.0.1 s3.googleusercontent.com
127.0.0.1 s4.googleusercontent.com
127.0.0.1 s5.googleusercontent.com
127.0.0.1 s6.googleusercontent.com
127.0.0.1 s7.googleusercontent.com
127.0.0.1 s8.googleusercontent.com
127.0.0.1 s9.googleusercontent.com
127.0.0.1 chrome.google.com
127.0.0.1 fonts.googleapis.com
127.0.0.1 checkout.google.com
127.0.0.1 .ggpht.com
127.0.0.1 lh1.ggpht.com
127.0.0.1 lh2.ggpht.com
127.0.0.1 lh3.ggpht.com
127.0.0.1 lh4.ggpht.com
127.0.0.1 lh5.ggpht.com
127.0.0.1 lh6.ggpht.com
127.0.0.1 fonts.googleapis.com
127.0.0.1 gp1.googleusercontent.com
127.0.0.1 gp2.googleusercontent.com
127.0.0.1 gp3.googleusercontent.com
127.0.0.1 gp4.googleusercontent.com
127.0.0.1 gp5.googleusercontent.com
127.0.0.1 gp6.googleusercontent.com
127.0.0.1 gp7.googleusercontent.com
127.0.0.1 chart.apis.google.com
#crap from Doubleclick – mostly ad/spyware servers, owned by Google
127.0.0.1 conversion-pixel.invitemedia.com
127.0.0.1 analytics-api-samples.googlecode.com
127.0.0.1 m1.2mdn.net
127.0.0.1 rmcdn.2mdn.net
127.0.0.1 rmcdn.f.2mdn.net
127.0.0.1 n339.asp-cc.com
127.0.0.1 ads.cc-dt.com
127.0.0.1 clickserve.cc-dt.com
127.0.0.1 creative.cc-dt.com
127.0.0.1 clickserve.dartsearch.net
127.0.0.1 clickserve.eu.dartsearch.net
127.0.0.1 clickserve.uk.dartsearch.net
127.0.0.1 doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 ad.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 ad-g.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 ad2.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 ad.ae.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 ad.ar.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 ad.at.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 ad.au.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 ad.be.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 ad.br.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 ad.ca.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 ad.ch.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 ad.cl.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 ad.cn.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 ad.de.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 ad.dk.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 ad.es.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 ad.fi.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 ad.fr.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 ad.gr.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 ad.hk.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 ad.hr.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 ad.hu.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 ad.ie.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 ad.in.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 ad.jp.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 ad.kr.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 ad.it.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 ad.nl.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 ad.no.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 ad.nz.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 ad.pl.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 ad.pt.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 ad.ro.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 ad.ru.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 ad.se.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 ad.sg.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 ad.si.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 ad.terra.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 ad.th.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 ad.tw.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 ad.uk.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 ad.us.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 ad.za.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 ad.n2434.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 ad-emea.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 creatives.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 dfp.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 feedads.g.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 fls.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 fls.uk.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 googleads.g.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 ir.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 iv.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 m.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 motifcdn.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 motifcdn2.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 n4052ad.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 n4403ad.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 n479ad.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 paypalssl.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 pubads.g.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 s2.video.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 survey.g.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 anon.doubleclick.speedera.net
127.0.0.1 doubleclick.ne.jp
127.0.0.1 www3.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 www.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 doubleclick.com
127.0.0.1 www2.doubleclick.com
127.0.0.1 www3.doubleclick.com
127.0.0.1 www.doubleclick.com
127.0.0.1 tpc.googlesyndication.com
127.0.0.1 ad.rs.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 affiliate.2mdn.net
127.0.0.1 clickserve.us2.dartsearch.net
127.0.0.1 ad-apac.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 ad.mo.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 adclick.g.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 gan.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 googleads2.g.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 n4061ad.hk.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 securepubads.g.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 ad.bg.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 cm.g.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 stats.g.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 fls.au.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 log2.quintelligence.com
127.0.0.1 www.destinationurl.com
127.0.0.1 doubleclick.shockwave.com
127.0.0.1 www3.webhostingtalk.com
127.0.0.1 ad.mirror.co.uk
127.0.0.1 host3.adhese.be
127.0.0.1 mcmads.mediacapital.pt
That’s it! Enjoy browsing the web Google free.