Reason to Upgrade to Windows 7 ? IE"Tracking Protection Lists" stop Google Tracking

[gunDriller]

Those clever Microsoftie's have left us XP users in the lurch.

I'm stuck using browsers that allow Google to track me. Firefox is hosed on my machine, so I can't use the Firefox privacy feature someone was talking about here recently. I was using that particular Firefox on my laptop ... then my laptop died.

Does God want me to buy a new computer ?


Anyway -

http://blogs.msdn.com/b/ie/archive/2010/12/07/ie9-and-privacy-introducing-tracking-protection-v8.aspx

"Today, consumers have very little awareness or control over who can track their online activity. Much has been written about this topic. With the release candidate:

IE9 will offer consumers a new opt-in mechanism (“Tracking Protection”) to identify and block many forms of undesired tracking.
“Tracking Protection Lists” will enable consumers to control what third-party site content can track them when they’re online."


Of course, since it's Microsoft, it makes me wonder - if I use a Tracking Protection List that stops Google cold, does that mean that the NSA is tracking me via some backdoor provided to them by MS ?

Still, I'm no fan of Google, so I tried to upgrade my Internet Explorer, but I was stopped cold because I'm not running Vista or Windows 7.

[DMac]

God wants you to download and try out Opera :)

[Ares]

You can uninstall and reinstall FireFox, I've had that help quite a bit. Firefox has some of the best privacy add-ons for browsers in my opinion. I'm using Ad-Block, and a program called TACO which disables all parties on a website from tracking you.

HOWEVER if you're using joogle they will track you regardless of what browser you are using as they record your IP. Which you can't effectively block unless you're using TOR or another proxy service.

I've been using https://www.startpage.com and couldn't be happier. It's encrypted so it even encrypts your search strings from ISP snooping.

[gunDriller]

God wants you to download and try out Opera :)

DAMN ! i just downloaded Opera an hour ago and just opened up the folder it's in to install it - before reading your post ! ;)



You can uninstall and reinstall FireFox, I've had that help quite a bit. Firefox has some of the best privacy add-ons for browsers in my opinion. I'm using Ad-Block, and a program called TACO which disables all parties on a website from tracking you.

HOWEVER if you're using joogle they will track you regardless of what browser you are using as they record your IP. Which you can't effectively block unless you're using TOR or another proxy service.

I've been using https://www.startpage.com and couldn't be happier. It's encrypted so it even encrypts your search strings from ISP snooping.

i got hit by a virus, the kind that makes you need to re-load your OS (boot sector virus ?)

someone told me about "System Restore", part of Windows XP. i tried that a few times, it cleaned it up - un-hijacking my Yahoo searches, though my Google searches are still hi-jacked.

but re-loading the OS involves getting software licenses for a lot of great & expensive software. takes about a month to get it all squared away. not something i want to do unless i'm upgrading my hardware.

long story short, i'm limping along with my 'main' system.

then i posted something on an Israeli news website - told them what i really think. then i realized, they can probably ID me by reading my Facebook cookies - and i was logged into Facebook at the time. not using it, just hadn't logged out or deleted all my cookies.


anyway, just slowly trying to get back to a "SHIELDS UP" position w/ my computer.

[Ares]

I would upgrade to Windows 7 though, BUT you hardware has to be able to support it. I wouldn't recommend anything less than 3Gigs of RAM, a Dual Core processor. If you have that then you're good to go. If you want to give me computer / make and model I can search and make sure that any drivers will be compatible with your hardware.

Also I sent you a PM.

[JohnQPublic]

If you are worried about tracking, then Linux is probably going to be the answer, along with an obscure and simple browser. Unfortunately other family members, and kids (who learn Windows or maybe Mac) at school will struggle (and their struggle will become yours if you make the change).

[gunDriller]

I would upgrade to Windows 7 though, BUT you hardware has to be able to support it. I wouldn't recommend anything less than 3Gigs of RAM, a Dual Core processor. If you have that then you're good to go. If you want to give me computer / make and model I can search and make sure that any drivers will be compatible with your hardware.

Also I sent you a PM.

i have a quad core Q9550 with 8 GB running XP64.

the video card is a 4850 1 GB, Sapphire i think.

the motherboard is an Asus micro-ATX, something-VM (P5E-VM ?, it says it at start-up), socket 775.

[Ares]

i have a quad core Q9550 with 8 GB running XP64.

the video card is a 4850 1 GB, Sapphire i think.

the motherboard is an Asus micro-ATX, something-VM (P5E-VM ?, it says it at start-up), socket 775.

Yeah I would upgrade to Windows 7 64-bit, your rig will definitely handle it without a problem.

[Half Sense]

Just uninstall IE:

www.xplite.com

I got rid of IE, Outlook, WMP, Windows Update, Windows Messenger, Address Book, NetMeeting, Agent, and about 40 other built-in Windows components. My computer FLIES without all that crap and I never have virus issues. All the viruses are designed to use those Windows components to run and propagate. I have no need to constantly update those insecure components, either, since they aren't on my system.

All the programs I use are fully portable. They don't require installation, and to uninstall, just delete the folder. If I ever have a system issue, I can wipe the drive, restore from a highly-tweaked image file, and have a brand new system in 10 minutes, with all my drivers and programs working and configured perfectly. But I never have an issue.