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Midnight Pub

Browsers For Daily Using

~anhkhoakz

From Wikipedia: Comparison of Browser Engines, there are 4 browser engines that have active status: WebKit, Blink, Gecko, and Goanna. In this blog, I'll delve into the two most popular: Gecko (Firefox-based) and Blink (Chromium-based).

Wikipedia: Comparison of Browser Engines,

Gecko (Firefox-based)

Blink (Chromium-based)

Gecko Engine

Firefox, but hardened

This is my first choice when it comes to a browser for privacy. I love the Firefox browser, but I don't really like the way Mozilla develops it.

You can download Firefox on Mozilla's website. But I don't recommend it because of the download token.

Mozilla's website

download token

You can download it from Mozilla's FTP website, by this way, you can choose any version of Firefox and download it without the token. You can decide whether the latest, extended support release, or EME-free version.

Mozilla's FTP website

The default Mozilla Firefox will come with a large amount of telemetry and add-ons, which you don't really love to use.

For better privacy, you can config in about:config or use the user.js file, but it takes knowledge, time, and effort to review and make changes. So you will need a template to configure the browser.

There are three levels of hardening Firefox:

It depends on you to select which one is appropriate. Betterfox provides a slight change to Firefox, which doesn't affect the your experience too much.

On the other hand, Narsil provides the maximum privacy and security on Firefox, but it will change the way you use Firefox.

If you want balance, choose arkenfox, it's the gold standard for Firefox.

For comparison, you can use the PowerShell script Compare-UserJS to pick the most appropriate for yourself.

Compare-UserJS

And because they're templates, they are not fit for your use case. So you'll need a user-overrides.js to have your own modifications; you can check out the documentation for this one at the Arkenfox Wiki.

the Arkenfox Wiki

LibreWolf

Home page: LibreWolf

LibreWolf

Config file: librewolf.cfg

librewolf.cfg

This project brings a mindless way to use Firefox without worrying about how to configure it. It looks like Ungoogled Chromium to Google Chrome.

But I have had some bad experiences when using it:

So if you want a mindless way to use Firefox, don't use 1Password, and don't need a built-in updater, LibreWolf will be the best for you.

Mullvad Browser

Home page: Mullvad Browser

Mullvad Browser

Modifications: Hard facts.

Hard facts

Mullvad Browser is a collaboration between Mullvad VPN and the Tor Project.

This is the new one; I have not tried it yet, but it makes 0 connections in the initial. This should be a strong competitor to LibreWolf, comes with strong privacy and anti-fingerprinting features.

It has 3 extensions built-in: uBlock Origin, NoScript, and Mullvad Browser Extension. It includes auto-updates and creating new identity features.

Blink Engine

Ungoogled Chromium

Home page: ungoogled-chromium

ungoogled-chromium

Binary download: Latest versions

Latest versions

A lightweight approach to removing Google web service dependency

This is Chromium, so it will provide you with a bunch of extensions that will make your life easier.

It seems like this is the only browser based on chromiu, and I will recommend my friends use it. You just need to make some modifications, and it will work like Brave.

You'll have to install an extension to be able to install extensions from the Chrome Web Store.

an extension

Here are some chrome://flags I use:

Brave Browser

This is the most popular browser when you know the word privacy, and choose an alternative to Google Chrome.

But it has a lot of issues and features that make me don't want to use it anymore:

I used the Brave browser, but I'm not happy with it anymore. Anything it provides is just a cut-off of some extensions. And if you have an extension, it will do better.

However, anything is better than Chrome, and you can have some configurations to make Brave more private.

some configurations

Conclusion

In conclusion, there is absolutely no such thing as the best browser for anything. It depends on you; it will only have a less bad browser. You can base your decision on my article; it is just something I gathered from the Internet. In my case, I'll recommend using Firefox hardened and Ungoogled chromium because they fit my needs. However, the ideal choice varies for each user, and the goal is to find a browser that meets their unique criteria.

Firefox hardened

Ungoogled chromium

~~~

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Replies

~contrarian wrote:

I used to be all about the browser wars. Chrome's won, and everything is just a flavor of Chromium. Firefox and its children put up a spirited resistance, but even with things like Manifest V3 people aren't going to switch. The internet is much worse than it once was so people can't help but be more conscious of this fact and more choosey as a result nowadays compared to back then when Comodo Dragon and Iridium were popular.

~whiskeyding wrote (thread):

Ah, if only lynx could do things like banking and such--it's still my favorite browser! I've had pretty good luck with my Librewolf/Bitwarden setup, but agree that the updating situation is poor.

Really, much of this falls on builders of websites who have been spoiled by cheap bandwidth and processing power. Don't count on that being a forever situation, guys...