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I'm asking this because I recently switched from Chrome to Brave.

As with most people my age, I started off with Internet Explorer...it was basically all there was. When Firefox came out, I switched over because it was awesome having all your sites in tabs on one window, plus I liked that someone was actively developing a browser at a time when Microsoft had proclaimed that there was no further need to do so. After using Firefox for a few years, I switched to Chrome, which I probably used for nearly 10 years. Chrome was originally designed for efficiency and speed, and it was a big improvement over Firefox on both counts at the time. Plus I really liked Google as a company at the time.

But over the past few years I feel like Google has changed to being just another corporation that puts money first...from working with the same Chinese government that they refused to please a decade ago to create a censored search engine to summarily firing employees that refuse to toe the company line. The last straw for me when it came to Chrome was FLoC, Google's system for replacing third-party tracking cookies that virtually everyone opposes except Google. They claim that FLoC is more private than third-party tracking cookies, but they also say that FLoC is 95% as effective at tracking and determining a user's interests for advertising purposes. But even worse is that they summarily started testing FLoC by summarily enabling it in some people's browsers without their knowledge or consent. Probably because they know most people wouldn't volunteer to test their experimental ad-tracking technology.

For those using Chrome, the Electronic Frontier Foundation has a website that will let you know if Google has enabled it on your browser, along with more information about FLoC: Am I FLoCed?

So I started doing research and ended up trying Brave, which promotes itself as a privacy-centric browser that actively blocks trackers and ads. After a few weeks of using it my browser claims that it's blocked 130,411 trackers and ads, saving 6.14GB of bandwidth and 1.8 hours in loading time. I don't know if that's true, but I a bit surprised by how much faster and smoother browsing was in Brave, which I guess is the effect of not loading in ads. At the same time, it's based on Google's open-source Chromium browser, so the interface is very similar to Chrome. I found it was very intuitive to use coming from Chrome.

Another browser that I'm interested in trying is Vivaldi, which boasts the most customizable UI in a browser possible. I'm not sure how much I would need or want customization since I tend to believe that the simpler something is the better, but I think it'd be cool to play around with.

So what browser do you use? You don't have to post a whole story about it like I did, but I'd be interested to know what people use and like.

I use Chrome for my laptop because that's what I've been using since I got my laptop ten years ago, so it has all my passwords, credit card info, and stuff saved to it. I also use Chrome on my mobile phone because it syncs the data from my laptop, so it's pretty seamless when I need to use the Internet from my phone. Plus, it's really handy to autofill my credit card info when I purchase takeout food from my phone. Maybe I'll get around to switching to something else eventually, I don't know.

I just got a new PC, however, and I'm trying out Firefox there. I don't really intend to use my PC for much other than gaming, so I don't feel the need to sync up all my info from Chrome to it. It came with it and Microsoft Edge already downloaded (plus I like the idea of getting away from Google), so I figured I'd try one of the two -- I have less of a negative impression of Mozilla than Microsoft, so I went with Firefox. It seems fine and not a big change from Chrome, so unless something strange happens, I'll probably just stick with it. Trying out DuckDuckGo as my search engine there as well instead of Google since I've heard good things about it.

I've never been comfortable with having personal information saved in the browser or even with using a password manager...have you had any problems with that?

I would like to move further away from Google...as you know, the Cabinet uses Google Drive for shared documents, and the website also uses Google Analytics, so that's probably going to be the next things I look at. I'll probably continue using the search engine though...I've tried DuckDuckGo a few times, and as much as I appreciate what they're doing they seem to miss a lot of results that show up on Google. I suppose I could always try Bing though.

I've never had a problem with Chrome's password manager or credit card saves as far as I'm aware. It's pretty helpful because it can auto-generate a randomized password and then save it -- that way I don't use some version of the same password for multiple sites. So overall, I figure it's more secure for me to use it than not.

I guess I'm worried about the password manager itself being hacked, which happened recently with another one...and I'm afraid of what if I want to switch browsers but I have no clue what any of my passwords are? I have a system for having a different password on each site, so I hope I'm still relatively secure despite not using a password manager or entirely random passwords.

Yeah switching browsers could be a hassle with the password manager, but it does have an easy search function that allows you to search for a site that you have a saved password with and then reveal the password so you could manually add it to another browser.

When it comes to hacking, I believe Google notifies you if any passwords are compromised in any data breaches so that you know to change your password. Also, passwords saved on the manager are supposedly encrypted as well as require a master password to reveal, so even if a hacker managed to gain access to all Chrome password manager passwords, they'd have to decrypt your password and bypass your master password. At least that's how I understand it. Besides, on sites that really matter, you should have two-step authentication applied just in case anyway.

I've used IE, Chrome, Firefox, Opera (both the old one and the Chromium one), Maxthon, and some other various Chromium browsers.

I don't like Google's monopolistic and data harvesting practices, but their free and convenient services (in Chrome's case, syncing everything) makes it just too damn convenient.

I've recently been mainly using Safari though. It's great for battery life, opposes the Chromium monopoly, and is made by a company with a pretty decent track record on privacy. Some downsides are that it's not a Chromium browser so many things run poorly on it when devs optimize for Chrome, and also the web extension support is poorer.

I would agree with Gerrick that a password manager is probably the most secure option. It does represent a single point of failure, but you should have 2FA on your password manager and your important accounts anyway. Most people end up reusing passwords or potentially having passwords susceptible to dictionary attacks otherwise.

I don't like Google's monopolistic and data harvesting practices, but their free and convenient services (in Chrome's case, syncing everything) makes it just too damn convenient.

Are you saying there's a need for Wintreath Internet Services like sync?

Actually, for the most part I've stopped storing my bookmarks in the browser...they always end up disorganized and I forget I even have some of them for weeks or months. Now I use a Google spreadsheet for my bookmarks...I have different tabs for different kinds of bookmarks, and within my main tab I have them organized by category. It's a lot more organized and it's much easier to browse through them now. The only bookmarks I have in my browser are for articles I want to read but don't have time to...then once I read them I remove the bookmark.

I don't like Google's monopolistic and data harvesting practices, but their free and convenient services (in Chrome's case, syncing everything) makes it just too damn convenient.

Are you saying there's a need for Wintreath Internet Services like sync?

Actually, for the most part I've stopped storing my bookmarks in the browser...they always end up disorganized and I forget I even have some of them for weeks or months. Now I use a Google spreadsheet for my bookmarks...I have different tabs for different kinds of bookmarks, and within my main tab I have them organized by category. It's a lot more organized and it's much easier to browse through them now. The only bookmarks I have in my browser are for articles I want to read but don't have time to...then once I read them I remove the bookmark.

I don't use bookmarks much either, mostly store stuff in a Google Doc. In addition to passwords, the syncing is still pretty useful for viewing history, moving tabs, copy/pasting, etc. across phone/computer. I've mostly been using Safari for that but Chrome is getting increasingly better on those sync features.

Not having Apple devices personally, Safari isn't an option for me.

I guess I'm more of a casual browser user. I can't remember the last time I needed anything from my history, and I only use the browser on my phone when I'm too lazy to get out of bed or the rare occasion that I need to lookup something while I'm out. I guess I really don't need sync at all.

Up until early 2020 I was using Chrome. In preparation for getting a new laptop I cleaned up my old computer including my browser and password stuff. Fully deleted many old accounts (including two gmailsand an icloud), completely wiped all my chrome and main gmail accounts data, and then started fresh with Firefox. I also started using their password manager, Lockwise, which I also have installed onto my phone so I always have access to passwords.

Chrome. I have a Chromebook