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Tell HN: Edge collects all search history, even on Google/DDG

60 points by lostmsu ↗ HN
It is a "feature" added to "improve experiences across Microsoft products". With one of the recent updates it gets enabled for all Edge user profiles, and you get a flyout notification, that navigates you to the setting where you can disable it.

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/topic/learn-more-about-search-and-service-improvements-in-microsoft-edge-5b95a197-6311-4976-ad33-4aad57a9ce65

28 comments

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decrypt
Ran into the same setting yesterday when I was looking for something else. Sorta annoying; it must be opt-in, not opt-out by default.
2Gkashmiri
Why don't people give Firefox a chance ? Sure google properties don't work on it but that is because google broke them. A simple useragent often fixes it. The point is, people need to start using it or else accept the monopoly of chrome and not complain when they implement user hostile tech.

I get the whole promoted stuff Mozilla has been doing, I just ignore it and carry on. I have unlock origin and pihole to cover for me. Many people use nextdns or whatever and that works great too.

muzani
I just use different browsers for different things. Firefox for most things; it's the fastest. Chrome for anything Google related. Edge for PDFs and my Hotmail account.
tortasaur
I used to use Chrome for Google stuff, but recently I found the Multi-Account Containers Firefox extension. Works really well for splitting up a work profile, accounts tied to your real identity, and casual web browsing.
muzani
The problem for me is Google Meet falls apart on Firefox when presenting your screen to a group of over 4 people.

Google Docs and Sheets falls apart pretty quickly too.

Demcox
Then designate Chrome for such tasks and FireFox with containers for anything else. It works great - can confirm.
paulryanrogers
This is why I made an app to auto switch browsers. There were others but none worked inside browsers wothout extra clicks.

Otherwise it can be a pain to switch often.

2Gkashmiri
why don't you use sumatrapdf?
muzani
Edge is really nice for PDFs though and integrates well with printer and web, so what else do I really want?
2Gkashmiri
please give sumatrapdf a try. this is a powerhouse app that is barely talked about. it is like 2-3 Mb in total and does everything pdf.

using edge for pdf is like hair clipping with a chainsaw. just my 2 cents

HaoZeke
Because Mozilla has proven time and again to be a false friend to the foss community. Look at thunderbird and xul, not to mention the fact that they basically ended up copying chromium..
pxeger1
Unlike Google, who are consistently great? I don't think so.
p2t2p
Unlike Apple’s Safari that consistently introduces privacy related features and provides excellent battery life.
Jiocus
Only to macOS/iOS users.

Edit: Who can afford paying a premium for privacy (if one agrees with the parent assumption, that is).

jevoten
Don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good. Especially since the alternatives are openly hostile to FOSS.
mixedCase
How is Brave openly hostile to FOSS?
jevoten
My apologies. I had only Microsoft's and Google's browsers in mind.
SahAssar
Brave might not be FOSS-hostile, but they are still a re-badged chromium with some crypto-stuff on top.
tata71
More like to the side.

Chromium is leading the market by a wide margin in security.

Forking Chromium is the only current viable way forward.

mixedCase
They maintain a more optimized adblocker, fingerprinting protection, integrate the ungoogled-chromium patches without breaking the Chrome extension store nor Widevine, and they offer native IPFS integration.

I disable all the crypto integration and use it because it's precisely "chromium without google services but still usable", all while remaining open source and focusing on privacy, something that Edge, Vivaldi and Opera do not.

sascha_sl
Or recently, the post-install page having a nagging animated button to please buy Mozilla VPN.
jakub_g
"X is not pope/saint-like, so I will stick with Y which is openly a villain"
hulitu
In a corporate env you don't choose what browser you can use. And FF has other problems (see other comments)
taubek
Sometimes you have to use what you are provided by the company where you work. IT departments can have strict rules any policies what you can run on your computer or not.
satya71
Looks like I need to find a new Blink-engine browser for sites that break on Firefox
foxrider
Try Vivaldi! It is the most feature-complete and pleasant browser I know.
veeti
How is this sort of opt-out mechanism not a GDPR violation? I encourage every Edge user to file a complaint with their local data protection authority.