Web User - UK (2019-07-10)

You need to tweak a lot of privacy settings
to stop Chrome sharing data with Google

Chrome tends to guzzle more memory

than any other program on your computer

StopusingGoogle Chrome

COVER

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10 - 23 July 2019 43

However, whereasotherChromium-
basedbrowsers, suchas Vivaldiand
Brave, build onits underlying
technologyto offer their own privacy,
security andcustomisationfeatures,
Chromeremains comparatively ‘vanilla’.
Fans of the browser say this is all part
of its appeal: Chromeis easy to use, isn’t
cluttered with unnecessary tools and
performs everyday tasks suchas
spell-checking, managingpasswords
andenteringforminformation
automatically. But as Mozilla proved
with the release of Firefox Quantum in
2017, it’s possible to make a browser feel
fresh andmodern without reinventing
the wheel. Chromeis now approaching
its 76th version, andit’s definitely
showing its age.

Chrome shares your data
with Google
We’re sure wedon’t needto remindyou
that Google harvests your data, but you
may not realisehow muchinformation
Chromesecretly shares with its parent
company. Evenif you don’t use the
browser’s Syncmode, which saves data
including your bookmarks, browsing
history, passwords andopentabs to
your account onGoogle’s servers,
Chromesends lots of otherinformation
in the background– unless you change
specific privacysettings.

You can findsomeof these by

going to Settings, ‘Sync andGoogle

services’, ‘Other Google services’. The

options you should disable include

‘Show suggestions for similar pages

whena page can’t befound’, which

sends the web address you’re tryingto

reach to Google, and‘Make searches

andbrowsingbetter’, which shares

details ofallthe pages you visit. ‘Help

improveChrome’s features and

performance’ automatically sends

Google statistical data about how

you use the browser.

Also goto ‘Privacy andsecurity’ and

switchoff ‘AllowChromesign-in’. This

controversial feature, which Google

added to the browser last year,

automatically signs you into Chrome

whenyou use Google services suchas

Gmail, Maps or YouTube– thereby

gathering all your data in one place.

Additionally, bear in mindthat while

Chrome’s incognito mode stops the

browser storing details of the things you

searchfor andthe sites you visit, this

data is still visibleto Google. If changing

all these settings sounds like hard work,

switchto a more private browser!

Chrome is a notorious

memory hog

It’s nosecret that Chromeuses a lot of

memory. OpenWindowsTask Manager

andyou’ll inevitably see Chromeat the

top of the usage list – onour PC, it’s

currently consumingnearly a quarter of

the availableRAM and 28 separate

processes. That’s because Chromeuses

a separate ‘sandboxed’ background

processfor every tab, plugin and

extension, which is handyif one crashes,

because it won’t affect the others, but

adds upto a big strain onyour system.

Otherbrowsers (such as Firefox) can

also bememory hogs, andthose based

onChromiumsuffer similar problems

unlessthey dumpa lot of Google’s

baggage, but we’re surprisedthat

Chromehasn’t fixed this issue after 11

years. Instead, it seems that the more

RAM our PCs have, the more it guzzles.

Google forcedChrome on

Android users

According to recent figures from

StatCounter (bit.ly/market479), Chrome

has a 59.4% share of the mobile-

browser market, while its closest rival,

Safari, lags farbehindon20.8%. On

Androidphones, Chrome’s dominance

rises to more than80%, not because it’s

the best choice but thanksto Google’s

bullyingbusiness tactics.

Last July, the EuropeanCommission

(EC)finedthe company a record €4.34

billionfor violating antitrust lawsand

“illegally tying” Chromeand its search

app to the Androidoperating system.

This meant that handset manufacturers

were forcedto install those tools if they

wantedto offer the Play store ontheir

devices, which meant that many users

never thought to use alternative

browsers andsearchengines. Microsoft

facedsimilar antitrustallegations 15

years ago for bundlingits Internet

Explorer browser with Windows, so it’s

tellingthat Google has followed in the

monopolistic footsteps of its arch-rival.

In 2009, the ECordered Microsoft to

offer users a ‘browser ballot’ in the form

of a screenthat let themchoose their

default web

browser.

This

undoubtedly

helped

boost

Chrome’s

popularity,

so it’s ironic

that Google

is now

appeasing

the ECby

offeringa

similar ballot

screenon

Android

devices,

inviting

users to

choose a

different

browser and

searchapp. It’s a stepin the right

direction, andGoogle says it will

“support choice andcompetitionin

Europe”, but the company should never

have promoted Chromeso aggressively

in the firstplace.

Chrome’s automatic spell checking is
useful but hardly innovative

Google must now offer

Android users a choice of

browsers besides Chrome