Zero Bullshit Web Browsing (2015-02-08)

CD5K > PCP > Browsers

There's a lot of secret tracking, stupid scripts, and nasty surprises that can happen to anyone not making use of the right tools. I will provide some links to web browser addons that will increase the security of your surfing.

Browser Comodo Dragon Pale Moon Opera
Anti-Track uBlock Origin Ghostery Disconnect
Auto-HTTPS HTTPS Everywhere Encrypted Web HTTPS Everywhere
Clearing History Eraser BP CL SDC History Eraser
JavaScript NotScripts NoScript uMatrix
Search DuckDuckGo DuckDuckGo+ DuckDuckGo
Utility Disable Autoplay NetVideoHunter Chrome Extension

I suggest that you change Plugins to click to play, and only enable Flash (and Silverlight, if you're one of those Netflix-watchin' types). Then, go forth and enjoy adless, surprise-free, high security web browsing.

I've recommended Dragon instead of Chrome for privacy reasons. Google is a great company that does great things, but they think they need to know everything. I'll tell them what they need to know about me, and when.

Similarly, there's a link to Pale Moon instead of stock Firefox because Mozilla has taken a direction that I disagree with. They've forgotten what they set out to do, which was create the most bad-ass, futuristic, and customizable browser of all time. But that's fine; it's open-source, so a few others have picked up those reins.

Opera, these days, is just an alternative to Chrome, since it uses the same rendering engine and a similar GUI.

 Anti-Malware

If you're running Windows, you should also have at least one system scanner for those rare occasions when something does manage to slip through. If you're using Mac OS X or Linux, you should still have one, but I haven't done any research in those areas because I'm lazy. Anyway, here's the security programs (for Windows XP SP2 or later) which I've used and recommend:

avast!
One of the rare AV scanners that isn't a resource hog while it's running, which is fantastic.
Spybot
The free version removes spyware and adware; paid version includes an AV based on Bitdefender.
Malwarebytes Anti-Malware
A powerful and thorough scanner that also includes anti-rootkit capabilities.
TinyWall
A small program to harden and enrich Windows Firewall.

Please enjoy responsibly.