Alternatives to Google

I don't use one but a free one is AVG or you can check Kaspersky....I just use windows defender (leave it on don't really need to scan as it does its job by itself) (comes with stock windows 7) and run C-cleaner that's all. Firefox and Yandex have their own virus scan for downloads so you really don't need one in my opinion....as long as you have ad block installed, it catches all the pop ups and malware.....

The best add-on for any browser, it's free and blocks the annoying pop up ads and has a database of ads with malware to block and youtube video ads (before the actual video) I highly recommend it...

https://adblockplus.org/

In terms of video streaming, most if not all video sites including Netflix, amazon prime, youtube, etc. track every single video you watch. That is how they recommend videos to you and provide a history of what you watched. They also make money off this information too.

In regards to search engines, most of them: google, bing, yahoo, etc. log every single search you make with your IP address, so they can easily identify you. They use your searches to show targeted ads to you and to improve your search results. For example, you search for colleges and all of the sudden your ads start be a bunch of college advertisements. They also sell the aggregated data to third-parties for marketing purposes most likely. This is how a company like google makes so much money -- because they are primary a marketing/advertisement company.

The same goes for Facebook, there is reason they are pushing you to add more and more information about yourself because you are improving your marketability. That is why they are asking for your phone number, email, mobile device, blah blah blah.

Also, most sites collect analytical data using something like google analytic, which tracks your every click and every page you go to on the site and much much more. It is rather creepy the level of detail google analytic provides.

So, the only browsers that protect your privacy is the ones that are not making any real money and as a result -- they suck. Also, they only protect to an extent, but can't stop each site from tracking you themselves. The other option is to look into a proxy server for some level of animosity, but not really even worth the effort.

Yup jason, it just the bit about having to click "i agree" i struggle with ....
but I will have to give in in the end anyway, I am too addicted to youtube,
and like you said, most of those making little money suck

"Like most things in life, it comes down to 'priority' --- what you think is more important..."

I usually use Norton 360 but right now I have Norton Security. It doesn't hog my CPU.. DO NOT USE AVAST!! I've used it before a couple times and both times it slowed me to a mere crawl. Avira is good, I have the plugin for it on my Opera browser. Between that and WOT, it lets me know when I'm about to go to a malware or virus site. I don't know much about the free anti-viruses but from what I've seen with Avira, it's the best one. Of course you'll need a firewall also.

adblockplus stopped working for me, so I installed bluhell instead and it's working like a dream so far. Adblock worked for a while then when before I upgraded to windows 10 it just stopped working. I uninstalled and reinstalled, but it didn't help, so I dumped it and looked elsewhere.

What browser were you using? Sometimes the plugin does not auto-update depending on the browser...

I use firefox.....It stopped working BEFORE I upgraded.

You probably just needed to upgrade firefox as I use firefox and it regularly updates the plugins by itself...

Download Firefox 44.0.2 - FileHippo.com

This version is the latest non beta version

I DID upgrade firefox, and no help....then I upgraded to windows 10, and downloaded bluhell....problem solved.

FF is soooooooooo slow..

If you look into web browser benchmarks, they're all fairly comparable; within seconds (sometimes less) of each other in rendering and displaying content - at least, the last time I checked. I stopped checking because the gap was always so minuscule in every test.

I asked myself this question myself and then I asked Google. When you give up on Google, where do you go to do a search?

Deep Web Search Engines | Deep Web Search - A How-To Site

This pretty much ends the discussion because I don't go any further. Usually stuff is hidden on the internet because it is bad and it is hidden for a reason which is why I don't know and neither will I try to learn it to teach you.

Then why post a link to several deep web search engines that we can use to search the deep web, if deep web stuff is hidden and bad?

This is not the dark web where there is illegal and hidden stuff.

Yes but I reiterate my point: you posted a link here to search engines we CAN use to FIND the dark web and access it's hidden and illegal stuff.

The web search is called "Deep Web Search – A How-To Site". It is not a "dark web search".
If someone wants to find the information themselves, I can't stop them but I don't know how to do it because I don't want to know.

God put two trees in the garden of eden. One was the tree of knowledge and eating it brought death. God made Adam and Eve perfect and God said that all things were good. There was just one law. They weren't to eat from the tree. God does not shield people from evil because the tree of the knowledge of good and evil was there. I did not post a dark web search here.

I'm going to leave it at that.

Didn't read this 'til now. Honestly, I'm not sure I can even recommend bothering with an AV program anymore; people end up with malware in spite of protection. If you're apt to it, though, BitDefender is currently a good one (the top contenders change every year or two).

...Avast...

...Linux...