WTF - Safari changed my default search engine to Yahoo.

[mrlynn]

I found DuckDuckGo annoying for some reason. But I rather like ixquick.

ixquick claims to be a completely private search engine, storing nothing about you:

https://ixquick.com/eng/?&hmb=1

True? I can't remember if someone here recommended it or not, but it seems quick. This is what they claim:

Ixquick's position

You have a right to privacy.
Your search data should never fall into the wrong hands.
The only real solution is quickly deleting your data or not storing them to begin with.
Since January 2009 we do not record our users' IP addresses anymore.
Your personal data are not shared with any third party.
We were the first and only search engine to do so.
Since then we have added many other features that protect your privacy.
Our initiative is receiving an overwhelmingly positive response

Does have some ads.

/Mr Lynn

[blooz]

I only got a message saying that Safari was optimized for yahoo (or was it the other way aound?) but I stay with DDG.
Malwarebytes doen't make any software for Macs—that site is a scam.

[Sam3]

john-o wrote:
You've likely been hit with adware. Downloaded anything from CNET lately?

Try this:

h t t p s://www.malwarebytes.org/mac-download/]Malwarebytes Anti-Malware for Mac

Gee, thanks for giving a link that does an auto-download. That's how malware spreads. :villagers:

I removed the link in the quote. Here's a link that goes to the description page: https://www.malwarebytes.org/antimalware/mac/

blooz, that is the real Malwarebytes site, it seems that they now do make a version for the Mac. Doing a search on Google did not find anything linking john-o's link to a scam site. Here's a review from PC Magazine: http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2487706,00.asp (beware multiple pop-ups)

[mrlynn]

BTW, Safari seems to allow only Google, Yahoo, and Bing as default search engines.

However, if you install ixquick as an extension, it will put a star in your toolbar, so if you type a query in the default box and click the star, Safari will use ixquick instead of your default.

Clever, but why won't Apple let us add our own defaults?

/Mr Lynn

Edit: Did not understand what the star did; fixed.

[space-time]

blooz wrote:
...
Malwarebytes doen't make any software for Macs—that site is a scam.

a while ago they didn't, but now it seems they do have a Mac product. Never used it, I don't know what it does.

https://www.malwarebytes.org/antimalware/mac/

[silvarios]

Onamuji wrote:
Apple doesn't like Google anymore.

Change it back.

I figured it was a change by Apple, since Firefox did a similar change as well.

[silvarios]

mrlynn wrote:
I found DuckDuckGo annoying for some reason. But I rather like ixquick.

My problem with DDG, which is my default search engine on many of my devices, is its inability sometimes to rank what I'm looking for ahead of stuff that seems to completely fail my search terms. So I have to scroll down a bit to find the thing Google will put up near the top (even when not logged into Google). Not that google search is perfect, it isn't.

Even still, DDG is good enough most of the time, so I haven't switched back, but I'll give your suggestion some testing.

[rjmacs]

silvarios wrote:
My problem with DDG, which is my default search engine on many of my devices, is its inability sometimes to rank what I'm looking for ahead of stuff that seems to completely fail my search terms. So I have to scroll down a bit to find the thing Google will put up near the top (even when not logged into Google). Not that google search is perfect, it isn't.

Even still, DDG is good enough most of the time, so I haven't switched back, but I'll give your suggestion some testing.

Without question, Google is a better search engine (it's the best search engine out there). However, there's a price to be paid in privacy. When I can't find what I'm looking for in DDG, or ranking is really important, I'll use Google. But it creeps me out a little every time I do.

[silvarios]

rjmacs wrote:
Without question, Google is a better search engine (it's the best search engine out there). However, there's a price to be paid in privacy. When I can't find what I'm looking for in DDG, or ranking is really important, I'll use Google. But it creeps me out a little every time I do.

If you don't log into Google when using it, do you find the search engine works about the same? That's the key. If so, you could avoid most of the privacy implications.

[rjmacs]

silvarios wrote:
[quote=rjmacs]
Without question, Google is a better search engine (it's the best search engine out there). However, there's a price to be paid in privacy. When I can't find what I'm looking for in DDG, or ranking is really important, I'll use Google. But it creeps me out a little every time I do.

If you don't log into Google when using it, do you find the search engine works about the same? That's the key. If so, you could avoid most of the privacy implications.
Does your IP change every time you search Google? They're capturing your data one way or another, and they are anything but transparent about how they use IP data for data mining.