Today's article has the longest title I've ever used, I think... It's pretty darned long, just like this one!

[KGIII]

If you install Chromium from Linux Mint's default repositories, you get an altered version of Chromium. It no longer defaults to Google Search. In fact, the search engine has been completely ripped out of there to promote using a search engine that I believe financially benefits Linux Mint.

There's nothing wrong with that, I guess. Ripping out Google Search entirely might be a bit petty, but it's not difficult to resolve it. You can add most any search engine and you can even make that search engine the default search engine.

Restoring Google Search To Chromium When Installed In Linux Mint • Linux Tips

Well, that's a long headline, but it's not easy to compress the idea of restoring Google Search to Chromium when installed in Linux Mint!

linux-tips.us

So, if you want to go about restoring Google Search to Chromium when installed in Linux Mint, you can do so!

 

[BigBadBeef]

Hey there, its been a while,

If you care about tracking cookie blocking and internet privacy, you will stay FAR away from anything chromium based.

• To those who read this, you are already a Linux user, which means you did step 1.
• Step 2 is using Firefox, or another non-Chromium based browser.
• Step 3 is using a tracking blocker add-on, such as ghostery.
• Step 4 - use an anonymous search engine. A lot of them are pretty much as good as google is!

 

[KGIII]

Hey there, its been a while,

If you care about tracking cookie blocking and internet privacy, you will stay FAR away from anything chromium based.

• To those who read this, you are already a Linux user, which means you did step 1.
• Step 2 is using Firefox, or another non-Chromium based browser.
• Step 3 is using a tracking blocker add-on, such as ghostery.
• Step 4 - use an anonymous search engine. A lot of them are pretty much as good as google is!

LOL

You'd think so but 93.7% of you are using Chrome, Chromium, or a browser based on Chromium.

5.7 of you are using Firefox.

Google provides about 85% of my traffic, with another 5% being varied search engines other than Google.

But, don't let me get in your way. You use whatever makes you happy.

 

[bob466]

I've never used Chromium...I installed Google Chrome from their site but I use DuckDuckGo for searches.

 

[KGIII]

I've never used Chromium...I installed Google Chrome from their site but I use DuckDuckGo for searches.

There are also a lot of Chromium derivatives, such as Brave, Vivaldi, Opera, and even Edge.

Mint offers Chromium right in their default repositories.

 

[dcbrown73]

The long title and removing Google search are both blaspheme!

Not really

Normally, I have two browsers open at the same time. DuckDuckGo's Firefox and Chrome. I use each for different types of surfing.

I lied. I also have an Edge browser that I primary use for watching streaming TV on my desktop. Mainly because my Chrome and Firefox have uBlock Origins and Disable HTML5 Autoplay. Which tends to cause issues with non-Youtube paid streaming sites.

 

[KGIII]

I use each for different types of surfing.

Me too! I have browsers for different activities. It works out well and keeps things compartmentalized.

 

[BigBadBeef]

You'd think so but 93.7% of you are using Chrome, Chromium, or a browser based on Chromium.

Which is why I made this guide.

 

[KGIII]

Which is why I made this guide.

I suspect everyone here already knows about Firefox and the evils of Google.

If I notice any change in my stats, I'll post 'em in a meta article. While the numbers grow, the percentages stay more or less the same.

 

[wendy-lebaron]

I use DDG for search engine but I believe that is influenced too much by Google anyway. I get sick of seeing the popups on the left-hand side of their lying.

I'm part of the almost 6% because I don't have a better choice. Used to dig Brave Browser but I got quickly sick and tired of swallowing the update pill last year on Manjaro MATE. I ran into an issue with audio in that distro installation which made me kill it, unhappily, and it made me promise to myself I would not use anything Chromium-based ever again. I broke my promise for a few days...

I'm not even interested in "un-gargled" or whatever they wish to call, what should really be called a "ba****dized" edition of Chromium.

 

[mrcrossroads]

Hey there, its been a while,

If you care about tracking cookie blocking and internet privacy, you will stay FAR away from anything chromium based.

• To those who read this, you are already a Linux user, which means you did step 1.
• Step 2 is using Firefox, or another non-Chromium based browser.
• Step 3 is using a tracking blocker add-on, such as ghostery.
• Step 4 - use an anonymous search engine. A lot of them are pretty much as good as google is!

I use Firefox with Ghostery.

 

[KGIII]

I use DDG for search engine but I believe that is influenced too much by Google anyway.

I do not know why, but DDG sends me more visitors than most other search engines. It's still dwarfed by Google, but it is 2nd in the list. That's followed by StartPage. Unknown is next, followed by Bing.

I'm not even interested in "un-gargled" or whatever they wish to call, what should really be called a "ba****dized"

While it's true that we don't like swearing, 'bastardized' isn't a swear. (Just a bit of an FYI. It's perfectly good English.) In some contexts, 'bastard' isn't a swear - such as a bastard sword. Calling someone a bastard would be frowned upon, however.

I'm part of the almost 6% because I don't have a better choice.

Because my site is about Linux, I see more Firefox traffic than normal. Globally, Firefox has about 3% of the market share. The stats on my site will be skewed, which makes them more representative of Linux users. At least 93% of my traffic is from Linux users.

So, I have a pretty solid sample size. I've had more than a quarter of a million visitors just this year.

Also, here's Ungoogled Chromium if you're interested in it:

GitHub - ungoogled-software/ungoogled-chromium: Google Chromium, sans integration with Google

Google Chromium, sans integration with Google. Contribute to ungoogled-software/ungoogled-chromium development by creating an account on GitHub.

github.com

I use Firefox with Ghostery.

Ghostery is a solid browser extension.

 

[Condobloke]

I use Brave browser with Privacy badger