To clarify ---- I removed all adblockers a whole long time ago and still Google instantly locks up my YouTube up as if I had active adblockers present ......  

This is Google "misbehaving" in my opinion.

 

  As for Firefox settings changing when choosing to go to YouTube I can see where this may be an unintended consequence.  The least confusing choice would be for Google to only allow access to their YouTube service through their Chrome browser.  Then people would know exactly how to use Google's product.

 
"Google then physically takes over my Firefox browser installation and adds in all sorts of their own advertising ad bars, something I object to quite a bit."

 Do you believe Google is doing this without Firefox's permission?  That's an issue addressable in court, but I imagine Firefox is aware.  So when we choose to use Firefox's browser that they own and they choose to let Google alter their product, we as users have to deal with that.  Again a result of people constantly trying to circumvent YouTube's primary source of revenue.


 I had 6 laptops clean installed with Linux Mint 21.3 and Firefox.  If I go to YouTube, what settings can I expect Google to alter?

 Using Open Source software is fine, but once you choose to use an owned service like YouTube, they get to set some rules.  Sometimes those rules are to lock the service, especially if they can't tell if that Open Source is blocking their primary revenue stream thus making that viewer a cost with no benefit.

 I think any changes to a browser should be temporary or only while using Google's YouTube service.  Permanent changes seem excessive, but obviously are easier.

 Bottom line is this happens because people want the benefits of using YouTube but don't want to have the ads, which make the service possible.  Open Source will get caught in that crossfire.

Brave Browser is taking market share from Chrome and Firefox because these old primary bowsers are abandoning their original open source user base.

Chrome has become very data grabby and fully commercial, Firefox is becoming abandoned by its open source user base as it slowly gets sucked into Chrome's orbit.  

Google is Firefox's major monetary and technological contributor now, and it shows.   Firefox uses Chromium as the basis for its browser now ....... and it shows.

Brave Browser is slowly becoming more polished and is slowly picking up some more advanced features.

Brave is mainly concerned with actively combating web trash and ads, this is Brave's announced purpose and it does a right good job of it.

Brave does not use Chrome or Google support items --- it uses open source data engines.

If you can stomach Chrome and Firefox limiting your use of YouTube you can stick with them.   If you don't want Chrome and Firefox cutting you off from access to your stuff arbitrarily, you can consider using Brave.


      Me, I prefer to have my cake and eat it too.

Well, that was different !  Installed Brave, watched 26 minutes of Triumph 400 vid on youtube, not 1 ad !!!!!
Repeat,  not 1 advertisement..   Howinell is that done????

Cheers!  
ps: Brave picks up all my current bookmarks too!  Too friggin' cool!

 
Once again, what is Brave Browser and how is it different from Chrome and Firefox.

https://zapier.com/blog/brave-browser-review/

As a freelance writer, I research a lot of topics and visit a ton of tech-related sites. So I'm always amused when I see ads for those same topics after I'm done for the day—in my social media feeds, on search engines, and basically everywhere else digital I go. That's one reason I switched to the Brave browser: I was a dedicated Chrome user for years but got tired of my work following me around. I made the switch last year and haven't looked back.

Not only is Brave privacy-focused, reducing the number of trackers that follow you around the web, but it's also faster than other options, offers you customizable privacy controls, and even has a free video conference app built into it.

If you're considering using Brave, here's my review—along with some tips to get the most out of it from the very beginning.


What is Brave browser?

145,122 Trackers & ads blocked

2.74GB Bandwidth saved

2 hours Time saved

The Brave internet browser blocks ads and other online trackers by default, while other browsers don't. I noticed a difference immediately when I started using Brave: after a day or so, I could see I wasn't being "followed" online anymore.

Blocking ads and trackers isn't just about privacy, though—it also speeds up your browsing experience by reducing site load times. Most ads and third-party trackers are scripts that run in the background of websites, slowing things down. Chrome, for example, collects your browsing information, so Google and its advertising partners can send you targeted ads.  

Brave downloads only the essential elements for websites, so it loads way faster than other browsers like Chrome—especially if you tend to have a lot of tabs open. I don't usually have tab overload, but my six-year-old computer appreciates getting a break with the 15ish I tend to have open while working.

(P.S. Take a look at Brave's claims for reduced memory usage, increased speed, and increased battery life when using it compared to Chrome.)

Going back a few years and especially going to some Germanic European sites all of which were based on other languages you may see some of them still say that Brave uses a Google software basis just like Firefox used.   This is not true for English versions going back to when Brave switched to their own proprietary Cliqz based Tailcat Search engine in which started heavy development in March 2021 and which left Beta in October 2021.

Brave development has not stopped since then, with Brave getting better and more feature complete with very few pauses or backtracks due to software issues.

Brave Search is a search engine developed by Brave and released in Beta form in March 2021, following the acquisition of Tailcat, a privacy-focused search engine from Cliqz. Since October 2021, Brave Search is the default search engine for Brave browser users in the United States, Canada, and Great Britain.

I have added AI PCs to this thread as this is a non-defined item at this time.   Much has been said about it lately and MS is beginning to use it as a selling point with no clear reason for it nor even a clear definition of the term at this time.

AI gets discussed as an up and coming thing, but pundits are saying "wait on buying anything" as it is "a pig in a poke" right now.

AI requires a subject or a need that somebody likes well enough to actively dedicate some serious web based processing to do the item.

This web based processing uses a NPU processor on your computer processor to catch the flow of data that the off site processing provides.   It will also need a fast connection to work properly.

This activity is measured as a minimum of 40 TOPS of NPU processing power, an amount of power that MS Copilot will require to do its thing.   This is "trillions of operations per second" AI speeds.

What is proposed is that the mainframe sends you a formatted "solution" for your request over the wires and that it also provides a set of decoder softwares already loaded in your fastest processor based drive so your PC can unpack the flow quickly enough for it to be usable.

So far none of it is real, nor is it even strongly defined.   Nor is a concrete benefit fully known at this time.

Early adapters are a very few very advanced graphics programs and not much else at this point in time.

Pundits think that Joe and Rita Sixpack may never see a concrete reason to toss out the fresh coins necessary to buy this extra special functionality.    

If a few AAA Games adopts it in some really meaningful manner this will of course change up fairly quickly.  

Think of it like a math co-processor ---- another tech that never saw much use in the real world.

Both Intel and AMD are putting this resource use ability inside their planned mid to upper level chipsets for next year   MS is also putting stuff inside Windows 12 to supposedly utilize this super hardware.

Nobody in Linux land has any matching needs at this time, but that is expected to change as the months and years roll by.

Linux support for AI PC is slowly coming, key word slowly as their is no need for it at all at this point in time.

https://www.tomshardware.com/news/amd-asks-do-you-need-ryzen-ai-support-in-linux

https://news.itsfoss.com/microsoft-ubuntu/

As Microsoft makes the first moves to force everybody to buy a new computer so they can have Win 12 and meet MS's AI PC specs, the folks at MS have finally painted themselves into such a tight corner that only Linux can get them them out of the mess they have made of their upgrade path.

(yes, I know this is all likely seen as an April Fools joke right now, but it makes some longer term sense knowing that MS has just put a MS tweeked version of Ubuntu into its proprietary MS repositories .....)

But, what just happened now? 😲

Microsoft Tells You To go Use Ubuntu
Now, this sounds cryptic, but doesn't it also make sense?  No, not really, especially when you realize MS's tweeked Ubuntu version that they recommend uses all their MS services and has lots of crap ware in it built by (and in service to) MS itself.    

Now why would you want to do this to yourself ???

Microsoft does it to promote Ubuntu WSL, and they also know that users ineligible for the Windows 10 to Windows 11 upgrade will likely keep using an insecure MS system on top of Windows 10 resulting in some bad press for MS.

So, it is only fair for Microsoft to inform their users to try Ubuntu if they cannot upgrade to Windows 11 by the end of next year.

I mean, it is an expensive business to maintain/secure Windows 10 systems for free, right? And, not everyone will opt for the paid extended security update plan that MS is getting ready to announce.

See the screenshot above where it says my PC does not meet minimum requirements for Windows 11?

Microsoft decided to add a "Try Ubuntu" button on the same screen, which takes you to Ubuntu's installation guide and the "Switching from Windows" page.

With a move like this, Microsoft gets to show that it isn't anticompetitive, and also gets away from any future issues where a customer complains about Windows 10 not being maintained even with plenty of users using it.

           

Now please note this also makes up a MS approved solution to the up and coming set of Win 10 to Win 11 upgrade issues but it also plays forward to the "whole PC replacement" next generation mess that will happen with the next Win 11 to Win 12 "required hardware upgrade".

Sad thing is that the AI PC "benefit" MS is pushing really does not justify spending all the coins they are trying to charge for for this required "very leveraged" AI PC upgrade.  

So, MS is delineating a MS approved off ramp for the MS upgrade gravy train that all us retired PC users should take.

However, you really should just go ahead and pick the flavor of Linux that you like and go ahead and install it on your C: hard drive as your default OS instead of downloading and putting a whole world of MS shill-ware on your machine.

Mucking around with a MS tweeked version of Ubuntu sounds like agreeing to continue getting robbed by MS instead of getting a real "free" Linux OS system ......                        

Plus, I will bet sight unseen that the EVENTUAL real Linux version of "AI PC" will be much better than the slimy pig wallow MS is making out of their MS "AI PC".