My Favorite Search Engines
These days, I do not rely on Google. I learned the hard way.
Twice Google shut my website down.
The second time the company shut my site down, they locked me out until I signed up for a monthly subscription.
I wish I had that kind of power. I teach languages for a living. If I had that kind of power, I would not allow any of you to speak English again until you subscribed to my site.
Of course, you would likely never hear from me again. I’d be on an island that I owned, tanned and rested all alone… surrounded by enormous piles of money.
(If you didn’t catch the reference, go to the 2:20 minute mark in this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mJICrhJD4-M)
As soon as I was able, I cancelled my subscription with Google. These days, if I can avoid Google, I avoid it.
Until I went looking, I did not realize there were so many alternatives to Google. I am enjoying them.
Here they are:
Brave. This is my go to website. I teach online. Students see my computer screen during class. I don’t need advertisements popping up constantly. Brave blocks them all! Even those annoying “accept cookies?” pop-ups.
(In real life… I always accept cookies. So, if you want to offer me some cookies…)
SwissCows.com is a family friendly search engine. It filters out all the stuff that should be filtered out. And, unlike Google, SwissCows is not constantly looking over your shoulder.
Sometimes, I will use DuckDuckGo. Similar to SwissCows, but they make no claim to be family friendly.
And, then there is Firefox. I do not subscribe to all the movies sites available. I simply do not have the time for many movies. But, I am an Amazon Prime member, and from time to time I will watch movies there. Lately, just like in the old television days, commercials are interrupting every movie and show, even on Prime. I have heard you can bypass the commercials (which sounds fantastic) by using Amazon Prime on Firefox. I hope this rumor is true. I am planning to find out this week.
Just so you know, I am not affiliated with any of the companies I mentioned here. I just like using their browsers.
Have you tried using other browsers? One of my favorite things about sending out a weekly “tip of the week” are all the tips I get back from you guys in response. I’d love to hear about your alternatives to Google.
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After sending the above message, I received this response:
“Thanks for the great information on search engines. As my kids get older into their teens it’s hard to give them access to online stuff and still keep them safe. I have heard of Brave but not SwissCow so I am definitely checking that out.
I just wanted to share something we found recently. On my iPad I have the DuckDuckGo app. In the settings there is something called Duck Player. With Duck Player, you can play YouTube videos using it and they play completely without ads. You can’t see or add comments to the videos but there’s no annoying ads interrupting the video mid sentence. I don’t know if it works on a computer since there’s no unique app on my Mac, just an extension on Safari.
Just wanted to share. Thanks for all you do!”
Sincerely,
Want One Practical Tip this Every Week?
Almost every Saturday, I send out a short Tip of the Week—something useful I’ve learned that can save you time, money, or effort.
It’s quick. It’s practical. And you can use it immediately.
