Brave Web Browser

Cromulent · 8 Apr 2019 at 16:53

I've just installed the Brave web browser and it seems to be pretty good. Does anyone else use it as their main web browser? If so do you have any tips for using it optimally?

Edit: Having Tor built right into your web browser is pretty awesome.

bledd · 8 Apr 2019 at 22:38

Yup, I use it on my mobile more heavily than my Desktop. Saves bandwidth and time!

Cromulent · 8 Apr 2019 at 23:09

bledd said:
Yup, I use it on my mobile more heavily than my Desktop. Saves bandwidth and time!

I'll have to try it out. I normally do most of my website browsing on my desktop but I think I like it enough to use as my default browser on Android as well.

Cromulent · 12 Apr 2019 at 18:42

I've been using this for about four days now and have to say it is the only browser that has made me want to switch away from Google Chrome. I really like Brave browser. I think I'll use this for the foreseeable future.

Marzipanogram · 13 Apr 2019 at 15:02

Thanks for the suggestion.
Trying it out at the moment on Android and PC.
It's very fast compared to FireFox. That was getting very slow.

I've also installed NoScript, Ghostery and uBlock Origin extensions (PC version).
I'm not sure if they're better than the inbuilt features of Brave?

Does anyone have any problems displaying the thumbnail pictures at the HUKD site (PC version)?
It's the list of products, not on the individual product/deal page.
I can get 4 or 5 images to load, but if I scroll the page, the rest are blank.
Thanks.

Cromulent · 13 Apr 2019 at 15:16

Marzipanogram said:
I've also installed NoScript, Ghostery and uBlock Origin extensions (PC version).
I'm not sure if they're better than the inbuilt features of Brave?

I'd just use the built-in features of Brave. I've been using it with zero ad blocking extensions and have not had a single problem.

Marzipanogram said:
Does anyone have any problems displaying the thumbnail pictures at the HUKD site (PC version)?
It's the list of products, not on the individual product/deal page.
I can get 4 or 5 images to load, but if I scroll the page, the rest are blank.
Thanks.

Nope. No problems for me. Maybe it is one of your extensions?

Marzipanogram · 13 Apr 2019 at 16:01

Cromulent said:
I'd just use the built-in features of Brave. I've been using it with zero ad blocking extensions and have not had a single problem.

Nope. No problems for me. Maybe it is one of your extensions?

Thank you for the help

I had to do a uninstall and folder deletion of Brave and reinstall to get it working properly again.
The "restore defaults" feature didn't even start.
It's working properly now.

Danny75 · 13 Apr 2019 at 16:31

Thanks for the recommendation. Uninstalled Firefox after half an hour of testing Brave. That's after about 14 years of using Firefox. Seems to block media autoplay fine.

@pastymuncher

V F · 13 Apr 2019 at 20:26

The speed difference they claim doesn't feel all that different to Firefox.

Though I decided to watch to test it out.

Marzipanogram · 13 Apr 2019 at 22:12

V F said:
The speed difference they claim doesn't feel all that different to Firefox.

Though I decided to watch to test it out.

I think FireFox's speed depends on what Extensions you're using.
I've uninstalled Ghostery from FireFox and the speed is a lot better.
So I've gone back to using it. There were a few annoyances with Brave (PC version).

Cromulent · 14 Apr 2019 at 00:05

Marzipanogram said:
I think FireFox's speed depends on what Extensions you're using.
I've uninstalled Ghostery from FireFox and the speed is a lot better.
So I've gone back to using it. There were a few annoyances with Brave (PC version).

Vivaldi is another browser you might want to try out. I prefer Brave myself but you might find Vivaldi is better for you.

nightmare99 · 14 Apr 2019 at 09:33

Edge Canary here, roast me.

Narj · 14 Apr 2019 at 10:23

bledd said:
Yup, I use it on my mobile more heavily than my Desktop. Saves bandwidth and time!

This.

pastymuncher · 14 Apr 2019 at 11:31

Danny75 said:
Thanks for the recommendation. Uninstalled Firefox after half an hour of testing Brave. That's after about 14 years of using Firefox. Seems to block media autoplay fine.

@pastymuncher

I had a look at it and downloaded it when this thread first popped up. Then I went and read a article about it and deleted the download without installing. From what the article says they remove the ad's and then replace them with their own. So not only does it seem that you still get ad's but what they are doing is at best dodgy, at worst unethical bordering on legality. I don't want to see ad's at all which is why I use a ad blocker (Ublock Origin) in Firefox so I am certainly not swapping to a browser that removes ad's only to replace them with their own.

Cromulent · 14 Apr 2019 at 11:36

pastymuncher said:
I had a look at it and downloaded it when this thread first popped up. Then I went and read a article about it and deleted the download without installing. From what the article says they remove the ad's and then replace them with their own. So not only does it seem that you still get ad's but what they are doing is at best dodgy, at worst unethical bordering on legality. I don't want to see ad's at all which is why I use a ad blocker (Ublock Origin) in Firefox so I am certainly not swapping to a browser that removes ad's only to replace them with their own.

That article is quite clear that although it shows ads they do not use tracking or any other nefarious methods that ads use on other browsers. They are perfectly safe. I'm more than happy to support websites that I use financially; I don't want ads that track my browsing habits or try and get hold of my personal data. The ads that Brave shows do none of those things and are perfectly safe to view.

Edit: You earn "money" for viewing Brave ads. This money is then automatically distributed to the sites you visit based on the amount of time you spend on them. You can also disable automatic distribution and decide manually which sites get the money.

darael · 14 Apr 2019 at 12:01

I'm with @pastymuncher on this one. I don't want to see adverts at all where possible and have no desire to share my browsing habits for the sake of making money.

Cromulent · 14 Apr 2019 at 12:04

darael said:
I'm with @pastymuncher on this one. I don't want to see adverts at all where possible and have no desire to share my browsing habits for the sake of making money.

You are not sharing your browsing history though. That is the whole point. The ads do not track your history.

darael · 14 Apr 2019 at 12:53

Cromulent said:
You are not sharing your browsing history though. That is the whole point. The ads do not track your history.

I didn't mention browsing history, I mentioned browsing habits.

Cromulent said:
Edit: You earn "money" for viewing Brave ads. This money is then automatically distributed to the sites you visit based on the amount of time you spend on them. You can also disable automatic distribution and decide manually which sites get the money.

Without guessing, how can they possibly know how long you spend on sites? By looking at your browsing habits.

Cromulent · 14 Apr 2019 at 13:35

darael said:
I didn't mention browsing history, I mentioned browsing habits.
Without guessing, how can they possibly know how long you spend on sites? By looking at your browsing habits.

Well yes, they might look at your browsing habits but they explicitly state that that information never leaves your computer.

jpaul · 14 Apr 2019 at 14:14

Cromulent said:
You are not sharing your browsing history though. That is the whole point. The ads do not track your history.

It decides what adds to show you based on you browsing history, brave central (bat company) knows what adverts have been billed to you so they have you

assume they got our houses, assume they got us , right here, right now as we sit, everything

How much money can you practically earn if you opt in .. is it just like supermarket loyalty cards where it is negligible, nonetheless if you can see who has payed to advertise to you that would be interesting. ... how do the adds appear ?

Along with that, the Brave browser constantly measures the Attention Value of each and every ad on the browser. This value is calculated based on the incremental time the ad is in view and the number of ad pixels that are visible in proportion to relevant content. Using machine learning on the attention value of different ads, the Brave browser shows the users the kind of ads they want to see.

The BAT is distinctly utilized for the purpose of accounting for attention. By using the BAT, there can be a universal unit of account for the platform, with verifiable settlements to the blockchain replacing the need to have several third party measurements taking place (along with associated and inevitable discrepancies).

We're also using the opportunity that a new platform provides to reset the ad experience. Ads won't be placed in ad slots alongside content in the web page. Banner blindness is the result of decades of ignoring ads placed alongside content. We have an opportunity to present content in a clean, almost reader-mode, and feature the ads separately to avoid repeat obstruction and annoying interruption.

Alternatively, the ad experience in the BAT platform will be progressive. You won't see 3-5 ads displayed within a single page load. Users will see fewer ads (no more than 10 a day, per user, most likely less than 5 per day). As the user browses, the local agent in the BAT platform will use a mix of intent signals and data from the search, history and other client-side data that is accessible from the browser with local machine learning algorithms to match the right ad at the right time to the user, from a full inventory catalog of ads that are pushed to the device.

I understand you can choose to have no add with Brave, in which case, if it is faster than using ublock etc. then could have some benefit there.

brave video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=49fA-tyzSlE

Some of these might be brands that might be in our trials. I will leave it at that." - Amazon, McDonalds, American Express, Nike.

I don't want uniquely amazon adverts .. john lewis / currys will go out of business