Browsing Wallabyup

When you use this search engine, your search query is matched with website content with less focus using social weightings (popularity is not as important on Wal). The benefit is that you're more in control of your results but the downside is spammers/scammers can pretend to be someone else. An example is when a spammer registers the domain westpac123.com.au and optimises written content on their fake site and has links from other sites better than westpac.com.au. Obviously this won't happen on Wal for such a big company as Westpac.com.au has an abundance of backlinks (social score) but it will happen for some small companies. Wallabyup using less social weightings meaning a different type of searching but more risk. I personally use bookmarks or type in the address when logging into my bank, ISP, etc. When researching unknown companies I do some of the below; - a Wallabyup site profile lookup (find who links to the company you are searching), - review sites (e.g. whirlpool.net.au* forum users or Redditors with a high post count), - a domain whois lookup via auda.org.au for the persons name (James Bond?) and check the ABN matches their website ABN, - an ABN lookup to see what companies they own and postcode location (e.g. postcodes around the Auburn area in Western Sydney have an increased risk of fraud in some lower Govt. ABS classifications 3 or below). * Note that Whirlpool does not allow bots (other than GoogleBot) to index their website so they are not found in the Wallabyup database. Also note that on Google/Bing/Duck/Wallabyup 1 person can; - register multiple domains under different names/ABNs OR buy existing websites if a domain expires, - host these domain names/websites on different servers, and - link to each other, list these websites on search directories, free wordpress/tumblr sites, etc... ... and this will improve their PageRank score. Plenty of people get scammed on Google because they think a search for a bank is the same as a search for bitcoin investment advise, plumber, a car wrecker, removalist, etc. Social weighting can stop most spam/scams on the front page but at the end of the day relying on an algorithm to determine if someone is lying is risky business.

Safe Browsing: Firefox + uBlock Origin Add-on

The safest way, well what I use anyhow, to surf the net is using the Mozilla Firefox browser with the "uBlock Origin" add-on (download the add-on from Mozilla). uBlock Origin blocks the main tracking scripts online but lets other JavaScript through. In addition to uBlock you can also install the "NoScript" add-on for blocking scripts individually in a dropdown menu. Most privacy advocates just use uBlock Origin 99% of the time and turn on NoScript when viewing risky content. When I am doing something risky, like clicking an email link to unsubscribe, I turn on the add-on "NoScript" before clicking unsubscribe. Also note that you shouldn't use Firefox add-ons with the message; "This add-on is not actively monitored for security by Mozilla. Make sure you trust it before installing." as add-ons can pass your username and passwords to the add-on creator.

Firefox "Privacy & Security" Settings

The below settings are changed in the menu dropdown "Edit" then select the menu item "Settings". - Make PDFs (and other files) NOT auto open in Firefox; General tab > Applications > Portable Document Format (PDF) > *always ask* - Set your home page and new tabs to blank; Home tab > *set both to blank* - This section is for the "Privacy & Security" Settings (find in the toolbar dropdown). Keep the level of protection at "Standard"; Privacy & Security tab > Browser Privacy > *select "Standard"* - Modify cookies preferences; Privacy & Security tab > Cookies & Site Data > Delete cookies when Firefox is closed - Remember history (purple links for visited pages) for current session; Privacy & Security tab > History > *use custom settings* and check "Remember browsing and download history" AND "Clear history when Firefox closes" AND *click the "Settings" button and check all options* - Turn off using your address bar for various things; Privacy & Security tab > Address bar > *uncheck all* - Turn off Firefox Data Collection & Use; Privacy & Security tab > Firefox Data Collection & Use > *uncheck all* - Don't send every URL to Google; Privacy & Security tab > Security > Uncheck "Block dangerous and deceptive content". - Disable "share my location" annoying popup; - Privacy & Security tab > Permissions > Location > Permissions > Settings > *check-mark the box next to Block new requests asking to access your location*

Firefox Address Bar Settings

This section is for special adjustments done in the address bar. In the address bar (where you type a URL) type; about:config and click the "accept the risk" warning button. In the search field type; keyword.enabled and set it to false. This stops sending every URL you type to Google. geo.enabled and set it to false. This turns off the nagging geolocator popup (it uses Google Location Services if authorised). middlemouse.contentLoadURL and change it to false. This turns off pasting clipboard to URL and allows middle clicking to close tabs. Note that the below option causes bugs on sites like Facebook and also on my router login page: network.http.sendRefererHeader and change it from "2" to "0". This disables sending a referrer when you click a link (prevents tracking where you came from).

Firefox Dark Theme

Looking at a white backgrounded screen can dry up your eyes more than a dark backgrounded screen so set your browser theme to dark; Tools > Add-ons > Themes > Dark > *Enable*.

Australian English

Open a browser window with a form input field (e.g. a contact form) > type in a word > right click and install an Australian dictionary add-on.

DuckDuckGo Browser Tabs

Here are the URLs for Duck searches; - Dark background search: https://duckduckgo.com/?t=lm&q= - Image search: https://duckduckgo.com/?q=iphone&iar=images&iax=images&ia=images