Truth to told, I feel, at times, that we are not writing enough of these. As the internet continues to spread its veins into more aspects of your life, the need for tools to bolster your presence on it also escalates further. Hence, in this edition of Chromeville, we introduce you to three more extensions for Google Chrome built to shield you from these rising vulnerabilities.
No Coin
Various illicit websites are known to employ algorithms for something called “cryptocurrency mining”. This essentially allows them to execute a few tasks on your computer’s CPU in the background without your consent. There’s no straightforward way to immediately know whether a particular website does that. Therefore, we recommend using a Chrome extension called “No Coin”. “No Coin” is a free MIT-licensed tool which blocks any such activities across the interwebs. In case, a website doesn’t allow such extensions to function and puts up shortlinks and captchas to make sure of that, “No Coin” comes with a feature that lets these miners work for a brief period of time. Once you’re in, the extension activates its wall again and lets you browse in tranquility. Chrome Web Store Link
Self Destroying Cookies
Most online platforms now store little pieces of data called “cookies” in your browser. Doing so enables the website to know your identity whenever you revisit them. However, despite being such an intricate part of the process, cookies can be harmful as they’re relatively easier to access. That being said, disabling these cookies is also not a viable option since a range of leading websites don’t load without them. To overcome this conundrum, you should install this free little extension appropriately called “Self Destroying Cookies”. This plugin, instead of completing preventing cookies, automatically erases them as soon as you close the Chrome tab or window. You can, of course, whitelist a bunch of websites you feel are safe to use. Chrome Web Store Link
Search Privacy
If you’re even remotely familiar with the web, you know how every search query you execute contributes to building a personal digital profile. Companies like Google share this data with their own advertising network for showing you more personal banners later. One method for curbing this is to prevent trackers on your browser, read more about it here. The other way is to cut the data input from the source and avoid using search engines like Google which is why our third extension exists. For achieving the latter, you can try the “Search Privacy” Chrome extension which redirects your queries to its platform which is end-to-end encrypted and doesn’t share your requests with anyone else. Since this search engine doesn’t have access to your digital profile, you will also come across neutral results. While, as of now, results from “Search Privacy” are not comparable to giants like Google, they’re accurate enough to fulfill your day-to-day needs. Chrome Web Store Link
