How to make the Internet bearable

As I'm sure you're excruciatingly aware, the Internet, its platforms, and the tools we use to access them have been turning to shit for a while now. I've recently taken a few steps to make it a bit better for myself, and they seem to be working out well, so I oughta share them.

Reversing browser bloat

One option would be to just switch to a leaner browser that respects your privacy, something like LibreWolf or Vivaldi. That's not necessarily the best option for security (or convenience, for that matter), so you might instead want to customize the browser you've already got.

Just the Browser is a script you can run on a Windows, Mac, or Linux machine to remove unwanted features from Chrome, Edge, and Firefox. Quoting from the Just the Browser site, here are the things it kills.

• Most AI features: Features that use generative AI models, either on-device or in the cloud, like Copilot in Microsoft Edge or tab group suggestions in Firefox. The main exception is page translation in Firefox.
• Shopping features: Price tracking, coupon codes, loan integrations, etc.
• Sponsored or third-party content: Suggested articles on the New Tab Page, sponsored site suggestions, etc.
• Default browser reminders: Pop-ups or other prompts that ask you to change the default web browser.
• First-run experiences and data import prompts: Browser welcome screens and their related prompts to import data automatically from other web browsers.
• Telemetry: Data collection by web browsers. Crash reporting is left enabled if the browser (such as Firefox) supports it as a separate option.
• Startup boost: Features that allow web browsers to start with the operating system without explicit permission.

These changes are configurable and completely reversible. I haven't been using this one long yet, so maybe I'll run into trouble later, but at the moment it all seems great.

Banishing AI bullshit

We're basically drowning in unwanted "AI" / LLM / machine-learning features and content at the moment. Until the suits get a clue, our best bet for dodging that shit is blocking it the same way we do advertising.

Have you already got uBlock Origin? I believe you need to get the Lite version if you're on Chrome—possibly Safari, too. Anyway, you've probably already got some version of it but, if not, it's much recommended!

Anyway, one of the great things about uBlock is that it lets you add custom blocklists. And Stevo's GenAI Blocklist is purpose-built to clear all those little twinkle icons off your goddamned internet, removing things such as…

• Google's AI summaries
• YouTube's Ask button, AI summaries, & "Inspiration" tab
• GitHub's Copilot buttons
• X/Twitter's Grok buttons
• Microsoft 365's Copilot buttons
• Amazon Rufus's product and review summaries
• DeviantArt's DreamUp ads
• Facebook's AI chat
• Reddit Answers
• Booru images tagged as AI generated

Damn, I didn't even know about half that shit, but it's worth adding this blocklist just to clean up Google.

Restoring verbatim search

Folks, I don't know about you, but the number of times I've tried to search for something obscure on Google or DuckDuckGo and instead gotten a page full of something much more popular and marketable that's spelled kind of like what I wanted is . . . well, it is a much higher number than I would like.

And the option to search for exactly what you typed ("verbatim search") is still there (at least on Google), but it's kinda buried. It is a multi-click process, and you can't just set it and forget it. You've gotta do it every damn time.

Fortunately, you can just have your browser do it for you.

Here's a very old post from "nostrademons" (on the Y Combinator site of all places) explaining how to do it.

You can't do it for all Google, but if you use Chrome, you can set it as the Omnibox default. Go to Menu -> Settings -> Search -> Manage Search Engines, then add a new row at the bottom that says "Google Verbatim", "verbatim", "https://www.google.com/search?tbs=li:1&q=%s", hit Done and click "Manage Search Engines" again, then find that row in the list above (alphabetical) and click "Make default". Now everything in the address bar uses verbatim search.

And you can set something like this up on Firefox, too. You just go Menu -> Settings -> Search -> Search Shortcuts, add the Google verbatim shortcut, then scroll back up to Default Search Engine to set the new shortcut as your default.

Other stuff

Personally, I use both Adblock and Adblock Plus in addition to uBlock Origin Lite. I have no idea if that's necessary, but it doesn't seem to be a problem.

I've got two extensions just to un-fuck Reddit: Reddit Promoted Ad Blocker and Reddit Image Opener.

I also use No Bloat Fandom and Fandom SideBar Remover, because that wretched platform just keeps gobbling up wikis and showing up in searches, and it absolutely sucks to use.

I ought to check out the Tampermonkey extension (inheritor to Greasemonkey, Chrome-compatible alternative to Violentmonkey). I'm just not ready for that right now.

I should also probably check out Windows10Debloater and privacy.sexy, but I'm a little leery of screwing around with my OS too much.

Oh, and I've been playing around with Linux Mint, and that seems pretty cool so far. But that's way off topic from what was supposed to be a post about Internet stuff.

Closing comments

So, there's hope out there. The stuff that's been bothering you has been bothering other people, and there are some smart folks out there working to address at least some of it. The Internet can still be cool because people want it to be, and the suits still don't get to control everything.