Are Chromebooks safe?

[Ματθιας]

Well then try this one:

Google sells the future, powered by your personal data

... The more Google products you use, the more Google can gather about you. Whether it’s Gmail, the Android smartphone operating system, YouTube, Google Drive, Google Maps, and, of course, Google Search — the company is collecting gigabytes of data about you. ...

I don't have a Gmail account, nor a smart phone, or an operating system, or google drive or maps or use google maps and I don't use their search engine. The only thing I do use is Youtube.

I'm sure they have a profile on me among others and I'm probably on some watchlist - tens millions of others.

 

[Muss Muggins]

Yeah, but you weren’t the fella asking for Chromebook advice. I was commenting on you comment to him. He was getting ready to use all those services . . .

I don't have a Gmail account, nor a smart phone, or an operating system, or google drive or maps or use google maps and I don't use their search engine. The only thing I do use is Youtube.

I'm sure they have a profile on me among others and I'm probably on some watchlist - tens millions of others.

 

[armadillo]

After the 3rd trip to the computer shop to get viruses removed from my desk top, I got my wife a Chromebook. If it starts acting up on her, I just do a "powerwash" which resets it to factory settings since you can't store anything on the Chromebook anyway. It worked so well, I got myself one to read e-mails and search the net.

I usually keep the internet unplugged on my desktop and only use it for the word processor or spreadsheet.

 

[Ματθιας]

Yeah, but you weren’t the fella asking for Chromebook advice. I was commenting on you comment to him. He was getting ready to use all those services . . .

Sorry, I miss understood. I was doing too many things as I was posting and read it wrong. !00% on me

 

[johngalt]

I didn't have anything Google on my PC till I added Firefox. Now by the new main page change I get ads and pages suggested for my viewing that I have no doubt my web surfing is totally tracked now by some Google tracking program using Firefox. I never got those till I started using Firefox. I don't want anything to do with Google Chrome anything.

Firefox is from Mozilla. Google's browser is Chrome.

 

[Kanewpadle]

There’s good and bad all around. Frankly, you simply can’t avoid all of the bad.

So they track me. Who cares. If someone wants to find me, so be it. Won’t be that hard. I got better things to worry about.

Now where did I put that tin foil hat?

OP, go for it. Get the Chromebook.

 

[JimBianchi]

I use a chromebook/wireless keyboard attached to my TV to browse the internet and watch movies. Fast and reliable for just entertainment.

Paid $50 for a like new 13 inch chromebook at a local used electronics shop I frequent.

Money well spent.

 

[swsig]

When using Firefox just just delete your history before closing down every time. Of course you will not keep any of your sign on's, so you will have to sign on with every visit, or as I do, clear everything, then set the history clear for "today" then visit the Forum sign on, close out and shut down. Don't start up again until the next day. Your Forum sign on will be there but nothing else. As long as you just clear everything through "today" you will be O.K.

With Firefox, select "Private Browsing" under "File", and no browsing history will be retained on your computer, so you won't have to remember to delete it. Also, to prevent or at least minimize tracking, use DuckDuckGo as your search engine. I think it is included with Firefox, but if not, you can download it.

 

[Muss Muggins]

True, but there will be many websites that you won’t be able to access in that mode, including the Washington Post, the St. Louis Post Dispatch, and others that don’t come to mind right away. . .

With Firefox, select "Private Browsing" under "File", and no browsing history will be retained on your computer, so you won't have to remember to delete it. Also, to prevent or at least minimize tracking, use DuckDuckGo as your search engine. I think it is included with Firefox, but if not, you can download it.

 

[Telecaster]

Russia and China killed millions of dissidents; all of us small fish in this vast sea of data are just as much a target as any small time capitalist holding out against Mao.

 

[blues7]

I have had a chromebook, (acer), for the last few years and love it.

I make use of the security features available, and also use a separate account to log into financial services and such which is never used for general browsing or recreation.

I have no plan to return to Windows or Mac as I can get by just fine without.

YMMV.

 

[Chief Wiggums]

I am a career "technology guy".
My field since the 80's....

I can assure you of the follow:
Deleted data is "NEVER" truly deleted. It is always out there if somebody wants to find it. My advice is painfully obvious:
credit cards - choose a company that will support you (insurance) in the event of stolen information or fraud.
The same w your bank of choice....

Absolutely - positively...never ever - ever provide a SS number online. Not to your bank , your employer , your mortgage company ...anybody...

Closing comments:
the educational facilities of the US and majority of state and local governmental agency has purchased 100's of thousands s of portable / mobile devices (laptops , iPAD type) that have had some or many components manufactured in China. Security risk???? mmmm yup.....

My tinfoil hat moment:
Cyber security attack ranks right up there w EMP.

 

[ACORN]

Point well taken!

 

[BC38]

There’s good and bad all around. Frankly, you simply can’t avoid all of the bad.

So they track me. Who cares. If someone wants to find me, so be it. Won’t be that hard. I got better things to worry about.

Now where did I put that tin foil hat?

OP, go for it. Get the Chromebook.

^^THIS^^ - in spades.
The amount of data available about each of us is huge and growing. You can't avoid it unless you want to pull a Kazinski and go be a hermit somewhere.
I don't worry about it. So what if they figure out how to tailor the ads they present me to match my interests?
If you watch TV, or listen to radio, or use the internet you're going to get bombarded with TONS of advertising anyway, and most of it will be for things you have no interest in whatsoever. Is that somehow better than seeing ads aimed at your actual interests?
Anybody who wants to go to the trouble to track my movements is going to see I'm pretty boring...

 

[Old TexMex]

Anybody who wants to go to the trouble to track my movements is going to see I'm pretty boring...

In words of the Stasi alumnus Wolfgang Schmidt, who was asked that question: "What about these Americans who say, I have nothing to hide?" And he said, and I quote: "This is very naïve. This is the reason that the government collects the information in the first place to use against you. The only way to prevent that is to prevent the information from being collected in the first place." End quote.

 

[Pete99004]

I use a ACER Chromebook 15.
Never any viruses or other problems.
Just can't post pics.

I have one. Never had any problems with it, no viruses or issues. I can post pics with it with no issues as well. If you're worried about your personal information, then don't put any personal information on it. Many apps are available now so you most likely will not miss your MS machine. I know I don't. Mine is a Samsung Chromebook Plus but many other models work as well as this one does. My Dell with Win10 is a doorstop since uploading an update last Oct. I decided I wasn't going to spend any money fixing the issue and bought the Chromebook. I know there is a "fix" for the no boot issue, but personally, I'm much happier with the Chromebook. Hope this helps.



Pete99004

 

[BC38]

In words of the Stasi alumnus Wolfgang Schmidt, who was asked that question: "What about these Americans who say, I have nothing to hide?" And he said, and I quote: "This is very naïve. This is the reason that the government collects the information in the first place to use against you. The only way to prevent that is to prevent the information from being collected in the first place." End quote.

Nice sentiment - and preventing the gathering of data about you was maybe even something that was possible in his day. But how do you propose to "prevent the information from being collected in the first place" these days? They're collecting info on ALL of us ALL of the time, and you can't prevent it unless you go live in a cave or an isolated cabin in the woods. The good news is they are collecting SO much data on ALL of us that they can't even analyze most of it to any meaningful degree. So unless they are already looking at you and trying to build some kind of case against you, you're just another string of ones and zeros in an ocean of ones and zeros.
Like I said, I'm not worrying about it - I have a lot more real things to worry about.

 

[Old TexMex]

Nice sentiment - and preventing the gathering of data about you was maybe even something that was possible in his day. But how do you propose to "prevent the information from being collected in the first place" these days? They're collecting info on ALL of us ALL of the time, and you can't prevent it unless you go live in a cave or an isolated cabin in the woods. The good news is they are collecting SO much data on ALL of us that they can't even analyze most of it to any meaningful degree. So unless they are already looking at you and trying to build some kind of case against you, you're just another string of ones and zeros in an ocean of ones and zeros.
Like I said, I'm not worrying about it - I have a lot more real things to worry about.

I take heart in what Wm. Binney (ex top cryptologist / SIGINT for NSA) said ”Data is not intelligence.”

I don’t worry about it, but I’m certainly not going to believe it isn’t probable, nor support efforts to allow “data” becoming “intelligence”.

Five years ago, no one would have believed that steering product sales could be accomplished through search engines, regulating electric consumption in individual homes, disabling automobiles by remote control.

No one except “conspiracy theorists”. (Allen Dulles’ terminology).

That’s why I vote.

 

[Kanewpadle]

It’s a fact that if the government or anyone else for that matter wants to spy on you, they can. And there’s not a thing you do about it.

I’m not hiding under a rock. They know where I am. The government has my fingerprints and so does the state. And since leaving the military I’ve had three background checks done as a vendor to companies with DOD contracts.

We’re in the Information Age. But before that, it wasn’t to difficult to find and track someone anyway.

 

[Golddollar]

We’re in the Information Age. But before that, it wasn’t to difficult to find and track someone anyway.

I know this is true because I've done it. Back some 30 years ago I tracked down an heir to a property using a telephone book, road atlas and estate information I got from the courthouse. County courthouses are repositories of information on people, and it's considered for the most part public record.