Non Phone Internet Question

[droidborg]

Sorry to go off topic but for one when ever I need to know something technical that is beyond me I can almost always find what I need to know on a forum dedicated to what I'm looking for and I don't know how to find a good PC internet navigation forum. The gurus here seem pretty geeky and likely didn't get that way on their phones so I thought I would put it to the group.

First off do you know of a good forum for PCs that don't just deal with hardware and programing?

The reason for my query is that I can't stand being tracked everywhere I go on the internet. I feel that it is an invasion of privacy and no direct marketing scheme that they say it is all leading to is ever going to benefit me because I just don't buy the stuff that 99% of the population do.


I use Sygate personal firewall and have it set so that nothing goes in or out without asking and my clicking ok. This was working pretty well but lately it seems like when ever I go anywhere on line, particularly if I have clicked a link in Thunderbird, to get to the place I want I have to ok a bunch of non related tracking sites. Google Analytics is particularly bad and I have Google Update permanently blocked because no matter what I do on my PC Google wants a piece of it even if I'm not on line.

Like right now...AecSoft Connection Notifier wants to connect??? I've never seen that one until today and this is the 10th time it has tried...

I could live with all that but as of late if I don't let some of these things access I can't even browse until it clears off which at times takes a reboot. I have checked for spyware/malware etc and am pretty sure that isn't it. It seems that they are making the mining programs more invasive and somehow getting in between me and where I want to go unless I pay the toll.

On my phone I have given up on the idea of privacy because every app requires full disclosure of everything you do to run it, and I want to run them, but on my PC I really don't want to relinquish control until I have to, which may be just around the corner with the new HTML 5 on the way. But that time isn't here yet I don't believe.

So if anyone has any advice or knows of a good forum please chime in.

Thanks

Btw I'm using Firefox

 

[Ghostwheel]

First, it's probably only a matter of time before this thread gets moved to the off-topic forum. But...

Btw I'm using Firefox

Good. That's the first step. Do you use NoScript and AdBlock Plus? Those are two very important Firefox extensions you'll want to have.

Also, you may want to consider Linux, assuming that by "PC" you mean you're currently running some version of Windows. Check into Ubuntu, it's a good distro for beginners.

 

[droidborg]

Thanks for the reply Ghostwheel,

While advice is certainly appreciated I would gladly defer to a good forum that is dedicated to what I'm searching for, as I stated, if someone knew of one. I know this is off topic, as I stated, but there are so many people on here as resources and a few off topic questions are hardly a dent, plus everyone has a computer too and could benefit from the info.

Yes, AdBlock. No, NoScript. I'll check that out.

Yes, XP Pro. I guess I want to have my cake and eat it too, sort of. I know Linux is off the radar for the most part because it isn't really profitable for people to write virus or spyware etc because so few have it, comparatively, but I also like to download programs to perform tasks with ease that as far as I understand aren't very easy with Linux. Plus don't you have to build up a computer from scratch to run Linux? I guess I could have 2, one Windows for doing stuff and one Linux for web activity, but that is really too much trouble unless the climate becomes extremely predatory.