Help me make sense of this

[PC Surgeon]

So I have my chrome browser open with several tabs. One of them Amazon. On another a google search for "Lyman reloading manual". Mind you I only searched that phrase and didn't click on any link. I refresh (or click on Amazon in the left corner) and what do I see as a suggestion? Lyman reloading manual. How does this happen?

My guess is some sort of cookie thing going on. How do I prevent this? I just find it freaky. I mean its one thing to google search and see ads about things you searched for but to have a website pull data from a search is a bit out there IMO.

[lxskllr]

Google and Amazon probably share data. Don't know exactly how, but using Google to search, especially when you're logged in to their other services is a pretty clear indication of exactly who you are.

I don't use Google search, and I don't stay logged in to the few services I use. I block ads, trackers, and third party cookies, and I use NoScript. I see little indication that companies know who I am when I go on their sites.

[PC Surgeon]

IDK of any other search engine worth using other than Google. Have a better one? Or equivalent?

I already has 3rd party cookies disabled. Do you use a certain adblocker? Tracker blocker (sounds odd)? NoScript seems to be firefox only from what I can tell so I assume thats what you're using.

I usually log out of Google after checking my email but sometimes I forget. I always seem to notice that I am automatically logged into YouTube and it asks if I want to use my real name without an option for "No and don't ask me again".

[lxskllr]

I like DuckDuckGo for search. Some say it isn't as good, but it gives me useful results, and has some niceties Google doesn't provide.

https://duckduckgo.com/about

Give it a try for awhile, and see what you think. If you really don't like it, try StartPage. It's Google, but it's run through their servers first to anonymize your searches.

https://startpage.com/

I use AdBlock+ with Fanboy's Ultimate list. That blocks ads, and much more...

https://secure.fanboy.co.nz/filters.html

I use Firefox. It's libre software, and I can view the source code if I choose. Aside from not liking Chrome much, I just can't trust a browser made by an ad company(Google). You like what you like though. You might also want to look into HTTPS Everywhere. It forces an encrypted connection when available, and will stop some referrer links from going through. It isn't perfect, and I occasionally run into a page that breaks when using it, but it's fairly rare, and easy to fix. You can either turn it off for the page load, or manually change the url to http from https.

https://www.eff.org/https-everywhere

[compman25]

More important, what are you reloading?

[Phanuel]

Originally Posted by compman25

More important, what are you reloading?

I think this man is recording information for a file on you, run!