General browser settings

Home page

https://www.myfav.es/stijn.bousard

Privacy settings

Doorgaans kan alles via de instellingen van de browser zelf ingesteld worden. Om advertenties te blokkeren is er soms een extensie / plug-in / add-in nodig.

	Opera	Brave	Firefox	Iexplore	Chrome⁷	Edge >= 2020 (Chromium)	Tor⁹
block 3rd-party cookies						Cookies van derden blokkeren Block third-party cookies
block ads⁴			⁶	²		Blokkeren op sites die storende of misleidende advertenties weergeven Block on sites that show intrusive or misleading ads	⁶
do not track				³		Traceringspreventie: strikt Tracking prevention: Strict
google.be⁻²	⁻¹	⁰	¹	⁵		Zoekprogramma dat in de adresbalk wordt gebruikt Address bar search engines	¹⁰

⁻² Basic URL = https://www.google.be/search?q=%s
⁻¹ Not possible by default (google.com is possible): you can add google.be as search engine, but you cannot make it the default search engine - you can then use it by preceding your search by the keyword
Another possibility is using the URL Auto Redirector extension:
Source: ^https://www.google.com/(.*) - Destination: https://www.google.be/$1
⁰ Make default
¹ - Open menu () > Add-ons
- click on the Find more add-ons button
- in the Find add-ons form field bovenaan rechts, fill in google.be Nederlands
- krijg je meerdere resultaten (op dit ogenblik twee), klik op die met de hoogste waardering (of de laagste… 29/05/2019)
- klik op de knop + Add to Firefox
- er wordt om bevestiging gevraagd
- vink Make this the current search engine aan
- klik op de knop Add
- Open opnieuw het menu () > Options
- in het zoekveld bovenaan rechts, vul search engine in
- in de sectie Default Search Engine, kies Google.be NL
- in de sectie One-Click Search Engines, zet Google.be NL bovenaan
² https://adblockplus.org/nl/internet-explorer (don't use Adguard, unless you'd like to pay - 14 days trial, 18 euro/year)
³ - Tools () > Internet Options
- Advanced tab > Security section
- Send Do Not Track requests to sites you visit in Internet Explorer
⁴ Om in de Google search geen advertenties te zien, moet je de extensie uBlock Origin installeren
⁵ Ms IE Google Search (België).reg
⁶ Built-in???
⁷ All settings are automatically saved if you enable synchronization!
⁸ Impossible to set to google.be, google.com is possible - created a ticket - this reduces the search tools to language-period-all, no "country"
⁹ based on Firefox
¹⁰ using the same add-on as Firefox, however the tools do not show "country" and "language"!!!???

Test privacy settings

block 3rd-party cookies

block ads

Surf bv. naar www.techadvisor.co.uk surfen, da's een site met heel wat advertenties.

do not track

google.be

Zoek via de adresbalk naar bv. het woord 'test'. Bij de resultaten moet je via Tools > Elk land kunnen wijzigen in België

Set google.be (or any other search engine) as your default search engine

https://www.google.be/search?q=%s

In Brave and Chrome, you can add them. In Chrome based Edge as well. Other browsers require a reg. script (IE) or an extension (Firefox).

Why google.be for God's sake? Well, if you simply use google.com, you cannot limit the search results to your country.

Internet Explorer

Use the attached .reg script to add it to your search engines.

Opera

See: URL_Auto_Redirector

Brave

You can add it:

• go to brave://settings/
• scroll down to the Search engine section and click on Manage search engines
• click on the Add button
  • Search engine: Google Search Belgium
  • Keyword: :s
  • URL with %s in place of query: https://www.google.be/search?q=%s
  • Save
  • it appears in the list of Default search engines
  • click on the More actions button () and choose Make default
• then return to the Search engine section in the Settings page
• next to Search engine used in the address bar, select the freshly created Google Search Belgium

Chrome

You can add it:

• go to chrome://settings/
• scroll down to the Search engine section and click on Manage search engines
• click on the Add button
  • Search engine: Google Search Belgium
  • Keyword: google.be
    
  • URL with %s in place of query: https://www.google.be/search?q=%s
  • Save
  • it appears in the list of Default search engines
  • click on the More actions button () and choose Make default
• then return to the Search engine section in the Settings page
• next to Search engine used in the address bar, select the freshly created Google Search Belgium

Edge

See: Chrometana

Remove the bing icon in the Edge's search bar:

• Settings and more ()
• Privacy, search, and services section
• scroll down to Services
• Address bar and search >
• Search on new tabs uses search or address bar: Address bar

Edge Settings

• Privacy, search, and services
• Address bar and search
• Manage search engines
• Add:
  • Search engine: Google (Belgium)
  • Keyword: https://www.google.be/search?q={searchterms}
  • URL with %s in place of query: https://www.google.be/search?q=%s

With the above settings, you can set 'Google (Belgium)' as default search engine.

Firefox

See: Redirector

or

use the Add custom search engine extension.

Always use your preferred browser and your preferred search engine

For Chromium browsers this can be achieved by installing:

• < Windows 11: !EdgeDeflector: redirects Edge to your preferred browser
  • after installation, go to Settings > Default apps
  • scroll down and click on Choose default apps by protocol
  • scroll down to MICROSOFT-EDGE, click on the (Edge) icon next to it and choose EdgeDeflector instead
• >= Windows 11: !MSEdgeRedirect: redirects Edge to your default browser - just install it, no configuration or tweaking required!!!
• and in your Chromium browser: the Chrometana extension: redirects bing searches to your preferred search engine
  • after installation, in your Chromium browser, access the Details page of the Chrometana extension
  • click on Extension options
  • click on the Additional Settings button
  • check the Apply to all Bing Searches radio button
  • check the Use a Custom Search Engine checkbox
  • fill in your preferred search engine, e.g. https://www.google.be/search?q=

For other browsers (Firefox), !SearchDeflector is probably the best choice - I don't use it because clicking on a (search) link in the Windows Lock screen, results in an error! Therefore, I use the above mentioned solution using EdgeDeflector & Chrometana.

webhp & imghp

If you go to https://www.google.be/search?q=, you are automatically redirected to https://www.google.be/webhp.

There is nothing wrong with this redirection. webhp simply stands for Web search Home Page.

If you click the images link (top right), you'll see it redirects to https://www.google.be/imghp, and, guess what, that stands for Image search Home Page.

Default themes / Custom color settings

Whenever I mention blue below, I mean 'Windows accent color'.

Opera

Default themes

• Light (OK for someone who likes light themes)
  • active tab: white - black letters
  • inactive tab: light grey - dark grey letters
  • no clear distinction between active and inactive browser windows, apart from the (Windows) border color
• Dark (too overwhelming black)
  • active tab: dark grey - white letters
  • inactive tab: black - light grey letters
  • no clear distinction between active and inactive browser windows, apart from the (Windows) border color

Custom

• Not possible! (what a pity!)

Brave

Default

• Same as Windows
• Dark (comparable to Opera - so too overwhelming black)
  • active tab: dark grey - white letters
  • inactive tab: black - light grey letters
  • (!) inactive window: active tab color remains with light grey letters, inactive tabs keep light grey letters, but get a dark grey background (!)
• Light (too little difference between active and inactive tabs)
  • active tab: very light grey - black letters
  • inactive tab: light grey - dark grey letters
  • (!) inactive window: active tab color remains with dark grey letters, inactive tabs become even lighter grey with lighter grey letters as well (!)

Custom

The good thing is that you can access the Chrome new tab page (not the Brave new tab page), by entering the following address:

brave://new-tab-page

And there you have the button (bottom right) Customize:

• choose the Color and theme section
• you can choose:
  • a custom color (with a color picker)
  • default colors (dark / light - see Default)
  • between 22 predefined themes!
    • 16 light variants with black letters
    • 6 dark variants with white letters
• choose e.g. Dark blue:
  • active tab: blue - white letters
  • inactive tab: dark blue - greyed letters

Chrome

Default

There is no real default. Upon creating a profile, you immediately have to pick a theme color. So see Custom!

Custom

Even if you have an extension controlling the New Tab page setting, as in Brave, you can always reach the default Chrome new tab page by entering the following address:

chrome://new-tab-page

And there you have the pencil button (bottom right, 'Customize this page'):

• choose the Color and theme section
• you can choose:
  • a custom color (with a color picker)
  • default colors
    • dark (Windows colors):
      • active tab: very dark grey - white letters
      • inactive tab: blue - white letters
      • (!) inactive window: active tab color remains with light grey letters, inactive tabs become light grey with black letters (!)
    • light (Windows colors):
      • active tab: white - black letters
      • inactive tab: blue - white letters
      • (!) inactive window: active tab color remains with greyed letters, inactive tabs become grey with black letters (!)
  • between 22 predefined themes!
    • 16 light variants with black letters
    • 6 dark variants with white letters
• choose e.g. Dark blue:
  • active tab: blue - white letters
  • inactive tab: dark blue - greyed letters

Edge

Default

Comparable to the way Chrome defines the default colors in its Theme picker screen:

• System default (that's one of the two following:)
• Light (Windows colors):
  • active tab: white - black letters
  • inactive tab: blue -
    • black letters (if e.g. the accent color is Default blue) (unreadable!)
    • white letters (if e.g. the accent color is Navy blue) (nice)
  • (!) inactive window: active tab color remains with greyed letters, inactive tabs become grey with black letters (!)
• Dark (Windows colors):
  • active tab: very dark grey - white letters
  • inactive tab: blue -
    • black letters (if e.g. the accent color is Default blue) (unreadable!)
    • white letters (if e.g. the accent color is Navy blue) (nice)
  • (!) inactive window: active tab color remains with light grey letters, inactive tabs become light grey with black letters (!)

Custom

Not possible until you enable the following flag. So first go to

edge://flags

• Then set the Enable picker for color based themes to Enabled.
• Restart Edge.
• then go to Settings > Appearance

Now you have some other themes as well with lyrical names, varying from Morning fog to Mystical forest,

• 8 of which are light themes with dark letters
• 6 of which are dark themes with white letters

So, for these themes, the Windows accent color doesn't influence the tab text color.

Choosing one of these themes also disables the difference between active and inactive browser windows (apart from the Windows border color).

Firefox

Default

• Default (depending on the Windows color schemes Light/Dark)
  • Light
    • active tab: white - black letters
    • inactive tab: blue - white letters
    • inactive window: active tab remains white with grey letters, inactive tabs become light grey with black letters
  • Dark
    • active tab: black - white letters
    • inactive tab: blue - white letters
    • inactive window: active tab becomes dark grey with light grey letters, inactive tabs become black with grey letters

And the following themes are available by default:

• Dark
• Firefox Alpgenglow
• Light

And then the Themes addons page also makes some recommendations:

• Retro Circles and Rectangles
• Modern Purple
• fractal blue flowers

Custom

Apart from the above mentioned themes (which I didn't test), you can even build your own theme using the Firefox Color add-on, which enables you to set your personal toolbar color, toolbar icons and background color.

The add-on contains:

• 24 preset themes
• a Custom colors tab - 9 customizable UI elements, which can be previewed in the add-on itself
  very convenient to quickly create a custom theme!
• an Advanced colors tab - 29 customizable UI elements, previewe in Firefox itself instead of the add-on page
  for die-hard themers
• a Custom backgrounds tab with patterns & the possibility to upload your own background
  if you use a custom background, it is not a background for the main window of a new tab, but as a background for the top baar, visible to the left and right of the active tab, as background of inactive tabs and the browser controls, which isn't always desirable (invisible)
• and a Saved themes tab

Personal background image for the start and/or home and/or new page/tab in any browser

	start home new all	Procedure	Refresh in case of a new image
Opera	New tab Start Page Speed Dial	open a new tab rightclick and choose 'Change wallpaper" click on the 'Desktop' thumbnail
Chrome	Home page	set myfav.es as Home page add the Tampermonkey extension install the https://greasyfork.org/nl/scripts/416723-myfav-es-custom-background script	F12 Network tab check the Disable cache option refresh the page uncheck the Disable cache option
Chrome	New Tab	with the default New Tab: Click on the Customize this page pencil icon at (bottom right) Upload your image using the Upload from device link this setting is not synced over your Google Account
Chrome	New Tab	with the Custom New Tab Background, you can set your New Tab to show a picture of your choice and nothing but a picture... the image itself isn't synced
Chrome	All sites	perhaps this is overkill, but can be achieved through the Change Website Background extension you can choose a picture, set opacity (e.g. 0.85) and blur (I wouldn't), and then the image appears on all websites you visit! again, this setting isn't synced (the extension is, but the settings aren't)
Edge (Chromium)	Home page	see Chrome	see Chrome
Firefox	Home Page	see https://superuser.com/questions/1495946/how-do-i-change-the-background-image-of-home-page-in-firefox
Brave	Home Page	probably the same way as Chrome - not tested	~ Chrome
Edge < 2020	-	obsolete
Iexplore	-	obsolete

Firefox

• https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1271362
• https://www.reddit.com/r/FirefoxCSS/comments/he3fs2/is_it_possible_to_target_all_extension/

Tags

browsers - browser