An important point. I've switched to Firefox (with uMatrix) for this very reason.
I can't yet bring myself to stop using Google. But I make a deliberate effort to not use their search when I don't have to:
- when I know exactly when I'm going, I rely on bookmarks and the browsers history or just type the URL in full.
- when my destination is a deep URL I use the method above to navigate to the website's homepage, and search using the builtin search (Wikipedia, IMdB).
- when all else fails, I Google.
The small decrease in productivity is more than made up by the warm feeling I get inside.
I can't yet bring myself to stop using Google. But I make a deliberate effort to not use their search when I don't have to:
- when I know exactly when I'm going, I rely on bookmarks and the browsers history or just type the URL in full.
- when my destination is a deep URL I use the method above to navigate to the website's homepage, and search using the builtin search (Wikipedia, IMdB).
- when all else fails, I Google.
The small decrease in productivity is more than made up by the warm feeling I get inside.