My Brave Browser Setup and Recommendations

[@c-LAW]

9:43 Bitwarden has a very nice container setup. You get all the pro-features but it's self hosted. You know the privacy advantages Self-hosting.

[@sideofburritos]

I'll check that out, thanks for the suggestion.

[@iinph]

Amazing video and explanations. very brief, no wasting time, no trash introductions, totally enjoyed watching the whole video. Thank you duder! Looking forward to explore more of your videos:)

[@explorer8741]

Really liked the way you have explained each and every setting. Very helpful video. Thanks a ton for the upload.

[@sideofburritos]

You're very welcome! Glad to hear it was useful!

[@sammywilliam8156]

​@@sideofburritos And explained it where anybody with a laptop can follow you and they don't need PHD and being a computer technician

[@stergioyy]

Thank you very much, straight to the point. No ads no useless stuff. Nice video!

[@ArtOfHealth]

Interesting note here. Blokkapp cannot be found in the browsers you mentioned without using the full url. When I did a comparison check between Adguard and Blokk, all that came up was a distorted reply to my request. Even on Chrome. I use Decentr, Bromite, Brave and Chrome. Last night, I started using WebApps from Fdroid. It is interesting. Thanks for your tips. I despise all busy backgrounds. Simple is better.

[@sideofburritos]

Hmm, that's interesting. What exactly were you searching for and where?

[@picosdrivethru]

locking fingerprinting causes the caret to display at the start of a line in google docs when in reality its at the line end and you're typing, it also breaks display of certain formatted text.. just FYI for anyone out there!

[@RealMattCook]

very helpful, thank you. I've been super pleased with Brave so far, after a week or so.

[@sideofburritos]

It's a solid browser. I wish all the crypto stuff wasn't bundled with it, but at least you can disable it.

[@slm2874]

1 sugestion, under Site and Shield Settings, I would disable sites from reading your clipboard(a password that you just copied form the password manager)

[@antoninadyuk1326]

Great video about privacy and great recommendations for me. I use Brave Browser now. Thanks.

[@tossedsalad4669]

1:45 'I like to enable... "always show full URLs". ' I have the opposite opinion. I prefer the default shorted URLs which show only what you need to determine the domain (not the sub domain which is generally unnecessary distracting detail). That simpler display makes it a lot easier to notice if you have been tricked onto the wrong site. That improves security and I believe that's why Brave makes it default.

[@triggersplace]

Another great video Josh. Installed paywall bypass and it is excellent. Note the Continue running background apps when brave is closed under system settings isn't visible in version 1.46.144

[@sideofburritos]

Thank you! Hmm, that's interesting. What OS are you using?

[@SimonTAMG]

Installed today and using Brave now. I like it!

[@shab-re5334]

the biggest reason I won't use brave is that it makes chromium market share more stronger and that's bad for the internet

[@sideofburritos]

That's a fair point. But if security is lacking in Mozilla-based browsers, you're leaving yourself exposed. I don't disagree with your sentiment, but it's tough to recommend a less secure alternative.

[@nikoskampourakis4613]

​@@sideofburritosFirefox isn't secure sure it might be more private than chrome but still collects data

[@tizme2311]

Interesting and informative, I do not use Google, MS, Explorer as they are privacy and security challenges. I used to use Firefox, but switched to Brave, however, there are a few niggles. 1) You can see one of them at your vid time stamp 1.06, the slider bar on the right of the screen width is too narrow, IS there a setting to increase the width? 2) The "Top Sites" function is limited to four groups if 12 sites, is ther a way to make the number of groups unlimited. The reason is I have groups of related sites and prefer to keep them concatenated. The TAB Pin function has limitations and can clutter the number of visible tabs, plus, you can inadvertently delete the tabs when closing Brave, especially if you have multiple instances of Brave running. The History recovery function does not cater for this and is limited in scope. So, any suggestions regarding the width of the Nav slider on the right of the page?

[@stormwolfe1267]

Great video! I do have a question... My version of Brave does not give the option to change/update IPFS settings... at least I could not find it... help?

[@GreenCanvasInteriorscape]

Excellent summary for computers I'm on an Android and enjoy the brave browser tremendously, mainly due to being able to watch KZbin in the background or with the screen black, I previously discovered and forgot what I did to make it happen but I'd been able to group different websites together on one window so I could tap in between, can't find a way to make it happen though I did in the past, thank you

[@squallsquall9669]

thanks for suggesting bypass paywall extensions i just learned about this now.

[@sideofburritos]

Happy to help!

[@charmainedudley7747]

Greetings from South Africa👋WOW, has anybody told you, you look like Shia LaBeouf! .... was watching movie ''Fury'' on Netflixs the weekend! That's uncanny! Anyway, thank you so much for the video! Awesome, cut to the chase! Excellent!

[@sideofburritos]

Haha! That's funny, I think you're the third person to say that. I never thought about it until people on KZbin started mentioning it. You're welcome!

[@ahmedaibrahim8028]

How are Chromium-based browsers more secure than Firefox? as far as I know, they are more secure only on Android because Firefox on Android doesn't have (per-site isolation) but that's not the case on PCs and Macs. By using Chromium-based browsers we are shooting ourselves in the foot , because by using them, we are giving Google more control over the web since they control the Chromium project. Firefox is secure out of the box and with some tweaks you can make it as private as possible, although they are private out of that box but not perfectly.

[@gqby4724]

Firefox's sanbox is quite weak compaired to chromium's, especially on linux, chromium based browsers also have better exploit mitigation. Also, tweaking your browser to be more "private" can actually make you stand out more because of fingerprinting. If you want to learn about that matter more in-depth, I encourage you to check out the maidaidan's insecurities blog, which explains these two subjects way better than I ever could (can't post the links here unfortunately due to the spam filters).

[@sideofburritos]

What @gqby4724 said. Here's the link referenced: madaidans-insecurities.github.io/firefox-chromium.html

[@leonardoriera5012]

Really like your videos. I actually learned about some adjustments to my Brave setup. One thing I do that I didn't see you go through is change the DNS settings. My understanding is that leaving it in the default gives ISPs a complete view of your browsing history, and has quite a legal history how that default setting came about. I personally use a custom NextDNS to filter out things Brave and uBlock won't filter plus add security settings, but setting it to the stock NextDNS is great. Other good options for privacy are things like Cloud9 or OpenDNS.

[@sideofburritos]

Thanks! For DNS, my preference is to set that at the system level instead of the browser, which is why I didn't cover that. The ISP part you mentioned is true. While they won't see your browsing history in details since that *should* all be encrypted (nearly all popular sites support HTTPS) they can still see any unencrypted DNS requests. Have you found any benefit to setting it in your browser instead of on your system? That's interesting about the history of how that default settings came about, I never looked into it, but I'll have to check that out.

[@raymondthebrave]

Dont you need to pay NextDNS? Or is there a free option

[@dongenesis5891]

you have an updated 2023 video for this?

[@dav5306]

Thank you for this video. I'm just about to start using this browser.

[@ElliottNest41]

Excellent, efficient review. Subscribed.

[@sideofburritos]

Awesome, thank you!

[@kimhbryan]

Nice setup! I think your settings are quite sensible. I’m currently using Firefox with the uBlock Origin and Bitwarden extensions. I have considered Brave, but am very hesitant to try it due to 1. the affiliate link controversy 2. cryptocurrency stuff like BAT, rewards, etc. Maybe I’ll take a look at it once more (I’ve completely ignored it ever since the affiliate link controversy happened). Great vid, as always.

[@Zubbbz]

I was using Firefox and i switched to brave for a couple months and i liked it, but something about Firefox just feels better. I do use brave on mobile though because of the adblocker

[@sideofburritos]

I stopped using/suggesting Bromite after I received this warning a few times when they fell behind with updates - www.bromite.org/vulnerable-version

[@sideofburritos]

100% valid points. I don't like how they added all the crypto stuff/affiliate link controversy. Sadly, I'm not aware of another Chromium-based browser for Desktop besides Google Chrome that stays up to date and has privacy features.

[@sideofburritos]

Ah, fair point. Yea, it's unfortunate and all around good option doesn't currently exist.

[@nickreno6608]

Exellent tutorial. Very helpful. Thank you very much. 👍👍👍

[@sideofburritos]

Glad it was helpful!

[@estelaplateada4]

what about brave for mobile? how does it hold up against vanadium (thinking of your recent video on the topic...)

[@megabaneen8057]

Great video. How do you get the favorite websites on the main page?

[@GreenCanvasInteriorscape]

I only use it on an Android phone but when I click on brave search the sites that I've searched the most show up, I'm here trying to figure out how I did something previously after closing a window that contained eight of the most active windows I use, I love brave browser

[@Dara-wk5ty]

@@GreenCanvasInteriorscape This option doesn't exist on mobile You can change your main page and the new tab page on PC but only the new tab page on mobile

[@that8bitgamer82]

Is there a work around instead of clicking middle mouse button to open link in a new tab?. I like Firefox because they have this feature, so any help is greatly appreciated.

[@crypto_in3054]

This challenge page was accidentally cached by an intermediary and is no longer available. how to fix in brave?

[@JasonActualization]

Amazing man, any modifications made since this video?

[@spunkyspice4777]

I do not a option to save to favourites I only see add to bookmarks. How do I enable the favourites?

[@Jonathan_Em8]

how do i get the dowloads icon to show near the task bar? also is there a way to show the bookmarks as icons only?

[@LycanzIzTired]

Anyone know why when I hover one of KZbin shorts thumbnail, others KZbin shorts becomes blank? Im not sure which setting causes this. Thanks!

[@KingdomUploader]

After importing everything from chrome to Brave, one of my extensions doesn't seem to be compatible. This youtube extension that is vita. It's called 'Improve KZbin!' 🎧 (for KZbin & Videos) When I turn it on, youtube videos do not play! They sit and buffer :( That extension is used to customize your channel, the player functions and a lot more. I do not want to go back to chrome! Please say if I can integrate this extension so that Brave will be okay with it? That would be great. thank you

[@Michiganian8]

Brave is the bomb. I love the AI feature.⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️👏🏽🥰

[@Abdullah-zl9ub]

Why are using brave over Safari? What password manager do you use?

[@sideofburritos]

Brave is cross-platform and has features built into I like. I use Bitwarden.

[@bigsky1970]

I don't use privacy extensions either. I think even with privacy extensions, they're "phoning home" with every bit of information about you, your browsing history, and your devices.

[@craigmiles6145]

In settings, can i change tab colours from red to green to PROPERLY indicate on or off?

[@Hevyqx]

I don't think I thoroughly watched through your video but does Brave have a shopping category? Mine doesn't and that's my only complaint. Otherwise, 10/10. Another thing is that bing/chrome shows a more variety of images while brave doesn't when I search for a specific image. Amazing video otherwise!

[@sashi_88]

Excellent explanations Thank you, bro.

[@JasonActualization]

Is there a way to restore the settings to a pre-saved configuration?

[@georgejetson8477]

What about the "Use Secure DNS" setting?

[@satoshislim863]

I haven't installed it because i can't find any info on a checksum or signature file for verification. Does Brave not provide these?

[@HeavyHeartsShow]

You’ve gotta be related to Shia Lebouf in some way. Ty for vid

[@sideofburritos]

😂 I never thought it before, but multiple people have said it recently.

[@tizme2311]

Forgot to mention, for translation I use Firefox and IM Translator, as I want to translate individual words/sentences/paragraphs. It is a pity IM Translator is not available for Brave, I do NOT like the Brave Translation function, no interest in translating whole pages, plus, the third party app T&C's are horrible.

[@Larsbor]

Would you ever go for Librewolf or epic ?

[@meat9960]

Great video 👍

[@mehDOGIESRATS2222]

I don't use tor , so is it good idea to disable it .

[@glo899]

is it possible to make brave 144hz? It is only 60hz when I have a 144hz monitor thanks.

[@nihari_pops4890]

I've been using brave for about a year now, but just recently the only website i could access was youtube and anything else i searched would give the "not available" error. Even on youtube there are weird things like the pfp of channels not showing. Please help.

[@sideofburritos]

The first thing I would try is to reset Bave. Go into settings -> Reset settings (at the bottom), and see if that helps.

[@GR..877]

why am I getting many adds , pip ups and many many um.. pop up tabs ? like click on a site and it reopens new tabs and sites . many just normal safe sites ! I'm getting this on all ver pc and mobile dev nightly and beta

[@UnixOath]

Very nice indeed

[@herminiohernandezjr.9316]

have you looked into librefox?

[@sideofburritos]

LIbreFox or LibreWolf? Librefox looks like it's abandoned.

[@herminiohernandezjr.9316]

@@sideofburritos sorry meant librewolf

[@sideofburritos]

Ahh, I haven't looked into it much but from a security perspective, I only use Chromium-based browsers at this time - grapheneos.org/usage#web-browsing

[@weapoolx182]

@@herminiohernandezjr.9316 😂😂lol 🦊 Librewolf is what Brave is for Google Chrome 😉

[@steveUSA1]

Two questions. First I'm curious why you disable "Autocomplete searches and URLS" in the "Privacy and Security" section. But you do NOT disable "Show autocomplete suggestions in address bar" in the Appearance section. Why? Second, I am shocked that you leave Javascript enabled in the "Privacy and Security / Sites and Shields / Additional Permissions / Content". I think malicious Javascript code could be undetectable when delivered within a hacked web page. I wonder why you would elect to leave it enabled? Yes, it is a hassle to click "allow" on nearly every web site I visit, but I can at least see what site the code is coming from. You only have to approve it once for each site and it will remember when you revisit them.

[@sideofburritos]

1. I dug into this a bit more, and the "Top sites" option will suggest the Alex top 500 sites. I thought it was my "top sites" because the wording is a bit confusing, so I may disable that one. The "Browsing History" and "Bookmarks" I want those autocomplete suggestions. Those two will just make suggestion from my local history. Compared to the "Autocompelte search and URLS" which will send my data off vs keeping the suggestions local. 2. I used to use noscript and manually allow specific scripts to run. It got tedious after a while and I got lazy, so I stopped using it. My issue with the Brave implementation (correct me if I'm wrong), is it takes the hammer approach of it's either allowed or not allowed. While it is beneficial to see what scripts are executed on the page, you don't have many options besides that. As an example, if you go to youtube[.]com the site isn't usable if you block scripts. You can see numerous scripts that will be executed, but if you want to use the site you need to turn off script blocking completely because there's no granular settings. To go back to "I think malicious Javascript code could be undetectable when delivered within a hacked web page". If you encounter that situation on a page you typically use, it's likely you would have disabled script blocking on that page and that protection wouldn't have helped you if another script was being executed on the site. One potential use could be if you accidentally click a link, and it's a malicious site, script blocking would make sure that no scripts are run without your intervention. Not saying my approach is right at all, but that's my current reasoning why I don't use it.

[@pawan2787]

Thanks man.. It helped...

[@sideofburritos]

Glad to hear!

[@johnnyb7519]

Hello Josh. Thank you for this (and your other) videos. I'm no IT expert so I love your straightforward approach. I have a question. At the beginning of every browser session and even site visits in between I diligently clear my internet history and cookies. I use Brave and Safari on macOS and iOS on my iPhone. Is this useful protecting my privacy or am I wasting my time? Obviously I realise I have to sign into sites each time but with Bitwarden this isn't much bother. I'd appreciate your opinion. Thanks.

[@sideofburritos]

Hi there, thanks! That's my goal when I make videos, so I'm glad they come across that way. I think it can be beneficial since you're making sure you don't have any cookies, cache, and more stored that doesn't need to be. You're also clearing out any persistent cookies that a site might have stored in your browser. I plan to do something similar in the future where it clears "on exit" but my tab management is poor, and I don't want to lose the 45 tabs I have open.

[@ruhanrouf3601]

What password manager do you use, bro?

[@sideofburritos]

At this time, 1Password. Many people recommend Bitwarden.

[@knestor]

What password manager extension do you use?

[@sideofburritos]

I use 1Password, which is not the typically recommend one in the privacy community. A popular one to use is Bitwarden.

[@BobSmith-oo7ei]

I looked at Brave nearly 3 years ago and found out that they do central routing for data encryption. Because it was central, not open, it makes it a question what else they may be doing with that data. Its been several years since I looked at it after that discovery. Does anyone know if they ever did anything to address this point of concern? Also: Startpage is owned by an advertising company along with Waterfox Browser. There not trustworthy. Just a friendly heads up.

[@Pro32142]

hi i'm new to using the brave browser can anyone give me some tips please thanks.

[@mit136speichenumdiewelt]

Please make an update video!

[@sideofburritos]

I'm planning on it!

[@mit136speichenumdiewelt]

Great. Will wait ;-)

[@TheoryMaK15-255]

I can only do a few thousand bytes at a time. and I 1000's upon thousands of bookmarks. please help. my computer needs reformatting, and don't want lose those bookmarks, please help.

[@sideofburritos]

Depending on what OS you're on, you can try copying the data folder and backing that up - community.brave.com/t/where-does-brave-store-its-data-files/53830

[@nerijus7]

This is will be go to browser after google depricate completly mv2

[@Marcko94000]

This unfortunately is not that relevant to the present version of Brave, Version 1.73.91 Chromium: 131.0.6778.85 (Official Build) (64-bit), FYI, as thete are different options, so far that I noticed,...

[@martinmestrevlog]

great video

[@CitizenCosmic]

Is this still current or does it require an update?

[@sideofburritos]

I can't recall having changed any settings since I made that video, but things might be in different spots. I'm going to work on making an updated one in the near future.

[@alanmott-smith9358]

Thank You Very Much.

[@soulaesthete8563]

I used the Brave browser for a while and enjoyed it, but then it started freezing up too often and I dropped it.

[@ronald0122]

still using it?

[@JohnDoe-z2r]

Is this up to date?

[@sideofburritos]

I haven't changed anything in my browser since then. But I do plan to make an updated video with the most current version of brave in the near future.

[@JohnDoe-z2r]

@@sideofburritos Nice. I just came back to do this video to set up another brave profile, and I've gotta say, it seems like they've made some nice improvements with the default settings.

[@PhillipLemmon]

I LOVE BRAVE BROWSER!!!!!!!

[@shaolinslumz]

Thanks!

[@josephohora1287]

Thsnk you

[@sethbarnard9101]

Ice Cat is supposed to be good too.

[@sideofburritos]

Looks like their stable release is a few years old and the preview release, while more recent, is still a few major releases behind (108 is current) Stable release 60.7.0 2 June 2019 Preview release 102.6.0 13 December 2022 source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GNU_IceCat

[@sethbarnard9101]

@@sideofburritos good looking out! I did not realize that. Thanks man, really great channel 👍🏻

[@sideofburritos]

@@sethbarnard9101 Thanks!

[@bobbyjohnson116]

The only thing I use brave for is KZbin

[@mariacristinaarezzi]

Hello

[@muharremacar34]

Summary of video: Disable all features which make Brave special.

[@sideofburritos]

Currently, using 1Password, but many people recommend bitwarden

[@mr.bouncealot9047]

I get it, the Firefox fanboys really can customize their biznitch... is just, Firebox is a nightmare on Android (Waterfox, Focus... Any type)

[@GR..877]

yep firefox sucks as a browser . yeah it's terrie and many manyband redirects yes 1. no stupid forced updates . 2 add lns and ext that actually works like built in torrre t finder clie t etc. y.t video downloader extensions addons that actually do work despitr that you won't use f.fox for youtube as no amount of ad blockers extensions addons is stopping that pre roll adds ( forgot yt has adds as haven't seen one in yts ) also makes synching and transferring data easier . brave search is terrible yandex is supreme but pros and cons yiu know

[@rbelf001]

Can't follow you. Too fast and not what I am looking at. Outdated

[@anjkovo2138]

👍👍

[@ShubhamSahu-h4k]

My bank account after watching this video🔝🔝🔝🔝🔝🔝🔝🔝🔝🔝🔝🔝

[@DoroubMedicalCo]

Brave is greate

[@muhammadusmankhan2914]

Brave Browser

[@nanopone]

learning that you use and recommend brave is extremely disappointing to me.

[@sideofburritos]

Why is that?

[@nanopone]

@@sideofburritos because brave is a private for-profit company with a business model which is crypto and advertising. i expected someone like you to be wholeheartedly against such things and recommend a browser like librewolf or firefox with a custom user.js. anything but the utterly notorious facade of privacy that is known as brave browser, because even ignoring brave as a company and their shady way of handling crypto "donations" to creators that never opted into the program (see eposvox's video), the browser isn't even private at all...

[@sideofburritos]

There are a couple of things here to discuss. I watched the video, the first half was about Brave rewards and the second half was about Brave wallet and other things bundled. I dislike both of those features, which is why I make sure to disable them. We're in agreement there, I dislike when any company adds crypto to a product, I think it sets them up for long-term failure and shady behavior like the creators “donations”. Your second point about librewold/firefox, I mentioned at the beginning of the video why I don't use Gecko-based browsers. Chromium-based browsers provide better sandboxing and exploit mitigations-grapheneos.org/usage#web-browsing. So regarding your suggestions, I cannot in good faith suggest that to my audience just because of Firefox/Mozilla stand for. While I would love to support them instead because I think they have MUCH better intentions, I won't put people's security at risk for that. You cannot have privacy without security, so I only recommend Chromium-based browsers at this point. I make videos I want to watch, and I wouldn't want to watch a tech/security/privacy channel that didn't recommend me the best “XYZ” based on facts. You also said, “utterly notorious facade of privacy”. Do you have any sources I can reference for this? I would be more than happy to check out a different Chromium-based browser if you have any suggestions. But I think Brave is as good as it gets for now on desktop, unfortunately. I don't claim to know everything, or even that my suggestions are the best. Likewise, I'm just sharing what I know and currently use and hopefully, it can help everyone watching (including myself) improve and make better choices.

[@stretchlindsay3547]

Cheers man.

[@Szhalito]

thx sir for help

[@MrBobWareham]

Bitarden is very good give it a go