Cliqz browser - 64-bit only

[Mike Walsh]

Afternoon, all.

Here's a new one for you. I came across this the other day, while browsing the LQ.org Member's Choice Awards, in the 'Browser of the Year' category. One of the guys had posted a long list of browsers there, some of which I'd never heard of.....including this one.


'Cliqz' browser


According to their website:-

https://cliqz.com/en/

.....Cliqz is 'an independent alternative for the digital era'. The gist of it is that the German company behind Cliqz is of the opinion that Europe's digital infrastructure is sadly lacking compared to the rest of the world, and that this is one step towards securing that 'digital future'.

It's based around FF-Quantum, as opposed to the Chromium 'clones'. Accordingly, it's very easy to make up into a 'portable' version (thanks to Fred, as usual).....so for anybody who would like to have a look at it, without necessarily installing it, here's a 'portable' package I've put together.

(WideVine works without issue. I have to say, at this juncture, that despite the WideVine DRM 'solution' having been Google's licensed 'baby' for so long, Mozilla's implementation of it has always seemed a lot 'cleaner', more straight-forward, and far more user-friendly in nature. You want to enable DRM/Widevine, you put a tick in the checkbox in Preferences. It downloads and installs it. You want to remove it, you untick the checkbox......and it's deleted/removed. Very simple & straightforward. All credit to them for that.)

You can find it at my Google Drive, as usual:-

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Yj1LSn ... sp=sharing

Checksums:-

MD5 - c653e08088937fad6f027258f9d32834
Sha256 - 67e9c11cefe03a4d9719e81a76346eccbcff77e3abdcb3da884c28b4593e9301

D/l, untar, stick it wherever you like. Click to open, click on the 'LAUNCH' script. That's it.....just like many of the other portables I've put together. It'll create its profile within the portable directory on the first run. You can even run it from a flash drive.

If you decide you don't want it anymore, just delete it. Easy-peasy.

See what you think. Feedback is welcome, as always.


Mike.

[WoodLark]

Cliqz looked good until I realized tha there was no way to import my logins and passwords from Firefox.

[Mike Walsh]

@ WoodLark:-

Cliqz looked good until I realized that there was no way to import my logins and passwords from Firefox.

Yes, you can. Just have to do things the more hands-on, 'manual' way, that's all.

In Firefox:-

Ctrl + Shift + O to open the Bookmarks Manager. Up the top, 'Import & Backup'; click on this, select 'Export Bookmarks to HTML....' You then choose a safe location to export the .html file to.

In Cliqz:-

Same again. Ctrl + Shift + O to open the Bookmarks manager. Import & Backup->Import bookmarks from HTML. Choose the file you saved earlier, and 'OK' it.

When that's done, maximise the Bookmarks Manager; makes the next bit easier to do.

In the left pane, if it isn't already, expand 'All Bookmarks'. Then, expand 'Bookmarks Menu', followed by selecting 'Bookmarks Toolbar' under that. (There's actually two 'Bookmarks Toolbar's, but for now you want this lower one.) You should now see your bookmarks in the right-hand pane.

To get them on the bookmarks bar, drag & drop from the right-hand pane to 'Bookmarks Toolbar' immediately below 'All Bookmarks'. You can either do these one at a time, if you only have a few; or, if you have a lot of them, you can select a whole chunk at a time. Highlight the very top entry; press & hold Shift, then click the lowest visible entry. That selects everything between the two. Now, click (and hold), anywhere in that chunk (easier if you stay well over to the left), drag across to 'Bookmarks Toolbar' so it's highlighted, and release the mouse button to drop 'em. Now do the same for the next chunk, and.....rinse & repeat till you're done.

That's for your bookmarks. To get saved logins transferred across, go into your Firefox profile, and locate the logins.json file. Just copy this across to your Cliqz profile, and (goes without saying, really), re-start the browser. I've never actually bothered with the FF login manager, because I use the LastPass login manager browser extension, available cross-platform, cross-architecture, for both Mozilla-based and Chromium-based browsers.....but I'm pretty sure that file is the one you want. Since Quantum came out, Mozilla have made a point of labelling all items in your profile much more clearly than they used to!

Hopefully, that'll sort you out. Let us know how you get on, please.


Mike.

[rockedge]

I am giving the browser a test run and it is really fast in my setup

[keniv]

@ Mike Walsh
Just installed on ScPup64. Seems better and a bit faster (a subjective assessment) than opera which I had installed previously. I'm also trying it's own add blocking capabilities. I normally use ublock. Switched off MyOffrz as I didn't fancy that. lots of extensions enabled by default, some of which I would not want but easy to disable/remove. All in all I think it looks quite promising.

Thanks for this Mike.

Regards,

Ken.

[Mike Walsh]

@ rockedge/keniv:-

Glad to hear you like it, guys. Let me know what your long-term impressions of it are, please.


Mike.

[gjuhasz]

...Cliqz is 'an independent alternative for the digital era'.

Dear Mike,

Thanks for the information.

However, I don't really understand the "euro"-concern on their advertising website. Do they mean Firefox is not secure enough? Or do they (mis)interpret "Mountain View, CA" as a telescope staring Europe from a hilltop? I don't believe so. I think "independent" is something with no company/business interest behind it - such as Puppy Linux.

Anyway, I like this browser. Cliqz is really nice and fast.

Tested with Puli 7.2: the "factory default" .deb file can be smartloaded and runs well without any hiccup. More support expected in the next Puli release.

Thanks again.

Have fun!

Regards

gjuhasz

[backi]

Nice Discovery Mike !
I like the "portable" approach a lot .
Mozilla Addons are working .
not bad ...i will play with it to get some Impressions .

Regards !

[8Geee]

I'll post this link to the Wikipedia article as an 'independent' evaluation.

Regards
8Geee

[backi]

Hi 8gee !
Quite interesting ...did not know .
Did inspect the wikipedia link you gave.......and found Burda Media Concern is heavily involved in Development of Cliqz browser
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hubert_Burda_Media

Burda Media Concern is Part of the German governmental Propaganda framing censoring and spying Media Cartel/Network/Apparatus and its social engineering Agenda .
A strong Supporter of the "Merkel" Stasi Regime .
So i will boycott it ...as i boycott ....for Example Mcdonalds or Coca Cola .

Merkel ....no thanks .
Burda Media Concern.... no thanks .
.
This is just some kind of symbolic Act.... I am aware that every Browser is spying upon us ......
But it is every ones own Decision to use it or not .

Mike.... this is not your Fault ....
Sorry but ....So long and thanks for all the Fish ..
So ....i am out .

[Mike Walsh]

Mike.... this is not your Fault ....
Sorry but ....So long and thanks for all the Fish ..
So ....i am out .

No worries, mi amigo. Here in the Western world - unlike many other parts of the globe - we do at least have 'freedom of choice' (such as it is... )

My 'policy' regarding software for Puppy has always been about providing as big a choice as possible.....not everybody wishes to process the same 'activity' in the same way.

Given that 'spying' - to a greater or lesser degree - by browsers is pretty much endemic these days, if you want a totally private browsing experience there ain't very many options open to you.....


Mike.

[backi]

Hi Mike !
Maybe somehow a silly act of mine .
I know there is no such thing as Privacy .....
...... but just wanted to give some kind of symbolic"Protest-note" against all those antidemocratic Developements here in Germany and the Eu .....some helpless Statement " i don`t like what you`re doing here to us ".
I know it is silly and anyway nobody`s listening to a Fool like me . .....feel just obliged to do so .
There is no lack in browsers anyway.
Nevertheless Mike....i like what you`re doing .......keep up the good work .

[rockedge]

backi

"The Man" is everywhere........

[backi]

Allright....allright...... rockedge ...... i know am a rather bothersome Guy .

"Jack in the Box " is my second Name.....so i`ll better go now for a Vacation....... just for a while..... Back in the Box ....to spare other people's nerves.....and mine too.

David Byrne:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BoKSECXKsyE

Best Regards from the best Country we ever lived in..... so lovely...from the Land where the Sun always shines ....... on T.V.

Salem Aleikum !

[rockedge]

backi

you should have seen Trump on television giving the State of The Union Address last night or the news reports with several new (every day) mass shootings and people running people over with trucks like it's no big deal just before the orange guy spoke..........

and you think you guys have problems?

it seems we are supposed to start praying to "The Economy"

[backi]

Hi Rockedge !

The whole World is trembling and shaking ...some kind of Battle of Armageddon.....Apocalypse now .....or later ?

I am not well informed about American Politics (don`t really understand what is going on over there......don`t know who are the "Bad" or the"Good" Guys if there are any) or what are the consequences.... ............but i saw Nancy Pelosis breathtaking Stunt.......ripping Trumps Speech....
man .... she really looked screwed ....LOL
Trumps Impeachment.....the never-ending Story .
The Clash of the Oligarchs.
Seems the Democrats are toast .

we`re going slightly Off-Topic .

[StarPup]

I know that "Big Brother is watching YOU" applies to most of the www, but there's giving him open Windows to peer through or be a little discreet, and pull the drapes...

IMHO

As for Cliqz, I am trying it out on Bionic Pup with my Intel x2 core low memory laptop.
It does seem fast (we have a very slow internet speed here in the Black Mountains
(Languedoc in France)... to say the least, like 15mb )
Is it my setup or does it use quite a bit of RAM? It seems, after a certain time, that the RAM goes high enough in usage to freeze, and I have to reboot.
I am running Puppy off the RAM, so when my USB stick gets here, slowed by the post due to Corono, I'll get back to you about the memory, as I'll be running Puppy of the USB.

Cliqz is great for addons, accepting all the Mozilla ones, some of which I've been using for YEARS with FF, easy to configure, and fast, faster than FF, although it is pretty relative, as I tend to use too many addons, being a download addict! That slows any web browser down.
It does everything I need it to, and, apart from my RAM problem, about which I'm not sure, as it could be due to my configuration particular. All in all, for now it's my second Browser (FF and Cliqz).
I must admit, I've not recently tried Palemoon, after problems with it years back, so there I can't give any info. It's one of the programs I unload each time I find it. Maybe I'm not being fair on it, but once bitten...

Thanks for putting Cliqz up for grabs, it really is interesting, despite the political side a little bit unsavory (it's not alone there). For now I'm giving it a few months trial, soon (I hope ) on a USB stick full install. I'll let you know how it goes.

P.S. If you want a Post Apocalypse scenery, try Carcassonne (FR) around 19h. It's so ... dead, you expect to come across a crowd of Zombies at each corner! Really spooked me out the other evening, after the battle of the Super Market!!