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Change in hardware/change in software?
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Posted by Ken
Aug 21, 2014 at 01:42 AM
MadaboutDana wrote:
I have to confess I now avoid Android like the plague, but I realise
>it’s a very practical solution for many people.
Bill,
I am not big fan of Android, although I do use it for my phone, but I would be curious as to what are the primary reasons that you avoid it like the plague.
—Ken
Posted by Ken
Aug 21, 2014 at 01:52 AM
I do hate to bother those of you using a Chromebook, but, for better or for worse, I need to bring my Chromebook with me on an upcoming trip, and have a few questions about its set-up. I have mostly been playing with it in guest mode, as I am still deciding which Google account I want to sign up as the owner account (and subject it to all that is “Google”). What I would like to know are the owner’s extensions and apps available to additional Google accounts if you log into the accounts just like you do in any other operating system (where they open up in a new browser tab). Also, are the apps and extensions available for use to people who log in as Guests? The answers to these questions will help me decide if I want to use one of my regular accounts, or if I want to create an account just for use on this machine. any advice would be greatly appreciated. I am not paranoid, but I hate it when your are logged into a Google account and then use the web. I usually surf the web when I am not logged into any accounts. I know that my cookies are still present for Google to scan, but I believe that it still limits my exposure a bit (but without losing my log-ins and history if I were to use Incognito). As always, any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
—Ken
Posted by Dr Andus
Aug 21, 2014 at 07:56 AM
Ken wrote:
>What I would like to know are the owner’s extensions and
>apps available to additional Google accounts if you log into the
>accounts just like you do in any other operating system (where they open
>up in a new browser tab).
I don’t know, as I haven’t created additional Chromebook accounts. You could search or ask on the official Chromebook forum:
https://productforums.google.com/forum/#!categories/chromebook-central
Also, are the apps and extensions available
>for use to people who log in as Guests?
No.
The answers to these questions
>will help me decide if I want to use one of my regular accounts, or if I
>want to create an account just for use on this machine. any advice
>would be greatly appreciated. I am not paranoid, but I hate it when
>your are logged into a Google account and then use the web.
I also had these concerns but eventually for me convenience had won over privacy concerns. Firstly, I wanted to get the ‘free’ 100GB cloud space added to my main account. But using your main account also means that you can launch Google Calendar, Gmail, and Google Drive with a single click any time, which is just extremely convenient and quick, rather than having to log in and out every time you want to do something with these services.
If you are logged in with your main account, it is still possible to check your email etc. on other Google accounts, as they can be accessed from within the given service (e.g. Gmail), but it takes 3 clicks to get there. I suppose you could use an alternative account as your main account, and then access those services from within that account, if you’re willing to trade 1 click for 3 clicks.
So just to clarify, there are two options to use two or more Google accounts. You could create separate Chromebook user accounts for each as additional users. It would be quite cumbersome to switch between those, as you would need to sign in and out every time from one to the other.
Alternatively you could just add the additional Google accounts to your main Google/Chromebook user account, and access them from within that user account. This would be a lot faster to use (3 clicks to switch).
Posted by Dr Andus
Aug 21, 2014 at 08:03 AM
Dr Andus wrote:
> I suppose you could use an alternative account as your main
>account, and then access those services from within that account, if
>you’re willing to trade 1 click for 3 clicks.
P.S. Under this scenario you would have access to all the extensions and apps, as you are using the same browser and user login to access multiple Google accounts.
I doubt that those extensions would be available if you create separate Chromebook user accounts for your separate Google accounts, as each Chrome ID seems to be uniquely associated with a given Google account.
Posted by Dr Andus
Aug 21, 2014 at 08:25 AM
P.P.S. If your privacy concerns are about remaining totally anonymous towards Google, then probably a Chromebook would be the wrong choice, as it is so deeply integrated with one’s Google account (unless your Google account is an anonymous one already).
But if you’re concerned about being advertised to, I can recommend the AdBblock extension. It blocks 99% of ads on my machine (I’ve never seen a Google ad). I heard that AdBlock may still sell your browsing behaviour as market research info, but no one will be able to use that to advertise to you because AdBlock blocks them anyway. AdBlock Plus (different company) on the other hand apparently lets ads through if advertisers pay them extra, hence I prefer AdBlock.
See the pros and cons for AdBlock vs. AdBlock Plus here:
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8102584