One Day I Will Be Rich Enough That I Can Sort By Price: High to Low!
Halloween is over. The sugar coma is diminishing. The holiday shopping frenzy is accelerating. The ads are proliferating. But here is what really irritates me: I am seeing lots of ads for “Buy this rug for 79% off”. Regularly priced at something astronomical but on sale now for what should be the regular price to begin with!! Are we really a nation of stupid? Who would pay $179 for a 2 foot by 3 foot door mat? Sheesh!! I am SO over it!
On to more pressing matters:
Topic Uno: Chrome is the worlds most popular web browser amassing a 77% of the market share across all device platforms. I really like how pcworld.com stated this: “Chrome isn’t some privacy-centric upstart that puts the user first. Just like Google’s “free” search engine, Chrome’s users are the product. The browser collects a lot of information about how, when, and where it’s used, and that can make some people uneasy.” (https://www.pcworld.com/article/2941324/3-ways-chrome-invades-your-privacy-and-what-you-can-do-about-it.html).
If you would like to limit the information Chrome/Google collects about you, make these simple changes.
From the 3-dots menu in the upper right corner, choose Settings-> You and Google -> Help improve Chrome’s features and performance. TURN IT OFF
While there, look for the Make searches and browsing better and TURN IT OFF.
To limit what Chrome shares with advertisers, head back to the Settings window, click on Privacy and security. In the section for Ads privacy, TURN OFF Ad topics, TURN OFF Site-suggested ads, and TURN OFF Ads measurement.
If the idea of Chrome following you and collecting data really peeves you, then check out the website referenced above for more tips and suggestions.
Topic dos: AI is making it easier to create fake reviews of items for sale online. As you start the holiday shopping season watch for these indicators that the review may be fake (compliments of https://www.pcmag.com/how-to/dont-get-tricked-by-fake-amazon-reviews-how-to-spot-real-ones)
· Very brief five-star and one-star reviews that lack proper context.
· Reviews that don’t use proper grammar or lack natural-sounding language. Some vendors farm out fake reviews to writers who are not native English speakers.
· Reviews that happen to plug a competing product should be ignored, since it could be another vendor hoping to lead you to their own product under false pretenses.
· If you find a listing with several similar reviews posted on the same day, something is fishy.
· Overly staged photos, overproduced video, or stock photography in a review could be a sign that someone paid money for it to be uploaded.
· If a listing has very few reviews compared with a similar product, there’s a chance the whole thing is a scam.
· Take note of the reviewer’s name. If it’s too generic or just a random series of numbers and letters, that could be a sign the review is fake.
· Reviews that lack a Verified Purchase label should be disregarded immediately. However, this doesn’t take into account schemes where reviewers are compensated for legitimate purchases, so be wary here.
Topic tres: If your are tired of all things Google, here is a comprehensive list of alternatives. Most are free, some are paid. (https://www.techspot.com/article/3037-google-alternatives/?utm_source=brevo&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=fing_htd_newsletter)
Topic cuatro: The dark web was blessed with a dump of 183 million email/password combinations in October. You can check if your email was among them at https://haveibeenpwned.com/. You can read the gory details at: (https://www.forbes.com/sites/daveywinder/2025/10/28/gmail-passwords-confirmed-as-part-of-183-million-account-data-breach/) If you are using the password manager that is part of Chrome, you can click the 3-dots menu, choose, Passwords and autofill-> Google Password Manager->Checkup.
If your email account has been compromised, change the password immediately! If you are using the same password for other accounts, change them too!
If you are thinking, you would like to read some of the referenced articles but don’t want to type in the long website addresses, you can subscribe to this newsletter at http://eepurl.com/bdJPjP. The newsletter happens once per month and I never share your information.
Until next month,—Janet
