Tag: privacy

Tip #99

— Posted inDesktop, Vivaldi Tips — 2 min read

Copy links from the Address Field without additional parameters.

Sometimes web page links have additional information, called parameters, added to the end of the URL. These parameters are used for sorting and filtering, pagination, language options and more. But parameters can also be used for tracking users.

Example URL from Vivaldi Forum with multiple search parameters: 

https://forum.vivaldi.net/search?term=tab%20stacks&in=titlesposts&matchWords=all&categories%5B%5D=32&sortBy=relevance&sortDirection=desc&showAs=posts.

The same URL without parameters: 

https://forum.vivaldi.net/search.

Another example with tracking parameters:

https://www.grammarly.com/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=cpc&utm_phase=professional&utm_campaign=q222easeofusecampaign-prospecting&utm_content=60s-easeofusecampaignq222-professional&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI_e-t0r39-QIVsUmRBR32zAH6EAEYASAAEgI-PPD_BwE.

With the link above, the website knows that I arrived on their page after clicking an ad on YouTube.

The same URL without parameters looks like this:

https://www.grammarly.com/.

While search, filtering and other similar parameters are mostly useful, tracking parameters do not benefit users. So, even if you have navigated to page from a link that has parameters at the end, consider removing them before saving the link for future use or before sharing it further.

To copy a link that you have open in the active tab without parameters:

  1. Right-click on the Address Field.
  2. Select Copy without parameters.

Tip #68

— Posted inDesktop, Vivaldi Tips — 1 min read

Adjust tracker and ad blocking level per site from the Address Bar.

Let’s say you block all ads and trackers by default, but want to make an exception for a specific website that you trust or, maybe, the site behaves strangely, so you want to check whether disabling the content blocker will solve the issue. In that case, while the website you want to change the blocking level for is open in the active tab:

  1. Click on the  Content Blocker button on the left side of the Address field.
  2. Choose between:
    • No Blocking,
    • Block Trackers, or
    • Block Trackers and Ads.

You can view and manage all websites you’ve set a separate blocking level for in Settings > Privacy and Security > Tracker and Ad Blocking > Exceptions.

Tip #26

— Posted inAndroid, Vivaldi Tips — 1 min read

Enable “Clear session browsing data on exit” in Vivaldi on Android to close all tabs and delete history, cookies and cache after use.

To enable the settings:

  1. Go to the Vivaldi menu > Settings > Privacy and security > Clear browsing data on exit.
  2. Toggle on the setting.
  3. Choose which data types you want to delete:
    • Browsing history.
    • Cookies and site data.
    • Cached images and files.
    • Close open tabs.

It’s not enough to minimize the app or remove it from the app switcher menu to exit the browser. To exit Vivaldi:

  1. Go to the Vivaldi menu.
  2. Scroll to the bottom of the menu.
  3. Select Exit.

Tip #19

— Posted inDesktop, Vivaldi Tips — 2 min read

Enable “Remove cookie warnings” in Tracker and Ad Blocker settings to hide websites’ cookie dialogs.

Since Europe’s GDPR and a few other user privacy laws don’t allow placing Cookies in your browser without consent, on your first visit, most websites ask for your permission as soon as the page has loaded. Accepting all cookies will allow the website and third parties to collect information on you and use the data in an attempt to influence your decisions later on. Until there’s better legislation, we recommend rejecting these cookies. But, depending on the website, rejecting all cookies can take minutes, slowing down your browsing significantly.

That’s why we’ve added a way to remove these cookie dialogs in the browser. To enable it:

  1. Go to Settings > Privacy > Tracker and Ad Blocking > Blocking Level.
  2. Enable Block Trackers and Ads.
  3. Then, click Manage Sources.
  4. In the list of Ad Blocking sources, look for “Remove cookie warnings (EasyList Cookie List)” and “Remove cookie warnings (I don’t care about cookies)” and enable them.

Enabling these lists will simply block the service that asks for consent, or hide the consent dialog, in the same way as it might remove a tracker or an ad. Without consent cookies cannot be placed in the browser.

We at Vivaldi believe that spying on users on the Internet using cookies and other tracking methods should be banned. To join our fight, check out https://banspying.org and share it with your friends.