Brave Search removes last remnant of Bing from search results page

Re:Brave Search removes last remnant of Bing from search res... by Barrin92 on Thursday April 27, 2023 @10:13PM (#35736811)

They're everywhere by default. When I tried Brave out they had a wallet that popped up in the toolbar you seemingly can't uninstall, there's some sort crypto token reward thing (that you can't get rid of on mobile), on the new tab page there's sponsored crypto ads, and disabling this stuff, intentionally I suppose, is the only thing that does not sync so it always pops up on every new device.

Not since the early 2000s when browsers were infested with random toolbars have I seen so much shady spam in a web browser.

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Re:Brave Search removes last remnant of Bing from search res... by somenameforme on Friday April 28, 2023 @01:23AM (#35737712)

The crypto stuff is opt-in only, including on mobile. If you accidentally enabled it, you can disable it by clicking on the settings icon and going to 'Brave Rewards' and turning off 'Brave Private Ads.'

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Re:Brave Search removes last remnant of Bing from search res... by AlotOfReading on Friday April 28, 2023 @02:13AM (#35738042)

This comment was completely incongruous with my previous Brave experiences, so I went ahead and did a fresh install on a clean system.

* The wallet is enabled by default.

* The new tab page shows crypto ads by default. I couldn't figure out how to opt-out of these despite a couple of minutes in the "customize dashboard" menu. I know the option exists, but it's well-hidden.

* The BAT rewards icon is enabled by default, as well as the new tab card, as well as injected tip buttons on Github, Reddit, and Twitter.

* BAT rewards itself is not enabled by default, but there are no less than 3 distinct notifications asking me to enable it.

* Brave news is not enabled, but again there are multiple requests to enable it hidden throughout various menus. It's also not clear how Brave news interacts with Brave rewards. If I only enable news, do I still get the in-feed ads without the reward sharing, or is the news feed ad-free, or will only certain ad channels be shown?

So no, the crypto stuff is not opt-in. It's mostly opt-out with the BAT rewards program specifically being opt-in.

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Re:Brave Search removes last remnant of Bing from search res... by somenameforme on Friday April 28, 2023 @02:38AM (#35738181)

So your complaints seem to come down to 2 icons, and a what's shown on the new tab page. To disable icons, right click on them and select hide. To change what new tab pages show search for "new tab page shows" in the settings and change it to your homepage, or a blank page - as preferred.

Most people referring to the "crypto stuff" are talking about that program where you get an ad every once in a while and get some crypto for viewing it. Certainly not a fan of it myself and would not use (let alone recommend) Brave, if it was imposed.

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Re:Brave Search removes last remnant of Bing from search res... by phatfish on Friday April 28, 2023 @06:03AM (#35739389)

The Crypto shoehorn means I will never use Brave the browser, I'm just not interested in supporting the idea that every tiny action can be monetised. I use and support Fixefox for browsing.

Now I have no problem with their search engine if it is good. Alternatives are definitely needed. If they start pushing their token through it or weighing results based on the token in some way I might think again.

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Re:Brave Search removes last remnant of Bing from search res... by soundnote on Friday April 28, 2023 @06:36AM (#35739581)

> * The new tab page shows crypto ads by default. I couldn't figure out how to opt-out of these despite a couple of minutes in the "customize dashboard" menu. I know the option exists, but it's well-hidden.

Customize->Background image. Has a total of two switches. One for background images at all, the other for sponsored background images. Turn the second one off.

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Re:Brave Search removes last remnant of Bing from search res... by wildrhythms on Friday April 28, 2023 @07:23AM (#35739925)

The discussion is about the default setting; not the ability to turn it on and off later.

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Re:Brave Search removes last remnant of Bing from search res... by soundnote on Friday April 28, 2023 @07:51AM (#35740149)

The person I was responding to said it was "well hidden". It's literally one of a grand total of two toggles in the relevant settings screen, which is also the first one that opens if you click the customize button.

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Re:Brave Search removes last remnant of Bing from search res... by AlotOfReading on Friday April 28, 2023 @11:02AM (#35742130)

So it's not part of the "dashboard" with all the other UI elements on the new tab page despite having its own HTML elements and the option is hidden in the seemingly unrelated background image menu? That certainly is well hidden.

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Re:Brave Search removes last remnant of Bing from search res... by soundnote on Friday April 28, 2023 @02:22PM (#35745149)

What areyou even on about? There's a clear customize button on the new tab page, that has a clear background image customization. If you want to change it where else would you look?

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