"Has Google (Search) Suddenly Changed?" Topic

I cleared out my cookies (good grief, that sounds like new slang for barfing…) on Firefox the other day. I'm noticing tonight that Google is performing that awful auto-fill thing as I type in search criteria. Before I had cleared cookies, Google search would let me type inwhat I wanted and had to click the search button or press enter. Previously, to get rid of the auto-fill, I had used a cog on the Google search page to turn that off, but now I can't find the darn thing anywhere.

Even when I sign into my gmail account, which then causes my google search window to be "my account", I can't seem to change anything to turn that awful auto-fill off.

Has something very recently changed?
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Tim

They release a new version every 6 weeks. It is driving us IT folks a bit batty.

I switched to Chrome myself.

Can't stand Chrome. Retains far too much information that is too easily accessible.

All the new releases are also driving us nuts. 'Scope creep' a go go.

"They release a new version every 6 weeks"

I don't know if you mean FF, Chrome or Search.

Chrome's release schedule is way longer than that. Search's release schedule is downright scary; there are often multiple versions in flight at the same time.

To change the settings, you have to search for something, then on the results page there's a gearwheel -- at the top of the white section, opposite the large red "Search" title.. I don't know why it's not on the front page any more.

"Can't stand Chrome. Retains far too much information that is too easily accessible."

And now I'm fascinated to know what you're referring to… what sort of information are you thinking of? And accessible by who or what?

Can't stand Chrome. Retains far too much information that is too easily accessible

Holds alot of stuff in the history (most browsers do), but in Chrome's case it retains cookie information on what should be temporary 'session' cookies, even through a reboot.

Simple example:
You go onto a website and log in to that site.
You close your browser without logging out of the site.
You reboot.
Someone else comes along and can immediately get into the same site as you and spend your hand earned £/$/sheckles.

There are variations of this on a lot of browsers, but Chrome is the only one I know of which survives a reboot on these kind of cookies.(in this case Jsession cookies)

Particular danger if you're on a 'public' machine (e.g. Internet cafe or hotel foyer type machine).

Seems to work correctly in 'Private browsing' or 'Incognito' mode though, so provided you remember to activate that, you should be ok.

Thanks for the info on Google search and other stuff!

What es me off severely is that my work computer still does Google search the way it used to on my home PC.
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Tim

Their "Google Doodles" were cute and clever, at first. Now they've become rather annoying, especially when they "celebrate" an obscure figure in history or when it's animated, which seems to slow down my computer.

"in Chrome's case it retains cookie information on what should be temporary 'session' cookies, even through a reboot."

My understanding is that this is in order to support the "re-open the tabs I had open before" feature.

If you turn that setting off, it should delete them.