Do real geeks use homepages?

I see it all the time. A decent program wants to change the homepage or search page. Sometimes it's the products own page but sometimes it's not even theirs. Google Yahoo Ask Holiday Cruises or whatever! I haven't used a homepage in years. Have IE and slimbrowser. Both set to about.blank I believe. If I hit the icon then I just use the address bar for a site or for search. I keep a folder 'Internet_N_Mail' for places I'm used to visiting. News local and world. Email several different accounts. Game sites I use. And of course MG's. I have winpatrol and SuperAntisw both watching for things I let slip through. And there is always a registry key for getting rid of unwelcome intruders. What gives? Does "Paintshowxx" really think we want to see their adpage everytime we start the internet? Does google yahoo ask or whoever get money by how many people use their site as a springboard? ANy thoughts or insights on this?

 

My "homepage" is six website, that open in tabs every time I open my browser. It's the six i check most often on my home computer, and it's just more convenient to have them open right way than to have to manually open tabs and click on things.

 

Hi Mimsy. Neat idea. I can see the convenience in your way. Do you have to protect this setup from being changed by installers ect. And if you clear your browsers cache is everything still there? I have a wireless connection so couldn't use that method myself. But I will remember it in case or if wired ever happens.

 

I'm with Mimsy I have a page that opens with 12 places I regularly check :cool
I use Speed Dial which is found here at MGs for Firefox or for Chrome here. Unfortunately I couldn't find the version I use for Chrome here at MGs hence the other link
In the Chrome settings menu you can set your homepage to be unchangeable and you can also lock your search engine
I have now been using Speed Dial for about 5 or 6 years and had very few problems attributable to this add on and I think it is much better than the Chrome eight most used sites homepage offering that you can't edit unless you go into registry. At least with Speed Dial you can have whatever page links you want and have them where you want them on the screen and the best thing is they don't keep getting moved around :major

 

Similiar in slimbrowser I have my normal Internet_N_Mail shortcuts showing as icons on the page but not loading until I click one. Don't think I can do the same thing in IE. That way they're all right there on screen but I'm not loading the page til I'm using it. Again a wireless connection limitation.

 

What to use for home page is a setting in Firefox.

And no, I don't, but mainly because I don't ever allow any program to change my browser settings. No one but me gets to do that.

 

And no, I don't, but mainly because I don't ever allow any program to change my browser settings. No one but me gets to do that.

I try to do that always also but every now and then something slips thru. Scotty -WinPatrol- and SuperAntiSpyWare catch some I miss. And since I don't use a homepage- I never even click the IE icon- it doesn't do any good for a site or company to snatch my settings.

 

Yes. As I primarily run Linux and BSD I don't worry a lot about browser hijacks.

 

I use Opera's 'Speed Dial'. Does me. I hardly use the Favorites list anymore.. The Anti-Malware software takes care of the odd hijack attempt.

 

I also use the Speed Dial add-on that joffa mentioned.
Two conveniences are the option to create Groups of links that appear as separate Speed Dial tabs, which optionally can have custom backgrounds.
You can use drag-and-drop to rearrange the links.
You can optionally assign your own image and title to any link.
If you can remember the number of a specific link, you can go to that address directly at any time by typing Ctrl+number.
For example, on mine, Ctrl+2 takes me to the local AccuWeather page, and Ctrl+11 takes me to Major Geeks Home page.
The Speed Dial page does Not have to be open for those to work.

As for actual home page, I'm currently using the Cyberfox default.

 

I know some using homepages. They made the page really stylish and fabulous.

 

That totally didn't read right the first time around

 

I start up Waterfox to Google, it loads fast and gets me on my way. My most used pages are on the one click hot bar (BBC news, MG, mail, weather, stock report, etc.)
Unless I am running 8 where some of those are replaced with live tiles.

 

I must not be a real geek...my home page is Google, as that's what I want 90% of the time. All my regular sites are on buttons on the bookmark bar.

 

Thanks to all for input and ideas. A few stand out to me. The speed dial is new to me. Will loook into that more for sure. The linux/bsd- I have a few old versions on cd plus newer small live versions CDLinux DSl Nano Shiltaz and others but so far haven't got any to hook up with my wireless. A work in progress. Saw a topic in another area of making a html page with my links on it maybe even categories like news mail musis etc like my Internet_N_Mail folder 'cept in html format. Another work in progress. And all still have to be protected from homepage hijacks. It's a shame to not just be able to focus in the good things. Thanks again

@Sgt. Tibbs - you know yur geek-that's why yur here!

 

I open anywhere from three to seven depending on the browser. Not counting the half to two dozen pinned tabs at any time.

 

With regard to Linux I would recommend OpenSUSE, Ubuntu, and Fedora as good distros to try out. I am very fond of the Wicd wireless app, it has a pleasing interface that will scan for available networks and allow you to connect. The Networkmanager app is also good for wireless set-ups.

 

majorgeeks.com and forums.majorgeeks.com are the top links in my Internet_N_Mail folder and show on the about.tabs in slimbrowser. If I finish with my local html page those will be there. But that's not really like a homepage as a springboard to go everywhere else from there. I just close out the net then go somewhere else next.

In linux it's not selecting a connection I'm having to work on, it's getting my dongle to be reconigzed to start with. I have a cisco and a netgear to work with and no luck so far.

But even then I don't know if I really want or need a home page just a list of links I use always.

 

I hear that. The newer versions of Linux are getting quite good at recognizing NICs, but, some are proprietary and can be hard to work with. Sometimes a kernel re-compile can add support for the particular dongle or you can find some software that someone has made for your dongle.

This database may have information about your dongles:

http://www.linuxquestions.org/hcl/

Also I think both Ubuntu and Fedora are live DVDs so you can try out your network card before you commit to the install. Best of luck. Normally I don't rant on about Linux.

 

Yup