Browse Better: Using Brave to Save You Time, Money, and Headache

crypto-mason (42)in #security • 7 years ago (edited)

By: Mason Vollum @crypto-mason
8 Minute Read

Brave

Made by the creator of Javascript and co-founder of Mozilla and Firefox, Brave browser provides a new portal to browse the web. A browser free from ads and trackers, fast from the beginning, and easy to use. Brave Browser is what you’ve been looking for since your first interaction with the internet. So just what makes Brave a better browsing experience?

Baked in Features

No more having to install ad-blockers, tracker-blockers, or any of the other host of extensions that make using chrome, ie, or safari, bearable. Not to mention that these already present features are more effective than extensions in other browsers, most of which have backdoors or content deals that allow certain “approved” advertisers to bypass the blocker (see Adblock’s list of acceptable ads). Even using an extension such as Ghostery can’t block most of the trackers that Brave can from the get-go.

Time Warrior

As modern Americans spend an increasing amount of time behind a screen everyday (with some estimates as high as 11 hours a day) it serves to reason that the amount of time we spend looking at ads is ever increasing as well. This isn’t even to mention the drain on load times that ads and trackers can have on your browsing experience. In fact, Brave has data to show just how much faster their browser is than other browsers. With chrome being used as the benchmark due to its previous first place spot in speed, Brave boasts that you will browse 2 times faster on a desktop and 2 to 8 times faster on mobile. They say this can save you upwards of $20 a month by preventing the loading of unwanted components of any webpage.
Once I started using Brave it took me about a week to fully transition over. In the month and a half since setting Brave as my default browser it has saved me 25 minutes of time by blocking over 20,000 trackers and 9,000 ads. To add to this Brave has also upgraded over 4,000 insecure websites. Brave has saved me time, money, and headache through its awesome host of features and it will be my default browser from now on.

Content Creators Rejoice

Being the socially conscious reader that you are you are probably asking now how website owners will be able to afford hosting costs if they aren’t being paid by advertisers. This is where Brave steps into the world of blockchain with the creation of a proprietary currency called Basic Attention Token or BAT. BAT is a store of value that can quickly and easily be transferred between publishers, advertisers, and users. Users can contribute BAT to websites they browse based on percentage use or by “pinning" a set amount for a particular domain.
With its most recent update, Brave browser now allows individual YouTube pages the same kind of monetization ability as domains. The browser identifies YouTube creators by their name and allows them to be paid regardless of where their content is embedded. This is huge for small time creators as YouTube does not share revenue with users who have under 10,000 views.

Paid for Your Patronage

You might be wondering why you as a user would want to switch from content being “free” to having to pay for it. The truth of the matter is that there is no such thing as “free” content, as users we don’t often hand over money to a website so to pay for their expenses websites allow advertisers to display ads and attach trackers to pages. These ads and trackers grab valuable information about you as a user and allow marketers to figure out who you are and what you like to do on the internet. With the advent of big data this way of paying for content is becoming more and more risky as large companies learn your ins and outs, figure out how to sell to you better, and even sell your data to others.
BAT will soon allow you to share in the revenue that websites make off of you. In the same way that adblock allows certain ads through Brave will do the same. It will allow ads that are unobtrusive, harmless, and more personalized than what is currently available. If you decide to allow ads on certain sites you, the site, and brave will split the money marketers are paying to show you their wares. If you decide you never want to see an ad again you can simply use the default capabilities of Brave to block them, from there you can decide what sites you’d like to support using BAT contributions and the browser will handle the rest.

Setting it Up

So you’ve decided that Brave is something you want to use. Now what? (Note. This guide is for OSX, Windows installation will be very similar)
Screen Shot 2017-12-11 at 3.38.31 PM.png

Screen Shot 2017-12-11 at 3.38.31 PM.png

The first thing you need to do is mosey on over to Brave.com.
-You’ll see a nice looking Lion with a download button next to his mane.
Click said button and then click save in the resulting popup box.
Navigate to your downloads folder and double click the Brave dmg file.
Drag the Brave icon to your Applications folder in the resulting window, it will now install.
Once the application installs open it up by hitting F4 and finding it amongst your apps.
-You will need to okay it opening because OSX will tell you it’s a file from the internet.
When the icon shows up in your toolbar right click it, click options, and select ‘Keep in Dock”
-This will make Brave easy to find every time.
The first page that shows up when you open the browser has a bunch of intro content.
-Brave will ask you if you want it to be your default browser, you can decide if you are ready or not but I would recommend letting it ask you every time you start it up.
Click import data and choose whatever browser you were using in the past.
-This will pull your accounts and other information over.
Browse away

Optional Steps

What follows are a number of other things you can do to improve your browsing experience even further. Security while using any blockchain or cryptocurrency is your responsibility and your responsibility alone! That is why I recommend the tools I do here. Get in the habit of strong passwords and private storage of them!

Lastpass will help generate and store new and secure passwords for you. I recommend this as most of us tend to reuse a similar password over and over again and this is a no go especially when it comes to using cryptocurrencies and blockchain.

Click Brave in the upper left corner and then select ‘preferences’.
Under the extensions tab on the left side select Lastpass.
If you have an account sign in, otherwise create an account.
CREATE A NEW PASSWORD, even if you already have an account.
-Make it something you’ve never used before
-I recommend using a mnemonic device. I often use song lyrics to create a password that is easy to remember but sufficiently difficult. I.e. the lyrics “Ice-age heat wave can’t complain, if the world’s at large why should I remain?” could become “I-ahwc^2,w@LysIr?” which you should be able to commit to memory pretty quickly.
-PLEASE GET CREATIVE WITH YOUR PASSWORD. DON’T RECORD IT ANYWHERE BUT PAPER. YOUR SECURITY IS YOUR OWN RESPONSIBILITY.
Start letting Lastpass record your passwords. Let it generate new ones for you if you know one is bad or it suggests you do so.

MetaMask is an ERC20 wallet for interacting with the blockchain through your browser. I go further into depth in this article which I highly recommend reading before using the extension. Long story short it will allow you to make fast and frictionless purchases, trades, and more.