Chrome Nuisances

Google's Chrome is my browser of choice. But it does have some nuisances.

I finally got fed up with a couple of them and spent a few minutes figuring how to eliminate them.

First, was the "<web site> wants to Know your location":

Go to chrome://settings/content/location:

The next is "Sign in to <web site> with Google":

Go to chrome://settings/content/federatedIdentityApi?search=additional+content+settings:

You can thank me later.

GL.iNet GL-MT300N Mini Travel Router

With shared public Wi-Fi becoming so ubiquitous, it is still not readily accessible to the non-techie user, e.g. your family.

This is particularly frustrating where the guest Wi-Fi has a landing portal such as on an airplane or hotel.

I was traveling with a family group this summer and wanted a way to make this more transparent.

I bought the GL.iNet GL-MT300N V2 Travel Router from Amazon. It's home page is here (archive.org). It's 2 1/4 in. square and 1 in. tall. It's powered by a micro USB port and has 2 Ethernet ports.

There's a good post (archive.org) on it Scargill's Tech Blog. He refers to an OTA firmware update. My device's firmware was so old it wouldn't update OTA. 

This page on GL's site lists current firmware and alternate update procedures. You'll need to use the "Local Upgrade" process.

This upgraded me 2 versions and fixed a couple of SSL problems that I was having.

I'm using it in Wi-Fi repeater mode. I've setup an SSID/PSK that is one of our family's alternates. This means that all of our family's devices connect to the GL.iNet GL-MT300N V2 automatically.

If I'm mobile, I just power it with a battery bank. When I power it up, I connect to the SSID then browse to 192.168.8.1 and login with "admin" and my admin password.

Here's the Admin page:

The router keeps a list of known networks. Just click one to connect to it or chose one of the other available networks.

If there's a portal login required, you'll see it at this point. Once that is completed, other clients that connect to the GL.iNet GL-MT300N V2 will not see the portal.

You can't be sure what the network you're connected to is doing with your DNS queries so I use encrypted DNS.

I also use ProtonVPN Free. The GL.iNet GL-MT300N V2 supports ProtonVPN's WireGuard natively. Here are the instructions (archive.org). You toggle it on and off on the Admin page. It just works.

Manifest V3

If you don't know what "MV3" is just quit reading and go back to Facebook.

Congratulations, now we can begin.

Google has been sabre rattling over big changes in Chrome extension support for years. Well, they're finally pulling the trigger on it.

Here's ZDNET's summary (archive.org) of Manifest V3:

In development for the past six years, Google's Manifest V3 extension platform is designed to replace version 2 with tighter controls over the behavior of extensions. Malicious or suspicious extensions are a problem for any browser, including Chrome. To address this issue, Google claims that the new platform will better ensure that extensions offered in the Chrome Web Store are safe and reliable.

There's an even deeper dive (archive.org) over at BinaryFolks.

The short explanation is that extensions will no longer be able to dynamically load content from other sites. While this sounds good (and is good), it kneecaps extensions like uBlock Origin that dynamically updates its filter lists. Further, MV3 limits the number of filter objects that an extension can use.

The warnings started in Chrome 127 which dropped in August 2024.

While I'm sure that this will be a problem for some users, it doesn't seem to be a problem for "regular" users like you and me.

uBlock Origin has released uBlock Origin Lite that is MV3 compliant.

I set 2 options in uBlock Origin Lite: "Default filtering mode" to "Optimal" and checked "EasyList/uBO - Cookie Notices". I left "Filter lists Default" of "Ads, trackers, miners, and more" checked.

Honestly, I can't tell the difference.

YMMV