Google Preferences Without Cookies

By Jordon Kalilich — Last update Dec 13, 2009 — Installed 6,426 times.

Script Summary: Allows setting some Google preferences without having cookies enabled.



Version: 1.1

Copyright: Copyright 2009 Jordon Kalilich (http://www.theworldofstuff.com/)

License: GNU GPL version 3 or later; http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html

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NOTE: I am no longer maintaining this script. Feel free to modify and/or redistribute it under the terms of the GNU General Public License, version 3 or later.

Why Google Preferences Without Cookies?

Once this script is installed, you can block Google's tracking cookies and still enjoy customizing your search results:

  • Always show Google search pages in your language, regardless of which country's site you're visiting. (Great for frequent travelers who always have their searches bounced to the local Google.)
  • Select one or multiple languages for results to appear in; don't let Google assume you know every language.
  • Change the default SafeSearch filtering level.
  • Show anywhere from 1 to 100 results per page.
  • You can still make advanced searches that override these preferences.
  • No Google account required!

How It Works

Google Preferences Without Cookies keeps track of and lets you manage some general Google preferences. When you run a Google search, it adds the query string parameters related to your preferences as if you were making an advanced search. You can still make advanced searches that override your preferences.

Note: This script does not block cookies from Google; it only allows certain preferences to be saved regardless of whether cookies are accepted.

Usage

When the script is installed, you will see a "Google Preferences Without Cookies" link in the upper-right corner of Google's pages (see the first screenshot above). Clicking the link will allow you to set or update your preferences (the second screenshot shows the preferences page).

You can set the interface language, the search language(s), the SafeSearch level, and the number of results per page.

Known Issues

The following preferences on Google's standard preferences page cannot be set by this script because there are apparently no query-string options that correspond to them:

  • Open search results in a new browser window.
  • Provide/do not provide query suggestions in the search box.

Advice, corrections, etc. are welcome.

Changelog

  • 1.1 (2009-12-12): Made cosmetic improvements to the preferences page and specified searching all languages as the default.
  • 1 (2009-12-12): Initial version.

Update Checking

This script uses usoCheckup to check for updates.