How to stop Google spying on you.
I hope this is not off topic 
I love using the google toolbar but hate the fact that google tracks every website I visit, if you are in the same boat as I am here is how you can stop the toolbar from reporting every website you visit to google.
The Google toolbar usually sends a report of every page you visit back to http://toolbarqueries.google.tld where tld stands for your google localisation i.e. in England it is co.uk , USA is .com
Windows has a file called 'hosts' that will force redirection of domain names
The ip address 127.0.0.1 is called a loopback address and points to your own machine This means that if in your hosts file you specify that toolbarqueries.google.tld should point to 127.0.0.1 the information which would report back to google gets sent no where
Here are some instructions on how to modify your hosts file
Open the hosts file
1. Go to the Start menu and choose Run. Type the following in the Run dialogue box:
For Windows NT and 2000: C:\winnt\system32\drivers\etc
For Windows XP / VISTA / windows 7: C:\windows\system32\drivers\etc
2. Click the OK button
3. Find the file called 'Hosts' and double-click it. If prompted, specify that you would like to choose a program to open the file with from a list of programs. Choose 'Notepad' from the list of available programs.
4. Add the following lines to the hosts file
127.0.0.1 toolbarqueries.google.com
127.0.0.1 alt1.toolbarqueries.google.com
127.0.0.1 toolbarqueries.google.co.uk
127.0.0.1 alt1.toolbarqueries.google.co.uk
if you use a different localisation then add that as well, save the file and restart your browser
I love using the google toolbar but hate the fact that google tracks every website I visit, if you are in the same boat as I am here is how you can stop the toolbar from reporting every website you visit to google.
The Google toolbar usually sends a report of every page you visit back to http://toolbarqueries.google.tld where tld stands for your google localisation i.e. in England it is co.uk , USA is .com
Windows has a file called 'hosts' that will force redirection of domain names
The ip address 127.0.0.1 is called a loopback address and points to your own machine This means that if in your hosts file you specify that toolbarqueries.google.tld should point to 127.0.0.1 the information which would report back to google gets sent no where
Here are some instructions on how to modify your hosts file
Open the hosts file
1. Go to the Start menu and choose Run. Type the following in the Run dialogue box:
For Windows NT and 2000: C:\winnt\system32\drivers\etc
For Windows XP / VISTA / windows 7: C:\windows\system32\drivers\etc
2. Click the OK button
3. Find the file called 'Hosts' and double-click it. If prompted, specify that you would like to choose a program to open the file with from a list of programs. Choose 'Notepad' from the list of available programs.
4. Add the following lines to the hosts file
127.0.0.1 toolbarqueries.google.com
127.0.0.1 alt1.toolbarqueries.google.com
127.0.0.1 toolbarqueries.google.co.uk
127.0.0.1 alt1.toolbarqueries.google.co.uk
if you use a different localisation then add that as well, save the file and restart your browser
“An expert is a person who has made all the mistakes that can be made in a very narrow field†Niels Bohr