Hello all, I have been on the Internet quite a while, yet, only until recent(ish) years, I've had this problem, especially with Google. You see, I'm not in the US, therefore every time I visit one of their sites I get redirected to my country's local version, a particular gimmick which I loathe. I know for a fact that many Americans living abroad suffer from the same issues. If I specifically type www.google.com I want to go there, not www.google.com.mx. The same with Youtube, which is even more irritating. I've gotten used to going to the no country redirect URL for google, which is quite handy. Just typing www.google.com/ncr takes a fraction of a second more, and it'll take me to where I want to go. The thing is, I don't accept cookies on any of my computer's browsers, so when I choose that I want to see the US content, it doesn't get saved through browsing sessions. This is where my problem begins. While google's NCR URL is not too much of an issue to type, others are a little bit more annoying, like Youtube. To avoid a redirect on Youtube, you need to type www.youtube.com/?g=US which is a little bit more of a hassle. Since cookies are disabled, it appears typing out the whole URLs is my only choice for now. This is what I've tried: I've done an nslookup on www.youtube.com, .com.mx, google.com and .com.mx. All four come up with different IP addresses. My first idea was simple: To edit the Windows Hosts file so that when I type the url (without /ncr or gl=US) I get redirected to the 2 IPs corresponding to the US versions of those two sites. It didn't work, because even though www.google.com and www.youtube.com redirect to a different IP, both their IPs redirect to www.google.com when entered on Firefox's address bar, even Youtube's. Is there anything I can do? maybe set up some sort of local DNS sever? What I want, basically, is to go on my browser, type www.google.com or www.youtube.com and have the browser resolve either www.google.com/ncr or www.youtube.com/?gl=US without actually having to type out those entire URLs. The same for other websites, but these are the two I have a problem with. Youtube has started NOT to respect the user's choice of localization even after you select "Worldwide" from the country selector. It will still show you local content in some cases even after logging in with your account. Oddly enough, creating an account and selecting the content you wish to watch isn't saved on the account itself, but on cookies -- which I find idiotic. Since I have cookies disabled, the problem is exacerbated. See my dilemma? Thanks in advance!
googirl @coxis, i could be wrong...but i think google re-directs you as per your ip address use software that can mask your ip address to an american ip address try okay freedom or steganos online shield
I don't like Google redirecting my searches to localized version, but luckily I found suitable solution. Now, every time I install Firefox to a new computer, I use Mycroft Project: http://mycroftproject.com/google-search-plugins.html The one on the list I'm using is "No country redirect" version. As for other browsers, I have no idea whatsoever.
visit google.com, if it redirect you, check the lower right corner of the screen, there should be a button to mandate using google.com domain
Correct me if I'm wrong, but that to work you have to be keeping Google cookies, I.E. logged in or browser set not to clean temp files after closed. Mycroftproject solution I'm using allows me to use google.com (no redirect) straight from Firefox search bar and it works even while I'm not logged in to my Google account, in which has the country preference set. Google is way too eager to redirect. Google Play still shows me ugly and unreadable "translation" when I check Android software there. Nasty. Editing the end of the the address with country specifier takes care of that, but it's annoying to do that on every time I follow link to Google Play.