In Safari, I started noticing a few months ago that people outside my house were getting totally different search results than me. I was told it's because Google knows where I live and my taste etc.
So I switched to Chrome as it was not infected with this bias.

Now Chrome is infected with these totally inaccurate results.
I'ts imperative I can see the same results strangers are seeing.

What can I do? thanks!

See if deleting cookies and cleaning browser caches helps.

It might help I suppose... assuming that those "strangers" also delete their cookies.

Jon, it wont work. It's a global positioning, thing.
If you test it and it works let me know.

As there is no GPS built into any Macs other than the iPhone and iPad the only "global positioning thing" would be coming from

1. cookies stored on the computer
2. the specific DNS servers you are connecting to which are probably those of your ISP
3. the particular network the user is connected to
4. the particular search engine you and/or the user are connected to

None of which is under your control or ability to manage. From your description, I would assume that the first item, cookies, is the most likely cause in this case. You are really the only one who can test this out which as Jon suggested you can do by deleting your own cookies. I don't know how you would go about deleting the cookies on other people's computers and I really don't think I would want to attempt it either.

Perhaps if you could give us a better idea of what you are attempting someone may be able to suggest an alternative technology.

Joe,
Google has a thing called "personalised search"
it make your search look different than your neighbors results.
I would like to disable that so my search results look like a strangers at Kinkos.

So far: Jon, Joe and I have all said "delete cookies" (but don't expect miracles).
Have you tried that yet?
Was there anything else?

I don't know how Kinko's public access is set up, but I have used "business centers" at several motels recently and all have a system of flushing all the files that have been created during the session when you log out of the system. That means each user starts out without cookies, preferences, etc. This is a good thing as it means the next user has no access, accidental or otherwise, to your personal information. Assuming the same is true at Kinko's would once again point a finger at cookies causing the difference.

You can, of course, set the browser(s) in your computer not to accept cookies which would keep your system free of the "global positioning" customization but it has the side effect of making many sites, especially online shopping sites, unusable if not totally inaccessible.

Personalized search results rely on your Google cookies and on your Google login. To see results the way others do, log out from Google (including Google services like Gmail or Google Analytics, if you use them) and also dump your Google cookies.

Tacit,
great, that did it.
ONly thing, the problem will creep back.
How to disable this from happing again and again?

It's back to bad behavior right away...

How exactly are you making that determination, and what are some specific examples of these vast differences?

what do you get if you use a Chrome Incognito window, and without being logged into Google?

roger,
Interesting, I log out of Google and it's ok.
What does incognito mean?

Of course then I canot be logged in to Google which I like to be usually by default, but this is progress.

On subject of chrome, anyway to have google come up as defaut without the 8 boxes. I'ts been defaulting to 8 small thubnails lot lately.

According to the Apple Dictionary...

incognito |ˌinkägˈnētō; inˈkägniˌtō|
adjective & adverb
(of a person) having one's true identity concealed : [as adj. ] in order to observe you have to be incognito | [as adv. ] he is now operating incognito.

noun ( pl. -tos)
an assumed or false identity

Which accurately describes what Google's incognito function does purports to accomplish.

when Chrome is open, go to FIle and the third option down is "New Incognito Window". select that and it will give you more information about the option. basically it lets you surf without leaving traces.

as for Chrome, when that page with the thumbnails opens, look for some small boxes up on the right side. you can select what will show with the little arrow dropdown.

Rog,
issue goes away by logging out of Google.

Chrome, issue went away, so can't see what your are talking about -- how prevent it from coming back?

Just to clarify... That's the definition that's returned by command-control-D and "Dictionary" in Dictionary.app; (the) "Apple" (Dictionary) therein returns "No entries found." (The Apple Dictionary includes [more or less?] Apple/computing related terms only, which can be demonstrated by launching Dictionary.app, selecting "Apple," and entering single letters in the search field.)

> [...] how prevent it from coming back?

Don't log in to Google.

What's so all-fired important about being logged in?

browse to http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/

if you can't browse to there, you may have a dns hijack. I ran into another one of those last week. I discovered it by accident because it wasn't letting me download updates for the MS Office just installed. Makes sense they'd disallow access to microsoft.com, preventing the windows machines from getting security updates and service packs.

We could also look at these perhaps...
cat /etc/resolv.conf
cat /etc/hosts