Great new privacy browser

[Larwee]

I pay a lot of attention to new browsers since I am really interested in browsers. Some of them are worthwhile and others aren't very impressive.

I've been testing a new browser for the past week and I am really impressed with it. This browser is designed to do one thing. It does that one thing and it does it very well.

The purpose of it is to protect the privacy of the user. It does that by automatically discarding all traces of a Web session.

You must have Internet Explorer 5.5 or higher for this 264K application that runs on Windows systems. This browser uses the Internet Explorer rendering engine. There are plans for Mac versions and Linux versions but the release dates haven't been determined.

The privacy issues are handled by not saving files to a cache or history log. All cookies acquired during a session are deleted when the browser is closed.

You can download it each time you want to use it since it is so small, or you can store it on your hard drive or flash drive and run it from there.

Browsers such as Firefox can be set to automatically delete the browsing history and all cookies, as well as empty the cache, each time the browser is closed. But this one is easier and can also be used in a wider variety of circumstances.

You can also use this browser to search for what you want. It won't remember your searches and it won't auto-complete them.

You can use this browser for privacy at the home of friends or relatives, an Internet cafe, at work etc.

The name of this browser is Browzar. Here is a link to their site where you can obtain additional information as well as download it and see what you think about it Browzar | Your private window on the Web

[Larwee]

Some people have had some comments about Browzar which aren't very nice. They aren't too pleased with it. Some are saying it is an adware platform. The people behind Browzar say this isn't true.

Browzar has made some changes however. It now is using Ask.com for search results and clearly identity of the sponsored links.

If you would like to find out more about this and determine if Browzar is for you, or even see if there are ways you can make Browzar deliver more of what they promise, here are a couple of articles that might be helpful.

» Browzar, the IE Wrapper That Won’t Go Away » Blog Archive Alice Hill’s Real Tech News - Independent Tech

Browzar Updates » Coolest Gadgets

[praveen]

I havent taken a look at this but i am happy with my FF, IE 7 RC1 and Opera along with Webroot Spysweeper and Nod32

and if i have to use a pc elsewhere - friends place or cybercafe's - i am sure i wont be going to places where i have to divulge my personal details

probably the reason i havent touched this is due to the initial privacy issues with this software

[Larwee]

Browzar has a new version which they say is much improved and they say it addresses some complaints people had with Browzar.

The latest version has added several new features. Here are some of them:

Cookies and privacy protection
Homepage customisation
Tabbed Browsing
Function and Ctrl shortcuts
ActiveX support
Secure File Deletion
Index.dat cleanup
Media (Video & Audio)
Menu functionality
Cleanup progress panel

Here is a link to Browzar in case you want to see if you have any interest in this browser Browzar | Your private window on the Web

[Larwee]

I have a big interest in browsers, as some of you might know, and I use a lot of them. I like Browzar. It isn't my main browser, but I do use it often.

Version 1.5.0.0 of Browzar has been released.

Here are some of the key features:
.COM Button NEW!
ActiveX support
Auto-complete blocking
Browzar is based on Internet Explorer
Browzar is disposable
Browzar skins in Black, Silver and Windows style NEW!
Cleanup progress panel
Cookies and privacy protection
Crash protection and recovery
Function and Ctrl shortcuts
History deletion
Homepage customization
Index.dat cleanup
Media (Video & Audio)
Menu functionality
Popup management
Secure File Deletion
Tabbed Browsing
Tabbing and the 'New Tab' button NEW!
Temporary Application Data delete (Flash and Java)
Web Cache (Temporary Internet Files) deletion
Web Search tool NEW!
Zipped version NEW!

Here is what Browzar says about ActiveX support:

Rather than develop some other approach, we've defaulted to the underlying IE support for ActiveX. However, to protect your privacy, we've made it so ActiveX objects which may have been downloaded during you Browzar session, are automatically deleted on cleanup.

We'll continue to evaluate our approach to ActiveX based on feedback from this next beta release.

Browzar says this about Secure File Deletion:

We were getting a lot of criticism for that fact that we only superficially deleted files rather than 'shredding' them. We've now added a secure delete function that runs on-the-fly, and works in the following way:

Overwrites the entire file contents with zeros.
Overwrites the entire file contents with ones.
Overwrites the entire file contents with random data.
Renames the file multiple times to obscure filename records.
Delete the file.
The Secure Delete Function can be activated by selecting the 'secure delete' function under the Browzar 'Tools' menu.

Technical note:

Microsoft TM NTFS stores files in a number of ways: normal, compressed, sparse and encrypted. The Secure Delete process with normal files is straight forward. However to ensure we completely overwrite compressed, sparse or encrypted files we have utilised the defragmentation APIs to find the actual physical location of these files and perform raw overwrites (bypassing the file systems).

Here is a link that will help you get more information and decide if you would like to give Browzar a try Browzar | Your private window on the Web