Every Internet user, even if he has absolutely nothing to hide from his significant other, bosses or the state, is invariably annoyed by intrusive advertisements that pop up every now and then on the screen of a smartphone or computer. It is only once to search the Web, for example, information about growing dracaena in the apartment – and here you are already under attack by dozens of sites that seek to sell you everything for floristry. And it is worth typing in the search engine “aquarium to buy”, as immediately appear hundreds of proposals one another more beautiful. So, anonymity on the Internet is the first thing for all those who do not want to sacrifice their privacy. Anonymous browsers have become a bit like a medical mask pulled over your face on public transportation these days – but in the digital world.
The concept of anonymity and privacy on the Internet
In fact, as soon as you visit a particular resource from the most common “window on the Internet” – i.e. a browser – you can forget about anonymity and privacy. Because the site collects, tracks and transmits “where necessary” (and necessary, most often, all sorts of sellers and advertisers) everything that can be about you, your family and your habits. That is, all your actions on the resource, all your requests, purchases, habits – all this instantly becomes public. An ordinary browser, of which there are many, is programmed to collect this information – which means it will do so. Even if you create an account with a fake name and surname, your preferences and habitual behavior will still be recorded in the memory of resources – and you will still be offered intrusive advertising. Well, if it’s just ads, but what if it’s phishing sites, for example?
And there are cases when a person would do well to hide from the overly curious public even the search queries he makes. How to be in this case? This is exactly what the free anonymous browser is designed for. It will make sure that your queries remain exclusively in your possession.
Top best anonymous browsers
Nowadays, there are more than one and not two such programs available to the user. There is a lot to choose your best anonymous browser from, and why you should love it over its competitors.
- Tor Browser is rightfully considered to be the best in terms of anonymity. No other competitor comes close to the degree of anonymization that this browser offers through the use of the so-called Tor network, maintained by volunteers around the world. Traffic is redirected from one point to another – and it is impossible to determine and track who generated a particular request. It’s not for nothing that the browser’s symbol is the onion. It is this vegetable that the Tor system is like – layer upon layer. The honorable title of the most anonymous browser was secured for it a long time ago, several years ago – and so far no one has surpassed it in terms of anonymity. This is mainly due to the Tor system. The Tor browser is actively used both on PCs and on wearable devices with any operating system.
- Brave Browser is considered to be one of the fastest browsers with built-in anonymizers. In addition, it is excellent at blocking unnecessary ads and phishing sites, thus protecting the user from marketing attacks.
- Epic Privacy Browser is, according to the developers, the only one based on the advanced Chromium. It has the ability to provide its users with speed and comfort of use (for example, it even allows listening to music with the screen turned off).
- Mozilla Firefox (in strict protection mode) is known for what many people say about it quite openly: the universal and best private browser. It is available on desktop computers as well as for Android, Apple devices and Linux. Note that it is probably the only one whose source code is open source – which means that there are no pitfalls in using it. It also has its own VPN service, as well as a very effective blocking of unwanted ads and pop-ups. A notable feature is the isolation of tabs – data between them is not synchronized for greater user privacy. Thus. you can use different credentials on different tabs.
- I2P Browser is a private browser, the use of which is based on the properties of the network of the same name. It is a whole “city within a city” – that is, its own Internet network, where you can place any page of any purpose (blog, website, forum). It will be anonymous and decentralized.
- DuckDuckGo is a wonderful and feature-rich browser with an unrivaled degree of search privacy. Not only will every query be kept absolutely secret and no one but the user will ever know about it, but clearing your search history is literally one click away. Anonymity and security have never been easier! It is one of the most popular and used anonymizers on the Internet. It is also available in both PC and Android versions.
- Waterfox is one of the widespread and fully autonomous forks of Mozilla Firefox. And you can talk for a long time about the fact that it has advantages like fast and smooth operation and saves from streams of intrusive unnecessary advertising – but its main “plus” is not in this. One of the main advantages users consider the technology, which is able to hide the actions and requests of users not only from the eyes of outsiders who can look into the phone and check the history, but also from the observation of the provider. And this, you will agree, is already an achievement.
Other tools to protect privacy and anonymity
This is what the top private browsers look like, but they are not the only ways to hide oneself from online surveillance. In case a person feels the need for an anonymizer, he can use such a service as mobile anonymous proxies. With their help, the request will be redirected several times until it is impossible to trace its source. By using something like this on your computer OpenVPN for Windows on your PC or smartphone, you can be sure of your anonymity. It is practically impossible to trace all the details of web surfing in case of using such resources.
Why is “privacy” or “incognito” mode not enough for privacy?
When hoping for anonymous Internet surfing, you cannot rely only on the “incognito” mode available in some browsers. All activities in your accounts are visible to your ISP and the sites you visit in this mode. What kind of anonymity can there be? If the use of the “incognito” mode is inevitable, you may be advised to supplement it with the use of a VPN service.
Built-in browser VPN or a separate VPN?
Many popular browsers have begun to embed such a feature and offer users to forgo downloading a separate program. The opinions of experts on this issue vary. Most still agree that it is possible to anonymize yourself as much as possible using a separate VPN program, but such a connection will be slower. Using the built-in VPN in the browser will be faster and easier. In addition, separate VPN often either leave much to be desired in terms of connection quality, or are paid. In any case, it is up to the user to decide whether speed or affordability is a priority.
Thus. we see that now it is possible to pick up more than one and not two convenient solutions for anonymous surfing on the World Wide Web. A secure, confidential browser will help make sure that your queries remain undisclosed to both those who may have access to your device and those who may be interested in you as a commodity in order to sell you services. It should also be noted that the information that trackers and websites can obtain from your device as a result of processing your search queries is in no way harmless to you. Perhaps you didn’t want to let everyone know that you were interested in that particular product or service? That’s why the habit of using an anonymous browser is part of the healthy digital hygiene of our time.
