New secure browser Browzar is fake & full of ads

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Social news rave about Browzar – they claim it a new secure browser leaving no footprints. After looking at it closer, I found out that it’s not a browser at all, and moreover, this software thrusts search via it’s own PPC-SE full of ads on user.

Fake browser

Yeah, it’s just 264K addon to Microsoft Internet Explorer that beginning programmer would easily make. More quality and useful soft based on IE exist, like Maxthon, ex MYIE.
Btw, do you notice that developers blocked the context menu in browser? It hides the standart IE menu.
And tiny experiment at the end. Start Browzar. Input query “intitle:phpinfo()“, open any page titled “phpinfo()“, search page for “HTTP_USER_AGENT” and you’ll see:

Browzar is fake browser

In my case it was “Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows NT 5.1; SV1; MRA 4.4 (build 01348))“, your result can differ, but anyway it will be distinctive MSIE data!
I think, developers will change useragent value in next version 🙂
Adware

After starting, Browzar shows its’ homepage, and these settings cannot be changed. Homepage offers to “Search the Web…”, but gives weird results from weird SE. I input “del.icio.us” and got that:

Browsar have adware

Really odd results, “Delicious at Amazon.co.uk“, “Find Delicious on eBay“…
Attention to status bar!!! You’ll see links to… www6.overture.com. Overture is well-known PayPerClick-SE!
It’s no wonder that search field on browser toolbar operates via Overture too.
Conclusion

There was time when badware developers tried to install ad pages as homepage or searchpage in user’s IE by any possible means. Nowadays users install adware voluntarily and write news about it. True web2.0 style!
Update 1:

shii from reddit.com wrote interesting comment:

Alright, I just downloaded it and I’m too lazy to write a blog review, so here:

* No way to use Google. You must use Browzar’s spyware search engine.
* Browzar sends all usual computer info; it is no more “private” than any other browser.
* Apparently supports ActiveX.
* Claims to support cookies as well.
* Fails popup ad test suite.

So basically, this is the world’s simplest IE shell. They didn’t bother to write a cache or history function and they call that a “feature”, but they don’t modify any of the IE settings.

Update 2:

foggy from slashdot said:

1. Enter IE, go google.com, logoff if necessary, close IE
2. open browzar, go google.com, autheticate with your gmail account
3. close browzer
4. open IE, go google.com…. still authenticated!!!

perhaps it needs some more debugging.

🙂
Update 3:

Wadih wrote in his blog:

Browzar™ does not completely protect your privacy.
Browzar™ is in fact a browser that makes use of the Internet Explorer core.
Browzar™ inherits of any problems Internet Explorer might have.
Browzar™ permits access to anyone that wants to restore your history, cookies or temporary internet files from the dark corners of your disk.
Browzar™ doesn’t take care of securely deleting history, cookies or any other temporary internet files in order to be unable to recover them.
Browzar™ doesn’t take care of making the file names unsignificant.
Browzar™ is not ready to be deployed on public computers.

found here: [Link]