In the last week a lot of attention has been given to Browzar, a new “safe” web browser that is supposed to protect your identity while online. It offers no browsing history, offline or cached files, cookies, or autocomplete. No installation or registration is required. This is wonderful news for the paranoid privacy freaks out there, and even those of us who just want to take a little extra precautions when searching or browsing online. Especially after the recent AOL screwup, releasing thousands of users’ search data to internet community. So, can Browzar really be a better, safer browser? From the Browzar site, it claims:

With Browzar you can search and surf the web without leaving any visible trace on the computer you are using.

This is all fine and dandy, there are certainly enough people out there who would be interested in such an application… A lot of “big name” news and tech sites had writeups about it, proclaiming it’s greatness. From the BBC to ComputerWorld, CNET, Digg, and even the hard-core Slashdot.

But aparently, nobody actually tested the software before writing about it’s functionality to see just how good/bad it really is… Stories are slowly surfacing about it’s adware tendancies that make you wonder if anyone actually did test or research it in the beginning. Web3.0log did a quick post on Friday, claiming:

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.

Browzar is nothing more than a trimmed down version of IE (Actually its a shell that uses IE at its core) so the same security and privacy issues that exist in IE still exist in Browzar. The creators didn’t write in functionality for cache or history, and this is their claim to a newer, better, safer browser. In addition to that, you are forced to use their search and home pages which are riddled with Overture ads. (A pay-per-click search engine)

So, forget about trying to trick the user to change their homepage or download some piece of malware… Just claim your ad/spyware is actually some form of protector again these evils and they’ll download it and hail you a hero for creating it… until someone actually does some research on it.

Overall, this sounds like a perfect easy-out solution for the paranoid porn junkie who doesn’t want his/her spouse/coworker/parent to see what websites have been visited and what search terms have been used… But you’d be better off just changing the settings in IE yourself rather than relying on an ad-ridden third party software to do it for you.