All known free ad-free VPN-proxy native ad-blocking web browsers currently available on Windows

[Arlen Holder]

Do you know of other free ad-free native-VPN (actually proxy)
natively ad-blocking web browsers available on Windows than
(1) Epic
(2) Opera
(3) Avast

After working on these two similar threads on iOS & Android:
o What privacy based chromium-based or mozilla-based adblock enabled web browsers are on Android?
<https://groups.google.com/g/comp.mobile.android/c/_UkCESnaqdE>

o What's a good systemic ad blocker for iOS that you recommend?
<https://groups.google.com/g/misc.phone.mobile.iphone/c/IQLQ8fE8k10>

I recently found out about the Chromium based Avast Security Browser.
o Do you know of any others to add to this list?

(1) Epic Privacy Browser, blocks ads, free VPN servers
<https://www.epicbrowser.com/>

(2) Opera VPN Browser
<https://www.opera.com/features/free-vpn>

(3) Avast Secure Browser
<https://www.avast.com/secure-browser>
<https://www.avast.com/installation-files> <== for full offline installer

I'll install this new Avast Secure Browser & run a test for the team
o But it would be nice to know what you think if you already used it for a while.
--
Sometimes we learn new things by asking questions after doing the work ourselves.

[Arlen Holder]

On Mon, 7 Dec 2020 05:29:10 -0000 (UTC), Arlen Holder wrote:

> I'll install this new Avast Secure Browser & run a test for the team
> o But it would be nice to know what you think if you already used it for a while.

Be advised, upon initial inspection, the program "seems" similar to Opera
o But the installer itself is a piece of crap

Most of you won't care how badly written the installer is,
so you can take my obligatory install sylog below with a grain of salt.

*** begin ad hoc syslog installation of avast security browser ***
Went here to get the full offline installer but it's just a stub
<https://www.avast.com/installation-files>
<https://cdn-download.avastbrowser.com/avast/avast_secure_browser_setup.exe>
I even tried the Business tab and it was still the crappy stub.
Note this browser works on Windows/iOS/Android, much like Opera & Epic.
o Windows
<https://cdn-download.avastbrowser.com/avast/avast_secure_browser_setup.exe>
o Mac
<https://cdn-download.avastbrowser.com/AvastSecureBrowserSetup.pkg>
o Android
<https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.avast.android.secure.browser>
o iOS
<https://apps.apple.com/app/apple-store/id1517761023>

mkdir X:\installers\browsers\avastsecurebrowser\
Name: avast_secure_browser_setup.exe
Size: 3298192 bytes (3220 KiB)
CRC32: 6D8B52C3
CRC64: DE0D68718E4AB2B4
SHA256: 66AB40EF2F5BE7B7D643FA6958EFE32F60EED40FD1CA6DCCDDBB9E5DFFD72673
SHA1: 82EF46C9F3F712F08917D06B66B00682A9148145
BLAKE2sp: AFC1FB3232F6A0E29B6BC08A7AEE6EFFB308F72932541241F7185E009DA2F64C

Turn the gateway off.
Run X:\installers\browsers\avastsecurebrowser\avast_secure_browser_setup.exe
The damn thing is just a stub. Sigh.

Turn the gateway on and go on VPN.
Run the stub again.
Stupid piece of shit software doesn't even ask where to go.
The installer takes forever, probably due to a slow download (i.e., the VPN).

It asks if you want shortcuts on the desktop, in the taskbar & in the start menu.
o I'd recommend only the desktop because it adds "funny stuff" to the TARGET.
"C:\Program Files (x86)\AVAST Software\Browser\Application\AvastBrowser.exe" --check-run=src=desktop
I changed that to:
"C:\Program Files (x86)\AVAST Software\Browser\Application\AvastBrowser.exe"

On first running, with that "funny stuff" it phoned home via the browser:
https://platform.avast.com/ASB/releases/Rainier/?szb=0&browser_version=86.1.6938.199&browser_locale=en-US

Anyway, as always, I went through all the settings backwards, bottom to top:
Take note that every darn Chromium browser has a _different_ URL syntax for start pages:
o StartPage1: secure://settings/clearBrowserData
o StartPage2: about:blank

Unlike Opera, the VPN appears to be on, by default.
o The VPN geolocated to a USA proxy site.
*** end ad hoc syslog installation of avast security browser ***

Dunno if, like Opera, it keeps a unique serial number that only
gets flushed when you clear all cookies (which I thank Marek Novotny
for finding out for us long ago, bless his heart.)

I only tested it for a minute or two so far; I'll test it more.
o Upon first inspection, it seems much like Opera (and somewhat like Epic).

See also:
o What's the trick to get the freeware full installer for archival, out of a common freeware stub installer situation?
<https://groups.google.com/g/alt.comp.freeware/c/y6kP58ROiLU/m/UgKKWsl8BwAJ>

o How to set chrome based web browsers to start with a given start page plus a blank tab?
<https://groups.google.com/g/alt.comp.freeware/c/iii_WG5hhxk/m/xmCYh0tIAgAJ>

o What is the quickest most universal way to open a URI in a Chromium-based freeware web browser?
<https://groups.google.com/g/alt.comp.freeware/c/RiKpaRaOBTg/m/fkhQ8aC_BAAJ>

o What privacy based chromium-based or mozilla-based adblock enabled web browsers are on Android?
<https://groups.google.com/g/comp.mobile.android/c/_UkCESnaqdE>

o What's a good systemic ad blocker for iOS that you recommend?
<https://groups.google.com/g/misc.phone.mobile.iphone/c/IQLQ8fE8k10>

o All known free ad-free VPN-proxy native ad-blocking web browsers currently available on Windows
<https://groups.google.com/g/alt.comp.microsoft.windows/c/PC0cw7olG3M>
--
Posted out of the goodness of my heart, so we all benefit from every action.

[Arlen Holder]

Update.
See also:

o Quick tutorial for yet another easy method to download youtube video
<https://groups.google.com/g/alt.comp.freeware/c/OXj3JqyTfh8>
--
Note: Epic blocks YouTube advertisements while Secure downloads the video.

[Arlen Holder]

Update:

For the Windows & freeware newsgroups, please see:
o What free, ad free, account free, free unlimited bandwidth VPN (aka proxy) browsers do you know of?
<https://groups.google.com/g/alt.comp.microsoft.windows/c/66hViGzcToU>

For the mobile phone newsgroups, please see:
o What free, ad free, account free, free unlimited bandwidth VPN (aka proxy) browsers do you know of?
<https://groups.google.com/g/comp.mobile.android/c/MXJLCPCS5vI>
--
As always, posted out of the goodness of my heart, to help others.
(Please add value by improving this information so all benefit.)