p2pnet.net News:- Browzar, Ajaz Ahmed’s mini-Internet Explorer shell browser, is ad-ware free and doesn’t leave a trail, he claimed recently.

But both assertions are false, accuses the BBC.

“When a user searches using the Browzar search engine or the search box many of the results are for sponsored links or adverts,” it says. “These are included within the search results, rather than in a discrete ’sponsored links’ section, as on many search engines.”

The paid-for sponsored links are generated by Overture, developed by Yahoo to display ads based on keywords in the search term, says the BBC.

And on whether or not Browzar leaves a trail, “some experts claim to have already shown that this is not the case,” says the BBC, quoting Scott Hanselman on Computer Zen, and going on that Hanselman, “claims to have been able to find records of websites he had visited with the program installed” and, “Browzar, at least this version, is totally not doing what it says it does”.

But, “I’m afraid they [the BBC] miss the point,” Hanselman declares on his blog. “Of course, the joke here is that Browzar is a wrapper around Internet Explorer.”

He goes on to give screenshots of Browzar in action, with the captions:

“So, I fired it up and visited the naughtiest site I could think of, Pl*yboy, while running Filemon. Here’s a screenshot of the cached naughty gifs going in my Temporary Internet Files folder. Notice that Browzar deletes the gifs as soon as it sees them.

“Then I closed the browser … it deleted a bunch of cookies and such, trying to clean up. However, while it deleted the cookies, it didn’t delete the page itself, just closed it.”

Enter Microsoft Internet Exlorer. Our heavily edited version is upper right. Go to Scott’s page for the original.

“So, Browzar, at least this version, is totally not doing what it says it does,” says Hanselman.

“That’s a bummer. Maybe next version.”

Also See:
claimed recently – Browzar tells no tales, August 31, 2006
BBC – ‘Adware’ attack on privacy tool, September 3, 2006
Computer Zen – A New Private Browser – I mean Browzar – does not work as advertised, August 31, 2006

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