Last week I explained why I'm sticking with Firefox which has generated quite a bit of debate about whether it really is the best browser out there. However, I was very close to ditching Firefox altogether after a frustrating problem which seemed to appear after I first used Tor. Specifically, the problem seemed related to the Torbutton for Firefox which had effectively "broken" Firefox on my Mac.

The reason is because the Tor Button changes Firefox's proxy preferences when you toggle it on and off. Although most of the time it works quite smoothly, over time it can get "stuck" and permanently change your Firefox proxy settings even when you toggle off Torbutton. The result is that Firefox behaves very erratically sometimes taking ages to load pictures and pages and eventually, may refuse to load pages at all by returning a "Privoxy" error page as happened to me.

Ultrasurf is a freeware program designed to evade internet censorship that exists in some countries. In this post I'll explain how it works, and what Ultrasurf can and can't do. It's a standalone .exe file - so you can run it from a USB stick without installation. When it's running, you access sites through Ultrasurf's own servers. This can make browsing slower, but this seems to be the price to pay for avoiding online censorship and filtering.

Google is easily the most powerful search engine on the net. As the company has grown though, users have become increasingly concerned about the privacy issues raised by one company handling so much personal data. This was brought into the spotlight again last month by Google's unifying new privacy policy which gives it more rights to share your Google activities across services it owns such as YouTube, Google+ and of course, Google Search.

The good news is there are several other options out there that pro-actively protect your privacy. And some of them are pretty good too. Below, I test the best four options using a search term 'internet explorer mac' that consistently ranks Softonic highly in Google.

If you're paranoid about Facebook and sick of being monitored by Google, you might be looking for a more anonymous way to surf the internet.

Why Firefox?

We love Firefox (although not wholeheartedly ) for two reasons - first, it's open source, and second, it has a great selection of add-ons that make it easy to make surfing the web a much safer experience. Below, we've taken a look at 5 of the best to make sure that your surfing is as anonymous and confidential as possible.

Encrypt your data when possible.

This add-on encrypts your data by using HTTPS in place of HTTP where possible. The extra "S" refers to an extra level of security that protects your data as it travels between your browser and the server. HTTPS Everywhere works automatically, so it will use HTTPS by default when available, meaning you can get on with more important things while the add-on takes care of your security.

It’s increasingly hard to surf around the net without someone somewhere knowing who you are and where you’ve come from. For most of us, that’s no big deal – you’ve got nothing to hide after all have you? However, sometimes details such as your IP address and other traces you leave behind can be used by commercial entities to spam you with advertising or worse, compromise the security of your system.

Whatever reason you may have for wanting to hide your identity, there are a couple of options that can help preserve your privacy. On Windows, one of the best known applications to help achieve this end is Tor. Tor is an open source project that help you anonymize web browsing and publishing, instant messaging, IRC, SSH, and other applications that use the TCP protocol. Tor hushes up your communications by bouncing them around a distributed network of servers called “onion routers”. If you don’t want to use any software, then another method is to use a proxy. There are several websites out there that allow you to surf the net using public proxies that mask your real IP address.

Anonymous browsing is particularly useful if you’re using a public computer and don’t want your tracks revealed to strangers. However, the disadvantage is that sites that rely on your specific ID might not work as well. So for example, sites that normally save your personal preferences might not do so if every time you return as an “unknown” user. Still, if you’re increasingly worried about the prying eyes of Big Brother, anonymous surfing is one way to give him the slip.

If you're on this blog there's a good chance you know about alternative browsers like Firefox or Opera and that you probably even use them. You might know what tabs, extensions, session restore or pop-up blocking are but your web experience might not go farther than this. Here are some programs to improve your overall browsing experience:

1. ToolbarCop : Quickly uninstall all those unnecessary extensions
2. Ghostzilla : Browse undercover
3. Tor : Protect your privacy whenever you connect to the web
4. AI Roboform : Memorize passwords and form entries
5. DU Meter : Measure your bandwidth
6. Windows Live Writer : Desktop blogging
7. Bookmark Base : Export and carry your bookmarks
8. WikiReader : Open Wikipedia from anywhere
9. Quintura Search : A search query based on tag clouds
10. ted : Create your own schedule of TV series torrents

We tried to list all sorts of apps, from security to bookmarking, searching or blogging. If there's a program you use while browsing and that you really like, let us know!

It seems you can’t go anywhere on the internet without being followed – just ask Gary Glitter. Whether it’s marketing companies tracking your surfing habits or spyware saving and transmitting your personal details, most current browsers leave behind a trail of footprints leading back to your PC. That’s why programming collective Hacktivismo have released Torpark – a new browser that uses its own network of net routers to allow users to surf without leaving a trace.

Even more impressive, Torpack can be stored on any USB pendrive or external storage device meaning you can surf in peace from any PC, anytime. The browser works by encrypting traffic between a computer and the Tor routers owned by the Electronic Frontier Foundation. It also regularly changes the user’s IP address to leave a “smokescreen” for any potential intruders. The makers admit however that data exchanged between websites that do not use encryption to secure login sessions and the Tor network remain vulnerable. They proudly claim however that unlike other similar applications such as Anonymizer and SecretSurfer, Torpark is 100% clean and free of spyware/adware.

Firefox users have been able to access the Tor network via a plugin for sometime now but this is the first time the browser has been available for download. The new package also features a special tab that allows users to switch between anonymous and normal surfing. The two major drawbacks are that in exchange for anonymity, surfing is somewhat slower and some sites act badly thinking you are constantly logging-in and out again like some kind of paranoid lunatic. That said, if you’ve been particularly plagued by credit card fraud or security issues, this could be the answer you’ve been looking for.