On today’s web it is really difficult not to leave an imprint of oneself, without therefore attracting trackers and control elements which, automatically, are injected into the computers of those who visit each website.These trackers are used by websites both to count the visit that is made with possible indication of the country of origin and the computer used, and to record the user’s preferences, starting from his browsing history or analyzing the searches made (such as Google) or clicks made on the site itself (as does Facebook). Furthermore, while surfing the internet anyone could, theoretically, intercept the connection and therefore know which sites we go to and what type of information we share on the internet.
In the guide that follows we will show you different tools for browse the Internet without leaving tracesso as to be able to visit any site in a totally anonymous way, without being sure of being associated with them: no one will know that we have visited that site, no one will know when we have visited it and how we have visited it.
The methods we will show you apply in layers: starting from the simplest method and gradually adding new methods, so as to increase the security of the connection and privacy while browsing on any type of site. We don’t have to apply all of them, but just in case we do we will get unrivaled privacy protection.
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1) Incognito mode
The simplest method to not leave traces of the use of the internet and of the sites visited on the computer in use is the incognito mode. As already explained in the guide on how to surf incognito and when to do itwith this special function it is included in all browsers (Chrome, Firefox, Edge, Safari, etc.) and prevents the history of visits made, cookies and the data of a particular search or a visit to a specific website from being saved.
The best browser to browse incognito is Mozilla Firefoxwhich puts privacy first and does not resell browsing data (which cannot be said of Google Chrome or Microsoft Edge).
As explained in the guide on how to protect online privacy incognito mode is not enough for maximum privacy: any malware, hackers, internet providers and government agencies will still be able to intercept the connection and know what we are looking at.
2) Private network of type Tor
To browse without leaving a trace and hide browsing data, we can use Tor, a private network with anonymous and encrypted access that protects the connection and prevents us from tracing our IP and the pages we have visited.
Tor can be considered as a VPN without a central manager, self-powered by the connected users themselves, who act as intermediate and exit nodes (these selected from trusted users). Access to the Tor network is free but the speeds are not high: better then put your soul in peace and use it only to surf the web, leaving aside the P2P download and video streaming.
Tor is accessible from a PC via the Tor Browsera modified version of Firefox to protect privacy, clear browsing data on shutdown and automatically connect to a Tor node.
Tor is also accessible from mobile via the Android app (Tor Browser e Orbot) and apps for iPhone and iPad (Onion Browser).
3) Private VPN-type network
To make the connection truly private and get a very good connection speed we must combine the use of a VPN service (o Virtual Private Network).
By choosing a VPN we will encrypt the PC connection, which will become non-interceptable in incoming and outgoing: we will therefore be able to obtain a falsified location, a false IP address and make it impossible to trace our computer or our Internet connection.
Using a VPN is particularly useful both when you have to access a site blocked in a country, and when you are inside a network that we do not manage, so every time we connect from outside the home, (from the office or other places), because it encrypts the data traffic to and from the computer making it impossible for even the network administrator to spy on.
Regarding VPNs, there are free and paid services: the latter are always the best, because they allow you to access the largest networks, choose various countries in which to hide and get the best speeds.
The best free VPN service is ProtonVPNbut there are others free VPN services that we can take into consideration for occasional use and to disguise the connection and simulate a different location.
If you really want to be safe with an encrypted connection, keep the internet speed unaltered and have no risk that other companies may use our data, we choose one of the services VPN premium paymentusually paying less than € 10 per month (with annual subscriptions you can save even more).
4) Anonymous operating system
Even using incognito mode, Tor or a VPN however, we risk being spied on by the operating system: now Windows collects a lot of data on the applications used and on the sites visited and Mac, Android and iOS are not far behind.
To get an excellent level of privacy we will have to use anonymous operating systems: they are nothing but special Linux distributions usable only from USB stickso you can be sure not to leave any traces on the original computer installation.
5) Fictitious credentials
In order not to leave traces on the sites you visit, when you need to log in with an account, you can always use a false identity. We can then generate a false identity very easily using special tools.
In this way we will be able to visit the sites we prefer and log in without leaving traces on our true identity, using false information both in the account and in the connection made to the site.
Conclusions
Who has secrets to hide or is looking for a effective way to protect privacy online must use a multi-layer protection, excellent for concealing one’s identity and making oneself unrecognizable (and not interceptable). To browse the Internet without leaving traces we will therefore have to:
- use a Linux distribution on a USB stick (no resident installation);
- install on it a secure browser such as Tor Browser (with incognito mode);
- finally add the VPN protection, which will add to the Tor encryption.
Probably all this protection is only for international spies, but it’s nice to think that it can also be applied at home! In other articles we have seen how eliminate the traces of what is done on the PC by deleting history and references and how to use i Programs to check if the PC is spied on.