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Slink Stealthily Around the Web with ArmorSurf

12.12.2008
After a little tinkering with ArmorSurf, I've got to tell you, I'm digging it--maybe a little too much. It's a secure Web browser. It's a Flash video downloader. It's a straight-up devious little program. The best way to sum up its features is to talk about a day in the life. Consider this one man's experiment in looking busy without doing any actual work.

At the crack of dawn, I secretly install ArmorSurf. It doesn't show up in the Add/Remove Program option in Windows, so nobody's the wiser as to its presence on my machine. I pick a generic icon and name the install. (It appears as MindYourOwnBiz to IT busybodies.) Once the program fires up, it prompts me for my password. That opens ArmorSurf's main browser window.

Inside the program, I surf without fear. No Web browser is bulletproof, but ArmorSurf stashes my history, cookies, and autocomplete info from prying eyes. Speaking of which, you can go for a deluxe package that masks your IP address, too. It costs US$10 a month or $25 for three months--but I'm not that paranoid.

(Yes, some of these features are available elsewhere. Maybe you have a stealth-surfing plug-in. Maybe you run Incognito across the Web. I just happen to like some of the other perks offered here.)

Now that I'm stealthed, it's time to head over to my fave Web chat client site, Meebo.com (all of my MSN Messenger, AIM, and ICQ info is stashed and accessible through a browser). Then I head off to check out the viral videos du jour at YouTube and Break.com.

When I get to video streaming sites, ArmorSurf lets me save those video files locally--great for preserving a personal copy of the lyrical stylings of Herve Villechaize to my hard drive. I'm loading up my notebooks with these gems so that I can enjoy an entertainment upgrade on long, boring biz trips.