Advice Request Browsing Profiles

[Back3]

My basic security setup: W11 64 bit, UAC default, F-Secure Safe, Simple Windows Hardening, Firewall Hardening, Norton Power Eraser and SophosScanandClean as second opinion scanners, O&O Shutup10, Macrium Home and Syncback free, Sumo, Process Explorer and Autoruns.

Browsing profile for my secure surfing (mostly 25 sites like MalwareTips):
Chrome or Edge, Cira DNS for Canadians, F-Secure Browsing Protection and Adguard Ext. Bitwarden

Browsing profile for insecure browsing:
Enable a VPN ( Windscribe or Surfshark), Activate Sandboxie Plus and use Librewolf (uBlock Origin).

Do you guys use different browsers or different browser profiles to accommodate your surfing habits?

 

[roger_m]

I am always connected to a VPN. I use Catsxp (a fork of Brave) 99% of the time. I use Edge for browsing YouTube, as I'm signed into my Google account on Edge. I'm never signed into Google on my main browser.

 

[Jan Willy]

For banking and buying I use a different profile in MS Edge with strict security settings. The only extension is Adguard Browser Assistent, which is the link to the interface from Adguard for Windows. This improves the tracker protection and adds Google Safe Browsing (for what's worth). Next DNS is the last link in the security chain.

 

[Jan Willy]

I use Catsxp (a fork of Brave) 99% of the time.

What's the advantage over Brave? I can't find documentation about it.

 

[roger_m]

What's the advantage over Brave? I can't find documentation about it.

It has better tab management. For example, it can open every address entered in a new tab rather than the current tab and you can get it open new tabs to right of the current tab. Also, it is based on newer builds of Chromium than Brave is.

 

[Brahman]

What's the advantage over Brave? I can't find documentation about it.

It's made in PRC and there is no information about who is making it and there is no contact information. The FAQ about privacy states as follows....

Strictly abide by the "Regulations on the protection of computer software" of the people's Republic of China, will not collect your personal information for any reason, and will not send them to the server or any third party server. Fully comply with the principles stated in the privacy white paper of Google Chrome, and can only be enhanced on this basis, but not weakened. In the future, it is possible to send usage statistics and crash reports to the server with the authorization of users. In addition, no data will be sent to the server.

 

[jamey910111]

Is catsxp bloated like brave, or did they not include brave bloatware?

 

[roger_m]

Is catsxp bloated like brave, or did they not include brave bloatware?

What bloat does Brave have? I've been using Catsxp daily for quite some time, but have very little experience with Brave.

 

[Divine_Barakah]

What bloat does Brave have? I've been using Catsxp daily for quite some time, but have very little experience with Brave.

The crypto wallets, and VPN. All can be disabled. Personally I prefer Vivaldi's approach where the browser asks you what features to enable in the welcome screen right after you install the browser.

 

[Divine_Barakah]

@roger_m does Catsxp come with VPN and Crypto wallets? Is it digitally signed? I would appreciate it if you can post some screenshots of the browser and its settings.

 

[roger_m]

@roger_m does Catsxp come with VPN and Crypto wallets? Is it digitally signed? I would appreciate it if you can post some screenshots of the browser and its settings.

It has neither. There are some screenshots of an old version at Softpedia.

https://www.softpedia.com/get/Internet/Browsers/Catsxp.shtml

 

[Divine_Barakah]

It has neither. There are some screenshots of an old version at Softpedia.

https://www.softpedia.com/get/Internet/Browsers/Catsxp.shtml

Thanks! It seems it comes without Brave unneeded features. I will give it a try today. I read the thread of Wilder and saw that it was flagged by some security products. I believe this is no longer the case.

Is it digitally signed?

 

[roger_m]

Is it digitally signed?

Yes it is.

 

[jamey910111]

Indeed, catsxp does not seem to be bloated like brave is!

I installed the portable version, already installed ublock origin on it. Apparently, catsxps's own blocker is not the best/not the same as brave, but it is possible to add custom lists to catsxp's blocker like in the attached screenshot (also see this page (link fixed): https://catsxp.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=339) - although since i installed ublock origin i unchecked that list as u can see in the screenshot because it's redundant. Based on roger_m advice I also turned off webrtc. I also left the secure dns to use os default as is to prevent leaks. If anyone has any other suggestions for tweaking this browser it's appreciaed. I will continue to use the portable version of catsxp over the installed as I see no disadvantages with portable, unless there is one.

 

[Divine_Barakah]

catsxps's own blocker is not the best/not the same as brave,

Adguard Desktop would be a viable option here.

 

[jamey910111]

Adguard Desktop would be a viable option here.

since ublockorigin is usable on catsxpt i will use that for now - apparently word has it that catssxpt devleoper will keep ublock origin alive even after the manifest changes in google if they can 'afford to', but i am leaning towards adguard if they don't - Source: https://www.catsxp.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=5777&hilit=mv2#p5777

 

[Divine_Barakah]

So I have tried installing Catsxp browser, but Emsisoft detected it as Malware.HiddenInstaller by BB component. It seems that there is a problem with the digital signature as Microsoft Smart Screen waned about Unknown Publisher too. I have submitted the detection to Emsisoft.

 

[Divine_Barakah]

So I have tried installing Catsxp browser, but Emsisoft detected it as Malware.HiddenInstaller by BB component. It seems that there is a problem with the digital signature as Microsoft Smart Screen waned about Unknown Publisher too. I have submitted the detection to Emsisoft.

View attachment 285086View attachment 285087

I restored the installation file and added it to exclusions, but still Emsisoft detected it.

 

[jamey910111]

So I have tried installing Catsxp browser, but Emsisoft detected it as Malware.HiddenInstaller by BB component. It seems that there is a problem with the digital signature as Microsoft Smart Screen waned about Unknown Publisher too. I have submitted the detection to Emsisoft.

View attachment 285086View attachment 285087

I scanned with Kaspersky, as well as Kaspersky Opentip, as well as Virustotal - I scanned each and every file in the portable version - no flags btw - except one file from one anti-virus:

VirusTotal

VirusTotal

www.virustotal.com

The rest were clean on both kaspersky, kaspersky open tip, and virus total, and the single one flagged above (chrome.dll on virus total with a single detection) is probably a false-positive.

Although you scanned the installation .exe ; i scanned the portable (all individual files of the portable too not only the zip); to be clear this is what I scanned, the 64-bit portable: https://www.catsxp.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1&ver=128.4.8.3

 

[jamey910111]

Also I scanned the Standalone executable on virustotal and kaspersky, no flags (https://catsxp.oss-cn-hongkong.aliyuncs.com/x64/CatsxpBrowserStandaloneSetup_128_4_8_3.exe):

VirusTotal

VirusTotal

www.virustotal.com

Here is the kaspersky it comes as clean overall. All the Extracted files (70) come out as clean, as do all the Network activities (all 6 come clean as well). But in terms of suspicious activity there is 9 high, 3 medium, and low 63.

Kaspersky Threat Intelligence Portal

Kaspersky Threat Intelligence Portal allows you to scan files, domains, IP addresses, and URLs for threats, malware, viruses

opentip.kaspersky.com