GhostSurf Pro Review

Several "clean up" programs on the market today are designed to eliminate Spyware* and other tracking devices after a computer has already become infected.

GhostSurf Pro, on the other hand, prevents Spyware from infecting a PC (before it can ever take place) and provides a wide array of security features which allows users to surf the world wide web with varying degrees of anonymity.

Side Note: Spyware is software which records information about you or your computer usage (without your knowledge) and then relays this information to a third party -- quite often, for marketing purposes.

Privacy and the Internet

Privacy on the Internet is a serious issue.

Internet Service Providers (ISPs) track information about the web sites you visit, and in turn, every Internet web site tracks information about its visitors. Any or all of this information is collected by Internet marketing firms in order to predict user buying habits which make marketing efforts increasingly profitable.

Protecting Individual Privacy: with GhostSurf Pro

Keeping private information private requires a multi-step approach and is much more involved than simply blocking web browser cookies* and web advertisements. GhostSurf Pro offers anonymous web browsing, blocks Internet tracking devices and advertisements, plus it eliminates potentially sensitive information from your computer.

Side note: a Cookie is a record of information which stores information about you when visiting a web site.

GhostSurf Pro: Features

• Surf the Web anonymously: GhostSurf Pro routes user-specific information through "anonymous hubs" around the world. Anonymous hubs are special computers on the Internet which relay information between a user and a web site that a user is visiting. This allows a user to "surf anonymously" because the IP address (which represents the identity of a computer or individual) is now untraceable.
   
• Clears Browser Cookies, History Files, and Temporary Internet files: GhostSurf also clears files from the "recently used files" list (such as Documents which have recently been accessed), and scrubs deleted files so that they cannot be recovered.
   
• Detects and Eliminates Spyware: GhostSurf scans a computer's memory, the Registry, and all hard drives for offending software.
   
• Blocks all types of Ads: GhostSurf can block all popup advertisements and allow the user to choose which web sites have "friendly popups". Web Banner advertisements (found on web pages) are blocked in a similar manner.
   
• Improves Internet Connection Speed: GhostSurf speeds up Internet connections two ways. First, it stores images from Web pages visited in a cache, which lessens the time required to access a web site during subsequent visits. The other way GhostSurf speeds up connections is by preventing popups and ad images from loading when a web page is revisited.
   
• Controls what information is transferred from the Web. Each time a Web page is requested by Internet Explorer (or any other browser), Browser information is transmitted to the web server where the web site is located on the Internet. GhostSurf lets you choose how much (or how little) web Browser information is transferred, which allows for greater control over anonymous web browsing.

GhostSurf Pro: Configuration

Following the install process, GhostSurf launches a configuration wizard with basic settings. Configuration starts by choosing which web browser is used most often by the user.

On the following page, Custom Privacy Settings (Low, Medium, High) determine how much protection GhostSurf provides. An outline of the "pros and cons" for each security level are displayed in the window when settings are modified. The end of the configuration process includes a feature tour, which is helpful in understanding all the features.

Other configuration options may be accessed in detail by right-clicking on the GhostSurf Pro task bar icon, which looks like an ominous-looking yellow eye.

GhostSurf Pro: Privacy Control Center

Here, details about privacy settings for each web site visited are listed. The user can choose to block cookies, personal information, popup ads, and hide the IP address.

GhostSurf Pro: Tools Menu

The tools menu houses many additional preferences which can be customized by the user.

• GhostBlock: A running list of all Web pages and images requested. The window gives you an overview of what has been blocked.
   
• GhostWipe: Removes all the temporary Internet and user information, like documents, images, the address bar, and the recycle bin. Select all or some of the files to remove here.
   
• TraceViewer: A list of files, cookies, and history left behind by each site visited.
   
• SpySweep: Scan the system for Spyware traces.
   
• Anonymous hubs: Download a list of available hubs from the Internet, and then narrow the list to a collection of usable hubs. This feature must be run at least once in order to turn on anonymous browsing. This feature is extremely useful to ensure privacy on the Internet.
   
• QuickBlock: A list of recently visited sites, useful for quickly blocking annoying sites.
   
• Test Connection: Test anonymity against privacy.net's privacy checker. I tested this before configuring any settings and I found that my system was anything but anonymous! After adjusting the security settings with GhostSurf Pro, my system was able to browse anonymously.
   
• Setup Wizard: The setup used when the program first launches. This is the easiest way to adjust settings without needing to configure individual options.
   
• Options: The options sub-menu provides many in-depth configuration properties. From this menu item, password protection of GhostSurf and anonymity for multi-user systems can be enabled, among a host of other minor application tweaks.
   
• Stop: Turns off GhostSurf functionality without closing the application.

GhostSurf Pro: User Interface

GhostSurf offers a ton of privacy features, but I found that the application was lacking in organization. For example: I had to keep going back to the tray bar icon in order to select the next menu item to configure. Having an interface with "tabs" between configuration pages would have been much more convenient.

Conclusion

Although the GhostSurf interface is slightly obscured, the wide array of features certainly make up for the lack of organization. Compared to other privacy control applications I've used in the past, GhostSurf goes the distance by providing many customizable security options (while other applications have only one-third or half as many options).

For this reason, GhostSurf Pro is definitely worth checking out.

GhostSurf Pro: Download

GhostSurf Pro normally costs $39.95, but Infopackets Readers can save 25% ($29.95) by using the Coupon Discount code "infopackets" when you proceed to checkout:

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