From Newsgroup: alt.privacy

It's not easy finding a free no-registration Windows proxifier, but I've
been testing these two recently and they work to proxify almost any app.
<https://freecap.apponic.com/>
<https://freecap.apponic.com/download/>
Name: apponic_freecap_setup_eng.exe
Size: 1644848 bytes (1606 KiB)
SHA256: C3D4929AB5A5867A6BE9914FF94DEFEFED6762748EDB1E351C86EBC5A02D46EC

<https://freecap.software.informer.com/3.0/>
<https://freecap.software.informer.com/download/>
Name: informer_freecap_setup_eng.exe
Size: 1644848 bytes (1606 KiB)
SHA256: C3D4929AB5A5867A6BE9914FF94DEFEFED6762748EDB1E351C86EBC5A02D46EC

<https://sourceforge.net/projects/sockscap64/>
<https://netactuate.dl.sourceforge.net/project/sockscap64/SocksCap64-setup-3.6.exe>
Name: SocksCap64-setup-3.6.exe
Size: 6193115 bytes (6047 KiB)
SHA256: B2DA49EC9A2702CFD7625D3F152AF98A4C8E3E155DAB78686962BB3DF1F76825

I used FreeCap for a few weeks until I switched over to the slightly more modern & functional SocksCap64 tool to proxify apps w/o proxy capabilities.

In general, you'll need a proxy first, which Psiphon3 does for you:
<https://psiphon.ca/>
<https://psiphon.ca/en/download-store.html?psiphonca>
Name: psiphon3.exe
Size: 10402576 bytes (10158 KiB)
SHA256: DB1BAF76F0333F4743919A86F35037559F9E7DA7DF14982DFC16FB8DC0BE6BE2

Install location C:\apps\network\proxy\{psiphon,sockscap,freecap}\
Software archives C:\software\network\proxy\{psiphon,sockscap,freecap}\
Pullout menu C:\menus\network\proxy\{psiphon,sockscap,freecap}\

While we're at it, the following script helps both to report and to
sync Psiphon settings inside of Windows for apps that have proxy GUIs.
==< cut here for proxy.bat >==
@echo off
REM proxy.bat 20250820 v1.2
REM Use model: "Win+R > proxy" (proxy import if WinHTTP is unset)
REM Unified Windows proxy diagnostic tool with WinHTTP sync safeguard
REM "Win+R > proxy /sync imports WinINET proxy directly into WinHTTP
REM Reports: WinINET manual proxy, WinHTTP proxy, PAC/AutoDetect
REM HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\App Paths\proxy.exe
REM Default=C:\sys\batch\proxy.bat
REM That App Paths key creates the convenient "Win+R > proxy" command
REM
setlocal

:: --- Quick /sync mode ---
if /i "%~1"=="/sync" (
echo Syncing WinINET proxy into WinHTTP...
netsh winhttp import proxy source=ie
echo Done.
pause
exit /b
)

set KEY="HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings"

echo ==============================================
echo WINDOWS PROXY CONFIGURATION SET/CHECK/FIX
echo ==============================================

REM --- WinINET (manual proxy) ---
echo.
echo [1] WinINET / Internet Settings
for /f "tokens=2,* skip=2" %%A in ('reg query %KEY% /v ProxyEnable 2^>nul') do set ProxyEnable=%%B
for /f "tokens=2,* skip=2" %%A in ('reg query %KEY% /v ProxyServer 2^>nul') do set ProxyServer=%%B
if "%ProxyEnable%"=="0x1" (
echo Proxy is ENABLED
echo Proxy server: %ProxyServer%
) else (
echo Proxy is DISABLED
)

REM --- WinHTTP proxy ---
echo.
echo [2] WinHTTP proxy (system/background services)

REM Get current WinHTTP proxy setting
for /f "tokens=1,* delims=:" %%A in ('netsh winhttp show proxy ^| findstr /R /C:"Proxy Server(s)"') do set curWinHTTP=%%B

REM Trim leading/trailing spaces
set curWinHTTP=%curWinHTTP:~1%

if "%curWinHTTP%"=="" (
echo No WinHTTP proxy set - importing from WinINET...
netsh winhttp import proxy source=ie >nul 2>&1
) else (
echo WinHTTP proxy already set - leaving as is.
)

REM Show current WinHTTP proxy after check/import
netsh winhttp show proxy

REM --- PAC (Proxy Auto-Config) & AutoDetect ---
echo.
echo [3] PAC / AutoDetect
for /f "tokens=2,* skip=2" %%A in ('reg query %KEY% /v AutoConfigURL 2^>nul') do set PACurl=%%B
for /f "tokens=2,* skip=2" %%A in ('reg query %KEY% /v AutoDetect 2^>nul') do set AutoDetect=%%B

if defined PACurl (
echo PAC script set: %PACurl%
) else (
echo No PAC script URL found.
)

if "%AutoDetect%"=="0x1" (
echo Auto-detect is ENABLED
) else (
echo Auto-detect is DISABLED
)

echo.
echo ==============================================
echo Windows proxy set/check/fix complete.
echo ==============================================

endlocal
pause

==< cut here for proxy.bat >==
--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: alt.privacy

On Sun, 24 Aug 2025 09:48:33 +0100, Jim the Geordie wrote :

On 24/8/2025 2:28 am, D wrote:

best browser extension ever invented by man . . .

Firefox 142.0
Tools > Extensions and Themes [Ctrl+Shift+A]

Switched to it from Adblock for many years... couldn't quite remember
why. Something to do with Firefox changing its add-on mechanism.

Adblock started allowing certain ads through:

"Starting with version 2.0, Adblock Plus started allowing "acceptable
ads" by default,[72] with acceptable ad standards being set by The
Acceptable Ads Committee.[73] They charge large institutions fees to
become whitelisted and marked as "acceptable", stating "[Adblock Plus]
only charge large entities a license fee so that we can offer the same
whitelisting services to everyone and maintain our resources to develop
the best software for our users." on their about page.[74]"

From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adblock_Plus

uBlock Origin doesn't play that game.

If you use Brave Browser, no adblocking add-on is needed.

My two cents... bearing in mind I never used extensions until early July
when Epic Privacy Browser went bust... I'm building two sets of DIY privacy browsers where I've settled (currently) on almost a score of extensions
(not counting VPN extensions) which are the following currently for the Chromium side of the family (given it was easier than the Mozilla side).

Browser: Brave and/or Ungoogled Chromium (LibreFox and/or MullVad)
1. Canvas Blocker - Fingerprint Protect : version 0_2_2
2. ClearURLs : version 1_26_0
3. Cookie AutoDelete : version 3_8_2
4. CthulhuJs (Anti-Fingerprint) : version 8_0_6
5. Decentraleyes : version 3_0_0
6. Extension Manager : version 9_5_2
7. Font Fingerprint Defender : version 0_1_6
8. LocalCDN : version 2_6_79
9. Location Guard (V3) : version 3_0_0
10. Privacy Badger : version 2025_5_30
11. Referer Control : version 1_35
12. Skip Redirect : version 2_3_6
13. StayInTab : version 1_0
14. Trace - Online Tracking Protection : version 3_0_6
15. uBlock Origin : version 1_65_0
16. User-Agent Switcher and Manager : version 0_6_4
17. WebRTC Control : version 0_3_3
18. NoScript is useful, but I find it a PITA so it's disabled for now.

The question came up from Mr. Man-wai Chang about Adblock Plus.

While there will always be overlap when you have a score of extensions,
a. uBlock Origin is more efficient (apparently)
b. It's said to be more powerful in supporting advanced rule creation
c. It's said to support dynamic & cosmetic filtering
c. Critically, it doesn't have an "acceptable ads" program
d. And it's often considered more actively maintained

Since there is a large amount of overlap, I left AdBlock Plus out of the
mix of privacy extensions that I'm testing for the DIY privacy browser(s).

But I could be wrong as I must state openly I never touched extensions
until being forced to give up on my daily driver privacy browser in July.

Side Note: The VPN extension test covering a score of supposedly free, ad
free, registration free VPN extensions is still a work in progress
covering, so far, the following successful & failed VPN extensions:

These passed initial testing criteria (free, account free, ad free):
1. browsec
2. hoxx
3. securefreeedgevpn
4. setupvpn
5. vpnly
6. xvpn
7. 1clickvpn
8. 1vpn

These failed initial testing criteria (free, account free, ad free):
a. hiddenbatvpn
b. hidemevpn
c. hotspotshieldvpn
d. itopvpn
e. protonvpn
f. tunnelbearvpn
g. urbanvpn
h. windscribevpn

Correction: I correct an earlier assessment that all the VPN extensions
"slow down" drastically within days; I think some of that is due to the plethora of privacy-based extensions - so I switched the testing over to testing instead the free,adfree,registrationfree system-wide VPNs with a free-adfree-regfree socks5 proxy (Psiphon) and, for non-browser
applications, a free-adfree-regfree proxifier such as ProxyCAp64/FreeCap.

Note I found out the hard way that Mozilla browsers handle proxies very differently than do Chromium browsers, which themselves handle proxies differently than most programs do where Windows has three layers of proxies that I had to write scripts (e.g., proxy.bat which morphed yesterday to proxy.cmd due to Windows quirks) to synchronize manually the three proxy mechanisms what Windows should have synchronized automatically. Sigh.

Note also that there are too many free/regfree/adfree system-wide
openvpn.exe free public VPN servers out there to list (many thousands!) so
it will take a while before I test them all sufficiently to declare which
free system-wide VPN server set is the easiest & fastest as all require additional software (e.g., softether or openvpn.exe) and scripts (due to changing passwords mostly).

Lastly, I wasted days testing proxy servers, of which there are so many thousands out there that you'd go nuts trying them all, but they're all apparently abysmal in terms of reliability compared to the acceptable reliability of the free public no-registration openVPN services that I'm currently testing. After days of a miserable existence testing them,
writing script after script after script to deal with their ephemeral
nature, I gave up concluding that you'd have to have TLA-like resources to
keep up with the few proxy services which stay alive long enough to be
useful.

Apologies for the long-winded response but that's the status of my testing
in a nutshell, in the fewest words that still convey accurate assessment.
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