Are you interested in running a secure web browser - one that cannot be fingerprinted? Then this Swedish product may be of interest to those not willing to share data with nosy web sites. Mullvad is a totally free, Tor inspired browser, meant to be used alongside a VPN for full isolation. Since running a VPN server costs money, Mullvad must make a charge as well. That charge is 5 euros monthly, or about 7.51 CAD monthly. Many Toronto based VPNs are listed, to lessen any lag caused by re-routing. Payments can be in cash (for locals) or crypto (for players), or credit card (for the rest of us), but not PayPal (no longer used). If you choose to include a VPN, the only VPN log-in credential provided is a random generated number, so don't lose it.

The VPN app is a separate item from the free Mullvad browser.

When I first visited the Mullvad web site, 'it' realized I was not using Mullvad's VPN or browser; 'it' guessed my location (based on leaked DNS information) and offered to perform a leak test, which warned of not only a leak for DNS server, but my real IP.

Most browsers offer settings to enable secure DNS, thereby preventing DNS tracking. Lots of firewalls, and VPNs, also prevent DNS tracking, as does enabling IPv6 DNS address (in Linux) along with some home routers.

Most browsers leak your WAN IP address by default. WebRTC technology (when disabled) protects it by eliminating the need for browser plug-ins when running A/V content in a browser. Apparently, Firefox is the only browser capable of turning off WebRTC entirely. Not only that, but Mullvad is built on Firefox, and uses the DuckDuckGo search engine by default.

Mullvad claims to hinder tracking by yet unknown quantum tunnelling decryption efforts.

Top right icons are for:- Bookmarking, New Identity (restarting the browser), Mullvad extension (to check DNS leakage), to start uBlock Origin (for blocking Javascript, remote fonts, large media segments, pop-ups, to zap certain elements on a page, and to open the dashboard) and the Applications Menu.

Figure 1: Aplications Menu.

Figure 2: uBlock Origin report for the club web site..

Loading our club web site into this browser required a security exception (our certificate is not up to date).

Figure 3: uBlock Origin report for the Ontario Genealogical Society web page..

System requirements:

Platform: Versions are available for Windows, macOS, Linux, Android and iOS.

Version: 14.0.3 is for Windows 10 64-bit, or above. [works on Win8.1 too]

Download Size: 90.4 MB

Installed Size: 260 MB

Download Site here.