Skip to main content

Cocoon: Web Proxy Firefox Privacy Add-on Goes Free

Cocoon is a privacy add-on for Firefox that adds an extra layer of security to Internet browsing by securely routing all traffic through a proxy server. The benefit of using a proxy server, as any privacy conscious individual will tell you, is that it offers anonymity to the user. But Cocoon does not connect to any available public web proxy like most other proxy add-ons do. Cocoon’s proxy servers are guarded by the Security-Enhanced Linux, which we are told was developed by the United States' National Security Agency (but it’s open source), and the connection takes place over SSL.

cocoon

After a quick signup and download, you will get a toolbar just below the location bar in Firefox. There is a power button on the toolbar that lets you quickly enter and leave the protected mode. When running Cocoon, the browser will automatically switch to Private Browsing mode, although you can go back to normal mode while still using Cocoon. Remember to save your session before you turn on the Cocoon, because the add-on closes your current session without warning.

Cocoon stores your browsing history in the cloud and not on your computer. You can access this info from any computer by logging into your account. Cocoon also blocks advertisement and prevents advertisers and websites from tracking you. It also prevents automatic download of any executable files.

An interesting feature of Cocoon is that it allows you to create disposable emails or ‘mailslots’ using Cocoon’s own disposable email service. When you need to register a new account on any website, simply right click on the email field and generate a temporary email address or mailslot. All mails to your mailslots can be accessed from the toolbar button. You can also forward the mails to your regular email account. Whenever a mailslot account becomes too spammy, you can simply delete it.

Another benefit of using Cocoon is that the user is able to access all US based services, since Cocoon’s proxy servers are located in the US. No need for US VPN servers.

When Cocoon launched early this year, it costs $6.95 per month, or $55.00 for a one-year subscription. But the company waived that fee in an announcement it made last week. Cocoon is now available completely free of charge.

[via Cnet]

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

69 alternatives to the default Facebook profile picture

If you have changed the default Facebook profile picture and uploaded your own, it’s fine. But if not, then why not replace that boring picture of the guy with a wisp of hair sticking out of his head with something different and funny?

How to Schedule Changes to Your Facebook Page Cover Photo

Facebook’s current layout, the so called Timeline, features a prominent, large cover photo that some people are using in a lot of different creative ways. Timeline is also available for Facebook Pages that people can use to promote their website or business or event. Although you can change the cover photo as often as you like, it’s meant to be static – something which you design and leave it for at least a few weeks or months like a redesigned website. However, there are times when you may want to change the cover photo frequently and periodically to match event dates or some special promotion that you are running or plan to run. So, here is how you can do that.

How to Record CPU and Memory Usage Over Time in Windows?

Whenever the computer is lagging or some application is taking too long to respond, we usually fire up task manager and look under the Performance tab or under Processes to check on processor utilization or the amount of free memory available. The task manager is ideal for real-time analysis of CPU and memory utilization. It even displays a short history of CPU utilization in the form of a graph. You get a small time-window, about 30 seconds or so, depending on how large the viewing area is.