Steganos Internet Anonym
 

What's it do?

This application proposes to hide your IP address from snoops by switching your connection from public proxy server to public proxy server. It does this many times per second thus confusing many tracing programs.


Does it do what it promises?

Reviewer 1. Yes, but its web site drastically understates the extent that it will slow down Web access. The web site states that his program is “faster” (than what we do not know) and that it uses “fast servers.” One must certainly accept the words “faster” and “fast” as highly subjective.

Reviewer 2. It seems to do what it promises with a bunch of added features. There is a bit of eye candy included and I wonder how valid that part really is. I guess it could give one a feeling of comfort knowing your IP address is hidden from “snoops”.

Reviewer 3. This program has two main features. One, to be able to surf the Internet anonymously. Secondly, to be able to remove history, logs, cache, temporary files traces from AOL, T-Online, KaZaA, diverse versions of Media Player, Google Toolbar, ICQ, etc. An additional feature is a “shredder”, which you can use to remove files from your computer so that they cannot be recovered. The shredder and trace remover work well and very quickly: each is certainly a “one-click” operation. The anonymous surfing feature also seems to work. It is, of course, much harder for me to state unconditionally that this is so; I cannot see, from where I sit what a Web site actually is picking up or recording about me. However, it does seem that my surfing is relatively more secure with Anonym Pro installed than without. I did not try it out on a local network, as I am not in an environment where I can do that.


Was it easy to install?

Reviewer 1. Yes, installation was straightforward. It is a 9.87MB file so it is rather large, but it installed smoothly even on a dial-up connection. One note of interest (and confusion): the installation offers a choice of full or custom, but both options loaded the exact same elements. The program installs by default, four (yes, four!) icons on your desktop and a system tray icon.

Reviewer 2. It was very easy to install and was very fluid. There were no “technical” questions a novice would have to worry about.

Reviewer 3. Yes, with caveats. Normally, I prefer to choose where I want to install programs on my hard disk. In this case, though, as it is so integrated with Internet Explorer, I felt I had to let the program install to its own defaults. The registration process also requires that you go online, and register on a web page of the company. I much prefer the usual Register option that most programs put in their Help>About dialog box. For various reasons, I have uninstalled and later reinstalled the program. It certainly would be easier to simply put the registration code in its appropriate place without having to go to the Steganos Web site and fill in all the questions, etc. that come with their Registration Page.


Good Points

Reviewer 1. The program does indeed offer strong Web blocking and camouflage tools and offers a nice interface that displays active tools. It also stops things like cookies, scripts, and log files from capturing data about your browsing habits, but nowadays most good browsers will do that free of charge.

Reviewer 2. Quickly switches proxy servers; has password protected web site functionality; aas the option of eliminating pop-up windows; and very easy installation.

Reviewer 3. Here I will not argue the merits of being able to increase your privacy on the Internet. Suffice it to say that normally you are totally visible to the Web sites you visit, and a lot of personal information about you can very quickly be ascertained by people without your knowledge that you are “shouting” all this information from the rooftops. Steganos Internet Anonym Pro installs a new toolbar in IE, plus an icon in the System Tray. When you start a session in IE, the toolbar is there. You can decide at that moment if you wish to surf anonymously, or not, by clicking on the button. When you activate the anonymous surfing, your session is switched to work through “proxy” servers. This is a random list of “Internet Computers” that is set up for you when you first start your session. You are arbitrarily switched from one to another of these proxies as you work. These servers switch quickly (one per second) through to a scale of slowly (one per minute), your choice in your settings. You can see the changing IP addresses and/or names of the different servers on the toolbar. If you wish to see where each of these proxy servers is located in the world, you can watch them on a map accessible from a choice in the System Tray Icon. From another button on the toolbar, you can see more detailed information both about yourself, and about the servers you are passing through. With another button, you select the particular items that you want blocked, including such things as cookies, pop-ups, ActiveX objects, etc. You can also set up a password-protected, encrypted list of Personal Favorites. You can use this either to store all your Favorites, or as an additional list of particular items. Use of all of these features is straightforward, and is activated immediately. Besides the Help describing the functions of the program itself, there are detailed explanations about privacy (or not) on the Internet. I particularly like the Glossary in the Help file, where a lot of Internet-related technical babble-talk is clearly defined and described.


Weak Points

Reviewer 1. While the tools are inflexible and there is a skimpy help system, the biggest problem is in the loss of surfing speed. During the installation, you do get a message stating that surfing will be slower but will speed up the longer you surf. This is, as I stated earlier, quite an understatement and something important to remember as I found out. I deleted the Internet Cache within Internet Explorer, eliminated cookies, MRU’s, and did a fresh defrag. Using my dial-up account at a rate of 46.2kpbs, I then tried to access several home pages that I access regularly. Three minutes later and all I had was the title changed in my browser window, and nothing more. I opened a new window to try again. Over three minutes later and still nothing, so just to be sure, I uninstalled the program, rebooted my computer and reinstalled; still no improvement. With anonymity setting turned off, the same pages loaded in from seven to thirty-nine seconds depending on the number of images. Trying yet another site that had 17 graphic images, took seven minutes with the software installed and working, and 38 seconds without the software installed. These timings did not change with repeated visits over a period of nearly two months, so how long does Internet Anonym take to learn which proxy servers work the fastest?

I mentioned earlier that the software installs an icon in your system tray. For those of you who may not know, this means that the software is added to your startup menu and thus loads as soon as you boot your computer. (These automatic loads or startups are what slow down your boot time.) Worse, however, even if you switch the software off it is still running in the background as it installs as a plug in to Internet Explorer. And as Internet Explorer is integrated into your operating system, it affects other Internet uses even if the software is not launched. For example, I was unable to access Web folders with the software installed but once uninstalled I was able to access FTP sites using Web folders with no problems.

Reviewer 2. I found my Internet connection quit slow. Coupled this with my automated backup, there were times when it was almost impossible to surf. I did determine my backups were hogging most of my processing power, and once it was complete, my Internet activity speed did increase substantially. The second point is that is has no email trace deletion capabilities.

Reviewer 3. Certainly, adding an additional layer of computers that you have to pass through to get to the Internet will slow down your access to the Web sites you wish to visit. The fact that you are switching from one to another further increases the time that it takes you to get from here to where you want to go. Although Steganos states that your speed will improve the more you use the program, I have yet to be convinced of this claim. As you surf, Internet Explorer tends to open several concurrent windows. Then it freezes completely. So you have to shut down and restart your Internet session. Sometimes, the Web site you are visiting does not seem to like the particular server you are identified as at that point. You may have to hit the Refresh button a few times, then the page will suddenly load. I have a fast, cable connection to the Internet. I shudder to think how these weaknesses would affect users on a dial-up connection. Another problem I have had, which I have not yet solved, concerns the download manager that I like to use. I have tried both Anonymous and “Camouflage Inactive” modes, and tried various other settings, but it simply does not work. The only method I have found to work is to uninstall Steganos completely – then my download manager comes back to life. The standard Windows downloader does work under Steganos though.


Other Comments

Reviewer 1. Unfortunately, Steganos (which, by the way, comes from the Ancient Greek steganos for “hidden”) simply gets in the way of normal use of the Internet. While some of the Web blocking and camouflaging is good—especially for those who may lead a questionable life-style or who are regular purveyors of some of the seamier stops on the “Information Highway”—the loss of speed in a dial-up connection makes the program virtually unusable

Reviewer 2. All in all it is a nice piece of software, if you need this. I like the password protection option on Web sites and the cookie manager. I can not determine if the switching from public proxy to public proxy actually is totally functional as I saw the world map display still showing my connection even after I had shut down my internet.

Reviewer 3. In spite of my problems, Steganos does struggle along. I have tried other products with similar objectives, but have not been successful with them – either they hung up completely, or they made my Internet sessions intolerably slow. But in these days of all-out assaults on our personal privacy rights, we need some tools to protect ourselves.


Will you continue to use it?

Reviewer 1. No, it is already uninstalled.

Reviewer 2. At this time, I will probably not continue to use it, as I do not need the anonymity and I do need the speed.

Reviewer 3. Yes.

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