XPost: alt.comp.software.firefox, alt.privacy   
   From: marion@facts.com   
      
   On Tue, 19 Aug 2025 15:33:05 -0000 (UTC), Marion wrote :   
      
      
   > Please improve if you also need privacy in web browser sessions.   
      
   For example, most people would likely want the privacy-oriented   
   Mozilla-based Tor browser as the default trap for rogue URLs.   
      
   But the Mozilla-based Tor Browser is designed to be portable   
   and privacy-preserving. Some versions of Tor can register as   
   the default browser, but others won't register as a default.   
      
   Hence, the Mozilla-based Tor browser doesn't usually appear   
   in the list of default apps because it doesn't create registry   
   entries that Windows uses to identify web browsers.   
      
   This is intentional to avoid leaving traces on the system.   
   However, we can slightly modify our batch file to invoke Tor.   
      
    @echo off   
    REM C:\path\to\torbrowser_launcher.bat 20250819 revision 1.1   
    REM This launches the Tor Browser with the URL passed as argument   
    set TOR_EXE="C:\path\to\Tor Browser\Browser\firefox.exe"   
    start "" %TOR_EXE% %*   
    exit   
      
   The registry file can be modified to document the browser used.   
    Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00   
      
    [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Clients\StartMenuInternet\TorBrowser]   
    @="Tor Browser"   
      
    [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Clients\StartMenuInternet\TorBrows   
   r\Capabilities]   
    "ApplicationName"="Tor Browser"   
    "ApplicationDescription"="Privacy-preserving browser using Tor"   
      
    [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Clients\StartMenuInternet\TorBrows   
   r\Capabilities\FileAssociations]   
    ".htm"="TorBrowserHTML"   
    ".html"="TorBrowserHTML"   
      
    [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Clients\StartMenuInternet\TorBrows   
   r\Capabilities\URLAssociations]   
    "http"="TorBrowserHTML"   
    "https"="TorBrowserHTML"   
      
    [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\TorBrowserHTML\shell\open\command]   
    @="\"C:\\path\\to\\torbrowser_launcher.exe\" \"%1\""   
      
    [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\RegisteredApplications]   
    "Tor Browser"="Software\\Clients\\StartMenuInternet\\TorBrowser\\Capabilities"   
      
   Now, any app or system call that tries to open a URL using the default   
   browser will launch the Tor Browser instead.   
      
   This simple default Mozilla-based browser setup ensures:   
    a. Rogue URLs are routed through Tor.   
    b. No automatic connections unless Tor is manually connected.   
    c. Enhanced privacy and control over web sessions.   
      
   Note you can also register the Mozilla-based Tor browser   
   as an HTML browser alone, but this wrapper provides more   
   control as you can easily add logging sessions to it.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)