Lightweight vpn or proxy for desktop browsing

Questions
1

I’d like to add some anonymity, but only for web browsing and then only in some contexts. It is my impression that solutions like Mozilla VPN or Mullvad tunnel all of my traffic on the computer where they’re installed, and that is not what I want. I am not worried about my ISP or other MITM spying on me, only about the websites I visit, and so a full VPN like that would be performance-strangling overkill.

What I really want is more like a public proxy:

which can be turned on and off in the browser as desired. But! I also want the safety of numbers, so an obscure gratis proxy somewhere in a dodgy jurisdiction won’t do. (For that matter, I can easily run my own proxy since I rent 2 VPSes in different countries, but then I am in a crowd of one :frown: )

Does something like this exist? I am open to paying a moderate subscription amount. Running Firefox on Linux if it matters.

2

Wouldn’t a browser VPN extension do the trick best? If I’m understanding this right.

1 Like
3

Buy a VPS and configure shadowsocks.

I also want the safety of numbers

What is “numbers”?

4

I think it means that he wants to blend in the crowd.
So a unique bulletproof VPS that is only used by OP wouldn’t mask(?) him.

5

@JohnDose exactly

6

Mozilla VPN can be used with specific Firefox tabs:

I see this method for using any VPN/proxy provider with Firefox containers, although it requires the use of an add-on which has unreviewed security:

1 Like
7

Thanks for the Containers link, but I’m a bit confused. It seems to conflate enabling the VPN per se with specifying a particular masquerading location. I assume if you install just the VPN extension and not Containers you get tunnelled anyway, but the location is chosen automatically, perhaps randomly. So I’m still not sure this does what I want, although it’s very close.