Brave Browser

About Brave Browser

The difference between blocking trackers with an extension and blocking them in the engine shows up in two places: pages load faster because the requests never leave the machine, and the blocking cannot be defeated by a page detecting an extension and refusing to render. Everything here is on by default rather than needing configuration after the install.

The shield panel sits in the address bar and shows exactly what was blocked on the current page, with per-site overrides for the cases where blocking breaks something. Script blocking, cross-site cookie blocking, fingerprint randomisation and forced encrypted connections are all switchable individually, which makes fixing a broken page a ten second job rather than a guessing exercise.

The private window mode goes further than a normal one by routing through an anonymising network, so the browsing is not simply absent from local history but detached from the connection it came from. It is slower, as anything routed that way is, and it exists beside the normal private window rather than replacing it.

Underneath it remains Chromium, so extensions install, developer tooling is the standard set, and rendering behaviour matches the rest of that family. Import brings bookmarks, history and saved passwords across on the first run, and sync moves them between machines without an account by pairing devices with a phrase.

What is included in this build

• Tracker and advertisement blocking built into the engine rather than added by an extension
• Per-site shield panel showing what was blocked with individual overrides
• Script blocking, cross-site cookie blocking and fingerprint randomisation
• Forced encrypted connections where a site supports them
• Hardened private window routing through an anonymising network
• Chromium engine with standard extension and developer tooling compatibility
• Device sync by pairing with a phrase rather than through an account
• Import of bookmarks, history and saved passwords from another browser

Changed in version 1.93.136

• Updated Chromium base with the current rendering engine
• Faster page loads on sites with very large tracker lists
• Improved fingerprint randomisation with fewer site breakages
• Lower memory use across large tab counts
• Refreshed filter lists shipped with the installer

Installation walkthrough

These steps assume a clean machine. If a previous release of the same application is present, deal with that first, since an overlapping install is the most common cause of a setup that stops halfway.

1. Close any running browser windows before starting.
2. Extract the archive to any folder with a short path.
3. Run the installer as administrator so it registers for all users.
4. Import bookmarks and passwords on the first-run screen if they are wanted.
5. Set the shield defaults, since the strictest settings break a small number of sites.

System requirements and file details

Frequently asked about this title