Windows browser · Chromium 127+ extension

Choose your ZSEC Browser package.

Download ZSEC Browser Community 0.3.25 for Windows with a repaired soft-dark native interface, review-first Sign-in Setup Assistant, hardened local encrypted password vault and fail-closed handling for page-requested windows. Browser Shields 0.5.2 remains available for compatible Chromium-family browsers. Both use the same auditable 49,505-rule network engine with bounded YouTube assistance, two tracking-link cleaners and optional High-Risk Browsing.

Download for Windows Download Browser Shields

Distribution facts: the Windows package comes from immutable revision cd0fff58072403dddaf3810aacbdb2288a01139d; Browser Shields remains the immutable 0.5.2 engine. Both are unsigned. The Windows application is a WebView2 Chromium shell—not a separately maintained Chromium fork—and Microsoft maintains its Evergreen runtime. The extension is loaded unpacked. Verify the exact checksum and never bypass operating-system warnings.

Two verified Community packages

Windows Community package

ZSEC Browser Community 0.3.25 for Windows.

A modern rounded interface with managed tabs, default-blocked page-requested windows, native tray controls, bookmark star/bar/manager with HTML import and export, bounded local history, a full browser menu, a user-operated local encrypted password vault, seven settings categories, a packaged network-isolated new-tab surface, separate profile, Balanced tracking prevention, exact Browser Shields 0.5.2 identity checks, default-deny permissions and deterministic package acceptance.

Implemented package capabilities

Soft dark by default, with Slate and Midnight blue palettes plus Teal, Blue, Violet and Amber accents across browser chrome, tabs, dialogs and the local new-tab page. Community 0.3.25 clears and palette-paints rounded toolbar, address, separator, new-tab, tab-well, WebView-gutter, focus-ring and status surfaces so the active palette does not leak default system-white or system-black pixels.
Desktop and Start-menu application entries plus native minimize and close-to-tray controls.
Per-user Windows Default Apps registration for HTTP, HTTPS, HTM and HTML. The main menu opens the protected Windows selection screen; ZSEC never writes Windows UserChoice or silently hijacks the default.
An explicit per-launch local automation surface for trusted same-user agents: random 256-bit session token, current-user-only named pipe, bounded open URL/open tab/activate and non-sensitive state commands. There is no TCP listener, DevTools port, DOM execution, content reading, cookies, passwords, history or storage access.
Page-requested windows are blocked by default without opening, selecting or focusing another tab. A revocable exact-HTTPS origin permission still requires a WebView2-confirmed user request, an HTTPS destination, the 32-tab limit and a two-second burst guard; accepted requests open as independent normal tabs without a usable window.opener. This reduces popup and pop-under exposure but is not a guarantee against every malicious site or browser-engine exploit.
Working managed tabs, up to 32 command-line destinations, bookmark star/bar/manager, HTML import/export, bounded history and typed-address suggestions. Bookmark HTML parsing has a two-second regex limit and rolls back partial in-memory additions if parsing times out.
A local Migration centre automatically discovers readable Brave, Chrome and Edge profiles, previews safe bookmark URLs and imports them in one click without overwriting existing bookmarks. Firefox is included when a readable plain-JSON bookmark source exists; compressed .jsonlz4 and places.sqlite are not claimed. Discovered profile roots that are filesystem reparse points or junctions are skipped.
A menu-only Sign-in Setup Assistant offers a searchable reviewed catalog plus exact HTTPS origins already present in local ZSEC bookmarks/history. It scans no source-browser profile, leaves every origin unselected, strips paths, queries and fragments, revalidates selections and confirms the exact origins before opening at most 20 tabs. It never extracts or transfers source-browser cookies, sessions, tokens, passwords, form data or profiles.
An encrypted password manager with local search, add/edit/remove, password generation, five-minute idle locking, 15-second maximum reveal and unchanged-clipboard clearing after 30 seconds.
Explicit Chrome, Edge, Brave and Firefox password-export CSV import with local preview, HTTPS-only validation, duplicate skipping, rollback on failure and optional hash-verified deletion of the plaintext export. Cookies, authenticated sessions, passkeys and TOTP are never imported.
Independent opt-in switches can offer to save or update a submitted login and fill a saved login on its exact HTTPS origin. Save/update always requires a native choice, multiple usernames use a picker, and fill never submits.
Supported WebView2 page and video fullscreen, including F11 and Escape, while retaining the default GPU media path. Codec, DRM, HDR and hardware-decoding availability remain properties of Microsoft WebView2, Windows, the graphics driver and the media provider.
Packaged new-tab surface served from a dedicated HTTPS virtual host with no network dependencies.
An installer that checks the Microsoft-signed Evergreen WebView2 runtime and minimum version.
All-resource-kind native filtering, tracking-link cleanup, default-deny site permissions and the exact Browser Shields 0.5.2 policy.

Community distribution boundary

No ZSEC Authenticode signature or trusted timestamp.
No signed rollback-resistant ZSEC binary updater.
No independent sandbox/Site Isolation attestation.
No release-specific installed-runtime result; physical runtime evidence must be matched to its exact archive.

Download and verify the Windows package

Download 0.3.25 · Checksum · Metadata · Immutable source

Archive: 4,265,007 bytes · SHA-256: ecd59e8fb86560f0f2a4b5c645f956ef59e9140debcbbb25d6f3d3bd571ee548

Metadata JSON: 2,123 bytes · SHA-256: 67f230dcbad5c04c023285691bfe487f270162ce2f9ab49b596b46d558705857 · checksum sidecar: 122 bytes · SHA-256: 488c50ea52a8e44c940541a0d8c21207b79e165ef8ba12f309d6dd8758c7f15a

The package gate rebuilt identical bytes twice with Microsoft.Net.Compilers.Toolset 4.14.0, verified compiler and WebView2 SDK NuGet hashes, applied deterministic compilation with the stable /_/src path map, and rejected machine-specific manifest paths. The metadata pins WebView2 SDK 1.0.4129.50; that is a build SDK identity, not an installed Evergreen runtime version or a Microsoft signature on ZSEC.

Extract the ZIP, review README.md, then run Install-ZsecBrowser.ps1. The installer preserves the dedicated profile and password vault, checks the signed Microsoft runtime and does not change the default browser or antivirus configuration. Password saving and exact-origin HTTPS filling are separate opt-in settings and are off by default. The browser never silently saves or submits credentials, never fills HTTP, internal, framed or cross-origin content, and never syncs the vault to ZSEC. The vault cannot protect against malware running as the unlocked user. The package remains unsigned and its metadata marks it not approved as a primary browser or managed production deployment. YouTube controls are best effort and can be evaded by site changes.

Verify before install

Browser Shields 0.5.2. One exact fingerprint.

Download the checksum beside the ZIP and compare it locally. A mismatch means stop: do not load the extension.

SHA-256

b571451fa2b3c6f7c69072bee8942d5191d8dfe0df4bde0aa10ac9c2d08f856f

Download checksum file · Read artifact metadata · Inspect immutable source

Windows PowerShell

Get-FileHash .\zsec-browser-shields-0.5.2-chromium-mv3.zip -Algorithm SHA256

macOS Terminal

shasum -a 256 zsec-browser-shields-0.5.2-chromium-mv3.zip

Linux shell

sha256sum zsec-browser-shields-0.5.2-chromium-mv3.zip

Four-minute setup

Load the folder. Keep the warning visible.

Developer mode is intentionally explicit. Use a test profile first, review the requested permissions, and keep your browser current.

Download and verify

Save the ZIP, compare its SHA-256 with the published value, then extract it to a folder you will not move.

Open extensions

Visit chrome://extensions, edge://extensions or brave://extensions in the matching browser.

Enable developer mode

Turn on Developer mode, choose Load unpacked, and select the extracted folder containing manifest.json.

Pin and test

Pin ZSEC Browser Shields, open its panel, confirm rules are on, then test normal sites before relying on the profile.

Keep the install boundary visible

Chrome-family browsers identify unpacked extensions because they are outside Store review and automatic updating. Keep the ZIP checksum and source revision with the extracted folder, and remove the extension from chrome://extensions when no longer needed.

High-Risk Browsing starts off.

Enable it only when blocking plaintext top-level navigation and third-party active content is worth reduced compatibility. Sign-in, payment, CAPTCHA, embedded-document, video, chat and support flows may fail. While the profile is active, per-site pause is unavailable; turn the profile or master protection off to restore normal site behaviour.

Documented protection scope

Useful now. Narrow enough to audit.

Community 0.5.2 combines an inspectable local ruleset, dedicated profile and Microsoft Evergreen engine. It is not yet a separately maintained Chromium distribution, anonymous-browsing system, spyware detector or complete malicious-site protection service.

49,505 network rules

49,464 EasyList rules plus 39 focused privacy rules cover advertising, analytics, fingerprinting and session-replay requests. Acceptable Ads is not included; pinned provenance, exact hashes, retained source, attribution and licence accompany the package.

Tracking-link cleaners

Top-level HTTP and HTTPS navigation can remove common campaign identifiers such as utm_*, gclid and fbclid.

Per-site pause

Normal protection offers a bounded local allow rule for recovering a broken site. High-Risk Browsing disables site pause so a lower-priority exception cannot silently weaken the stricter profile.

YouTube assistance

Best-effort skip-button and promoted-slot cleanup complements network rules but cannot guarantee every ad will be removed.

No history service

The extension has no analytics endpoint, affiliate injection, proxy, root certificate or remote executable-rule channel.

Open source

Manifest, permissions, rules, controls, threat model, privacy contract, tests and deterministic packaging are available for review.

High-Risk Browsing

Two optional local rules block top-level http:// navigation and third-party scripts, subframes, objects and WebSockets. The profile may break legitimate integrations and does not detect malicious sites, exploits or spyware.

Smoke-test boundary: runtime-tested in Brave and Edge on Windows using fresh isolated profiles and loopback servers. Other compatible Chromium-family browser and operating-system combinations require release-specific verification.

Choose your package

Download it. Verify it. Keep control.

Use the Windows Community browser for the complete ZSEC application, or Browser Shields for an existing compatible Chromium-family browser. Both packages are unsigned and manually updated.

Windows 0.3.25 Shields 0.5.2