Here's a really neat idea to help improve your security and privacy when you're online. It's a new service from a startup company called Spotflux.

The way you use it is pretty simple.  Download and install the Spotflux driver.  From now on, all your web access goes trhough Spotflux's servers before it reaches you.  Everything happens transparently, so there's nothing complicated that you need to set up.  The benefit is that, as your internet traffic passes through the Spotflux systems, all malware, viruses, cookies, adverts and other unwanted content is removed.

Even the details of your IP address and location, which are normally available to every web page that you request, are hidden and replaced with completely different values. In my case, the sites I visited thought I was now based in the US, rather than the UK.  Plus, all your internet traffic is now encrypted, so no one else can intercept it.

Spotflux runs on all recent versions of Windows, and is a 10 MB download.  You'll also need to download and install Java if you don't already have it.  According to Virus Total, the app itself is free of malware.

Of course, the only potential weak link is Spotflux itself.  Can they be trusted with all your browser data?  For what it's worth, the company seems to be getting favourable reviews at the moment, and surely they are aware that any privacy breach would destroy their business pretty quickly.  So I reckon it's well worth a try.

Spotflux is currently free to use, though the company has implied that it may charge for some aspects of its service in the future.  Find out more, and download the simple installer, at www.spotflux.com.