AOL Shield 1.0.19.0

Browse the Internet and visit your favorite websites with the help of this streamlined app that is focused on keeping your privacy untouched

AOL Shield is a web browser based on Google Chrome, which puts emphasis on security. It features protection components against keyloggers, screenshot grabbers, and phishing websites. Chrome apps and extensions are supported for adding extra layers of security.

Installer and interface

Worth mentioning about setup is that AOL Shield offers to set itself as the default web browser (an option that can be disabled), to download and install Adobe Flash Player (which is required to work properly), as well as to reboot the PC to finalize installation (this wasn't necessary in our case).

When it comes to the interface, the program takes cue from Google Chrome in terms of how it looks and how its options are organized.

Web browsing security layers

The keylogger protection module auto-encrypts not only user names and passwords, but also all information typed and sent to the browser, in order to prevent hijackers from acquiring your sensitive data.

It can also block hackers from taking screenshots to obtain this info, as well as phishing websites which try to pose as legitimate online services, such as shops or banks.

It's possible to hide the anti-keylogging windows (requires browser restart). Guest browsing is unsupported. The "Do Not Track" option is deactivated by default, so you may be interested in enabling it to prevent marketing websites from collecting details about your browser activity. As for the remaining options, they are the same as in Chrome.

Evaluation and conclusion

It left a small footprint on system resources in our tests, running on a low amount of CPU and RAM. Webpages were quickly loaded. No error dialogs popped up and it didn't hang or crash.

To sum it up, AOL Shield comes bundled with practical security modules for enjoying web browsing sessions without worrying about hijackers and other types of hackers.