Sadd: anonymous virtual desktops with Tor built-in
Sadd, Scalable Anonymous Disposable Desktops, is a free and commercial online service that promises complete anonymity while using the service to be connected to the Internet.
What sets Sadd apart from virtual private network providers such as ProtonVPN, NordVPN or WindScribe that promise the same is that it adds virtual environments as a feature.
In other words: Sadd creates virtual environments and uses Tor network connections exclusively on these virtual desktops to guarantee full anonymity.
The service promises that generated desktops are deleted forensically to render recovery attempts useless, and that it does not track, save, or store anything that users do when using the service.
Free and premium plan differences
Free and premium accounts share many characteristics but there are some that free users need to be aware of.
First, free and premium account users get a virtual machine with 2 Gigabytes of RAM, 40 Gigabytes of hard drive space, and Windows 7 64-bit or Kali Linux 64-bit as the operating system.
Probably the biggest difference between the two account types is that browser traffic is not encrypted for free users; the limitation removes one of the main selling points of the service from the equation as your connection to the service does not use HTTPS at the time. All connections made in the virtual environment are routed through the Tor network.
Free users are limited to 15 minutes of online time at a time and higher pings than commercial users.
Paid accounts cost $12 per month with private accounts being listed as well on the site (but without price).
How to use Sadd
Free users who want to try the service don't need to create an account before they can do so. A click on the "try for free" button on the Sadd website displays the launch prompt.
You need to confirm that you are not a robot and may select to run a a Linux or Windows desktop environment afterward. Free users are restricted to 15 minutes of playtime and the prompt highlights the fact as well.
The generation of the desktop takes a moment but it is quite acceptable.
There is no clock that keeps track of the time left to use the environment before it is automatically disposed of.
An assortment of tools is provided on the desktop. If you select Kali Linux, you get access to Firefox ESR, Burpsuite, Metasploit Framework, Beef XSS Framework and others that you may run.
The Windows desktop is more limited than that. You get copies of Firefox and Chrome that you may run, may use Internet Explorer, and that is about it.
Here is a video by the creators that explains the service's functionality:
Closing Words and verdict
One of the main advantages of Sadd is that it can be used in any modern web browser; there are no downloads, software installations, or configuration changes that users need to make to use the service.
The service does not log user activities and desktops created by it get securely deleted so that recovery is impossible according to the service.
Two of the main downsides to using the service are that it is restricted to 15 minutes of virtual desktop access at a time and that HTTPS is not used to connect to the virtual environment for free users.
Now You: Have you tried Sadd? What is your take on the service?
Doesn’t Windows 8 know that www. or http:// are passe ?
Well it is a bit difficulty to distinguish between name.com domains and files for instance.
I know a service made by google that is similar to Google bookmarks.
http://www.google.com/saved
@Ashwin–Thankful you delighted my comment; who knows how many “gamers” would have disagreed!
@Martin
The comments section under this very article (3 comments) is identical to the comments section found under the following article:
https://www.ghacks.net/2023/08/15/netflix-is-testing-game-streaming-on-tvs-and-computers/
Not sure what the issue is, but have seen this issue under some other articles recently but did not report it back then.
Omg a badge!!!
Some tangible reward lmao.
It sucks that redditors are going to love the fuck out of it too.
With the cloud, there is no such thing as unlimited storage or privacy. Stop relying on these tech scums. Purchase your own hardware and develop your own solutions.
This is a certified reddit cringe moment. Hilarious how the article’s author tries to dress it up like it’s anything more than a png for doing the reddit corporation’s moderation work for free (or for bribes from companies and political groups)
Almost al unlmited services have a real limit.
And this comment is written on the dropbox article from August 25, 2023.
First comment > @ilev said on August 4, 2012 at 7:53 pm
For the God’s sake, fix the comments soon please! :[
Yes. Please. Fix the comments.
With Google Chrome, it’s only been 1,500 for some time now.
Anyone who wants to force me in such a way into buying something that I can get elsewhere for free will certainly never see a single dime from my side. I don’t even know how stupid their marketing department is to impose these limits on users instead of offering a valuable product to the paying faction. But they don’t. Even if you pay, you get something that is also available for free elsewhere.
The algorithm has also become less and less savvy in terms of e.g. English/German translations. It used to be that the bot could sort of sense what you were trying to say and put it into different colloquialisms, which was even fun because it was like, “I know what you’re trying to say here, how about…” Now it’s in parts too stupid to translate the simplest sentences correctly, and the suggestions it makes are at times as moronic as those made by Google Translations.
If this is a deep-learning AI that learns from users’ translations and the phrases they choose most often – which, by the way, is a valuable, moneys worthwhile contribution of every free user to this project: They invest their time and texts, thereby providing the necessary data for the AI to do the thing as nicely as they brag about it in the first place – alas, the more unprofessional users discovered the translator, the worse the language of this deep-learning bot has become, the greater the aggregate of linguistically illiterate users has become, and the worse the language of this deep-learning bot has become, as it now learns the drivel of every Tom, Dick and Harry out there, which is why I now get their Mickey Mouse language as suggestions: the inane language of people who can barely spell the alphabet, it seems.
And as a thank you for our time and effort in helping them and their AI learn, they’ve lowered the limit from what was once 5,000 to now 1,500…? A big “fuck off” from here for that! Not a brass farthing from me for this attitude and behaviour, not in a hundred years.
When will you put an end to the mess in the comments?
Ghacks comments have been broken for too long. What article did you see this comment on? Reply below. If we get to 20 different articles we should all stop using the site in protest.
I posted this on [https://www.ghacks.net/2023/09/28/reddit-enforces-user-activity-tracking-on-site-to-push-advertising-revenue/] so please reply if you see it on a different article.
Comment redirected me to [https://www.ghacks.net/2012/08/04/add-search-the-internet-to-the-windows-start-menu/] which seems to be the ‘real’ article it is attached to
Comment redirected me to [https://www.ghacks.net/2012/08/04/add-search-the-internet-to-the-windows-start-menu/] which seems to be the ‘real’ article it is attached to
Article Title: Reddit enforces user activity tracking on site to push advertising revenue
Article URL: https://www.ghacks.net/2023/09/28/reddit-enforces-user-activity-tracking-on-site-to-push-advertising-revenue/
No surprises here. This is just the beginning really. I cannot see a valid reason as to why anyone would continue to use the platform anymore when there are enough alternatives fill that void.