Manifest V3 · Chromium 120+ target · runtime-smoked in Brave and Edge on Windows
ZSEC Browser Shields 0.4 is delivered as an unsigned Manifest V3 extension. It combines 38 packaged network blockers, two link-cleaning rules, per-site controls, best-effort YouTube assistance and an optional two-rule High-Risk Browsing profile.
Distribution boundary: this unsigned, manually installed website evaluation ZIP is built from draft pull request #5; it is not a browser-Store package or the latest formal GitHub prerelease. ZSEC Browser Community 0.3.0 is a separate source/local-evidence build at immutable revision 9b60c31 and is not offered as a public native download because the ZSEC executable is not publisher-signed.
Windows development channel
ZSEC Browser Community 0.3.0 provides a branded WebView2 Chromium shell, isolated profile, 81 compiled blocker domains, 21 tracking-parameter cleaners, default-deny permissions and repeatable runtime acceptance tests.
Review the immutable Community 0.3.0 source, tests and release boundary. Do not bypass operating-system warnings to run an unsigned local build.
Verify before install
Download the checksum beside the ZIP and compare it locally. A mismatch means stop: do not load the extension.
9747cd9962cc5611e251bc281daeda6adbd0a4f2b6d6d968fbb84f391bb5b7cd
Download checksum file · Read artifact metadata · Inspect immutable source
Get-FileHash .\zsec-browser-shields-0.4.0-chromium-mv3.zip -Algorithm SHA256
shasum -a 256 zsec-browser-shields-0.4.0-chromium-mv3.zip
sha256sum zsec-browser-shields-0.4.0-chromium-mv3.zip
Four-minute setup
Developer mode is intentionally explicit. Use a test profile first, review the requested permissions, and keep your browser current.
Save the ZIP, compare its SHA-256 with the published value, then extract it to a folder you will not move.
Visit chrome://extensions, edge://extensions or brave://extensions in the matching browser.
Turn on Developer mode, choose Load unpacked, and select the extracted folder containing manifest.json.
Pin ZSEC Browser Shields, open its panel, confirm rules are on, then test normal sites before relying on the profile.
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.
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
Community 0.4 prioritises inspectable source, bounded permissions and local controls. It does not claim Brave-level browser maintenance, anonymous browsing, spyware detection or complete malicious-site protection.
Packaged rules cover common advertising, analytics, fingerprinting and session-replay domains, with third-party scoping where breakage risk is higher.
Top-level HTTP and HTTPS navigation can remove common campaign identifiers such as utm_*, gclid and fbclid.
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.
Best-effort skip-button and promoted-slot cleanup complements network rules but cannot guarantee every ad will be removed.
The extension has no analytics endpoint, affiliate injection, proxy, root certificate or remote executable-rule channel.
Manifest, permissions, rules, controls, threat model, privacy contract, tests and deterministic packaging are available for review.
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.
Ready to test
ZSEC Browser Shields 0.4 is the current unsigned website evaluation package. The Windows desktop shell remains a source/local-evidence developer build—not a public signed browser or independent Chromium maintenance channel.