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Install PowerOps and open your first profile
From the installer to a browser profile running on your computer: sign in, let PowerOps fetch Orbit Browser, create a profile, add a proxy if you use one, and open it.
Guide · 10 min read
By the end of this guide you will have PowerOps installed, your workspace open, and your first browser profile running in a window of its own. There are six short steps. Most of the waiting happens once, while PowerOps fetches the browser your profiles open in.
Before you start
- A 64-bit Windows computer. PowerOps is tested on Windows 11.
- Memory and disk space for the way you work. Each open profile is its own browser process, so memory grows with how many profiles you keep open at the same time. Leave disk space for the application, the browser it fetches, and each profile's own browser directory.
- An internet connection. You need it to sign in and for the one-time browser download, and the installer may also fetch a Windows component called WebView2 if your computer does not have it yet.
- An ArticleOps account. PowerOps signs you in with it, and your workspaces come from your ArticleOps organisation. New to ArticleOps? Step 2 starts by creating one.
- Your proxy details, if you plan to use one: the protocol, host and port, plus the username and password your provider gave you.
1. Install PowerOps
The installer sets PowerOps up for your Windows user only, which is why it never asks for an administrator password.
- Open the download page and choose Download for Windows.
- Run the file you downloaded. If Windows shows a screen titled Windows protected your PC, choose More info, then Run anyway. Windows shows it for new programs whose publisher it cannot confirm yet.
- Follow the installer's pages. The folder it suggests is a good place to keep.
- On the last page, leave Create desktop shortcut ticked if you would like one, keep the option to start PowerOps ticked, and finish.
What you should see
PowerOps opens on its sign-in screen. From now on you can also start it from the Start menu.
2. Sign in with your ArticleOps account
PowerOps uses your ArticleOps account, so there is no second password to create. Signing in happens in your usual web browser, and PowerOps never asks for your password itself.
New to ArticleOps? Create your account first
If you already use ArticleOps, skip to Sign in below. Otherwise create your account on the ArticleOps sign-up page, then set up the organisation and workspace PowerOps will open. You only do this once.
Create your ArticleOps account Opens app.articleops.com in a new tab.
- On the sign-up page, create your account with your name, email address and a password, or with Apple, Facebook or Google, and follow the steps it shows.
- ArticleOps then asks how you want to start. Choose Create a space to name your organisation and its first workspace, or Join a team if a colleague has sent you an invite link or code.
- Once your space is ready, come back to PowerOps and carry on below.
Sign in
- Choose Sign in.
- Your web browser opens on ArticleOps. Sign in there the way you normally do.
- Come back to PowerOps. It carries on by itself as soon as you have signed in. If your browser did not open, choose Copy the sign-in link and paste it into your browser.
- If your account belongs to more than one organisation or workspace, choose the one you want to work in.
What you should see
Your workspace opens on the Profiles page, with Profiles selected in the sidebar.
The sidebar lists everything in the workspace: Profiles, Groups, Folders, Proxies and the rest. You will also see Phones with a Soon label. That is where PowerOps brings the Android phones you own, plugged into this computer, alongside your browser profiles, and it is not open to every account yet.
3. Let PowerOps fetch Orbit Browser
Your profiles open in Orbit Browser, a Chromium-based browser that PowerOps installs and looks after for you. It is not inside the installer. PowerOps fetches it in the background the first time it starts, often while you are still signing in.
If the download is still running when your workspace opens, PowerOps shows a window called Updating Orbit Browser… with a progress bar, then Installing Orbit Browser… while it unpacks. It says update even on this very first download, so that word is nothing to worry about.
- Keep PowerOps open and your computer online. The rest of the application waits while this window is on screen.
- Wait for the window to close by itself. There is nothing to click.
What you should see
The window closes and the Profiles page is ready to use. PowerOps verifies the download before it installs anything, and this only happens once for your Windows account: every profile and every workspace shares the same copy of the browser.
4. Create your first profile
A profile is a browser of its own, with its own storage, its own device identity and its own network settings. Anything you sign into inside it stays inside it.
- Choose New profile at the top of the sidebar, or Create your first profile in the middle of the page. The New Browser Profile page opens on its General section.
- Leave Browser on Orbit Browser 155, the version every new profile uses, and OS on Windows unless the profile should present another system (see below).
- Type a Profile name you will recognise later, such as the client or the account it is for. Group, Tags and Notes are optional.
- Leave Platform set to None for now. You can store an account's sign-in details there later.
- Choose OK at the bottom of the page. Create and launch does the same and opens the profile straight away, if you would rather skip ahead.
- Browser
- Orbit Browser
- OS
- Windows 11 identity
- Proxy
- Direct connection
- Platform
- none
What you should see
The page closes and your profile appears as the first row of the table, with an Open button at the end of the row.
PowerOps generates the profile's device identity as one set, so its fields agree with each other, and keeps it for every open. If you would like a different one before you create the profile, choose New fingerprint in Overview.
Choosing the operating system
The OS row has one box per system: Windows, macOS, Linux, Android and iOS. Tick a box to choose that system, or open the arrow beside it to pick a version, such as Windows 10, macOS 14 or Android 13. The All entry at the top of each list lets PowerOps pick a recent version for you. The User-Agent row and Overview change as you choose.
An Android or iOS profile presents a real phone: its screen size, its graphics chip, its model name for Android, and touch. The browser window opens at the phone's size. Every system except Windows needs Orbit Browser 155, so the other boxes are greyed out when Browser is set to Orbit Browser 144.
5. Add a proxy (optional)
Without a proxy, the profile uses this computer's own internet connection. Add one when the profile should reach the web from a different address, for example one in the country where its account is normally used.
A proxy is saved once in the workspace's proxy library, tested there, and then assigned to the profiles that should use it.
- Choose Proxies in the sidebar, then Add proxy at the top right of the page.
- Type a Label, set Protocol to the one your provider gave you (HTTP, HTTPS or SOCKS5), and fill in Host and Port. Add Username (optional) and Password if your proxy needs them, then choose Save proxy.
- Tick the new proxy's row and choose Test in the bar above the table.
- With the row still ticked, choose Assign, tick your profile, and choose Assign.
What you should see
After the test, the row reads Verified and shows the Observed IP with its country's flag. With a fixed proxy, that is the address sites see when this profile opens. After you assign it, the proxy's Profiles column counts your profile.
The full guide to adding, testing and assigning a proxy
6. Open your first browser
Opening a profile starts its own Orbit Browser window, with the profile's identity and network already in place.
- Choose Open on your profile's row.
- Watch the Activity panel at the bottom of the window. It follows the open through Preparing profile…, Checking proxy…, Preparing the browser…, Starting Orbit… and Loading extensions…
- If Orbit Browser is still downloading, the Updating Orbit Browser… window comes back first, and the profile opens as soon as it closes.
What you should see
An Orbit Browser window opens and, as soon as it is usable, the button on the row turns red and reads Close, with a Focus button beside it that brings the window back to the front. The panel shows Opened for a moment.
When you have finished, choose Close on the row. The row goes back to Open straight away. PowerOps closes the browser and saves the profile's state in the background, so next time it opens where you left off, still signed in to the same sites. Open stays greyed out for the few seconds that saving takes, and the Activity panel says Saving to cloud… while it runs.
Close the profile this way, or close its browser window, rather than ending the process. Close is when PowerOps writes the profile's state out. It is also the moment Cloud Sync, which is on unless your organisation has switched it off, captures cookies, Local Storage and IndexedDB and uploads them encrypted.
Keep PowerOps up to date
When an update is published, an Update available button appears in the header. Open it and choose Update now: PowerOps downloads the update, verifies it, closes, installs it and opens again. Only an owner or admin of the workspace can install updates, and nothing installs until one of them chooses to. Close your open profiles first, so each one saves its state before PowerOps restarts.
Uninstall PowerOps
Quit PowerOps first: close its window and choose Exit. Then open Windows Settings, go to Apps and Installed apps, and uninstall PowerOps. That removes the application, signs this computer out and removes the Orbit Browser it fetched. Your profiles, their browser data and your saved proxy passwords stay in %LOCALAPPDATA%\PowerOps, so reinstalling brings them back once you sign in again. Delete that folder yourself if you want them gone too.
Where to go next
Everything you just did works the same for many profiles. Groups and folders keep them organised, the proxy library keeps each endpoint in one place, and the Local API opens them from your own scripts. When you want the same profiles on another computer, Cloud Sync carries their sessions across, encrypted on your machine before they are uploaded.
- Organise and run your profilesWhat a profile contains, how to find one by number or name, and how groups, bulk actions, export and live status keep many profiles manageable.Next guide
- Create many profiles at onceBatch create makes up to a hundred new profiles from one form, each with its own device identity. Import profiles brings in profiles described in a file, with their accounts, cookies and proxies.Next guide
- Organise profiles into groupsCreate groups, put profiles in them, and keep the groups in folders, so the Profiles page can show one job at a time and a bulk action reaches exactly the profiles you mean.Next guide