I’m not going to waffle about the technical side of Tor because most people won’t really need to understand it, it can be boring and off-putting to some, and I hate writing as my spelling and grammar will soon expose! :) ...This will be a simple step by step guide for newbies to get started with Tor, if you are more tech savvy all you need to know is; download, extract & run. I recommend you bookmark this page as it will be useful info to keep, judging by the ever more authoritarian direction our society is growing in...
To put it simply, Tor is easy to use, perfectly legal, freeware that allows you to remain anonymous when browsing the internet, it also lets you bypass sites restricted by your government etc, if you can open your web browser and surf the internet you can use Tor. I DO recommend educating yourself on Tor if you plan on using it regularly and will include links at the end of this article. Tor is free from adware, nag screens and all other forms of digital turd...
This guide was written for Win 7 but the process is similar for most operating systems. Tor is available for Windows 98-7, Apple OS X, Linux, Android and iPhone.
Step one: Download and install Tor software.
Go Here and download the LATEST version of Tor (about 17mb): https://www.torproject.org/download/download.html.en (No direct link to download from this page as i want you to get the very latest version)
Look for text like this on the page “Tor Browser Bundle (English) version 1.x.xx, works with Windows 7, Vista, and XP.” (where x is the current version number) and click the Download link next to it.
Once its downloaded go to your download directory and double click the file called ‘tor-browser-1.x.xx_en-US.exe’ then click ‘Run’.
Next you will be asked if you want to choose a path to extract Tor to, it can be anywhere you like. You can click the button marked ‘...’ to browse to where you want Tor extracted or you could type the path manually. If you just want to extract Tor in the the same directory as the downloaded file simply click extract.
Step 2: Starting and using Tor.
After a few seconds Tor should have extracted into a new folder called ‘Tor Browser’ click into it and start Tor by clicking ‘Start Tor Browser.exe’ This automatically launches a portable and anonymised version of Firefox.
Two windows will appear, one is your Firefox browser as I just mentioned, the other is called the ‘Vidalia Control panel’ this controls Tor. The browser should have a message: “Congratulations. Your browser is configured to use Tor.” In the Vidalia Control panel you can click ‘Use a new identity’ to change your identity, if you find you cannot access websites then getting a new ID can help.
Now just go about your browsing as normal, visit facebook and twitter, try a google search. Tor can feel a little slow sometimes because it is heavily encrypted but its better than no access at all. Try visiting a site like www.infobyip.com to see where and how you now appear on the internet. Tor will not anonymise your activity or enable you to bypass censorship with your usual web browser, you will need to click the 'Start Tor Browser' onion icon and use Tor's own Firefox portable browser. Tor can be easily removed by simply deleting the folder, no uninstall needed.
Hidden Services (aka Darknet)
Another part of the Tor network worth mentioning is the hidden services, these are websites only available when using Tor. Be careful with hidden services, whilst there are some good sites there are also some that could be deemed illegal where you live or just plain make you sick! The hidden wiki is a good hidden website to start with, see below for further info.
Further Information
If you want to know more about Tor before installing , check out the Tor Wikipedia page for an independent explanation, or...
Read more about Tor www.torproject.org/about/overview
Tor FAQ https://www.torproject.org/docs/faq
To access the hidden services start Tor and visit the Hidden Wiki http://xqz3u5drneuzhaeo.onion/users/hackbloc/index.php/Mirror/kpvz7ki2v5agwt35.onion/Main_Page
- Notice the .onion domain? All hidden services have this and you can only get to them with Tor. The address of the hidden wiki changes sometimes so if the link above doesn’t work try googling for the latest address.
I hope you find this guide useful, if you would like to make any comments or suggestions please leave a message below.
Please help make people aware of this important information by tweeting this page, posting on Facebook or sharing on bookmarking sites by using the buttons below this post. Its important that governments understand that stamping on the freedom of information is futile.
Spaceinvader
Thank you, cool guide, Bookmarked! I will give Tor a try, looks easy enough. Pretty scary how much public support there seems to be for clamping down on social networking.
ReplyDeletePeace