How to protect your privacy online with Tor Browser
If you would like to maintain your web browsing personal, you may use the Incognito mode in Chrome, Private Browsing in Firefox, InPrivate mode in Microsoft Edge, etc. Even though this can prevent other people who use your computer from seeing your surfing history, it will not prevent your ISP from tracking the websites you're visiting. You may well need to -- for any amount of reason browse the internet completely anonymously, and it is exactly what Tor Browser offers.
Reputation for The Onion Router, Tor offers multiple levels of protection to make sure that your online actions, identity and location are kept completely private. Here are the steps that you want to follow so as to install and use Tor Browser.
1. Install Tor Browser
Start by downloading and installing Tor Browser. Click Finish when the installation is done, and Tor will start for the first time. You will be greeted with a settings dialog that can be used to control the way you connect with the Tor network.
In most cases you need to be able to simply click the Connect button, but if you connect to the internet through a proxy you'll have to click the Configure button to enter your settings.
2. Get online with Tor
There will be a small delay whilst Tor builds a connection to the network through relays -- the program warns that the first connection can take as long as a few seconds -- but after this connection was created, the Tor browser will start ready for use.
Tor is based on the exact same code as Firefox, so in the event that you've used Mozilla's web browser that which must seem fairly comfortable. Even in the event that you have not used Firefox earlier, it shouldn't take you long until you start to feel at home -- it is not so different from the likes of Edge, Chrome and Safari.
3. Set security level
Before you get started, it is worth noting that using Tor Browser is a balancing act between privacy/security and web usability. By default, security is defined to Standard -- but this remains a lot more protected than any other web browser.
If you'd like to grow this, then click the onion to the left of the address bar and choose Security Settings. Use the Safety Amount slider to pick your preferred amount of protection, bearing in mind the warnings that appear about the features that will stop working on the websites you see.
4. Rethink your browsing habits
To be able to get the maximum from Tor, then you have to change some of your surfing habits -- the first of these is the search engine that you use.
Rather than choosing the likes of Google and Bing, the recommendation is that you turn to Disconnect.me. This is a website that prevents search engines from tracking you online, also you'll be able to use it in combination with Bing, Yahoo or even DuckDuckGo.
While we are on the topic of changing habits, you also have to avoid installing browser extensions, because these can leak private information.
5. Tor circuits
As you surf the internet, the Tor browser can help to keep you protected by preventing directly connecting to websites. Rather, your connection is bounced about between multiple nodes on the Tor network, using every hop featuring anonymizing.
This not only makes it all but impossible to get a website to monitor who and where you're, it's also accountable for the marginally slow performance you may notice while surfing with Tor.
Should you are feeling performance is remarkably low or a webpage is no longer responding, then you can start a fresh Tor circuit by simply clicking the hamburger icon and choosing the 'New Tor Circuit with this Site' option, which can induce Tor to obtain a new route to the website.
6. Create a new identity
The brand new circuit option only applies to the current active tab, and it can be that you would like a more extreme solitude security net. Just click the hamburger icon and then choose 'New Identity', bearing in mind that this will shut and restart Tor so as to acquire a new IP address.
If you connect to your website using Tor, then you might notice that a popup appears warning you that a specific website is hoping to do something that could possibly be used to monitor you. How often these messages appear will depend not just on the sites you see, but also the privacy settings you've got in place.
7. Use HTTPS
An important part of staying anonymous and safe online is making sure that you use the HTTPS rather than HTTP versions of websites. So that you do not need to be sure to do so for every single website you visit, Tor Browser includes the HTTPS Everywhere extension installed by default. This will attempt to redirect you to the stable version of almost any website if it's accessible, but you need to keep your eye on the address bar as an additional safeguard.
If you're connected to a secure website, you will see a green padlock icon. If that is not present, click on the 'I' icon for more information.
8. Access .onion sites
The most secure method to connect to the internet through Tor, nevertheless, would be to see .onion websites. These are also called hidden Tor solutions, and they are inaccessible to search engines; to locate them, you need to see them straight.
To allow you to come across such websites, there are a range of .onion directories out there. These websites can only be accessed using Tor, however you need to take care -- it is quite common to encounter websites with illegal material, promoting illegal products or promoting illegal actions.
9. Use VPN with Tor
you would like to take your solitude to the next level, then you can connect to a VPN before starting the Tor browser. The VPN won't be able to see what you are doing in the Tor browser, and you will get the extra advantage that no Tor node will have the ability to see your own IP address. It is going to also prevent your network operators out of knowing that you're using Tor, which can be useful if the Tor Network happens to be blocked in which you're.
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