- How-To Booklet
- 1. How to protect your computer from malware and hackers
- 2. How to protect your information from physical threats
- 3. How to create and maintain secure passwords
- 4. How to protect the sensitive files on your computer
- 5. How to recover from information loss
- 6. How to destroy sensitive information
- 7. How to keep your Internet communication private
- 8. How to remain anonymous and bypass censorship on the Internet
- Glossary
- Hands-On Guides
- avast! - anti-virus
- Spybot - anti-spyware
- Comodo Firewall
- KeePass - secure password storage
- TrueCrypt - secure file storage
- Cobian Backup
- Recuva - file recovery
- Eraser - secure file removal
- CCleaner - secure file deletion and work session wiping
- Riseup - secure email service
- Pidgin - secure instant messaging
- VaultletSuite - secure email client
- Thunderbird - secure email client
- Firefox - secure Web browser
- Tor - anonymity and circumvention
- Portable Security
FAQ and Review
Submitted by admin on Fri, 11/21/2008 - 01:44
7.0 FAQ and Conclusion
Tor is an extremely well tested and well maintained piece of software. The Tor anonymity network is used by hundreds of thousands of people worldwide, and continual improvements have made it increasingly stable and secure. Although the explanations in this chapter may seem complex, in many cases you will not have to read past Section 2.0 How to Access the Tor Anonymity Network in order to get Tor working properly.
Mansour has carefully read Chapter 8 of the How-to Booklet, about censorship circumvention, and has just finished working through the Tor Guide. He nonetheless has a few questions for Magda, who has been using Tor for years.
Q: Why should I use Tor, anyway?
A: Good question. Tor is a great tool if you need to circumvent Internet censorship in order to access certain websites. It's also handy if you don't want your Internet Service provider to know what websites you're visiting, or if you don't want those websites to know where you're coming from.
Q: What's the difference between using the Tor Browser and the version of Tor that I have to install?
A: The Tor Browser can be extracted to a USB memory stick and accessed from any computer you use, including your own. You won't need to install it again. On the other hand, if you actually install the Vidalia bundle on your computer, Tor will work a little bit faster. Plus, assuming you were already a Firefox user, you'll have access to your existing bookmarks and add-ons when you're using Tor.
Q: I have error messages in the 'Message Log' that I don't understand. What should I do?
A: See if those messages are in the Tor FAQ wiki. You could also press the 'Help' icon in the Vidalia interface and take a look at the 'Troubleshooting' section.
7.1 Review questions
- How many Tor servers are used to make a connection through the Tor network? Where can you see more information about these servers?
- What settings need to be changed in your web browser to make it access webpages through Tor?
- Which programs need to be running to access the Tor network?
- How can you prevent the Vidalia interface from launching whenever Windows starts up?
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