I came across some information that referred to an anonymous network called Tor.
I seem to recall being made aware of it some years ago..but I cant recall if I ever used it...
I wonder if anyone has used it and if so is is it trustworthy... or it is no longer in operation.
On a quick browse I cannot see where there is a ref to it being redundant..
I am wondering if the search engines (or at least Bing ) have now banned certain websites ..
when I click on some related links... the webpages do not open for me.. on both Firefox and G Chrome..
QuoteTor is free and open-source software for enabling anonymous communication by directing Internet traffic through a free, worldwide, volunteer overlay network consisting of more than seven thousand relays in order to conceal a user's location and usage from anyone conducting network surveillance or traffic analysis. Using Tor makes it more difficult to trace the Internet activity to the user: this includes "visits to Web sites, online posts, instant messages, and other communication forms". Tor's intended use is to protect the personal privacy of its users, as well as their freedom and ability to conduct confidential communication by keeping their Internet activities unmonitored.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tor_(anonymity_network)
https://www.torproject.org
I wonder also if anyone can access this link...
Everything You Need to Know About Tor and the Dark Web.
https://www.expressvpn.com/internet-privacy/tor/
Quote from: astr0144 on April 23, 2021, 09:24:36 PM
I wonder if anyone has used it and if so is is it trustworthy... or it is no longer in operation.
On a quick browse I cannot see where there is a ref to it being redundant..
I use it from time to time. It's still in operation.
QuoteI am wondering if the search engines (or at least Bing ) have now banned certain websites ..
when I click on some related links... the webpages do not open for me.. on both Firefox and G Chrome..
That depends, what kind of links are you talking about? If they are .onion links only work in Tor.
QuoteI wonder also if anyone can access this link...
Everything You Need to Know About Tor and the Dark Web.
https://www.expressvpn.com/internet-privacy/tor/
Yes, no problems.
Thanks for the info and Confirmations ArMaP.
So can I just ask, is it a type of Confidential Browser...
I assume not ideally to your liking as a type of browser, hence why you only use it occasionally.
Is also used something like a Proxy ? where you send emails and hide your ISP...
as well as protect your browsing history more than other browsers..
I also wonder can it still be used on older / various versions of windows..such windows XP..and not just the most updated
and if you can recall..is it almost as easy or simple as downloading as other general types of browsers ?
and also is something that allows you to access the so called dark web.... (Which so far I have never used)
It seems lately for me in the U.K quite a few certain types of websites are seeming unobtainable..
I am wondering also if Some Euro countries have been effected like I have and maybe some others have not.
Quote from: ArMaP on April 23, 2021, 11:40:30 PM
I use it from time to time. It's still in operation.
That depends, what kind of links are you talking about? If they are .onion links only work in Tor.
Yes, no problems.
Quote from: astr0144 on April 24, 2021, 12:05:29 AM
So can I just ask, is it a type of Confidential Browser...
It's a browser based on Firefox that is preconfigured to use the Tor network, so the user just uses it like any other browser.
QuoteI assume not ideally to your liking as a type of browser, hence why you only use it occasionally.
I never liked Firefox, so it's natural I don't like the Tor browser. :)
Besides that, using the Tor network is much slower than using the normal Internet, so I don't have any real need to use it for my everyday Internet navigation.
QuoteIs also used something like a Proxy ? where you send emails and hide your ISP...
It's a kind of a chain of VPNs, as the Tor browser connects to a Tor node that connects to another Tor node, etc., etc., until the final Tor node in the chain (I think they use 5 nodes for the connections), the exit node, connects to the site you want to see.
Being a browser, it does not allow for use of email clients, but if you use a web email client, like most people do these days, then you can use the Tor browser to access your email. Not much of a difference, as the email server knows who you are.
There are some email services that use Tor, but I never used them, as far as I remember, I may have used one just to see how it worked when I started looking at Tor.
Quoteas well as protect your browsing history more than other browsers..
Browser history is nothing special, all modern browsers have "private" modes, modes that automatically remove all the history when the browser is closed.
The Tor browser protects mostly the IP address that your ISP provides to your computer, so while the first Tor node knows your IP address, none of the other nodes in the chain know it.
QuoteI also wonder can it still be used on older / various versions of windows..such windows XP..and not just the most updated
I'll check.
Quoteand if you can recall..is it almost as easy or simple as downloading as other general types of browsers ?
It is.
Quoteand also is something that allows you to access the so called dark web.... (Which so far I have never used)
That depends, as the "dark web" is a generic name for all the networks that use the Internet as their backbone but use specific software, like Tor. There are several different protocols in use, so while you can access normal sites and those on the Tor network (the ones ending in .onion), you cannot access other networks like Freenet or I2P.
QuoteIt seems lately for me in the U.K quite a few certain types of websites are seeming unobtainable..
I am wondering also if Some Euro countries have been effected like I have and maybe some others have not.
When I changed ISP from a Portuguese ISP to Vodafone I noticed that they are more restrictive, as some sites transmitting TV channels' images are blocked by Vodafone but weren't blocked by my previous ISP.
Edited to add that some sites detect when visitors are using Tor and block them from accessing the site.
As for Windows XP support, as the Tor Browser is based on Firefox and Firefox stopped supporting Windows XP, only older versions of the Tor Browser support Windows XP.
Considering older versions had security problems that were corrected in newer versions I suppose it's better to avoid Tor Browser on Windows XP.
If your computer has a relatively good processor and enough memory you can try to run it on a Virtual Machine, something that may even give an extra protection.