aaron552.syte.cc

The Onion Router, or tor, is a tool specifically designed to enable secure access to Internet content blocked in oppressive regimes. Earlier versions were somewhat difficult to set up, requiring you to edit config files. However, newer versions make the set up process absurdly simple.

There is an excellent how-to on the tor project site, however, I will explain how to set it up here too.

This guide is for Windows users only. I advise users of MacOS to go to https://www.torproject.org/documentation.html.en and follow the excellent guide there.

1. Visit http://www.torproject.org/
2. Click “Download Tor”
3. Click on the “Installation Bundle for Windows”
4. Once the file has downloaded, run it to begin the install process.
   
   At the first page click Next

   
   On the second page, I recommend you leave the options set to their defaults, ie. Full install. If you don’t have Firefox installed, untick Torbutton. Click Next.

   
   Click Install to begin the installation.

   
   The install is now complete. Click Next.

   
   If you installed Torbutton, Firefox will ask you to confirm its installation. Click Install Now.

   
   Click Finish to quit the installer and start the newly installed tools.

5. You should now see a window like this
   
   After a short time it should display that it is connected to the Tor network:
   
6. If this is displayed, skip to step 10. If it is not, your ISP is likely blocking connections to the Tor network. Fortunately, Tor has a few tricks to get around these restrictions.
7. On the Vidalia Control Panel, click the Settings button
   
   Next, click the Network tab at the top of the new window

   
   If your ISP has a HTTP proxy (if it doesn’t, leave the box unchecked), click “I use a proxy to access the Internet” and enter its details. Then click the “My ISP blocks connections to the Tor Network” checkbox.

   
   Leave this window open, we will need it again soon

8. Open your web browser and head to https://bridges.torproject.org you should see a page like this:
   
   For each of the 3 lines on this page starting with “bridge” select and copy each into the box labelled “Add a Bridge:” in the Settings window. You should end up with something like this:
   
   Click OK.
9. In the main Vidalia Control Panel window click “Start Tor” (you may need to click “Stop Tor” first). If all goes well, Tor should now connect successfully.
10. The last step is different for each web browser. I will show you how to do it in Internet Explorer and Firefox.
    • Firefox: If you have torbutton installed, you simply click the new tor button in firefox to enable tor. If you didn’t install torbutton (like me) you’ll need to do it manually:
      In Firefox, click Tools -> Options -> Advanced -> Network -> Settings…
      
      Enter these settings and click OK and OK again.
      You are now browsing anonymously using the Tor network.
    • Internet Explorer:
      • Open the Windows Control Panel
      • Open Internet Options
      • Click the “Connections” tab
      • Click LAN settings
      • Set the options to this:
        
      • Click OK and OK again.
        You are now browsing anonymously using the Tor network.