Go private with Tor: A browser that cares about your security!
Browsing the net is one of the greatest perks of technology. Yet it can be your biggest nightmare if you get hacked or if your privacy is at stake. While browsing the internet is a casual past time for many, if you have a kid at home who has access to your laptop or phone it might expose them to adult content if you are not careful with your browsing history. Moreover, net banking is one of the biggest concerns when it comes to securing your account details against hackers and miscreants. Most of our bank work is now done online from homes with great ease and comfort. But is it safe? Hackers will smirk at that question probably since it’s very easy to break the security barriers of normal browsers these days. There are advanced hacking software that help hackers operate smoothly and without a trace. With such concerns, how do we trust our regular browsers anymore?
Enter Tor — a breakthrough browser that will take away most of your security and privacy issues while browsing. Hackers have a reason to frown with this great new browser that shields you while browsing the web.
What is Tor?
Tor is basically a software that bounces your communications around a distributed network of relays which are run by volunteers around the world. If a miscreant is keeping track of the sites you visit, it doesn’t allow the sites to learn your physical location. There’s more. Tor also allows you to visit sites that are blocked!
Tor can be used directly from a USB flash drive. It comes with a pre-configured web browser to protect one’s identity.
Installation for Windows users:
- Download the appropriate file and save it.
- Double click on it, chose ‘RUN’ > select Language > click OK (Make sure you have at least 80 MB free). You can directly save it on your USB drive if you want to carry it around with you.
- Click ‘install’ and wait till the installer is done. This will take some time.
- When installation is done, click ‘finish’ to launch the Tor Browser’s wizard.
- When you see the wizard on your screen, click on ‘connect’.
- As an alternate option you can go to the folder Tor Browser and double click on ‘Start Tor Browser’ application.
Installation for Linux users:
- Download the appropriate file, save it and run one of the following two commands to extract the package archive:
For 32 bit OS: tar –xvf tor-browser-linux32-5.0.3_LANG.tar.xz
For 64 bit OS: tar –xvf tor-browser-linux64-5.0.3_LANG.tar.xz - Switch to tor browsing directory: cd tor-browser_LANG
- Launch the browser with the command : ./start-tor-browser.desktop
No other browser is affected by Tor and you can continue using Internet explorer or Google Chrome. An important point to remember while using Tor is that it cannot encrypt traffic between the Tor network and the destination. Hence, you need to be careful while communicating sensitive data. Happy browsing!
