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5) #include "head.wmi" TITLE="Tor Project: FAQ" CHARSET="UTF-8"
6) <div id="content" class="clearfix">
7)   <div id="breadcrumbs">

8)     <a href="<page index>">Home &raquo; </a>

9)     <a href="<page docs/documentation>">Documentation &raquo; </a>
10)     <a href="<page docs/faq>">FAQ</a>
11)   </div>
12)   <div id="maincol">
13)     <!-- PUT CONTENT AFTER THIS TAG -->
14)     <h1>Tor FAQ</h1>

15)     <hr>

16) 

17)     <p><a href="#General">General questions:</a><br />
18)     <a href="#CompilationAndInstallation">Compilation and Installation:</a><br />
19)     <a href="#TBBGeneral">Tor Browser Bundle (general):</a><br />

20)     <a href="#TBB3.x">Tor Browser Bundle (3.x series):</a><br />

21)     <a href="#AdvancedTorUsage">Advanced Tor usage:</a><br />
22)     <a href="#RunningATorRelay">Running a Tor relay:</a><br />
23)     <a href="#TorHiddenServices">Tor hidden services:</a><br />
24)     <a href="#Development">Development:</a><br />
25)     <a href="#AnonymityAndSecurity">Anonymity and Security:</a><br />
26)     <a href="#AlternateDesigns">Alternate designs that we don't do (yet):</a><br />
27)     <a href="#Abuse">Abuse:</a></p>

28) 

29) <hr>
30) 
31)     <p>General questions:</p>

32)     <ul>
33)     <li><a href="#WhatIsTor">What is Tor?</a></li>

34)     <li><a href="#Torisdifferent">How is Tor different from other
35) proxies?</a></li>

36)     <li><a href="#CompatibleApplications">What programs can I use with
37)     Tor?</a></li>
38)     <li><a href="#WhyCalledTor">Why is it called Tor?</a></li>
39)     <li><a href="#Backdoor">Is there a backdoor in Tor?</a></li>

40)     <li><a href="#DistributingTor">Can I distribute Tor?</a></li>

41)     <li><a href="#SupportMail">How can I get support?</a></li>

42)     <li><a href="#Forum">Is there a Tor forum?</a></li>

43)     <li><a href="#WhySlow">Why is Tor so slow?</a></li>

44)     <li><a href="#FileSharing">How can I share files anonymously through Tor?
45)     </a></li>

46)     <li><a href="#Funding">What would The Tor Project do with more
47)     funding?</a></li>

48)     <li><a href="#IsItWorking">How can I tell if Tor is working, and that my

49)     connections really are anonymized?</a></li>

50)     <li><a href="#OutboundPorts">Do I have to open all these outbound ports

51)     on my firewall?</a></li>

52)     <li><a href="#FTP">How do I use my browser for ftp with Tor?</a></li>

53)     <li><a href="#NoDataScrubbing">Does Tor remove personal information

54)     from the data my application sends?</a></li>

55)     <li><a href="#Metrics">How many people use Tor? How many relays or
56)     exit nodes are there?</a></li>

57)     <li><a href="#SSLcertfingerprint">What are your SSL certificate

58)     fingerprints?</a></li>

59)     </ul>

60) 

61)     <p>Compilation and Installation:</p>

62) 

63)     <ul>
64)     <li><a href="#HowUninstallTor">How do I uninstall Tor?</a></li>
65)     <li><a href="#PGPSigs">What are these "sig" files on the download
66)     page?</a></li>

67)     <li><a href="#GetTor">Your website is blocked in my country. How
68)     do I download Tor?</a></li>

69)     <li><a href="#VirusFalsePositives">Why does my Tor executable appear to

70)     have a virus or spyware?</a></li>

71)     <li><a href="#tarballs">How do I open a .tar.gz or .tar.xz file?</a></li>

72)     <li><a href="#LiveCD">Is there a LiveCD or other bundle that
73) includes Tor?</a></li>

74)     </ul>

75) 

76)     <p>Tor Browser Bundle (general):</p>

77)     <ul>

78) 

79)     <li><a href="#TBBFlash">Why can't I view videos on YouTube and other
80)     Flash-based sites?</a></li>

81)     <li><a href="#Ubuntu">I'm using Ubuntu, and I can't start Tor Browser.

82)     </a></li>

83)     <li><a href="#UbuntuBlackedOut">I'm using Ubuntu, and I can't type

84)     anything into my browser.</a></li>
85)     <li><a href="#SophosOnMac">I'm using the Sophos anti-virus
86)     software on my Mac, and Tor Browser won't start.</a></li>

87)     <li><a href="#TBBSocksPort">I want to

88)     run another application through the Tor launched by Tor Browser

89)     Bundle.</a></li>

90)     <li><a href="#TBBPolipo">I need an HTTP proxy. Where did Polipo
91)     go?</a></li>

92)     <li><a href="#TBBOtherExtensions">Can I install other Firefox

93)     extensions? Which extensions should I avoid using?</a></li>

94)     <li><a href="#TBBJavaScriptEnabled">Why is NoScript configured to
95) allow JavaScript by default in the Tor Browser Bundle?  Isn't that
96) unsafe?</a></li>

97)     <li><a href="#TBBOtherBrowser">I want to use Chrome/IE/Opera/etc
98)     with Tor.</a></li>

99)     <li><a href="#TorbuttonOtherBrowser">Will Torbutton be available

100)     for other browsers?</a></li>

101)     <li><a href="#TBBCloseBrowser">I want to leave Tor Browser Bundle
102)     running but close the browser.</a></li>

103)     <li><a href="#GoogleCAPTCHA">Google makes me solve a CAPTCHA or tells

104)     me I have spyware installed.</a></li>

105)     <li><a href="#ForeignLanguages">Why does Google show up in foreign

106)     languages?</a></li>

107)     <li><a href="#GmailWarning">Gmail warns me that my account may have
108)     been compromised.</a></li>

109)     <li><a href="#NeedToUseAProxy">My internet connection requires an HTTP

110)     or SOCKS Proxy</a></li>

111)     <li><a href="#CantSetProxy">What should I do if I can't set a proxy

112)     with my application?</a></li>

113)     </ul>
114) 

115)     <p>Tor Browser Bundle (3.x series):</p>

116) 
117)     <ul>

118)     <li><a href="#WhereDidVidaliaGo">Where did the world map (Vidalia)

119)     go?</a></li>
120)     <li><a href="#DisableJS">How do I disable JavaScript?</a></li>

121)     <li><a href="#VerifyDownload">How do I verify the download

122)     (sha256sums.txt)?</a></li>

123)     <li><a href="#PluggableTransports">How do I use pluggable transports?</a></li>

124)     <li><a href="#NewIdentityClosingTabs">Why does "New Identity" close

125)     all my open tabs?</a></li>

126)     <li><a href="#ConfigureRelayOrBridge">How do I configure Tor as a relay

127)     or bridge?</a></li>
128)     <li><a href="#Timestamps">Why are the file timestamps from 2000?</a></li>

129)     <li><a href="#TBBSourceCode">Where is the source code for the bundle? How do

130)     I verify a build?</a></li>

131)     </ul>
132) 

133)     <p>Advanced Tor usage:</p>

134) 

135)     <ul>
136)     <li><a href="#torrc">I'm supposed to "edit my torrc". What does
137)     that mean?</a></li>

138)     <li><a href="#Logs">How do I set up logging, or see Tor's

139)     logs?</a></li>

140)     <li><a href="#LogLevel">What log level should I use?</a></li>

141)     <li><a href="#DoesntWork">Tor is running, but it's not working
142)     correctly.</a></li>

143)     <li><a href="#TorCrash">My Tor keeps crashing.</a></li>

144)     <li><a href="#VidaliaPassword">Tor/Vidalia prompts for a password at
145)     start.</a></li>

146)     <li><a href="#ChooseEntryExit">Can I control which nodes (or
147) country)

148)     are used for entry/exit?</a></li>

149)     <li><a href="#FirewallPorts">My firewall only allows a few outgoing
150)     ports.</a></li>

151)     <li><a href="#DefaultExitPorts">Is there a list of default exit ports?</a></li>

152)     <li><a href="#WarningsAboutSOCKSandDNSInformationLeaks">I keep seeing
153)     these warnings about SOCKS and DNS information leaks. Should I

154)     worry?</a></li>

155)     <li><a href="#SocksAndDNS">How do I check if my application that uses

156)     SOCKS is leaking DNS requests?</a></li>

157)     </ul>

158) 

159)     <p>Running a Tor relay:</p>

160)     <ul>

161) 
162)     <li><a href="#HowDoIDecide">How do I decide if I should run a relay?
163)     </a></li>

164)     <li><a href="#WhyIsntMyRelayBeingUsedMore">Why isn't my relay being

165)     used more?</a></li>

166)     <li><a href="#IDontHaveAStaticIP">I don't have a static IP.</a></li>

167)     <li><a href="#PortscannedMore">Why do I get portscanned more often

168)     when I run a Tor relay?</a></li>

169)     <li><a href="#MoreThanOneCPU">I have more than one CPU. Does this

170)     help?</a></li>

171)     <li><a href="#HighCapacityConnection">How can I get Tor to fully

172)     make use of my high capacity connection?</a></li>

173)     <li><a href="#RelayFlexible">How stable does my relay need to
174) be?</a></li>

175)     <li><a href="#BandwidthShaping">What bandwidth shaping options are

176)     available to Tor relays?</a></li>

177)     <li><a href="#LimitTotalBandwidth">How can I limit the total amount

178)     of bandwidth used by my Tor relay?</a></li>

179)     <li><a href="#RelayWritesMoreThanItReads">Why does my relay write

180)     more bytes onto the network than it reads?</a></li>

181)     <li><a href="#Hibernation">Why can I not browse anymore after

182)     limiting bandwidth on my Tor relay?</a></li>

183)     <li><a href="#ExitPolicies">I'd run a relay, but I don't want to deal

184)     with abuse issues.</a></li>

185)     <li><a href="#BestOSForRelay">Why doesn't my Windows (or other OS) Tor

186)     relay run well?</a></li>

187)     <li><a href="#WhatIsTheBadExitFlag">What is the BadExit flag?</a></li>

188)     <li><a href="#IGotTheBadExitFlagWhyDidThatHappen">I got the BadExit flag.

189)     Why did that happen?</a></li>

190)     <li><a href="#MyRelayRecentlyGotTheGuardFlagAndTrafficDroppedByHalf">My

191)     relay recently got the Guard flag and traffic dropped by half.</a></li>

192)     <li><a href="#TorClientOnADifferentComputerThanMyApplications">I want to run my Tor client on a

193)     different computer than my applications.</a></li>

194)     <li><a href="#ServerClient">Can I install Tor on a central server, and

195)     have my clients connect to it?</a></li>

196)     <li><a href="#JoinTheNetwork">So I can just configure a nickname and

197)     ORPort and join the network?</a></li>

198)     <li><a href="#RelayOrBridge">Should I be a normal relay or bridge
199)     relay?</a></li>

200)     <li><a href="#UpgradeOrMove">I want to upgrade/move my relay. How do I

201)     keep the same key?</a></li>

202)     <li><a href="#MultipleRelays">I want to run more than one
203) relay.</a></li>

204)     <li><a href="#NTService">How do I run my Tor relay as an NT service?
205)     </a></li>

206)     <li><a href="#VirtualServer">Can I run a Tor relay from my virtual server

207)     account?</a></li>

208)     <li><a href="#WrongIP">My relay is picking the wrong IP address.</a></li>
209)     <li><a href="#BehindANAT">I'm behind a NAT/Firewall</a></li>

210)     <li><a href="#RelayMemory">Why is my Tor relay using so much memory?
211)     </a></li>
212)     <li><a href="#BetterAnonymity">Do I get better anonymity if I run a relay?
213)     </a></li>

214)     <li><a href="#FacingLegalTrouble">I'm facing legal trouble. How do I

215)     prove that my server was a Tor relay at a given time?</a></li>

216)     <li><a href="#RelayDonations">Can I donate for a relay rather than
217)     run my own?</a></li>

218)     </ul>

219) 

220)     <p>Tor hidden services:</p>

221) 

222)     <ul>
223)     <li><a href="#AccessHiddenServices">How do I access hidden services?</a></li>

224)     <li><a href="#ProvideAHiddenService">How do I provide a hidden service?</a></li>

225)     </ul>

226) 

227)     <p>Development:</p>

228) 

229)     <ul>

230)     <li><a href="#VersionNumbers">What do these weird version numbers

231)     mean?</a></li>
232)     <li><a href="#PrivateTorNetwork">How do I set up my own private
233)     Tor network?</a></li>

234)     <li><a href="#UseTorWithJava">How can I make my Java program use the

235)     Tor network?</a></li>
236)     <li><a href="#WhatIsLibevent">What is Libevent?</a></li>

237)     <li><a href="#MyNewFeature">What do I need to do to get a new feature

238)     into Tor?</a></li>
239)     </ul>
240) 

241)     <p>Anonymity and Security:</p>

242)     <ul>

243)     <li><a href="#WhatProtectionsDoesTorProvide">What protections does Tor

244)     provide?</a></li>

245)     <li><a href="#CanExitNodesEavesdrop">Can exit nodes eavesdrop on

246)     communications? Isn't that bad? </a></li>

247)     <li><a href="#AmITotallyAnonymous">So I'm totally anonymous if I use

248)     Tor?</a></li>

249)     <li><a href="#ExitEnclaving">What is Exit Enclaving?</a></li>

250)     <li><a href="#KeyManagement">Tell me about all the keys Tor
251) uses.</a></li>

252)     <li><a href="#EntryGuards">What are Entry Guards?</a></li>

253)     <li><a href="#ChangePaths">How often does Tor change its paths?</a></li>

254)     <li><a href="#CellSize">Tor uses hundreds of bytes for every IRC line. I

255)     can't afford that!</a></li>

256)     <li><a href="#OutboundConnections">Why does netstat show these outbound

257)     connections?</a></li>
258)     <li><a href="#PowerfulBlockers">What about powerful blocking mechanisms
259)     </a></li>

260)     <li><a href="#RemotePhysicalDeviceFingerprinting">Does Tor resist

261)     "remote physical device fingerprinting"?</a></li>

262)     <li><a href="#IsTorLikeAVPN">Is Tor like a VPN?</a></li>
263)     <li><a href="#ShouldIUseTorWithAVPN">Should I use Tor with a VPN?</a></li>

264)     <li><a href="#Proxychains">Aren't 10 proxies (proxychains) better than

265)     Tor with only 3 hops?</a></li>

266)     <li><a href="#AttacksOnOnionRouting">What attacks remain against onion

267)     routing?</a></li>

268)     <li><a href="#LearnMoreAboutAnonymity">Where can I learn more about anonymity?</a></li>

269)     </ul>

270) 

271)     <p>Alternate designs that we don't do (yet):</p>

272) 

273)     <ul>
274)     <li><a href="#EverybodyARelay">You should make every Tor user be a
275)     relay.</a></li>

276)     <li><a href="#TransportIPnotTCP">You should transport all IP
277) packets,

278)     not just TCP packets.</a></li>

279)     <li><a href="#HideExits">You should hide the list of Tor relays,
280)     so people can't block the exits.</a></li>

281)     <li><a href="#ChoosePathLength">You should let people choose their path

282)     length.</a></li>

283)     <li><a href="#SplitEachConnection">You should split each connection over

284)     many paths.</a></li>

285)     <li><a href="#MigrateApplicationStreamsAcrossCircuits">You should migrate

286)     application streams across circuits.</a></li>

287)     <li><a href="#LetTheNetworkPickThePath">You should let the network pick

288)     the path, not the client.</a></li>

289)     <li><a href="#UnallocatedNetBlocks">Your default exit policy should block

290)     unallocated net blocks too.</a></li>

291)     <li><a href="#BlockWebsites">Exit policies should be able to block

292)     websites, not just IP addresses.</a></li>

293)     <li><a href="#BlockContent">You should change Tor to prevent users from

294)     posting certain content.</a></li>

295)     <li><a href="#SendPadding">You should send padding so it's more secure.
296)     </a></li>

297)     <li><a href="#Steganography">You should use steganography to hide Tor

298)     traffic.</a></li>

299)     </ul>

300) 

301)     <p>Abuse:</p>

302)     <ul>

303)     <li><a href="#Criminals">Doesn't Tor enable criminals to do bad
304) things?</a></li>

305)     <li><a href="#RespondISP">How do I respond to my ISP about my exit
306)     relay?</a></li>

307)     <li><a href="#HelpPoliceOrLawyers">I have questions about
308)    a Tor IP address for a legal case.</a></li>

309)     </ul>

310) 

311)     <p>For other questions not yet on this version of the FAQ, see the
312) <a

313)     href="<wikifaq>">wiki FAQ</a> for now.</p>

314) 

315)     <hr>

316) 

317)     <a id="General"></a>

318)     <h2><a class="anchor">General:</a></h2>

319) 

320)     <a id="WhatIsTor"></a>
321)     <h3><a class="anchor" href="#WhatIsTor">What is Tor?</a></h3>

322) 

323)     <p>
324)     The name "Tor" can refer to several different components.
325)     </p>

326) 

327)     <p>

328)     The Tor software is a program you can run on your computer that
329) helps keep
330)     you safe on the Internet. Tor protects you by bouncing your
331) communications

332)     around a distributed network of relays run by volunteers all around

333)     the world: it prevents somebody watching your Internet connection
334) from

335)     learning what sites you visit, and it prevents the sites you visit

336)     from learning your physical location. This set of volunteer relays
337) is
338)     called the Tor network. You can read more about how Tor works on the
339) <a

340)     href="<page about/overview>">overview page</a>.
341)     </p>

342) 

343)     <p>

344)     The Tor Project is a non-profit (charity) organization that
345) maintains

346)     and develops the Tor software.
347)     </p>

348) 

349)     <hr>

350) 

351)     <a id="Torisdifferent"></a>

352)     <h3><a class="anchor" href="#Torisdifferent">How is Tor different
353) from other proxies?</a></h3>
354)     <p>
355)     A typical proxy provider sets up a server somewhere on the Internet
356) and
357) allows you to use it to relay your traffic.  This creates a simple, easy
358) to
359) maintain architecture.  The users all enter and leave through the same
360) server.
361) The provider may charge for use of the proxy, or fund their costs
362) through
363) advertisements on the server.  In the simplest configuration, you don't
364) have to
365) install anything.  You just have to point your browser at their proxy
366) server.
367) Simple proxy providers are fine solutions if you do not want protections
368) for
369) your privacy and anonymity online and you trust the provider from doing
370) bad
371) things.  Some simple proxy providers use SSL to secure your connection
372) to them.
373) This may protect you against local eavesdroppers, such as those at a
374) cafe with

375) free wifi Internet.
376)     </p>
377)     <p>

378)     Simple proxy providers also create a single point of failure.  The
379) provider
380) knows who you are and where you browse on the Internet.  They can see
381) your
382) traffic as it passes through their server.  In some cases, they can even
383) see

384) inside your

385) encrypted traffic as they relay it to your banking site or to ecommerce
386) stores.

387) You have to trust the provider isn't doing any number of things, such as

388) watching your traffic, injecting their own advertisements into your
389) traffic

390) stream, and recording your personal details.

391)     </p>
392)     <p>

393)     Tor passes your traffic through at least 3 different servers before
394) sending
395) it on to the destination. Because there's a separate layer of encryption
396) for
397) each of the three relays, Tor does not modify, or even know, what you
398) are
399) sending into it.  It merely relays your traffic, completely encrypted
400) through
401) the Tor network and has it pop out somewhere else in the world,
402) completely
403) intact.  The Tor client is required because we assume you trust your
404) local
405) computer.  The Tor client manages the encryption and the path chosen
406) through
407) the network.  The relays located all over the world merely pass
408) encrypted

409) packets between themselves.</p>

410)     <p>
411)     <dl>

412)     <dt>Doesn't the first server see who I am?</dt><dd>Possibly. A bad
413) first of
414) three servers can see encrypted Tor traffic coming from your computer.
415) It
416) still doesn't know who you are and what you are doing over Tor.  It
417) merely sees
418) "This IP address is using Tor".  Tor is not illegal anywhere in the
419) world, so
420) using Tor by itself is fine.  You are still protected from this node
421) figuring

422) out who you are and where you are going on the Internet.</dd>

423)     <dt>Can't the third server see my traffic?</dt><dd>Possibly.  A bad
424) third
425) of three servers can see the traffic you sent into Tor.  It won't know
426) who sent

427) this traffic.  If you're using encryption, such as visiting a bank or

428) e-commerce website, or encrypted mail connections, etc, it will only
429) know the
430) destination.  It won't be able to see the data inside the traffic
431) stream.  You

432) are still protected from this node figuring out who you are and if using
433) encryption, what data you're sending to the destination.</dd>

434)     </dl>
435)     </p>

436) 

437)     <hr>

438) 

439) 

440)     <a id="CompatibleApplications"></a>

441)     <h3><a class="anchor" href="#CompatibleApplications">What programs
442) can I use with Tor?</a></h3>

443) 

444)     <p>

445)     If you want to use Tor with a web browser, we provide the Tor Browser
446)     Bundle, which includes everything you need to browse the web safely using
447)     Tor. If you want to use another web browser with Tor, see <a
448)     href="#TBBOtherBrowser">Other web browsers</a>.

449)     </p>
450)     <p>
451)     There are plenty of other programs you can use with Tor,
452)     but we haven't researched the application-level anonymity

453)     issues on all of them well enough to be able to recommend a safe

454)     configuration. Our wiki has a list of instructions for <a

455)     href="<wiki>doc/TorifyHOWTO">Torifying

456)     specific applications</a>.

457)     Please add to these lists and help us keep them accurate!
458)     </p>

459) 

460)     <hr>

461) 

462)     <a id="WhyCalledTor"></a>

463)     <h3><a class="anchor" href="#WhyCalledTor">Why is it called
464) Tor?</a></h3>

465) 

466)     <p>
467)     Because Tor is the onion routing network. When we were starting the
468)     new next-generation design and implementation of onion routing in
469)     2001-2002, we would tell people we were working on onion routing,
470)     and they would say "Neat. Which one?" Even if onion routing has
471)     become a standard household term, Tor was born out of the actual <a
472)     href="http://www.onion-router.net/">onion routing project</a> run by
473)     the Naval Research Lab.
474)     </p>

475) 

476)     <p>
477)     (It's also got a fine translation from German and Turkish.)
478)     </p>

479) 

480)     <p>

481)     Note: even though it originally came from an acronym, Tor is not
482) spelled

483)     "TOR". Only the first letter is capitalized. In fact, we can usually

484)     spot people who haven't read any of our website (and have instead
485) learned
486)     everything they know about Tor from news articles) by the fact that
487) they

488)     spell it wrong.
489)     </p>

490) 

491)     <hr>

492) 

493)     <a id="Backdoor"></a>

494)     <h3><a class="anchor" href="#Backdoor">Is there a backdoor in
495) Tor?</a></h3>

496) 

497)     <p>

498)     There is absolutely no backdoor in Tor. Nobody has asked us to put
499) one
500)     in, and we know some smart lawyers who say that it's unlikely that
501) anybody

502)     will try to make us add one in our jurisdiction (U.S.). If they do
503)     ask us, we will fight them, and (the lawyers say) probably win.
504)     </p>

505) 

506)     <p>
507)     We think that putting a backdoor in Tor would be tremendously

508)     irresponsible to our users, and a bad precedent for security
509) software

510)     in general. If we ever put a deliberate backdoor in our security
511)     software, it would ruin our professional reputations. Nobody would
512)     trust our software ever again — for excellent reason!
513)     </p>

514) 

515)     <p>
516)     But that said, there are still plenty of subtle attacks
517)     people might try. Somebody might impersonate us, or break into our

518)     computers, or something like that. Tor is open source, and you
519) should
520)     always check the source (or at least the diffs since the last
521) release)

522)     for suspicious things. If we (or the distributors) don't give you
523)     source, that's a sure sign something funny might be going on. You
524)     should also check the <a href="<page docs/verifying-signatures>">PGP
525)     signatures</a> on the releases, to make sure nobody messed with the
526)     distribution sites.
527)     </p>

528) 

529)     <p>
530)     Also, there might be accidental bugs in Tor that could affect your

531)     anonymity. We periodically find and fix anonymity-related bugs, so
532) make

533)     sure you keep your Tor versions up-to-date.
534)     </p>

535) 

536)     <hr>

537) 

538)     <a id="DistributingTor"></a>

539)     <h3><a class="anchor" href="#DistributingTor">Can I distribute
540) Tor?</a></h3>

541) 

542)     <p>
543)     Yes.
544)     </p>

545) 

546)     <p>

547)     The Tor software is <a href="https://www.fsf.org/">free
548) software</a>. This
549)     means we give you the rights to redistribute the Tor software,
550) either
551)     modified or unmodified, either for a fee or gratis. You don't have
552) to

553)     ask us for specific permission.
554)     </p>

555) 

556)     <p>

557)     However, if you want to redistribute the Tor software you must
558) follow our

559)     <a href="<gitblob>LICENSE">LICENSE</a>.

560)     Essentially this means that you need to include our LICENSE file
561) along

562)     with whatever part of the Tor software you're distributing.
563)     </p>

564) 

565)     <p>

566)     Most people who ask us this question don't want to distribute just
567) the

568)     Tor software, though. They want to distribute the <a

569)     href="<page projects/torbrowser>">Tor Browser</a>. This includes <a

570)     href="https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/all-aurora.html">Mozilla
571)     Aurora</a> and <a href="<page projects/vidalia>">Vidalia</a>.

572)     You will need to follow the licenses for those programs
573)     as well. Both of them are distributed under the <a
574)     href="https://www.fsf.org/licensing/licenses/gpl.html">GNU General

575)     Public License</a>. The simplest way to obey their licenses is
576)     to include the source code for these programs everywhere you
577)     include the bundles themselves. Look for "source" packages on
578)     the <a href="<page projects/vidalia>">Vidalia page</a> and <a
579)     href="https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/all-aurora.html">Mozilla
580)     Aurora</a> pages.

581)     </p>

582) 

583)     <p>

584)     Also, you should make sure not to confuse your readers about what
585) Tor is,
586)     who makes it, and what properties it provides (and doesn't provide).
587) See
588)     our <a href="<page docs/trademark-faq>">trademark FAQ</a> for
589) details.

590)     </p>

591) 

592)     <p>
593)     Lastly, you should realize that we release new versions of the
594)     Tor software frequently, and sometimes we make backward incompatible

595)     changes. So if you distribute a particular version of the Tor
596) software, it
597)     may not be supported — or even work — six months later.
598) This

599)     is a fact of life for all security software under heavy development.
600)     </p>

601) 

602)     <hr>

603) 

604)     <a id="SupportMail"></a>

605)     <h3><a class="anchor" href="#SupportMail">How can I get
606) support?</a></h3>

607) 

608)     <p>Your best bet is to first try the following:</p>

609)     <ol>
610)     <li>Read through this <a href="<page docs/faq>">FAQ</a>.</li>

611)     <li>Read through the <a href="<page
612) docs/documentation>">documentation</a>.</li>

613)     <li>Read through the <a

614) 
615) href="https://lists.torproject.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/tor-talk">
616) tor-talk

617)     archives</a> and see if your question is already answered.</li>

618)     <li>Join our <a href="ircs://irc.torproject.org#tor">irc channel</a>
619) and

620)     state the issue and wait for help.</li>

621)     <li>Send an email to <a

622) 
623) href="mailto:help@rt.torproject.org">help@rt.torproject.org</a>.</li>
624)     <li>If all else fails, try <a href="<page about/contact>">contacting
625) us</a> directly.</li>

626)     </ol>

627) 

628)     <p>If you find your answer, please stick around on the IRC channel
629) or the

630)     mailing list to help others who were once in your position.</p>

631) 

632)     <hr>

633) 

634)     <a id="Forum"></a>
635)     <h3><a class="anchor" href="#Forum">Is there a Tor forum?</a></h3>
636) 

637)     <p>We have a <a href="https://tor.stackexchange.com/">StackExchange

638)     page</a> that is currently in public beta.

639)     </p>
640) 
641)     <hr>
642) 

643)     <a id="WhySlow"></a>
644)     <h3><a class="anchor" href="#WhySlow">Why is Tor so slow?</a></h3>

645) 

646)     <p>
647)     There are many reasons why the Tor network is currently slow.
648)     </p>

649) 

650)     <p>

651)     Before we answer, though, you should realize that Tor is never going
652) to
653)     be blazing fast. Your traffic is bouncing through volunteers'
654) computers
655)     in various parts of the world, and some bottlenecks and network
656) latency

657)     will always be present. You shouldn't expect to see university-style
658)     bandwidth through Tor.
659)     </p>

660) 

661)     <p>

662)     But that doesn't mean that it can't be improved. The current Tor
663) network
664)     is quite small compared to the number of people trying to use it,
665) and
666)     many of these users don't understand or care that Tor can't
667) currently

668)     handle file-sharing traffic load.
669)     </p>

670) 

671)     <p>
672)     For the much more in-depth answer, see <a

673)     href="<blog>why-tor-is-slow">Roger's blog

674)     post on the topic</a>, which includes both a detailed PDF and a
675) video

676)     to go with it.
677)     </p>

678) 

679)     <p>
680)     What can you do to help?
681)     </p>

682) 

683)     <ul>

684) 

685)     <li>

686)     <a href="<page docs/tor-doc-relay>">Configure your Tor to relay
687) traffic
688)     for others</a>. Help make the Tor network large enough that we can
689) handle

690)     all the users who want privacy and security on the Internet.
691)     </li>

692) 

693)     <li>

694)     <a href="<page projects/vidalia>">Help us make Tor more usable</a>.
695) We

696)     especially need people to help make it easier to configure your Tor
697)     as a relay. Also, we need help with clear simple documentation to
698)     walk people through setting it up.
699)     </li>

700) 

701)     <li>

702)     There are some bottlenecks in the current Tor network. Help us
703) design
704)     experiments to track down and demonstrate where the problems are,
705) and

706)     then we can focus better on fixing them.
707)     </li>

708) 

709)     <li>
710)     Tor needs some architectural changes too. One important change is to

711)     start providing <a href="#EverybodyARelay">better service to people
712) who
713)     relay traffic</a>. We're working on this, and we'll finish faster if
714) we

715)     get to spend more time on it.
716)     </li>

717) 

718)     <li>

719)     Help do other things so we can do the hard stuff. Please take a
720) moment
721)     to figure out what your skills and interests are, and then <a
722) href="<page

723)     getinvolved/volunteer>">look at our volunteer page</a>.
724)     </li>

725) 

726)     <li>

727)     Help find sponsors for Tor. Do you work at a company or government
728) agency

729)     that uses Tor or has a use for Internet privacy, e.g. to browse the

730)     competition's websites discreetly, or to connect back to the home
731) servers
732)     when on the road without revealing affiliations? If your
733) organization has
734)     an interest in keeping the Tor network working, please contact them
735) about
736)     supporting Tor. Without sponsors, Tor is going to become even
737) slower.

738)     </li>

739) 

740)     <li>
741)     If you can't help out with any of the above, you can still help out

742)     individually by <a href="<page donate/donate>">donating a bit of
743) money to the

744)     cause</a>. It adds up!
745)     </li>

746) 

747)     </ul>

748) 

749)     <hr>

750) 

751)     <a id="FileSharing"></a>

752)     <h3><a class="anchor" href="#FileSharing">How can I share files

753)     anonymously through Tor?</a></h3>

754) 
755)     <p>

756)     File sharing (peer-to-peer/P2P) is widely unwanted in the Tor network,
757)     and exit nodes are configured to block file sharing traffic by default.
758)     Tor is not really designed for it, and file sharing through Tor slows
759)     down everyone's browsing. Also, Bittorrent over Tor <a

760)     href="https://blog.torproject.org/blog/bittorrent-over-tor-isnt-good-idea">
761)     is not anonymous</a>!

762)     </p>
763) 
764)     <hr>
765) 

766)     <a id="Funding"></a>

767)     <h3><a class="anchor" href="#Funding">What would The Tor Project do
768) with more funding?</a></h3>

769) 

770)     <p>

771)     The Tor network's <a

772) 
773) href="https://metrics.torproject.org/network.html#networksize">several

774)     thousand</a> relays push <a
775)     href="https://metrics.torproject.org/network.html#bandwidth">over
776)     1GB per second on average</a>. We have <a

777) 
778) href="https://metrics.torproject.org/users.html#direct-users">several

779)     hundred thousand daily users</a>. But the Tor network is not yet
780)     self-sustaining.

781)     </p>

782) 

783)     <p>

784)     There are six main development/maintenance pushes that need
785) attention:

786)     </p>

787) 

788)     <ul>

789) 

790)     <li>
791)     Scalability: We need to keep scaling and decentralizing the Tor
792)     architecture so it can handle thousands of relays and millions of

793)     users. The upcoming stable release is a major improvement, but
794) there's

795)     lots more to be done next in terms of keeping Tor fast and stable.
796)     </li>

797) 

798)     <li>

799)     User support: With this many users, a lot of people are asking
800) questions
801)     all the time, offering to help out with things, and so on. We need
802) good
803)     clean docs, and we need to spend some effort coordinating
804) volunteers.

805)     </li>

806) 

807)     <li>

808)     Relay support: the Tor network is run by volunteers, but they still
809) need

810)     attention with prompt bug fixes, explanations when things go wrong,

811)     reminders to upgrade, and so on. The network itself is a commons,
812) and
813)     somebody needs to spend some energy making sure the relay operators
814) stay
815)     happy. We also need to work on stability on some platforms —
816) e.g.,

817)     Tor relays have problems on Win XP currently.

818)     </li>

819) 

820)     <li>

821)     Usability: Beyond documentation, we also need to work on usability
822) of the
823)     software itself. This includes installers, clean GUIs, easy
824) configuration
825)     to interface with other applications, and generally automating all
826) of
827)     the difficult and confusing steps inside Tor. We've got a start on
828) this
829)     with the <a href="<page projects/vidalia>">Vidalia GUI</a>, but much
830) more work

831)     remains — usability for privacy software has never been easy.
832)     </li>

833) 

834)     <li>
835)     Incentives: We need to work on ways to encourage people to configure
836)     their Tors as relays and exit nodes rather than just clients.

837)     <a href="#EverybodyARelay">We need to make it easy to become a
838) relay,

839)     and we need to give people incentives to do it.</a>
840)     </li>

841) 

842)     <li>
843)     Research: The anonymous communications field is full
844)     of surprises and gotchas. In our copious free time, we
845)     also help run top anonymity and privacy conferences like <a
846)     href="http://petsymposium.org/">PETS</a>. We've identified a set of

847)     critical <a href="<page getinvolved/volunteer>#Research">Tor
848) research questions</a>
849)     that will help us figure out how to make Tor secure against the
850) variety of
851)     attacks out there. Of course, there are more research questions
852) waiting

853)     behind these.
854)     </li>

855) 

856)     </ul>

857) 

858)     <p>
859)     We're continuing to move forward on all of these, but at this rate

860)     <a href="#WhySlow">the Tor network is growing faster than the
861) developers

862)     can keep up</a>.

863)     Now would be an excellent time to add a few more developers to the
864) effort

865)     so we can continue to grow the network.
866)     </p>

867) 

868)     <p>
869)     We are also excited about tackling related problems, such as
870)     censorship-resistance.
871)     </p>

872) 

873)     <p>

874)     We are proud to have <a href="<page about/sponsors>">sponsorship and
875) support</a>
876)     from the Omidyar Network, the International Broadcasting Bureau,
877) Bell
878)     Security Solutions, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, several
879) government

880)     agencies and research groups, and hundreds of private contributors.
881)     </p>

882) 

883)     <p>

884)     However, this support is not enough to keep Tor abreast of changes
885) in the
886)     Internet privacy landscape. Please <a href="<page
887) donate/donate>">donate</a>
888)     to the project, or <a href="<page about/contact>">contact</a> our
889) executive

890)     director for information on making grants or major donations.
891)     </p>

892) 

893)     <hr>
894) 

895)      <a id="OutboundPorts"></a>

896)     <h3><a class="anchor" href="#OutboundPorts">Do I have to open all these

897)     outbound ports on my firewall?</a></h3>

898) 
899)     <p>

900)     Tor may attempt to connect to any port that is advertised in the
901)     directory as an ORPort (for making Tor connections) or a DirPort (for
902)     fetching updates to the directory). There are a variety of these ports,

903)     but many of them are running on 80, 443, 9001, and 9030.

904)     </p>
905)     <p>

906)     So as a client, you could probably get away with opening only those four
907)     ports. Since Tor does all its connections in the background, it will retry
908)     ones that fail, and hopefully you'll never have to know that it failed, as
909)     long as it finds a working one often enough. However, to get the most
910)     diversity in your entry nodes -- and thus the most security -- as well as
911)     the most robustness in your connectivity, you'll want to let it connect

912)     to all of them.

913)     </p>
914)     <p>

915)     If you really need to connect to only a small set of ports, see the FAQ

916)     entry on <a href="#FirewallPorts">firewalled ports</a>.

917)     </p>
918)     <p>

919)     Note that if you're running Tor as a relay, you must allow outgoing
920)     connections to every other relay and to anywhere your exit policy
921)     advertises that you allow. The cleanest way to do that is simply to allow
922)     all outgoing connections at your firewall. If you don't, clients will try
923)     to use these connections and things won't work.

924)     </p>

925)  

926)     <hr>

927)  

928)     <a id="IsItWorking"></a>

929)     <h3><a class="anchor" href="#IsItWorking">How can I tell if Tor is

930)     working, and that my connections really are anonymized?</a></h3>

931) 
932)     <p>

933)     There are sites you can visit that will tell you if you appear to be

934)     coming through the Tor network. Try the <a href="https://check.torproject.org">
935)     Tor Check</a> site and see whether it thinks you are using Tor or not.

936)     </p>
937)     <p>

938)     If that site is down, you can still test, but it will involve more effort.
939)     Sites like <a href="http://ipid.shat.net">http://ipid.shat.net</a> and
940)     <a href="http://www.showmyip.com/">http://www.showmyip.com/</a> will tell
941)     you what your IP address appears to be, but you'll need to know your
942)     current IP address so you can compare and decide whether you're using Tor

943)     correctly.

944)     </p>
945)     <p>

946)     To learn your IP address on OS X, Linux, BSD, etc, run "ifconfig". On
947)     Windows, go to the Start menu, click Run and enter "cmd". At the command

948)     prompt, enter "ipconfig /a".

949)     </p>
950)     <p>

951)     If you are behind a NAT or firewall, though, your IP address will be
952)     within the range of 10.XXX.XXX.XXX, 192.168.XXX.XXX, or 172.16.XXX.XXX -
953)     172.31.XXX.XXX, which is not your public IP address. In this case, you
954)     should check your IP address with one of the sites above without using
955)     Tor, and then check again using Tor to see whether your IP address has
956)     changed.

957)     </p>

958)  

959)     <hr>

960)  

961)     <a id="FTP"></a>
962)     <h3><a class="anchor" href="#FTP">How do I use my browser for ftp with Tor?
963)     </a></h3>
964) 

965)     <p>

966)     Use the <a href="https://torproject.org/projects/torbrowser.html">Tor
967)     Browser Bundle</a>. If you want a separate application for an
968)     ftp client, we've heard good things about  FileZilla for Windows. You can
969)     configure it to point to Tor as a "socks4a" proxy on "localhost" port
970)     "9050".

971)     </p>

972) 

973)     <hr>

974)  

975)     <a id="NoDataScrubbing"></a>

976)     <h3><a class="anchor" href="#NoDataScrubbing">Does Tor remove personal

977)     information from the data my application sends?</a></h3>
978) 

979)     <p>No, it doesn't. You need to use a separate program that understands
980)     your application and protocol and knows how to clean or "scrub" the data
981)     it sends. The Tor Browser Bundle tries to keep application-level data,
982)     like the user-agent string, uniform for all users. The Tor Browser can't
983)     do anything about text that you type into forms, though. <a

984)     href="<page download/download-easy>#warning">Be

985)     careful and be smart.</a>
986)     </p>
987) 
988)     <hr>
989) 

990)     <a id="Metrics"></a>

991)     <h3><a class="anchor" href="#Metrics">How many people use Tor? How

992)     many relays or exit nodes are there?</a></h3>

993) 

994)     <p>
995)     All this and more about measuring Tor can be found at the <a

996)     href="https://metrics.torproject.org/">Tor Metrics Portal</a>.</p>

997)     <hr>

998) 

999)     <a id="SSLcertfingerprint"></a>

1000)     <h3><a class="anchor" href="#SSLcertfingerprint">What are the SSL

1001)     certificate fingerprints for Tor's various websites?</a></h3>

1002)     <p>

1003)     <pre>

1004)     *.torproject.org SSL certificate from Digicert:

1005)     The serial number is:

1006) 06:DE:97:E5:1D:C3:9D:C2:64:8D:AC:72:DD:41:01:FC
1007)     The SHA-1 fingerprint is: 1f9d306e8bfccfcb03981a71a27a9f5d1e0876ce

1008)     The SHA-256 fingerprint is:

1009) 3613d2b22a750094760c41ad19db52a4f05bdea80172e2578761ad967f7ed9aa

1010) 

1011)     blog.torproject.org SSL certificate from RapidSSL:

1012)     The serial number is: 00:EF:A3
1013)     The SHA-1 fingerprint is: 50af43db8438e67f305a3257d8ef198e8c42f13f

1014)     </pre>

1015)     </p>
1016)     <hr>
1017) 

1018)     <a id="CompilationAndInstallation"></a>
1019)     <h2><a class="anchor">Compilation And Installation:</a></h2>
1020) 

1021)     <a id="HowUninstallTor"></a>

1022)     <h3><a class="anchor" href="#HowUninstallTor">How do I uninstall
1023) Tor?</a></h3>
1024) 
1025)     <p>
1026)     Tor Browser does not install itself in the classic sense of
1027) applications. You just simply delete the folder or directory named "Tor
1028) Browser" and it is removed from your system.
1029)     </p>

1030) 

1031)     <p>

1032)     If this is not related to Tor Browser, uninstallation depends
1033) entirely on how you installed it and which operating system you
1034)     have. If you installed a package, then hopefully your package has a
1035) way to

1036)     uninstall itself. The Windows packages include uninstallers.

1037)     </p>

1038) 

1039)     <p>
1040)     For Mac OS X, follow the <a
1041)     href="<page docs/tor-doc-osx>#uninstall">uninstall directions</a>.
1042)     </p>

1043) 

1044)     <p>

1045)     If you installed by source, I'm afraid there is no easy uninstall
1046) method. But
1047)     on the bright side, by default it only installs into /usr/local/ and
1048) it should

1049)     be pretty easy to notice things there.
1050)     </p>

1051) 

1052)     <hr>

1053) 

1054)     <a id="PGPSigs"></a>

1055)     <h3><a class="anchor" href="#PGPSigs">What are these "sig" files on
1056) the download page?</a></h3>

1057) 

1058)     <p>

1059)     These are PGP signatures, so you can verify that the file you've
1060) downloaded is

1061)     exactly the one that we intended you to get.
1062)     </p>

1063) 

1064)     <p>
1065)     Please read the <a

1066)     href="<page docs/verifying-signatures>">verifying signatures</a>
1067) page for details.

1068)     </p>

1069) 

1070) <hr>
1071) 
1072) <a id="GetTor"></a>
1073) <h3><a class="anchor" href="#GetTor">Your website is blocked in my
1074) country. How do I download Tor?</a></h3>
1075) 
1076) <p>
1077) Some government or corporate firewalls censor connections to Tor's
1078) website. In those cases, you have three options. First, get it from

1079) a friend &mdash; the <a href="<page projects/torbrowser>">Tor Browser

1080) Bundle</a> fits nicely on a USB key. Second, find the <a

1081) href="https://encrypted.google.com/search?q=tor+mirrors">google
1082) cache</a>

1083) for the <a href="<page getinvolved/mirrors>">Tor mirrors</a> page
1084) and see if any of those copies of our website work for you. Third,
1085) you can download Tor via email: log in to your Gmail account and mail

1086) '<tt>gettor@gettor.torproject.org</tt>'. If you include the word 'help'

1087) in the body of the email, it will reply with instructions. Note that
1088) only a few webmail providers are supported, since they need to be able
1089) to receive very large attachments.
1090) </p>
1091) 
1092) <p>

1093) Be sure to <a href="<page docs/verifying-signatures>">verify the
1094) signature</a>

1095) of any package you download, especially when you get it from somewhere
1096) other than our official HTTPS website.

1097) </p>
1098) 

1099)     <hr>

1100) 

1101)     <a id="VirusFalsePositives"></a>
1102)     <h3><a class="anchor" href="#VirusFalsePositives"></a></h3>
1103)     <p>

1104)     Sometimes, overzealous Windows virus and spyware detectors trigger on
1105)     some parts of the Tor Windows binary. Our best guess is that these are
1106)     false positives — after all, the anti-virus and anti-spyware business is
1107)     just a guessing game anyway. You should contact your vendor and explain
1108)     that you have a program that seems to be triggering false positives. Or

1109)     pick a better vendor.
1110)     </p>

1111)     <p>In the meantime, we encourage you to not just take our word for it.
1112)     Our job is to provide the source; if you're concerned, please do

1113)     recompile it yourself.</p>
1114) 
1115)     <hr>
1116) 

1117)     <a id="tarballs"></a>

1118)     <h3><a class="anchor" href="#tarballs">How do I open a .tar.gz

1119)     or .tar.xz file?</a></h3>

1120) 
1121)     <p>
1122)     Tar is a common archive utility for Unix and Linux systems. If your

1123)     system has a mouse, you can usually open them by double clicking.
1124)     Otherwise open a command prompt and execute</p>

1125)     <pre>tar xzf &lt;FILENAME&gt;.tar.gz</pre> or <pre>tar xJf &lt;FILENAME&gt;.tar.xz</pre>

1126)     <p>

1127)     as documented on tar's man page.

1128)     </p>
1129) 
1130)     <hr>
1131) 

1132)     <a id="LiveCD"></a>

1133)     <h3><a class="anchor" href="#LiveCD">Is there a LiveCD or other
1134) bundle that includes Tor?</a></h3>

1135) 

1136)     <p>

1137)     Yes.  Use <a href="https://tails.boum.org/">The Amnesic Incognito

1138)     Live System</a> or <a href="<page projects/torbrowser>">the Tor
1139) Browser

1140)     Bundle</a>.

1141)     </p>

1142) 
1143) <hr>
1144) 

1145) <a id="TBBGeneral"></a>
1146) <h2><a class="anchor">Tor Browser Bundle (general):</a></h2>
1147) 

1148) <a id="TBBFlash"></a>

1149) <h3><a class="anchor" href="#TBBFlash">Why can't I view videos on
1150) YouTube

1151) and other Flash-based sites?</a></h3>

1152) 
1153) <p>

1154) YouTube and similar sites require third party browser plugins such as Flash.
1155) Plugins operate independently from Firefox and can perform
1156) activity on your computer that ruins your anonymity. This includes
1157) but is not limited to: <a href="http://decloak.net">completely disregarding
1158) proxy settings</a>, querying your <a

1159) href="http://forums.sun.com/thread.jspa?threadID=5162138&messageID=9618376">
1160) local IP address</a>, and <a

1161) href="http://epic.org/privacy/cookies/flash.html">storing their own
1162) cookies</a>. It is possible to use a LiveCD solution such as

1163) or <a href="https://tails.boum.org/">The Amnesic Incognito Live System</a>
1164) that creates a secure, transparent proxy to protect you from proxy bypass,
1165) however issues with local IP address discovery and Flash cookies still remain.

1166) </p>

1167) 
1168) <p>

1169) <a href="https://www.youtube.com/html5">YouTube offers experimental HTML5 video

1170) support</a> for many of their videos. Often you can get the HTML5 version of
1171) videos that don't want to play by grabbing the YouTube URL from the "Embed"

1172) code under a video's "Share" option. The link switches out a URL that looks</p>
1173) <pre>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CJNxbpbHA-I</pre>
1174) <p>to something that looks like</p>
1175) <pre>https://www.youtube.com/embed/CJNxbpbHA-I</pre>

1176) 

1177) <hr>
1178) 

1179) <a id="Ubuntu"></a>
1180) <h3><a class="anchor" href="#Ubuntu">

1181) I'm using Ubuntu and I can't start Tor Browser.</a></h3>

1182) <p>

1183) Ubuntu prevents its users from executing shell scripts by clicking them,
1184) even when the file permissions are set correctly. For now you need to

1185) start the Tor Browser from the command line by running </p>

1186) <pre>./start-tor-browser</pre>

1187) <p>
1188) from inside the Tor Browser directory.
1189) </p>
1190) 

1191) <hr>
1192) 

1193) <a id="UbuntuBlackedOut"></a>
1194) <h3><a class="anchor" href="#UbuntuBlackedOut">
1195) I'm using Ubuntu, and I can't type anything into my browser.</a></h3>

1196) <p>This was <a
1197) href="https://trac.torproject.org/projects/tor/ticket/9353">bug 9353</a>:
1198) when Tor Browser opens, text fields including the address bar are
1199) blacked out and can not be used.</p>
1200) 
1201) <p>This bug is fixed in Tor Browser Bundle 3.5.3 and 3.6-beta-1. We'll
1202) remove this FAQ entry once enough people have upgraded.

1203) </p>
1204) 
1205) <hr>
1206) 
1207) <a id="SophosOnMac"></a>
1208) <h3><a class="anchor" href="#SophosOnMac">I'm using the Sophos anti-virus
1209) software on my Mac, and Tor Browser won't start.</a></h3>
1210) <p>

1211) You'll need to modify Sophos anti-virus so that Tor can connect to the
1212) internet. Go to Preferences -> Web Protection -> General, and turn off

1213) the protections for "Malicious websites" and "Malicious downloads".
1214) </p>
1215) 

1216) <hr>
1217) 

1218) <a id="TBBSocksPort"></a>

1219) <h3><a class="anchor" href="#TBBSocksPort">

1220) I want to run another application through the Tor launched by Tor

1221) Browser Bundle.</a></h3>

1222) 
1223) <p>

1224) Typically Tor listens for Socks connections on port 9050. TBB listens

1225) on port 9150.

1226) The goal is to avoid conflicting with a "system" Tor install,

1227) so you can run a system Tor and TBB at the same time. We're <a
1228) href="https://trac.torproject.org/projects/tor/ticket/3948">working on
1229) a feature</a> where Tor will try the usual ports first and then back

1230) off to a random choice if they're already in use.

1231) </p>
1232) 
1233) <hr>
1234) 
1235) <a id="TBBPolipo"></a>
1236) <h3><a class="anchor" href="#TBBPolipo">I need an HTTP proxy. Where did
1237) Polipo go?</a></h3>
1238) 
1239) <p>
1240) In the past, Tor bundles included an HTTP proxy like Privoxy or Polipo,
1241) solely to work around a bug in Firefox that was finally fixed in Firefox
1242) 6. Now you don't need a separate HTTP proxy to use Tor, and in fact
1243) leaving it out makes you safer because Torbutton has better control over
1244) Firefox's interaction with websites.
1245) </p>
1246) 
1247) <p>
1248) If you are trying to use some external application with Tor, step zero

1249) should be to <a href="<page download/download>#warning">reread the set

1250) of warnings</a> for ways you can screw up. Step one should be to try

1251) to use a Socks proxy rather than an http proxy — Tor runs a Socks

1252) proxy on port 9050 on Windows, or <a href="#TBBSocksPort">see above</a>
1253) for OSX and Linux.
1254) </p>
1255) 
1256) <p>

1257) If that fails, feel free to install <a

1258) href="http://www.privoxy.org/">privoxy</a>.
1259) However, please realize that this approach is not recommended for novice
1260) users. Privoxy has an <a
1261) href="http://www.privoxy.org/faq/misc.html#TOR">example
1262) configuration</a> of Tor and Privoxy.

1263) </p>
1264) 
1265) <hr>
1266) 

1267) <a id="TBBOtherExtensions"></a>
1268) <h3><a class="anchor" href="#TBBOtherExtensions">Can I install other
1269) Firefox extensions?</a></h3>
1270) 
1271) <p>

1272) The Tor Browser is free software, so there is nothing preventing you from
1273) modifying it any way you like. However, we do not recommend installing any
1274) additional Firefox add-ons with the Tor Browser Bundle. Add-ons can break
1275) your anonymity in a number of ways, including browser fingerprinting and

1276) bypassing proxy settings.

1277) </p>

1278) <p>

1279) Some people have suggested we include ad-blocking software or
1280) anti-tracking software with the Tor Browser Bundle. Right now, we do not
1281) think that's such a good idea. The Tor Browser Bundle aims to provide
1282) sufficient privacy that additional add-ons to stop ads and trackers are
1283) not necessary. Using add-ons like these may cause some sites to break, which

1284) <a href="https://www.torproject.org/projects/torbrowser/design/#philosophy">

1285) we don't want to do</a>. Additionally, maintaining a list of "bad" sites that
1286) should be black-listed provides another opportunity to uniquely fingerprint
1287) users.

1288) </p>

1289) 

1290) <hr>
1291) 

1292) <a id="TBBJavaScriptEnabled"></a>

1293) <a id="TBBCanIBlockJS"></a>

1294) <h3><a class="anchor" href="#TBBJavaScriptEnabled">Why is NoScript
1295) configured to allow JavaScript by default in the Tor Browser Bundle?
1296) Isn't that unsafe?</a></h3>

1297) 
1298) <p>
1299) We configure NoScript to allow JavaScript by default in the Tor
1300) Browser Bundle because many websites will not work with JavaScript
1301) disabled.  Most users would give up on Tor entirely if a website
1302) they want to use requires JavaScript, because they would not know
1303) how to allow a website to use JavaScript (or that enabling
1304) JavaScript might make a website work).
1305) </p>
1306) 

1307) <p>
1308) There's a tradeoff here. On the one hand, we should leave
1309) JavaScript enabled by default so websites work the way
1310) users expect. On the other hand, we should disable JavaScript
1311) by default to better protect against browser vulnerabilities (<a

1312) href="https://blog.torproject.org/blog/tor-security-advisory-old-tor-browser-bundles-vulnerable">
1313) not just a theoretical concern!</a>). But there's a third issue: websites

1314) can easily determine whether you have allowed JavaScript for them,
1315) and if you disable JavaScript by default but then allow a few websites
1316) to run scripts (the way most people use NoScript), then your choice of
1317) whitelisted websites acts as a sort of cookie that makes you recognizable
1318) (and distinguishable), thus harming your anonymity.
1319) </p>

1320) 
1321) <p>

1322) Ultimately, we want the default Tor bundles to use
1323) a combination of firewalls (like the iptables rules
1324) in <a href="https://tails.boum.org/">Tails</a>) and <a
1325) href="https://trac.torproject.org/projects/tor/ticket/7680">sandboxes</a>
1326) to make JavaScript not so scary. In
1327) the shorter term, TBB 3.0 will hopefully <a
1328) href="https://trac.torproject.org/projects/tor/ticket/9387">allow users
1329) to choose their JavaScript settings more easily</a> &mdash; but the
1330) partitioning concern will remain.

1331) </p>
1332) 
1333) <p>

1334) Until we get there, feel free to leave JavaScript on or off depending
1335) on your security, anonymity, and usability priorities.

1336) </p>
1337) 
1338) <hr>
1339) 

1340) <a id="TBBOtherBrowser"></a>
1341) <h3><a class="anchor" href="#TBBOtherBrowser">I want to use
1342) Chrome/IE/Opera/etc with Tor.</a></h3>
1343) 
1344) <p>
1345) Unfortunately, Torbutton only works with Firefox right now, and without
1346) <a href="https://www.torproject.org/torbutton/en/design/">Torbutton's
1347) extensive privacy fixes</a> there are many ways for websites or other

1348) attackers to recognize you, track you back to your IP address, and so
1349) on.

1350) In short, using any browser besides Tor Browser Bundle with Tor is a
1351) really bad idea.
1352) </p>
1353) 
1354) <p>
1355) We're working with the Chrome team to <a

1356) href="https://blog.torproject.org/blog/google-chrome-incognito-mode-tor-
1357) and-fingerprinting">fix
1358) some bugs and missing APIs in Chrome</a> so it will be possible to write
1359) a
1360) Torbutton for Chrome. No support for any other browser is on the
1361) horizon.

1362) </p>
1363) 
1364) <hr>
1365) 

1366) <a id="TorbuttonOtherBrowser"></a>

1367) <h3><a class="anchor" href="#TorbuttonOtherBrowser">

1368) Will Torbutton be available for other browsers?</a></h3>

1369) 
1370) <p>

1371)  We don't support IE, Opera or Safari and never plan to. There are too many ways that your privacy can go wrong with those browsers, and because of their closed design it is really hard for us to do anything to change these privacy problems.

1372) </p>
1373) <p>

1374) We are working with the Chrome people to modify Chrome's internals so that we can eventually support it. But for now, Firefox is the only safe choice.

1375) </p>
1376) 

1377) <hr>

1378) 

1379) <a id="TBBCloseBrowser"></a>

1380) <h3><a class="anchor" href="#TBBCloseBrowser">I want to leave Tor
1381) Browser

1382) Bundle running but close the browser.</a></h3>
1383) 
1384) <p>
1385) We're working on a way to make this possible on all platforms. Please
1386) be patient.
1387) </p>
1388) 
1389) <hr>
1390) 

1391) <a id="GoogleCAPTCHA"></a>
1392) <h3><a class="anchor" href="#GoogleCAPTCHA">Google makes me solve a
1393) CAPTCHA or tells me I have spyware installed.</a></h3>

1394) 
1395) <p>
1396) This is a known and intermittent problem; it does not mean that Google
1397) considers Tor to be spyware.
1398) </p>
1399) 
1400) <p>

1401) When you use Tor, you are sending queries through exit relays that are
1402) also

1403) shared by thousands of other users. Tor users typically see this message

1404) when many Tor users are querying Google in a short period of time.
1405) Google

1406) interprets the high volume of traffic from a single IP address (the exit
1407) relay you happened to pick) as somebody trying to "crawl" their website,
1408) so it slows down traffic from that IP address for a short time.
1409) </p>
1410) <p>
1411) An alternate explanation is that Google tries to detect certain
1412) kinds of spyware or viruses that send distinctive queries to Google
1413) Search. It notes the IP addresses from which those queries are received
1414) (not realizing that they are Tor exit relays), and tries to warn any
1415) connections coming from those IP addresses that recent queries indicate
1416) an infection.
1417) </p>
1418) 
1419) <p>

1420) To our knowledge, Google is not doing anything intentionally
1421) specifically

1422) to deter or block Tor use. The error message about an infected machine
1423) should clear up again after a short time.
1424) </p>
1425) 
1426) <p>
1427) Torbutton 1.2.5 (released in mid 2010) detects Google captchas and can
1428) automatically redirect you to a more Tor-friendly search engine such as

1429) DuckDuckGo, ixquick, or Bing.

1430) </p>
1431) 
1432) <hr />
1433) 

1434) <a id="ForeignLanguages"></a>
1435) <h3><a class="anchor" href="#ForeignLanguages">
1436) Why does Google show up in foreign languages?</a></h3>
1437) 
1438) <p>

1439)  Google uses "geolocation" to determine where in the world you are, so it
1440)  can give you a personalized experience. This includes using the language
1441)  it thinks you prefer, and it also includes giving you different results

1442)  on your queries.

1443) </p>
1444) <p>

1445) If you really want to see Google in English you can click the link that
1446) provides that. But we consider this a feature with Tor, not a bug --- the
1447) Internet is not flat, and it in fact does look different depending on
1448) where you are. This feature reminds people of this fact. The easy way to
1449) avoid this "feature" is to use

1450) <a href="https://google.com/ncr">https://google.com/ncr</a>.

1451) </p>
1452) <p>

1453) Note that Google search URLs take name/value pairs as arguments and one
1454) of those names is "hl". If you set "hl" to "en" then Google will return
1455) search results in English regardless of what Google server you have been
1456) sent to. On a query this looks like:

1457) </p>

1458) <pre>https://encrypted.google.com/search?q=online%20anonymity&hl=en</pre>

1459) <p>

1460) Another method is to simply use your country code for accessing Google.
1461) This can be google.be, google.de, google.us and so on.

1462) </p>
1463) <hr />

1464) <a id="GmailWarning"></a>

1465) <h3><a class="anchor" href="#GmailWarning">Gmail warns me that my

1466) account may have been compromised.</a></h3>

1467) 
1468) <p>
1469) Sometimes, after you've used Gmail over Tor, Google presents a
1470) pop-up notification that your account may have been compromised.
1471) The notification window lists a series of IP addresses and locations
1472) throughout the world recently used to access your account.
1473) </p>
1474) 
1475) <p>
1476) In general this is a false alarm: Google saw a bunch of logins from

1477) different places, as a result of running the service via Tor, and
1478) decided

1479) it was a good idea to confirm the account was being accessed by it's
1480) rightful owner.
1481) </p>
1482) 
1483) <p>
1484) Even though this may be a biproduct of using the service via tor,
1485) that doesn't mean you can entirely ignore the warning. It is
1486) <i>probably</i> a false positive, but it might not be since it is
1487) possible for someone to hijack your Google cookie.
1488) </p>
1489) 
1490) <p>
1491) Cookie hijacking is possible by either physical access to your computer
1492) or by watching your network traffic.  In theory only physical access
1493) should compromise your system because Gmail and similar services
1494) should only send the cookie over an SSL link. In practice, alas, it's <a

1495) href="http://fscked.org/blog/fully-automated-active-https-cookie-
1496) hijacking">

1497) way more complex than that</a>.
1498) </p>
1499) 
1500) <p>
1501) And if somebody <i>did</i> steal your google cookie, they might end
1502) up logging in from unusual places (though of course they also might
1503) not). So the summary is that since you're using Tor, this security
1504) measure that Google uses isn't so useful for you, because it's full of
1505) false positives. You'll have to use other approaches, like seeing if
1506) anything looks weird on the account, or looking at the timestamps for
1507) recent logins and wondering if you actually logged in at those times.
1508) </p>
1509) 
1510) <hr>
1511) 

1512) <a id="NeedToUseAProxy"></a>

1513) <h3><a class="anchor" href="#NeedToUseAProxy">My internet connection

1514) requires an HTTP or SOCKS Proxy</a></h3>

1515) 
1516) <p>

1517) You can set Proxy IP address, port, and authentication information in
1518) Tor Browser's Network Settings. If you're using Tor another way, check
1519) out the HTTPProxy and HTTPSProxy config options in the <a

1520) href="<page docs/tor-manual>">man page</a>,

1521) and modify your torrc file accordingly. You will need an HTTP proxy for
1522) doing GET requests to fetch the Tor directory, and you will need an
1523) HTTPS proxy for doing CONNECT requests to get to Tor relays. (It's fine
1524) if they're the same proxy.) Tor also recognizes the torrc options
1525) Socks4Proxy and Socks5Proxy.

1526) </p>
1527) <p>

1528) Also read up on the HTTPProxyAuthenticator and HTTPSProxyAuthenticator
1529) options if your proxy requires auth. We only support basic auth currently,
1530) but if you need NTLM authentication, you may find <a
1531) href="http://archives.seul.org/or/talk/Jun-2005/msg00223.html">this post
1532) in the archives</a> useful.

1533) </p>
1534) <p>

1535) If your proxies only allow you to connect to certain ports, look at the
1536) entry on <a href="#FirewallPorts">Firewalled clients</a> for how
1537) to restrict what ports your Tor will try to access.

1538) </p>
1539) 
1540) <hr>
1541) 

1542) <a id="CantSetProxy"></a>

1543) <h3><a class="anchor" href="#CantSetProxy">What should I do if I can't

1544) set a proxy with my application?</a></h3>
1545) 
1546) <p>

1547) On Unix, we recommend you give <a
1548) href="https://github.com/dgoulet/torsocks/">torsocks</a> a try.
1549) Alternative proxifying tools like <a
1550) href="http://www.dest-unreach.org/socat/">socat</a> and <a
1551) href="http://proxychains.sourceforge.net/">proxychains</a> are also

1552) available.</p>

1553) <p>
1554) The Windows way to force applications through Tor is less clear. <a
1555) href="http://freecap.ru/eng/">Some</a> <a
1556) href="http://www.freehaven.net/~aphex/torcap/">tools</a> have been <a

1557) href="http://www.crowdstrike.com/community-tools/index.html#tool-79">proposed

1558) </a>, but we'd also like to see further testing done here.

1559) </p>
1560) 
1561) <hr>
1562) 

1563) <a id="TBB3.x"></a>
1564) <h2><a class="anchor">Tor Browser Bundle (3.x series):</a></h2>

1565)     <a id="WhereDidVidaliaGo"></a>

1566)     <h3><a class="anchor" href="#WhereDidVidaliaGo">Where did the world map

1567)     (Vidalia) go?</a></h3>
1568) 

1569)     <p>Vidalia has been replaced with Tor Launcher, which is a Firefox
1570)     extension that provides similar functionality. Unfortunately, circuit
1571)     status reporting is still missing, but we are <a
1572)     href="https://trac.torproject.org/projects/tor/ticket/8641">working

1573)     on providing it</a>. </p>
1574) 

1575)     <p>In the meantime, we are providing standalone Vidalia packages for
1576)     people who still want the map. Windows and Linux versions are <a

1577)     href="https://people.torproject.org/~erinn/vidalia-standalone-bundles/">

1578)     available here</a>.</p>

1579) 

1580)     <p>To use these packages, extract them, then run the startup script.
1581)     On Windows, this is "Start Vidalia.exe". On Linux, it is start-vidalia.
1582)     They can be placed in a different directory from TBB (and likely should

1583)     be). </p>
1584) 

1585)     <p>This Vidalia package will only run properly if Tor Browser has already

1586)     been launched. You cannot start it before launching Tor Browser. </p>
1587) 

1588)     <p>MacOS is still under development, but in the mean time you can modify
1589)     your TBB 2.x to be a standalone Vidalia (and then use it after starting
1590)     TBB 3.x) by opening your TBB 2.x vidalia.conf file in an editor and

1591)     replacing its contents with just these lines:</p>
1592) 
1593)     <pre>
1594)     [General]
1595)     LanguageCode=en
1596) 
1597)     [Tor]
1598)     ControlPort=9151
1599)     TorExecutable=.
1600)     Torrc=.
1601)     DataDirectory=.
1602)     AuthenticationMethod=cookie

1603)     </pre>

1604) 
1605)     <hr>
1606) 
1607)     <a id="DisableJS"></a>
1608)     <h3><a class="anchor" href="#DisableJS">How do I disable JavaScript?</a>
1609)     </h3>
1610) 

1611)     <p>Alas, Mozilla decided to get rid of the config checkbox for JavaScript
1612)     from earlier Firefox versions. And since TBB 3.5 is based on Firefox 24
1613)     (FF17 is unmaintained), that means TBB 3.5 doesn't have the config

1614)     checkbox anymore either, which is unfortunate.</p>
1615) 

1616)     <p>The simplest way to disable JavaScript in TBB 3.5 is to click on the
1617)     Noscript "S" (between the green onion and the address bar), and select
1618)     "Forbid scripts globally". Note that vanilla NoScript actually whitelists
1619)     several domains even when you try to disable scripts globally, whereas

1620)     Tor Browser's NoScript configuration disables all of them. </p>
1621) 

1622)     <p>The more klunky way to disable JavaScript is to go to about:config,

1623)     find javascript.enabled, and set it to false.</p>
1624) 
1625)     <p>There is also a very simple addon available at addons.mozilla.org
1626)     called QuickJS, which provides a toolbar toggle for the javascript.enabled

1627)     about:config control. There are no configuration options for the addon,
1628)     it just switches the javascript.enabled entry between true and false and

1629)     provides a button for it. </p>
1630) 

1631)     <p>If you want to be extra safe, use both the about:config setting and

1632)     NoScript. </p>
1633) 

1634)     <p>As for whether you should disable it or leave it enabled, that's <a

1635)     href="#TBBJavaScriptEnabled">a tradeoff we leave to you</a>.</p>

1636) 
1637)     <hr>
1638) 
1639)     <a id="VerifyDownload"></a>
1640)     <h3><a class="anchor" href="#VerifyDownload">How do I verify the download
1641)     (sha256sums.txt)?</a></h3>
1642) 

1643)     <p>You can still verify your Tor Browser download by downloading the
1644)     signature file (.asc) along with your package and <a

1645)     href="<page docs/verifying-signatures>">

1646)     checking the GPG signature</a> as before. We now have an additional
1647)     verification method that allows you to verify the build as well as

1648)     the download.</p>
1649) 
1650)     <ul>
1651)       <li>Download the Tor Browser package, the sha256sums.txt file, and the

1652)       sha256sums signature files. They can all be found in the same directory

1653)       under <a href="https://www.torproject.org/dist/torbrowser/">

1654)       https://www.torproject.org/dist/torbrowser/</a>, for example in 3.5

1655)       for TBB 3.5.</li>

1656)       <li>Retrieve the signers' GPG keys. This can be done from the command
1657)       line by entering something like

1658)       <pre>gpg --keyserver keys.mozilla.org --recv-keys 0x29846B3C683686CC</pre>

1659)       (This will bring you developer Mike Perry's public key. Other

1660)       developers' key IDs can be found on

1661)       <a href="<page docs/signing-keys>">this

1662)       page</a>.)</li>
1663)       <li>Verify the sha256sums.txt file by executing this command:
1664)       <pre>gpg --verify &lt;NAME OF THE SIGNATURE FILE&gt;.asc sha256sums.txt</pre></li>

1665)       <li>You should see a message like "Good signature from &lt;DEVELOPER

1666)       NAME&gt;". If you don't, there is a problem. Try these steps again.</li>

1667)       <li>Now you can take the sha256sum of the Tor Browser package. On

1668)       Windows you can use the <a href="http://md5deep.sourceforge.net/">
1669)       hashdeep utility</a> and run
1670)       <pre>C:\location\where\you\saved\hashdeep -c sha256sum &lt;TOR BROWSER FILE NAME&gt;.exe</pre>
1671)       On Mac or Linux you can run <pre>sha256sum &lt;TOR BROWSER FILE NAME&gt;.zip</pre> or <pre>sha256sum &lt;TOR BROWSER FILE NAME&gt;.tar.gz</pre> without having to download a utility.</li>
1672)       <li>You will see a string of letters and numbers.</li>
1673)       <li>Open sha256sums.txt in a text editor.</li>
1674)       <li>Locate the name of the Tor Browser file you downloaded.</li>
1675)       <li>Compare the string of letters and numbers to the left of your

1676)       filename with the string of letters and numbers that appeared
1677)       on your command line. If they match, you've successfully verified the
1678)       build.</li>

1679)     </ul>
1680) 
1681)     <p><a href="https://github.com/isislovecruft/scripts/blob/master/verify-gitian-builder-signatures">

1682)     Scripts</a> to <a

1683)     href="http://tor.stackexchange.com/questions/648/how-to-verify-tor-browser-bundle-tbb-3-x">automate

1684)     </a> these steps have been written, but to use them you will need to

1685)     modify them yourself with the latest Tor Browser Bundle filename.</p>
1686) 
1687)     <hr>
1688) 
1689)     <a id="PluggableTransports"></a>
1690)     <h3><a class="anchor" href="#PluggableTransports">How do I use pluggable transports?</a></h3>
1691) 
1692)     <p>

1693)     For now, the Pluggable Transports-capable TBB is still a separate
1694)     unofficial package. Download them <a

1695)     href="https://people.torproject.org/~dcf/pt-bundle/3.5-pt20131217/">
1696)     here</a>. We hope to have combined packages available in a beta soon.
1697)     </p>
1698) 
1699)     <p>

1700)     The separate Pluggable Transports-capable TBB is different from the
1701)     Pluggable Transports bundles that have been released in the past.
1702)     They include the programs necessary to use obfsproxy and flash proxy,
1703)     but the pluggable transports are not enabled by default. You must
1704)     enable them manually by adding Bridge lines to the torrc file.
1705)     (Please see ticket <a
1706)     href="https://trac.torproject.org/projects/tor/ticket/10418">#10418</a>

1707)     for how we hope to make it easier to do in the future.)
1708)     </p>
1709) 
1710)     <p>

1711)     To enable <b>obfsproxy</b>, edit the file called Data/Tor/torrc inside the
1712)     bundle and add the lines:

1713)     </p>
1714) 
1715)     <pre>

1716) Bridge obfs3 83.212.101.3:60475 A09D536DD1752D542E1FBB3C9CE4449D51298239

1717) Bridge obfs3 169.229.59.74:31493 AF9F66B7B04F8FF6F32D455F05135250A16543C9
1718) Bridge obfs3 169.229.59.75:46328 AF9F66B7B04F8FF6F32D455F05135250A16543C9

1719) Bridge obfs3 209.141.36.236:45496 58D91C3A631F910F32E18A55441D5A0463BA66E2
1720) Bridge obfs3 208.79.90.242:35658 BA61757846841D64A83EA2514C766CB92F1FB41F

1721) Bridge obfs3 109.105.109.163:38980 9D7259A696F7DAB073043B28114112A46D36CFFD
1722) Bridge obfs3 109.105.109.163:47779 844B1F53FFD548C998F8D3B01B7E19FA07C3396E
1723) Bridge obfs2 83.212.100.216:47870 1F01A7BB60F49FC96E0850A6BAD6D076DFEFAF80
1724) Bridge obfs2 83.212.96.182:46602 6F058CBEF888EB20D1DEB9886909F1E812245D41
1725) Bridge obfs2 70.182.182.109:54542 94C9E691688FAFDEC701A0788BD15BE8AD34ED35
1726) Bridge obfs2 128.31.0.34:1051 CA7434F14A898C7D3427B8295A7F83446BC7F496
1727)     </pre>
1728)     <p>

1729)     To enable <b>flash proxy</b>, edit the file called Data/Tor/torrc inside the
1730)     bundle and add the line:

1731)     </p>
1732)     <pre>
1733) Bridge flashproxy 0.0.1.0:1
1734)     </pre>
1735) 
1736)     <hr>
1737) 
1738)     <a id="NewIdentityClosingTabs"></a>

1739)     <h3><a class="anchor" href="#NewIdentityClosingTabs">Why does "New

1740)     Identity" close all my open tabs?</a></h3>
1741) 
1742)     <p>

1743)     That's actually a feature, since it's discarding your application-level
1744)     browser data too. But it sure is a surprising feature, for people who

1745)     are used to Vidalia's "new identity" behavior.
1746)     </p>
1747) 
1748)     <p>

1749)     We're working on ways to make the behavior less surprising, e.g. a popup
1750)     warning or auto restoring tabs. See ticket <a
1751)     href="https://trac.torproject.org/projects/tor/ticket/9906">#9906</a> and
1752)     ticket <a
1753)     href="https://trac.torproject.org/projects/tor/ticket/10400">#10400</a>
1754)     to follow progress there.

1755)     </p>
1756) 
1757)     <p>

1758)     In the mean time, you can get Vidalia's old "newnym" functionality by
1759)     attaching a Vidalia to your TBB 3.x. See the instructions <a
1760)     href="#WhereDidVidaliaGo">above</a>.

1761)     </p>
1762) 
1763)     <hr>
1764) 
1765)     <a id="ConfigureRelayOrBridge"></a>
1766)     <h3><a class="anchor" href="#ConfigureRelayOrBridge">How do I configure Tor as a relay or bridge?</a></h3>
1767) 
1768)     <p>

1769)     You've got three options.

1770)     </p>
1771) 
1772)     <p>

1773)     First (best option), if you're on Linux, you can install the system
1774)     Tor package (e.g. apt-get install tor) and then set it up to be a relay
1775)     (<a href="https://www.torproject.org/docs/tor-relay-debian">instructions</a>).

1776)     You can then use TBB independent of that.
1777)     </p>
1778) 
1779)     <p>

1780)     Second (simpler option), if you're on Windows, you can fetch the separate
1781)     "Vidalia relay bundle" or "Vidalia bridge bundle" from the download page
1782)     and then use that (again you can use TBB independent of it).

1783)     </p>
1784) 
1785)     <p>

1786)     Third (complex option), you can either hook your Vidalia up to TBB (as
1787)     described in the FAQ above) or edit your torrc file (in Data/Tor/torrc)
1788)     directly to add the following lines:

1789)     </p>
1790)     <pre>
1791)     ORPort 443
1792)     Exitpolicy reject *:*
1793)     BridgeRelay 1  # only add this line if you want to be a bridge
1794)     </pre>
1795)     <p>

1796)     If you've installed <a

1797)     href="<page projects/obfsproxy-debian-instructions>#instructions">Obfsproxy</a>,

1798)     you'll need to add one more line:
1799)     </p>
1800)     <pre>
1801)     ServerTransportPlugin obfs3 exec /usr/bin/obfsproxy managed
1802)     </pre>
1803)     <p>

1804)     This third option is pretty klunky right now; see e.g. <a
1805)     href="https://trac.torproject.org/projects/tor/ticket/10449">this bug</a>;
1806)     but we're hoping it will become an easy option in the future.

1807)     </p>
1808) 
1809)     <hr>
1810) 
1811)     <a id="Timestamps"></a>

1812)     <h3><a class="anchor" href="#Timestamps">Why are the file timestamps

1813)     from 2000?</a></h3>
1814) 

1815)     <p>One of the huge new features in TBB 3.x is the "deterministic build"
1816)     process, which allows many people to build the Tor Browser Bundle and
1817)     verify that they all make exactly the same package. See Mike's <a
1818)     href="https://blog.torproject.org/blog/deterministic-builds-part-one-cyberwar-and-global-compromise">first
1819)     blog</a> post for the motivation, and his <a

1820)     href="https://blog.torproject.org/blog/deterministic-builds-part-two-technical-details">second

1821)     blog post</a> for the technical details of how we do it.

1822)     </p>
1823) 

1824)     <p>Part of creating identical builds is having everybody use the same
1825)     timestamp. Mike picked the beginning of 2000 for that time. The reason

1826)     you might see 7pm in 1999 is because of time zones. </p>
1827) 
1828)     <hr>
1829) 

1830)     <a id="TBBSourceCode"></a>
1831)     <h3><a class="anchor" href="#TBBSourceCode">Where is the source code for the bundle? How do I verify a build?</a></h3>

1832) 
1833)     <p>
1834)     Start with <a href="https://gitweb.torproject.org/builders/tor-browser-bundle.git">https://gitweb.torproject.org/builders/tor-browser-bundle.git</a> and <a href="https://gitweb.torproject.org/builders/tor-browser-bundle.git/blob/HEAD:/gitian/README.build">https://gitweb.torproject.org/builders/tor-browser-bundle.git/blob/HEAD:/gitian/README.build</a>.
1835)     </p>
1836) 
1837) 

1838) <hr>
1839) 

1840) <a id="AdvancedTorUsage"></a>
1841) <h2><a class="anchor">Advanced Tor usage:</a></h2>
1842) 

1843) <a id="torrc"></a>

1844) <h3><a class="anchor" href="#torrc">I'm supposed to "edit my torrc".
1845) What does that mean?</a></h3>

1846) 
1847) <p>
1848) Tor installs a text file called torrc that contains configuration
1849) instructions for how your Tor program should behave. The default

1850) configuration should work fine for most Tor users.

1851) </p>

1852) <p>

1853) If you installed Tor Browser Bundle, look for

1854) <code>Data/Tor/torrc</code> inside your Tor Browser Bundle directory.
1855) On OS X, you must right-click or command-click on the browser bundle icon,
1856) and select "Show Package Contents" before the Tor Browser directories become
1857) visible.

1858) </p>
1859) <p>

1860) Tor puts the torrc file in <code>/usr/local/etc/tor/torrc</code> if you compiled tor from source, and <code>/etc/tor/torrc</code> or <code>/etc/torrc</code> if you installed a pre-built package.</p>

1861) 
1862) <p>

1863) Once you've changed your torrc, you will need to restart tor for the
1864) changes to take effect. (For advanced users, note that

1865) you actually only need to send Tor a HUP signal, not actually restart
1866) it.)

1867) </p>
1868) 
1869) <p>

1870) For other configuration options you can use, see the <a href="<page

1871) docs/tor-manual>">Tor manual page</a>. Have a look at <a

1872) href="https://gitweb.torproject.org/tor.git/blob/HEAD:/src/config/torrc.sample.in">

1873) the sample torrc file</a> for hints on common configurations. Remember, all
1874) lines beginning with # in torrc are treated as comments and have no effect

1875) on Tor's configuration.

1876) </p>
1877) 
1878) <hr>
1879) 

1880) <a id="Logs"></a>

1881) <h3><a class="anchor" href="#Logs">How do I set up logging, or see Tor's
1882) logs?</a></h3>

1883) 
1884) <p>

1885) If you installed a Tor bundle that includes Vidalia, then Vidalia has a

1886) window called "Message Log" that will show you Tor's log messages. Click
1887) on "Advanced" to see more details. You can click on "Settings" to change
1888) your log verbosity or save the messages to a file. You're all set.

1889) </p>
1890) 
1891) <p>
1892) If you're not using Vidalia, you'll have to go find the log files by

1893) hand. Here are some likely places for your logs to be:

1894) </p>
1895) 
1896) <ul>
1897) <li>On OS X, Debian, Red Hat, etc, the logs are in /var/log/tor/
1898) </li>

1899) <li>On Windows, there are no default log files currently. If you enable
1900) logs in your torrc file, they default to <code>\username\Application
1901) Data\tor\log\</code> or <code>\Application Data\tor\log\</code>
1902) </li>
1903) <li>If you compiled Tor from source, by default your Tor logs to <a
1904) href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standard_streams">"stdout"</a>
1905) at log-level notice. If you enable logs in your torrc file, they
1906) default to <code>/usr/local/var/log/tor/</code>.

1907) </li>
1908) </ul>
1909) 
1910) <p>

1911) To change your logging setup by hand, <a href="#torrc">edit your
1912) torrc</a>

1913) and find the section (near the top of the file) which contains the
1914) following line:

1915) </p>
1916) 
1917) <pre>

1918) \## Logs go to stdout at level "notice" unless redirected by something
1919) \## else, like one of the below lines.

1920) </pre>

1921) 
1922) <p>

1923) For example, if you want Tor to send complete debug, info, notice, warn,

1924) and err level messages to a file, append the following line to the end
1925) of the section:
1926) </p>
1927) 
1928) <pre>
1929) Log debug file c:/program files/tor/debug.log
1930) </pre>
1931) 
1932) <p>

1933) Replace <code>c:/program files/tor/debug.log</code> with a directory
1934) and filename for your Tor log.

1935) </p>
1936) 
1937) <hr>
1938) 

1939) 
1940) <a id="LogLevel"></a>
1941) <h3><a class="anchor" href="#LogLevel">What log level should I use?</a></h3>
1942) 
1943) <p>

1944) There are five log levels (also called "log severities") you might see in

1945) Tor's logs:

1946) </p>
1947) 
1948) <ul>

1949)     <li>"err": something bad just happened, and we can't recover. Tor will

1950)     exit.</li>

1951)     <li>"warn": something bad happened, but we're still running. The bad
1952)     thing might be a bug in the code, some other Tor process doing something
1953)     unexpected, etc. The operator should examine the message and try to

1954)     correct the problem.</li>

1955)     <li>"notice": something the operator will want to know about.</li>

1956)     <li>"info": something happened (maybe bad, maybe ok), but there's

1957)     nothing you need to (or can) do about it.</li>

1958)     <li>"debug": for everything louder than info. It is quite loud indeed.</li>

1959) </ul>
1960) 
1961) <p>

1962) Alas, some of the warn messages are hard for ordinary users to correct -- the
1963) developers are slowly making progress at making Tor automatically react

1964) correctly for each situation.

1965) </p>
1966) 
1967) <p>

1968) We recommend running at the default, which is "notice". You will hear about

1969) important things, and you won't hear about unimportant things.

1970) </p>
1971) 
1972) <p>

1973) Tor relays in particular should avoid logging at info or debug in normal
1974) operation, since they might end up recording sensitive information in
1975) their logs.

1976) </p>
1977) 

1978) <hr>
1979) 

1980) <a id="DoesntWork"></a>

1981) <h3><a class="anchor" href="#DoesntWork">I installed Tor but it's not
1982) working.</a></h3>

1983) 
1984) <p>

1985) Once you've got the Tor bundle up and running, the first question to
1986) ask is whether your Tor client is able to establish a circuit.

1987) </p>
1988) 
1989) <p>If Tor can establish a circuit, the onion icon in

1990) Vidalia will turn green (and if you're running Tor Browser Bundle, it
1991) will
1992) automatically launch a browser for you). You can also check in the
1993) Vidalia

1994) Control Panel to make sure it says "Connected to the Tor
1995) network!" under Status. For those not using Vidalia, check your <a

1996) href="#Logs">Tor logs</a> for

1997) a line saying that Tor "has successfully opened a circuit. Looks like
1998) client functionality is working."
1999) </p>
2000) 
2001) <p>
2002) If Tor can't establish a circuit, here are some hints:
2003) </p>
2004) 
2005) <ol>
2006) <li>Are you sure Tor is running? If you're using Vidalia, you may have
2007) to click on the onion and select "Start" to launch Tor.</li>
2008) <li>Check your system clock. If it's more than a few hours off, Tor will

2009) refuse to build circuits. For Microsoft Windows users, synchronize your
2010) clock under the clock -> Internet time tab. In addition, correct the

2011) day and date under the 'Date & Time' Tab. Also make sure your time
2012) zone is correct.</li>

2013) <li>Is your Internet connection <a href="#FirewallPorts">firewalled
2014) by port</a>, or do you normally need to use a <a

2015) href="<#NeedToUseAProxy">proxy</a>?

2016) </li>

2017) <li>Are you running programs like Norton Internet Security or SELinux
2018) that

2019) block certain connections, even though you don't realize they do? They
2020) could be preventing Tor from making network connections.</li>
2021) <li>Are you in China, or behind a restrictive corporate network firewall
2022) that blocks the public Tor relays? If so, you should learn about <a

2023) href="<page docs/bridges>">Tor bridges</a>.</li>

2024) <li>Check your <a href="#Logs">Tor logs</a>. Do they give you any hints
2025) about what's going wrong?</li>

2026) </ol>
2027) 
2028) <hr />
2029) 

2030) <a id="TorCrash"></a>
2031) <h3><a class="anchor" href="#TorCrash">My Tor keeps crashing.</a></h3>
2032) <p>

2033)  We want to hear from you! There are supposed to be zero crash bugs in Tor.
2034)  This FAQ entry describes the best way for you to be helpful to us. But even
2035)  if you can't work out all the details, we still want to hear about it, so
2036)  we can help you track it down.

2037) </p>
2038) <p>

2039) First, make sure you're using the latest version of Tor (either the latest
2040) stable or the latest development version).

2041) </p>
2042) <p>

2043) Second, make sure your version of libevent is new enough. We recommend at
2044) least libevent 1.3a.

2045) </p>
2046) <p>

2047) Third, see if there's already an entry for your bug in the <a
2048) href="https://bugs.torproject.org/">Tor bugtracker</a>. If so,
2049) check if there are any new details that you can add.

2050) </p>
2051) <p>

2052) Fourth, is the crash repeatable? Can you cause the crash? Can
2053) you isolate some of the circumstances or config options that
2054) make it happen? How quickly or often does the bug show up?
2055) Can you check if it happens with other versions of Tor, for
2056) example the latest stable release?

2057) </p>
2058) <p>

2059) Fifth, what sort of crash do you get?

2060) </p>
2061) <ul>
2062) <li>

2063) Does your Tor log include an "assert failure"? If so, please
2064) tell us that line, since it helps us figure out what's going on.
2065) Tell us the previous couple of log messages as well, especially
2066) if they seem important.

2067) </li>
2068) <li>

2069) If it says "Segmentation fault - core dumped" then you need to
2070) do a bit more to track it down. Look for a file like "core" or
2071) "tor.core" or "core.12345" in your current directory, or in your
2072) Data Directory. If it's there, run "gdb tor core" and then "bt",
2073) and include the output. If you can't find a core, run "ulimit -c
2074) unlimited", restart Tor, and try to make it crash again. (This core
2075) thing will only work on Unix -- alas, tracking down bugs on Windows
2076) is harder. If you're on Windows, can you get somebody to duplicate

2077) your bug on Unix?)
2078) </li>
2079) <li>

2080) If Tor simply vanishes mysteriously, it probably is a segmentation
2081) fault but you're running Tor in the background (as a daemon) so you
2082) won't notice. Go look at the end of your log file, and look for a
2083) core file as above. If you don't find any good hints, you should
2084) consider running Tor in the foreground (from a shell) so you can
2085) see how it dies. Warning: if you switch to running Tor in the foreground,
2086) you might start using a different torrc file, with a different default
2087) Data Directory; see the <a href="#UpgradeOrMove">relay-upgrade FAQ entry</a>
2088) for details.

2089) </li>
2090) <li>

2091) If it's still vanishing mysteriously, perhaps something else is killing it?
2092) Do you have resource limits (ulimits) configured that kill off processes
2093) sometimes? (This is especially common on OpenBSD.) On Linux, try running
2094) "dmesg" to see if the out-of-memory killer removed your process. (Tor will
2095) exit cleanly if it notices that it's run out of memory, but in some cases
2096) it might not have time to notice.) In very rare circumstances, hardware
2097) problems could also be the culprit.

2098) </li>
2099) </ul>
2100) <p>

2101) Sixth, if the above ideas don't point out the bug, consider increasing your
2102) log level to "loglevel debug". You can look at the log-configuration FAQ
2103) entry for instructions on what to put in your torrc file. If it usually
2104) takes a long time for the crash to show up, you will want to reserve a whole
2105) lot of disk space for the debug log. Alternatively, you could just send
2106) debug-level logs to the screen (it's called "stdout" in the torrc), and then
2107) when it crashes you'll see the last couple of log lines it had printed.
2108) (Note that running with verbose logging like this will slow Tor down
2109) considerably, and note also that it's generally not a good idea security-wise
2110) to keep logs like this sitting around.)

2111) </p>
2112) 
2113) <hr />
2114) 

2115) <a id="VidaliaPassword"></a>