Configuring Tor correctly. Proxy settings when using TOR browser and Vidalia How to use the vidalia program

Chapter 5 Configuring the Shell The structure of the root partition HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT was fully discussed in the previous chapter. The structure of the remaining root sections will not be considered in this book, since it is not static in nature - it is impossible to predict exactly what

Optimizing the shell using registry settings Let's also look at several registry settings that affect shell optimization, but have no way to change using standard Windows dialogs.? MenuShowDelay - this parameter string type has already been discussed earlier

14.3. Setting parameters Program Windows Defender has quite a lot of parameters with which you can customize, in particular, its reaction to certain events. For example, you can use Settings to set up a scheduled scan of your computer. To access

Configuring QIP parameters xxx: damn it, as soon as I open ICQ, they will immediately inundate me with news xxx: how did you live without it? yyy: 21st century yyy: they used to send out pigeons yyy: you open the window at home - and geez - the whole window is dirty and there’s a lot of news yyy: well, that is, the same thing, only not so quickly Well

The Vidalia program serves as a graphical shell for the Tor system. It runs on almost all platforms, including Windows, Mac OS, Linux or other Unix systems.

If the Tor Browser build is used, then Vidalia is launched by the file Start Tor Browser.exe from the catalog

If the Vidalia Bundle is used, it is launched by the vidalia.exe file from the directory: <каталог установки Vidalia-bundle\Vidalia>

When you launch, the Vidalia icon should appear in the form of an onion. On Ubuntu OS it appears in the taskbar. In Windows OS it appears in the system tray (next to the clock)

You can call the “Vidalia Control Panel” by left-clicking on its icon.

Vidalia settings are transparent and easy to understand. However, let's list them briefly:

Start/Stop Tor

Server Tuning. (Sharing) Sets the operating mode (client, server or bridge)

Network Map

Shows a map of the Tor network:

When Tor is running normally, the lower center window should list the chains in use. In this case, the adjacent window on the right should list the servers of the selected chain and their characteristics. The top window displays their geographical location.

Using the network map, you can select servers by affiliation or speed.

Change your identity (New Identity). Changes the Tor chain and therefore the output IP address.

Traffic graph

Shows incoming and outgoing traffic, and Tor exchange rate:

Message Log. Allows you to view Tor operation logs:

Settings. Open the "Settings" window:

Tab " General" allows you to set launch modes for Tor components

Tab " Net" (Network) allows you to register an external proxy server ("I use a proxy to access the Internet") and/or a bridge ("My provider blocks access to the Tor network") (See Tor blocking and how to deal with it.)

Tab " Advanced" (Advanced) allows you to set (check) the TCP connection parameters (127.0.0.1 port 9051). It also sets (controls) the location of the torrc settings file and the data directory. In addition, you can edit the torrc configuration file from here.

Tab " Help" brings up the Vidalia Help panel. However, in the Russian version it is still very limited.

As can be seen from the above, using the shell Vidalia You can configure and control quite a few parameters of the Tor system.

One of the best packages for increasing the anonymity of surfing is the application. This is free software with open source source code. It is no coincidence that such avid libertarians as the Electronic Frontier Foundation sympathize with him. To use Tor effectively, you need to have a clear understanding of its capabilities, advantages and disadvantages, since it is not Magic wand and not an invisible cap, but a real tool with its own niche and scope of application.

How Tor works

The Tor Project is a fairly large initiative, and the package you can install on your computer is only a small part of the system. Actually, the name “Tor” is an abbreviation for “”. Thus, the Tor package is a means of connecting to a secure network. prying eyes data networks. This “onion” network consists of a significant number of , which serve to hide user information. Information transmitted on this network is encrypted and passes through several servers, which significantly complicates traffic analysis and, accordingly, increases user security. In addition, Tor may become effective means to organize access to blocked by a local firewall or closed Internet resources.

After connecting to the Onion network, a chain of servers is created through which information will be transmitted during the session, while no individual server has information about the chain as a whole. All data transmitted within the network is encrypted, and individual nodes use their own keys. Periodically, the system changes data transmission chains. Thus, Tor is a means of ensuring the security of information transmission channels, a kind of “black box” that makes it as difficult as possible to determine data transmission paths. Accordingly, you can determine the main weaknesses of the application, which you should know about in advance.

Let's start with the fact that Tor in no way replaces antiviruses and other tools network security. It simply ensures secure data transfer, and if you inadvertently download some Trojan, it will be properly delivered to your computer. Tor has no way of controlling the information you share with external sites. So, if, for example, you leave confidential personal data yourself, no encryption or proxy chains will help here.

If you are logged into a site that collects statistics on user behavior, all your actions in your account may be recorded by the owners of such a resource. What Tor can really do is hide the account's connection to a specific IP, and this can be very important for the user's privacy. After all, this is one of the original purposes of the application. At the same time, it should be remembered that such protection becomes ephemeral if you sometimes decide to access such a site without using Tor, thereby exposing your .

Another known loophole is between the user and the first server in the Tor chain, and between the Tor network and the recipient of the packets. The application developers strongly recommend using secure software whenever possible. HTTPS protocol and encourage users to install the HTTPS Everywhere add-on in their browser. It is designed to automatically switch to a secure version of the web page you are viewing, if, of course, the target website provides such a connection option.

One important caveat must be made here: due to certain features of the APIs of the most popular modern browsers The full functionality of HTTPS Everywhere can only work in the Firefox browser. Versions for other browsers still allow short-term access to an unprotected page before automatic download its HTTPS version. Finally, let’s not forget about the banal recording of keystrokes, so if your paranoia worm is sufficiently fed, do not forget about the existence of virtual keyboards, and also use an up-to-date antivirus.

Vidalia package

Several package options are offered: from “pure” console Tor, which you will have to configure yourself, to kits of varying degrees of automation that simplify its operation. Perhaps the most universal solution is the Vidalia assembly, available on the same official website. It includes several components. First, there is the Tor application itself, which allows you to connect to the Onion network and transfer data.

Secondly, this is the Vidalia control panel, which allows you to communicate with Tor in a way that most users are familiar with graphical interface. The next member of the team is the software HTTP proxy Polipo (www.pps.jussieu.fr/~jch/software/polipo). Without going into technical details, we note that its purpose is mainly to increase the performance of the package. The fact is that Tor uses SOCKS, and the use of an HTTP proxy allows you to use a number of technologies (for example, caching) that speed up work with the browser. In addition, by specifying the Polipo address as a proxy in the settings of the application you need, you can force this application to use Tor to send data. Other proxies, such as Privoxy, are also suitable for interacting with Tor.

The last component of the package is Torbutton. This is an add-on for Firefox browser, allowing you to easily switch to protected browsing mode using Tor. Unfortunately, other viewers are not yet supported. Moreover, even in Firefox you will have to tinker a little with this component. The reason is that the current version of Torbutton does not support Firefox 4. Therefore, owners of modern versions of this browser will have to manually install the alpha version of Torbutton. This is a regular add-on in XPI format, the link to which can be found in the downloads section of the official Tor Project website.

After installing Torbutton, a Tor launch button will appear in the status bar (Firefox 3) or address bar (Firefox 4). This tool is very convenient because it allows you to select the browser operating mode directly while surfing without changing its basic settings with just one click. Interestingly, Torbutton also offers to further increase privacy by loading English versions of pages by default, regardless of the language settings of the Internet viewer. Installing Vidalia it is simple, conducted in Russian and will not be difficult even for an inexperienced user. If you have a firewall enabled on your computer, be sure to allow Vidalia and Tor access to the Internet.

Tor is a means of connecting to a secure data network. It consists of a significant number of proxy servers, which serve to hide user information.

The main element of the Vidalia control panel interface is, of course, the Tor and Polipo launch button. A button with a not-so-sounding name for our ears, “Change identity,” allows you to manually start the process of rebuilding the involved proxy chain. As a result, you will receive a new IP. By the way, sometimes such a restructuring allows you to slightly increase the speed of working with Tor, if initially there were slow servers in your chain. The “Network Browse” button will open a map with a list of servers included in the current chain. There you can also view brief information about them and, if necessary, close the connection. “Setting up a server” will allow you to enable a mode in which your Tor will accept connections from other users. This will turn your computer into one of the Onion network nodes. This opportunity must be used carefully, after first studying the relevant documentation and clearly understanding the situation.

The Settings section contains several tabs with options for Tor and Vidalia. The General tab contains settings for Tor and Polipo to autostart when the operating system starts. You will need the Network tab if you local network or attempts are being made on the provider's network to block Tor. Here you can specify the proxy server used to access the Internet and list the ports allowed for the connection.

Vidalia interface has been translated to a large number of languages. You can choose the most convenient one, as well as change the style of the external design of the program, on the “ tab Appearance».
The “Bridge Settings” block deserves attention. One way to combat Tor is to block access to known network nodes. Bridges are servers whose full lists are not published. Therefore, the likelihood that all of them will be blocked is small. Direct connections to bridges known to you, for example those launched by your friends, are supported. Public, updated lists are posted at bridges.torproject.org.

Another option to get the list is to send an email to: with the phrase get bridges. However, only requests sent from using Gmail, – this protects the system from attempts to automatically collect bridge addresses. Since their functionality is not guaranteed, it is recommended to specify several such addresses at once in the Tor settings. By the way, enabling bridge mode is effective even if you do not specify a single address: Tor will begin to encrypt its access to host directories, which can seriously hamper the functioning of blocking programs. If you wish, you can configure your own computer to work in Tor bridge mode - all you need to do is check the appropriate box on the “Sharing” tab.

The “Services” tab is intended for fine tuning so-called Tor hidden services. With their help, you can launch your own web service on your machine without revealing its IP to visitors. Moreover, a hidden service, thanks to the use of onion technologies and the capabilities of Tor, can be accessible even when your Personal Computer is behind the firewall.

Let's start by installing a web server or other program that you want to make available to remote users. The peculiarity of installing any such service in our case is that it should not have a public address: it must be configured to accept connections only from your own computer (localhost). In addition, do not forget that running servers are capable of giving users a lot of interesting information in their service messages, so pay attention to these nuances when configuring your programs, since inattentive configuration can negate all your efforts to reach the server using Tor.

Then we go to the “Services” tab of the Vidalia toolbar, create a new “hidden service” and enter the necessary data into its characteristics table. Tor will generate the “secret” address on its own. The columns “Virtual port” and “Path to directory” are required. In the first case, you will need to specify the port number that your server program is configured to listen to, and in the second, the path to the folder in which Tor will place the file containing the address of your service on the Onion network. Please note: this must be a separate directory for storing Tor information, not your program's user files directory. In other words, if you are running a web server, then the path to the “home” directory of its files does not need to be specified here. To avoid confusion, it would be best to immediately create such a directory in the Tor folder itself.

Let's go back to "normal" use. In order to configure any application to transfer data via Tor, you need to specify the Polipo HTTP proxy address in the settings of your program. Its IP is local, 127.0.0.1, and the default port is 9050. If the application requires you to indicate the type of proxy used, specify SOCKS 5. By saving such settings as a proxy address, for example, in an IM client, you will receive a secure private connection. Tor and Polipo, of course, must be running, otherwise your program simply will not be able to access the Internet. A small note: when connecting to ICQ servers and some other popular services, a message may appear indicating that the number of connections from the user's current IP has been exceeded. This obstacle, as a rule, can be easily overcome by rebooting the chain of proxy servers using the “Change identity” button. Concluding the story about Vidalia, let us remind you that all components of this package are open source projects. You can, of course, download the sources in the corresponding section of the Tor Project website.

Ready-made assemblies

As mentioned above, one of the main threats to privacy when using Tor is its configuration errors, as well as running programs in unprotected mode. Very convenient solution this problem is the Tor Browser package. This is a ready-made and, very usefully, portable application that provides secure surfing. It includes all the components we described above plus the portable version of Firefox 3.6. Since the system is initially, by default, configured to work with Tor, the user can be sure that nothing is forgotten and the level of security is approaching the maximum achievable.

I'll start with a note.

Ladies and gentlemen!
I understand perfectly well that you constantly and chronically do not have time. And you definitely won’t be able to spend 5 minutes. Although it’s enough to write something like “Thank you! This will come in handy! I’ll take it for myself! I’ll figure it out!” you have time (usually you do). But please understand me: I also don’t have time to check all my messages for relevance. But if you had spent 5 minutes of your time IMMEDIATELY, you would not have wasted your time writing this message. Thank you for your attention!

Unfortunately, I only found out about this the other day when I updated the TOR software on my work computer. Because of this, there may be problems when setting up programs to work through the TOR network. If you have such problems or are just curious, then read below.

What does this look like for the entire system (browser settings Internet Explorer):

What it looks like for the Opera browser:

What does it look like for Mozilla browser Firefox:

What does it look like for:

Part No. 3. Custom settings for TOR
The most attentive (of those who have read up to this point) might have noticed that the settings in parts No. 1 and No. 2 differ only in one digit of the port number "9 1 50" and "9 0 50".
Is it possible to set your own port in the settings of TOR Browser or Vidalia? Of course you can. And there are 2 ways to do this.

Method number 1.
Go to the settings of TOR Browser or Vidalia. To do this, hover your mouse over the TOR “onion” in the system tray and click right button mice. From the drop-down menu, select "Settings":

In the settings that open, select the “Advanced” tab and click on the “Edit current torrc” button:

But now you need to be especially careful and do as I wrote below:


1. Write the line ""SocksPort port number" (for example: "SocksPort 8008").
2. Select this line with the mouse.
3. Check the "Apply selected" checkbox.
4. Click on the "OK" button.

Why is that? I don’t know, but otherwise my program didn’t want to save the changes.

Method number 2.
Just look where the settings file is located, open it with any text editor and enter a line below that looks like: “SocksPort port number”. For example: "SocksPort 8008". It's better to do this when your TOR is not running.

How can I find this settings file? Its address is written in the “Advanced” section of the settings (see method No. 1 above).
For example, for TOR Browser I have:

And for Vidalia like this:

Moreover, you can enter your own path to the file and use the same settings for both programs (if you suddenly use both of them on the same computer). But do not forget to change the port number to the one you specified where necessary (see part No. 1 or No. 2).

Part No. 4. How and where to view proxy settings for TOR Browser
Many, having read everything above, will ask the question: “How can I see what proxy settings my TOR Browser uses?”
Very simple!

Go to the settings of the Firefox that comes with TOR Browser:

There we go to the “Advanced” tab and find the “Network” subtab:

And there you can see what proxy settings your TOR Browser has:

How and what Now what to do if you need to use an http(s) proxy to work through TOR, maybe I’ll write about it soon.

P.S. I guarantee the relevance of this message for 2 weeks. If something doesn’t work for you starting from August 15, 2013, you can ask yourself the question: “Why didn’t I set all this up earlier?” Although I can write the answer right away: “Because I didn’t have time! But now I have time to figure everything out on my own.” Good luck!