Tor browser is a web browser that is designed and developed to protect your privacy online and is mostly famous among normal people as a key for safely accessing hidden or restricted online resources, including those on the dark web. We will see what Tor is and how to install it on your Linux machine.

To understand what Tor is first we need to understand what Onion routing is.

What is Onion Routing?

It is a technique for communicating over a network anonymously. The name onion came as the data is encrypted multiple times like the layers of onions. The data is transmitted over many nodes, and each node knows only the next node’s address and the previous node from it until it reaches the exit node. Some browsers using onion routing are IP2, Subgraph OS Browser, Tails Browser, Whonix Browser etc.

Introduction: Tor

Tor (The Onion Router) is a web browser implementing the Onion Routing technique used to surf the internet anonymously. Tor is an open-source browser and uses Firefox as its code base. The Tor project was founded by Roger Dingledine and Nick Mathewson in 2002 and the Tor browser’s development started in 2008 which is user-friendly and more accessible to normal users. Learn more about Tor.

Installation:

Step 1: Go to the Tor Download Page and select ‘Download for Linux’ and your download will start.

Tor Browser Download Page

Step 2: The compressed file must be download in the downloads folder or whichever folder you had selected.

Downloads Folder

Step 3: Now open the terminal and move to the folder where you had Tor file download. As it is an tar file so we need to extract it. We will use tar command.

Syntax:

tar -xf file

So here,

tar -xf tor-browser-linux-x86_64-13.0.15.tar.xz

extracting the tor browser

Step 4: Now you can see using ‘ls’ command that there will be a folder ‘tor-browser’ . Now move into that folder using ‘cd’ command.

cd tor-browser/

moving into tor folder

Step 5: Now list the contents of the folder and you will find a ‘start-tor-browser.desktop’ file which is a configuration file that provides launch instructions for the Tor browser and now we had to run that file to launch Tor browser using command or if you are currently using GUI folder then double click on that file name and it will launch the browser :

./start-tor-browser.desktop

Launching tor browser

Step 6: Now you will the very first screen with ‘Connect to Tor’ and the click on the ‘Connect’ button to establish connection and it may take a while to connect.

Tor Browser

Establishing connection

Step 7: Now after successfully establishing connection you are all set to use Tor browser.

Tor Browser

Step 8: Now you can start searching and using the Tor browser. There is a ‘Onioize’ option given in the DuckDuckGo search which when toggled on will switch your searches to DuckDuckGo’s onion site.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the Tor Browser is a great way to protect your privacy and browse internet anonymously with its easy user interface and easy installation process which is made possible by its very vast community of contributors and maintainers. Tor is a great way to get unbubbled search results. By following the above described steps you can install Tor easily and browser the web anonymously.

How to Install Tor on Linux – FAQs

Is Tor browser slow?

” Yes, Tor browser is slow than other browsers because of multiple layers of security and that’s its only trade-off for security. So its not fit for downloading huge size of data like using torrent sites to download media. “

Is Tor free?

” Yes, Tor is open source and free software. “

What is main purpose of Tor?

” The Tor’s main purpose is to provide security and privacy to the users form being tracked and monitored by others through encrypting the internet traffic and moving data through different nodes. “

Can I use Tor browser for Windows and macOS ?

” Yes, the Tor project provides Windows and macOS versions also for Tor browser. “

Can I use Tor for illegal activities?

” If this thing comes in your mind while using Tor then you must know that still being encrypted and traveling data through multiple nodes, there is no guarantee of complete secrecy and users can still be tracked back as this thing has been experimented before and Researchers were successful in tracking back the users. “

Can I use Tor on my Mobile phone ?

” Yes you can use it on you mobile phone (Android) by downloading it from Playstore or F-Driod of directly downloading the apk file from the Tor’s official website. For iOS devices there are third party Tor-browsers available. “

Can I use Tor with a VPN ?

” Yes, You can but you should configure it correctly to get maximum security and most importantly you should trust you VPN provider that they are not monitoring and tracking your network or alternatively you can also host your own VPN and use it with Tor. “