In recent years, anonymity in the network has acquired some special meaning. Increasingly, signs began to appear in society that freedom on the Internet was just an illusion imposed on ordinary users. In fact, both on the part of your Internet provider and on the sites that you visit, there is a massive collection of different information about your behavior. Someone ignores this, but someone is not happy that they can follow him. A solution for the latter may be special software known as the Tor browser. Reviews about him, as well as a description of the principles of the program will be given in this article.
What is a Thor?
Let's start with the definition. The Tor software is a system that allows you to provide anonymity to the user online by redirecting traffic through a network of servers around the world. Due to this, tracking what resources the user is visiting becomes virtually impossible.
The development of this project began in the early 2000s in the United States. Later, the authors of the system managed to raise funding for the implementation of the program. Today, the Tor browser is presented as a program that anyone can download. After making the settings for this software, the user can be hidden from surveillance in many ways. What specifically does the program, read on.
Why is Tor needed?
So, as already noted, the first purpose of this software is to ensure anonymity. It’s almost impossible to track what resources a user visits and what kind of sites he is browsing. It is just as impossible to understand the country of origin of this person due to encryption of traffic through different servers with which the Tor browser interacts.
Testimonials and discussion of the program show another application of this software - the ability to access prohibited resources. In the light of recent political events in the world, this issue is particularly relevant. The restriction established at the provider level regarding access to certain resources is violated due to the inability to establish the fact of the visit. And sites that are blocked for one reason or another, a person can view using those very servers, which are something like a link in this chain of traffic transfer.
How to use the Tor browser?
Do not worry that the “Tor” browser, which reviews we are interested in, is something complicated, requiring special knowledge, programming skills and the like. No, in fact, the work in this program is maximally simplified, and as soon as you download it, see for yourself. It used to be more difficult to surf the Internet using the Tor protocol. To date, developers have a ready-made browser "Thor". By installing it, you can visit your favorite sites, as you did before.
Many people have not heard of such a software solution. Someone, on the contrary, is only aware of the existence of this product, but does not know how to configure “Tor” (browser). In fact, it is very easy.
Having launched the program for the first time, you will see a window with two alternative options, which you need to choose based on the situation with your Internet connection. Everything is very simple: if you think that the provider is monitoring your actions, and would like to deal with it, you need to make some minimal settings for network parameters.
If you are sure that there is no control by the network administrator for you and the provider does not care which sites you are viewing, you should choose the first method - “I would like to connect to the Tor network directly.”
As you will see later, sites that determine your location will no longer be able to accurately show your city and country of origin. This will be the main indicator of how the Tor browser works. Testimonials indicate that going to banned sites in your country this way is easier than ever.
Security threat
There are a lot of rumors on the Internet about what the Tor network really is. Someone claims that this is a product of the US military, who wanted to control the world of cybercrime in this way. Others call the Thor network the realm of drug dealers, weapons, and various terrorists.
However, if you work with this browser in order to download from your favorite torrent tracker, you are unlikely to become a terrorist, like thousands of other users of this software. Customer reviews working with him confirm that this is an easy way to get rid of traffic monitoring or bypass the ban on visiting the resource. So why not use it?
Alternative
Of course, if you do not want to mess with something new for yourself, it is not necessary to choose the Tor browser as a way of protecting personal information.
Reviews indicate that anonymity on the network can be obtained in other ways, for example, through a VPN connection. This is simpler, and for some more reliable, than working with the dubious Tor protocol.
In any case, the choice is yours.