PortableTor is an easy way to anonymize to your browsing
There are plenty of ways to utilize the Tor network for a little added browsing privacy - like OperaTor, for example.If you'd prefer a single anonymity solution that can handle any browser, portable or not, give PortableTor a try.
It's Tor, Vidalia (a GUI frontend for Tor), and Privoxy in a single, portable package. All you need to do is launch PortableTor and edit your browser's proxy settings to point at 127.0.0.1:8118 (the port can be changed).
Even if you're not going to run it from a USB flash drive, this is still an uncomplicated way to anonymize your desktop browsing as well. All three apps use a combined total of about 26mb of memory, the bulk of which is consumed by Vidalia.
The Sourceforge project page also list several Firefox addons that you may want to add for extra browsing security, like NoScript and No-Referrer.
PortableTor is a free download for Windows only.
Comments
6
Subscribe to commentsphJan 14th 2009 2:40PM
Looks pretty neat, just one problem: I am using BFilter to get rid of ads and scripts and therefor point my browser to 127.0.0.1:8080 allready. As I want to keep blocking ads (no, I won't change to a one-browser only solution as Noscript/Adblockplus), how can I use both apps at the same time?
aimJan 14th 2009 5:33PM
works fine. with the normal non-portable tor i could set priorites on which proxies tor should use. changes had to be done within the torrc file: "ExitNodes desync, whistlersmother... and so one. Does anyone no where to find this torrc or equivalent file so i can change the proxy list priorities?
phaolooJan 14th 2009 8:59PM
Really nice, I'm tired of find and changing proxy everyday.
Stuart HallidayJan 16th 2009 10:33AM
And just how does it hide the IP Address of the user?
It can't. So the web site still knows your computer visited it and what it got up to. So what's the point?
Matthew MortonJan 29th 2009 11:06AM
It uses the Tor network to route your traffic via an anonymous peer, research onion routing if you're interested (preferably before making sweeping erroneous statements such as your previous one...), so although the web site owner would still be able to see an IP connecting to them, the IP would not belong to you, and probably would not even come from the same country.
@ph Privoxy can be set up to filter ads anyway, but if you want to route requests through BFilter this could probably be achieved through forwarding: http://www.privoxy.org/user-manual/config.html#FORWARDING
I might have a look at this for you.
@aim If you look in the 'Data' folder (created after the first time PortableTor is launched you will find the settings files for Tor, Vidalia and Privoxy. Alternatively, before launching PortableTor even once (or delete the 'Data' folder after launching), in 'App/DefaultData' you can edit the torrc and it will be copied over the next time PortableTor is run.
Stuart HallidayJan 30th 2009 4:29AM
Ah right so this Tor system still knows your IP address. So still traceable.
So what's the point?