Some of you might be using TOR so I'd like to share some codes that I found online to speed up TOR a bit and restrict it to use proxies in specific countries only. If you use TOR, you probably have experienced slow connections sometimes. To speed up Tor you can try the following easy steps:
First thing is you will need to have Vidalia bundle installed.
Next, double-click the icon for Vidalia Control Panel in your task bar. This should bring up the Vidalia Control Panel.
Click on "Settings" to bring up the settings screen.
Click on the "Advanced" button to bring up that tab.
Take note of the path to the "Tor Configuration File".
Go to that location and open up the "torrc".
***Alternative to the above instructions***
Click START>PROGRAMS>VIDALIA BUNDLE>TOR>TORRC. This will launch Torrc in Notepad.
******
Make a backup of torrc before editing.
After you get the torrc open, at the end of it, paste the following code:
Code:
# Try for at most NUM seconds when building circuits. If the circuit isn't
# open in that time, give up on it. (Default: 1 minute.)
CircuitBuildTimeout 5
# Send a padding cell every N seconds to keep firewalls from closing our
# connections while Tor is not in use.
KeepalivePeriod 60
# Force Tor to consider whether to build a new circuit every NUM seconds.
NewCircuitPeriod 15
# How many entry guards should we keep at a time?
NumEntryGuards 8
Go back to the Vidalia Control Panel from the task bar and click Stop Tor, then Start Tor. This will restart Tor.
I think you can speed Tor up some more by selecting exitnodes. I choose only US exitnodes.
Code:
Log notice stdout
SocksListenAddress 127.0.0.1
CircuitBuildTimeout 5
KeepalivePeriod 60
NewCircuitPeriod 15
NumEntryGuards 8
StrictExitNodes 1
ExitNodes Dukeman,team06,port3,ArulSelvan,boobsaregreat,boob saregreat,torxmission,kgabertgoldmine2,703server,F eeble123,gropetheshrike,spoon,Samael,zymurgy,muffi nman,martintorserver,SoftPower,MrsPettyOfficer,Bos tonUCompSci,VecTor,nickNoLimits,dconor2008,ninetai lfox,gulumbalingus,Blackmage,3x0rcyst5p4dd3dc311,r abidweasels,trithnt,UserPC,grove,tordienet,hpoohto r,NoWhereMan,relay1,kkjvps2torrelay,kkjvps1relay,d emon12,euryale,AoF,attalus,gizmo,OuterHaven,Devcom m,perronegro,UlyssesTorrible9th,Equalizer,MeTwo,Me troDallas1,Moffinator,CrypticWoodland,Unnamedinsea ttle,tikki,MofuKah,bettyboop,H4X0R,evoLution,SelfE vident,NyteChyld,japsdad,Midator2,Bobby,Bobby,Unha loedTechy,LetItSnow,worksip,vorpal,KnowledgeIsPowe r,911WasAnInsideJob,PhukDaMan,ididtootheseven,idid tootheseven,multipath,Satchmo,Lawl,Deathsquid,desy nc,Partyman,tortastic,ecksnet,EternalTORment,motow n,BaDonkaDonk,tiberius,jamesdean2000000,LeaseTorre nt,TSTTRBYisaPOS,royalewithcheese,Waltraud,Waltrau d,TorNet,alZaidi,ZealousBaenre,D56CCX91,0xfreespee ch127,Ratu,B7ydWoa2di4vghy,phrenograph,gwen,MYCROF TsOtherChild,Zanter,Undeadlord,KG6AFF,xlTor2,zorri to,safeman45,yourel38jri7zw,allium,ThisIsUniq,invi sibile8753,FFT,1337f3rr37,Sloth1,TTurkey,LickBalls ,multicstor,Fireduck,brazoslink,steinmetz,randsat, carnage27,libertynot4sale,jfksdjflk,jfksdjflk,Lone WOlf,CapNemo,server,BaitSP,cloverfield,smith,Bonzo ,redvoodoo,mwserver,freedom,amendment10,whomthebel ltolls,FartKnocker,JPav,ashes2ashes,ashes2ashes,Sm ilodon,t0rX0rL0v3ly,MADDMUTT2,P,TORServer,Infinite Link,linquist1,FringeWorld,furrywannabe,Insanity,I nsanity,theagricolasTOR,propeller1492a,Topcat,dosa di,mambozo,torchrislinux,arcturus,Snowcrash,BBStac ker,zhop,mleech,cathenserver,statc,022593,clanspum ,Moot,kybalion,odin,cats,alTor,royalewithcheese,ke ndy,utumno,oxyred47,nessuno,glittershy,DizzyAppleW eed,cbwdesk,resipsaloquitor,MackDaddy,oomwrtu,slav enode1,52c5eSH5,Hops,ILikeFreeSpeech,LordSqueek
The exitnodes used in the above code came from this website:
http://proxy.org/tor.shtml
The ExitNodes line should only be in one line.
Open the Vidalia Control Panel (by doubleclicking the Vidalia icon in the System Tray), click Settings, Advanced button then "Edit current torrc" button. Add the code below to your torrc file:
This is an updated, extended list that restricts Tor to use U.S. nodes only and block 245 other countries.
Copy/paste this to your torrc file:
Code:
# A list of nodes never to use when building a circuit.
ExcludeNodes {AD},{AE},{AF},{AG},{AI},{AL},{AM},{AN},{AO},{AQ},{AR},{AS},{AT},{AU},{AW},{AZ},{BA},{BB},{BD},{BE}, {BF},{BG},{BH},{BI},{BJ},{BM},{BN},{BO},{BR},{BS}, {BT},{BU},{BV},{BW},{BY},{BZ},{CA},{CC},{CF},{CG}, {CH},{CI},{CK},{CL},{CM},{CN},{CO},{CR},{CS},{CU}, {CV},{CX},{CY},{CZ},{DD},{DE},{DJ},{DK},{DM},{DO}, {DZ},{EC},{EE},{EG},{EH},{ER},{ES},{ET},{FI},{FJ}, {FK},{FM},{FO},{FR},{FX},{GA},{GB},{GD},{GE},{GF},{GH},{GI},{GL},{GM},{GN},{GP},{GQ},{GR},{GS},{GT},{GU},{GW},{GY},{HK},{HM},{HN},{HR},{HT},{HU},{ID}, {IE},{IL},{IN},{IO},{IQ},{IR},{IS},{IT},{JM},{JO},{JP},{KE},{KG},{KH},{KI},{KM},{KN},{KP},{KR},{KW}, {KY},{KZ},{LA},{LB},{LC},{LI},{LK},{LR},{LS},{LT},{LU},{LV},{LY},{MA},{MC},{MD},{MG},{MH},{ML},{MM},{MN},{MO},{MP},{MQ},{MR},{MS},{MT},{MU},{MV},{MW}, {MX},{MY},{MZ},{NA},{NC},{NE},{NF},{NG},{NI},{NL},{NO},{NP},{NR},{NT},{NU},{NZ},{OM},{PA},{PE},{PF},{PG},{PH},{PK},{PL},{PM},{PN},{PR},{PT},{PW},{PY},{QA},{RE},{RO},{RU},{RW},{SA},{SB},{SC},{SD},{SE}, {SG},{SH},{SI},{SJ},{SK},{SL},{SM},{SN},{SO},{SR},{ST},{SU},{SV},{SY},{SZ},{TC},{TD},{TF},{TG},{TH}, {TJ},{TK},{TM},{TN},{TO},{TP},{TR},{TT},{TV},{TW},{TZ},{UA},{UG},{UM},{UY},{UZ},{VA},{VC},{VE},{VG},{VI},{VN},{VU},{WF},{WS},{YD},{YE},{YT},{YU},{ZA},{ZM},{ZR},{ZW},{ZZ}
Because Tor isn't bouncing around the whole world anymore restricting it to one country should also improve Tor's speed a little.
Here is another method from Ghack.net:
The control panel is displaying the current status of Tor. Additional information are displayed which we are going to use to find servers located in the country that we need an IP address from. A click on View the network displays a visual representation of all Tor servers but only if Tor is running.
Servers can be sorted by country flag and do have a performance indicator next to them as well. Write down some server names with the best performance and leave the menu again. We need to add those servers as exit nodes to the Tor configuration. A click on Settings and there on the advanced tab displays a menu where you find the entry Tor Configuration Menu.
A click on Browse opens the browse for files dialog. Left-click on the file "torrc" and choose Edit from that menu. Now add the following two lines to the configuration, just paste it at the beginning for instance:
ExitNodes server1, server2, server3
StrictExitNodes 1
Replace server1, server 2 and so on with the server names that you have written down in the network display window. Stop and restart Tor afterwards and the changes should have been made.
Now we have to add a http proxy to our browser. Firefox users click on Tools > Options > Advanced Network and there on the button Settings. Select Manual Proxy Configuration and enter localhost and port 8118 there.
- Install Tor.
Go to http://tor.eff.org/download-windows.html.en and download just Tor (marked for experts only), or use this link http://tor.eff.org/dist/win32/tor-0.1.2.14-win32.exe.
- Update torrc file.
Open torrc file from Start->Programs->Vidalia->Tor->torrc and add/paste at the bottom the following code:
Code:
StrictExitNodes 1
exitnodes desync,whistlersmother,lefkada,bettyboop,croeso,TorLuwakOrg,nixnix,inap1,redpineapple,cronic,sasquatch,slowturtle2
This will force the last server to be located in US.
- Create tor.pac file. I have created it directly under c: drive (c:\tor.pac).
Start by creating new text file. Open it in Notepad and paste the following:
function FindProxyForURL(url, host)
{
if (shExpMatch(host, "www.pandora.com")) return "SOCKS 127.0.0.1:9050";
return "DIRECT";
}
Rename it tor.pac.
- Set tor.pac to be used for automatic configuration in Internet Explorer. Here's how:
Open Internet Explorer. Go to Tools->Internet Options.
Select Connections tab.
Click the Lan Settings button.
Check/Select 'Use automatic configuration script'.
Write in Address "file://" following the tor.pac file name with full path. I wrote "file://c:\tor.pac" (without the quotation marks).
Now you activate Tor from Start->Programs->Vidalia->Tor->Tor and run OpenPandora. It will take some time until Pandora will load, but when it loads the music never stops. If that doesn't work click Start>type RUN in Start Search box and hit Enter. Type cmd and hit Enter. Type this and hit Enter:"C:\Program Files\Vidalia Bundle\Tor\tor.exe"(by the way, include the quotes)Now run OpenPandora.
In torrc file there is a line similar to this one: "SocksPort 9050 # what port to open for local application connections"It declares the port used for Tor. In this example, it is 9050. Same port number is used in tor.pac file. Make sure they are the same.
Also, sometimes Pandora shows the restricted page but states that your IP is from the US. Just refresh and see if it works.
To make sure that IE settings work, try to open http://pandora.com when Tor is down. You should see IE error navigation page. Otherwise your IE settings are wrong or tor.pac is incorrect.
The location of your torrc file depends on the way you installed Tor.
*On Windows, you can find it in the Start menu under Programs -> Tor, or you can find it by hand in either \Application Data\tor\torrc or \username\Application Data\tor\torrc*On OS X, open your favorite text editor and load /Library/Tor/torrc*On Unix, if you installed a pre-built package, look for /etc/torrc or /etc/tor/torrc or consult your package's documentation.*Finally, if you installed from source, you may not have a torrc installed yet: look in /usr/local/etc/ and note that you may need to manually copy torrc.sample to torrc.
-- taken from http://wiki.noreply.org/noreply/TheOnionRouter/TorFAQ#torrc
If you use Firefox here is how you add the pac script:
Tools/Advanced/Network
Click on the Connection Settings button
Select "Automatic proxy configuration URL"
and if you have it in the location specified in the tutorial then you should enter "file:///c:/tor.pac"
You may need to hit the reload button, I dunno.
Then just hit the OK buttons and start listening.
I simply added the following line of code to the torrc file (do this by going to Settings in the Vidalia Control Panel, then selecting Advanced. Then hit the button that says "Edit current torrc." Add this in a new line immediately after the end:
ExitNodes {gb}
Best to copy and paste it! The country abbreviation is in brackets – in this case gb is Great Britain. Try the appropriate abbreviation for your own country or the country you want proxies from. I have found that this works reliably. It is simple to check by going to View the Network in the Vidalia Control Panel. The connections will be shown in a box. By left-clicking on one of the connections, its details will be shown so that you can check the country.
