How to Use Vidalia/TOR on Firefox & Google Chrome

Vidalia Bundle vs. Tor Bundle

What is the difference between the Vidalia Bundle and the Tor Bundle?

The Tor program by itself does the legwork of building circuits and passing data to/from the network. It has no GUI and acts based on settings in the torrc text file. Tor is available on its own in the "Expert Packages" section of the download page, as the only people using Tor on its own are likely bridge, relay, and exit operators who know what they're doing. It's not a "bundle" per se.

Vidalia is GUI program that interacts with Tor and makes its settings easier to handle, along with other nifty features such as viewing the network, logs, etc. The "Vidalia Bundle" on the download page is designed to be installed on a computer you'll be using Tor on regularly. That is, it isn't "portable", can't easily be carried with you on a USB key or CD, and doesn't come with an internet browser. The bundle includes Polipo, which makes funneling HTTP and SOCKS proxies into Tor easier and safer.

The "Tor Browser Bundle" is the same set of programs, together with a locked-down version of Firefox, that is designed to be completely portable. You don't have to install it, so it's easy to carry with you on a USB key or CD. Tor, Vidalia, Polipo, and the customized Firefox are all seamlessly started with a single button in this package. Some experts recommend using this bundle, instead of the Vidalia bundle, because it uses the Tor browser. Tor does not protect all of your computer's Internet traffic when you run it. Tor only protects your applications that are properly configured to send their Internet traffic through Tor. To avoid problems with Tor configuration, they strongly recommend using the Tor Browser Bundle. It is pre-configured to protect your privacy and anonymity on the web as long as you're browsing with the Tor Browser itself. Almost any other web browser configuration is likely to be unsafe to use with Tor. The Tor Browser will block browser plugins such as Flash, RealPlayer, Quicktime, and others because they can be manipulated into revealing your IP address. Similarly, they do not recommend installing additional addons or plugins into the Tor Browser, as these may bypass Tor or otherwise harm your anonymity and privacy. The lack of plugins means that Youtube videos are blocked by default, but Youtube does provide an experimental opt-in feature (enable it here) that works for some videos. Tor will encrypt your traffic to and within the Tor network, but the encryption of your traffic to the final destination website depends upon that website. To help ensure private encryption to websites, the Tor Browser Bundle includes HTTPS Everywhere to force the use of HTTPS encryption with major websites that support it. However, you should still watch the browser URL bar to ensure that websites you provide sensitive information to display a blue or green URL bar button, include https:// in the URL, and display the proper expected name for the website. The Tor Browser will warn you before automatically opening documents that are handled by external applications. DO NOT IGNORE THIS WARNING. Tor tries to prevent attackers from learning what destination websites you connect to. However, by default, it does not prevent somebody watching your Internet traffic from learning that you're using Tor. If this matters to you, you can reduce this risk by configuring Tor to use a Tor bridge relay rather than connecting directly to the public Tor network.

All of this information is available on the download pages and in the documentation. Do read through them.

Download Links

Stable Vidalia Bundle works with Windows 7, Vista, XP
http://www.net-security.org/software.php?id=253

Tor Browser Bundle (English) version 1.3.24, works with Windows 7, Vista, and XP
https://www.torproject.org/dist/torbrowser/tor-browser-1.3.24_en-US.exe



Tor - Anonymity Online
https://www.torproject.org/index.html.en
Protect your privacy. Defend yourself against network surveillance and traffic analysis.

Tor prevents anyone from learning your location or browsing habits.
Tor is for web browsers, instant messaging clients, remote logins, and more.
Tor is free and open source for Windows, Mac, Linux/Unix, and Android

Tor protects you by bouncing your communications around a distributed network of relays run by volunteers all around the world. It prevents somebody watching your Internet connection from learning what sites you visit, and prevents the sites you visit from learning your physical location. Tor works with many common existing applications, including web browsers, instant messaging clients, remote login, and other applications based on the TCP protocol. 

How to use Tor with Firefox

1. Download and install Tor. Make sure you get the bundle that includes Vidalia and Polipo:
https://www.torproject.org/download/download.html

2. Install Torbutton for Firefox (for Firefox below version 4):
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/torbutton/
Make sure you get it from the link above and not from the Tor bundle if yours includes Torbutton.

If you have Firefox 4, Torbutton will not install since it doesn't support Firefox 4. Skip Step 2. If you try to install the Vidalia Bundle that you downloaded in Step 1, it will try to install the Torbutton also but it will fail. That's OK. This will not be a problem with other versions of Firefox. Skip Step 2 also since Torbutton is already included in the Vidalia Bundle.

3. Restart Firefox.

4. Open up Vidalia and start Tor (or click Start>Vidalia Bundle>Vidalia). The Vidalia Control Panel should pop up. Just click "Start Tor". The green progress bar should start moving towards the right of the panel until Tor engages completely. Just click the HIDE button to hide the Vidalia Control Panel in your System Tray. If you want to access it again, all you have to do is doubleclick the green onion icon in System Tray and it should show up again.

5. In Firefox 3.X.X you should see the Torbutton at the bottom right corner (on the Status Bar) and it's probably labeled in red texts. Just click it to enable Tor which will turn its label to green. 

6. To find out what your new IP address is just go to http://ipchicken.com.

7. To stop using Tor, just click the Torbutton icon again which will turn its label to red. To completely stop Tor, go back to Vidalia (doubleclick the GREEN ONION icon in your System Tray) and click Stop Tor. OR rightclick the green onion icon in your System Tray and choose Exit.

The Tor Project are working on a version of their add-on for Firefox 4. 

Meantime you don't have to wait for Tor Project to release the final version of Torbutton for Firefox 4. You can still install the Vidalia Bundle in Firefox 4 without the Torbutton being installed. Instead, you can install the alpha version that includes Firefox 4 support from https://www.torproject.org/torbutton . 

So, first install the Vidalia Bundle and then the alpha version of the Torbutton (see link above).

Note: As this is an alpha version there may be bugs with the add-on. 
I've been using it and nothing catastrophic had happened so far. 

After you install it you will find an icon with an "X" on the left side of the Address or URL box in Firefox. Just click it to connect to TOR (you must first run Vidalia, of course) and the "X" should disappear. That should connect you to the Tor network. Go tohttp://ipchicken to know your new IP address.

That's it! Easy as eating pie!


How to Use Tor on Google Chrome

So far TOR or the Vidalia Bundle is only being used on Firefox since there is no version of the TorButton that supports Google Chrome.

Here is what I've done to make Tor work in Google Chrome:

1. Download and install the Stable Vidalia Bundle:

http://www.torproject.org/easy-download.html 

2. Install the extension Proxy Switchy. Do that by using Google Chrome and going to this site:

https://chrome.google.com/extensions/detail/caehdcpeofiiigpdhbabniblemipncjj 

While there, click the Install button. Proceed as instructed. 

3. Restart Google Chrome. 

4. You will notice that there is a new gray circular icon, that looks like a gray globe, on the right side of the Address or URL box in Chrome. Rightclick it and choose Options. Switchy! Options page should appear as a new tab in Google Chrome.

5. Enter the following settings in the appropriate fields:
In the Proxy Profiles tab, enter the following settings.
- Profile Name: Tor
Choose Manual Configuration.
- Under Manual Configuration:
SOCKS Host: localhost 
Port: 9050

Then click the Save button.

6. Go to the General tab.
Under "Quick Switch" click "Binary Switch" (a dot should appear on the circle preceeding "Binary Switch").
The 2 entry boxes should have the following settings:
- Profile 1: [Direct Connection]
- Profile 2: Tor 

Click the Save button.

7. To turn on the Tor/Vidalia connection, just click the globular icon. It should turn blue to signify it is enabled. To find out what your new IP address is, just go to http://ipchicken.com. To stop using Tor/Vidalia, just click the globular icon again to disable it (it should turn gray again).

You'll need to make sure the TOR software is actively running when you hit your Proxy Switchy! button in Chrome. To check if Chrome is actively using TOR for its browsing, rightclick the TOR button in your system tray (or, on a Mac, click the onion icon in your status bar) and open the bandwidth monitor tool. Browse to a site with some decently large images, and if TOR's bandwidth transfer moves up, you're browsing the web anonymously through TOR and Chrome.

This applies to both Firefox and Google Chrome:
To change IP address, just launch the Vidalia Control Panel by doubleclicking the green onion in your System Tray. Then click "Use a New Identity". To confirm your new IP address, just go back to IPCHICKEN and take note of your new IP address.