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Mytour will guide you through the process of downloading and installing the Tor browser on your Linux machine.
Steps
Download the Tor package
Open the Tor website. Go to https://www.torproject.org/projects/torbrowser.html in your browser. We will download the Tor installation file from here.
Click on the Download (Download). This option is located at the bottom right corner of the page. You will be redirected to the Tor download page.
Click on the DOWNLOAD. This purple button is located on the left side of the page.
- The button will display "Linux 64-bit" and will be at the bottom. If the operating system listed is different (e.g., "Windows"), click on the Linux link on the right side of the button first.
- If prompted to choose what to do with the installation file, select the option "Save" or "Download" before proceeding.
Wait for the installation file to finish downloading. This process only takes a few seconds.
Note the name of the installation file. The name will appear somewhere on the window, and it's important to know the language and version of the Tor installation file to proceed with the setup.
- For instance, if you download the U.S. English version of Tor, the file name will be "tor-browser-linux64-7.5.2_en-US.tar.xz" if it's the latest 64-bit version of Tor.
- If the file name is unclear, check the Downloads folder on your computer.
Install Tor
- On certain Linux versions, you may need to open the Menu and select Terminal from the application list.
- Alternatively, you can press Alt+Ctrl+T to open a Terminal window.
Navigate to the Downloads directory. Type the command cd Downloads and press ↵ Enter. This command will change the Terminal's directory to Downloads, where you should have the Tor installation file downloaded.
- If you saved the installation file to a different folder, navigate to that folder instead.
Extract the contents of the Tor installation file. Enter tar -xvJf tor-browser-linux64-7.5.2_language-region.tar.xz, remembering to replace the language-region part with the language of the file (for example: en-US) and press ↵ Enter.
- For example, to extract the U.S. English version of Tor, you would enter tar -xvJf tor-browser-linux64-7.5.2_en-US.tar.xz and press ↵ Enter.
Open the Tor browser folder. Type cd tor-browser_language, where language refers to the language tag for the Tor version you selected, and press ↵ Enter.
Launch the Tor installation file. Type the command ./start-tor-browser.desktop and press ↵ Enter, then wait for the Tor installation window to open.
Click on the Connect button, located at the bottom left of the window. Once you click it, the Tor browser will begin connecting to the network. After a successful connection, the Tor browser will open and you can start browsing the web securely using Tor.
Tips
- Contrary to what many believe, Tor itself is neither dangerous nor illegal. It is based on an earlier version of Firefox.
- While most applications are installed via the sudo apt-get install <program-name> command, Tor is a portable browser that can be installed anywhere. This means Tor files require flexibility and are not like traditional installation packages.
Warning
- Tor is often used to access the dark web (content on the internet not indexed by standard search engines). You should avoid using Tor for this purpose as it can be unsafe and potentially illegal in your jurisdiction.
- Here are some important points to consider when using Tor:
- Tor does not anonymize all internet traffic by default. The only traffic anonymized by Tor is Firefox’s. Other applications need to be configured with proxy server settings to use the Tor network.
- The Tor button on Firefox blocks technologies that could potentially leak your identity, such as Java, ActiveX, RealPlayer, QuickTime, and Adobe. To use Tor with these technologies, the installation files must be configured appropriately.
- Cookies stored before installing Tor could still reveal your identity. To ensure complete anonymity, delete all cookies before installing Tor.
- The Tor network encrypts all data until it exits the network’s router. To fully protect your data, use HTTPS or another secure encryption method.
- Make sure to verify the integrity of any application downloaded through Tor, as these files could be risky if the Tor router experiences issues.
