Tor Browser is one of those pieces of software that almost everyone has heard mentioned, but relatively few people properly understand.
Some describe it as a private browser. Others associate it entirely with the “dark web”. It is sometimes presented as an invisibility cloak for the internet, while other people treat its presence on a computer as automatically suspicious.
None of those descriptions tells the whole story.
Tor Browser is a legitimate privacy tool designed to make it more difficult for websites, internet providers, advertising networks and other observers to connect your browsing activity directly to you. It can be extremely useful in the right circumstances, but it also comes with important limitations.
At Computer Repair Norwich, we regularly help customers with browsers that are slow, behaving strangely, redirecting searches, displaying unwanted warnings or collecting more information than the user realised. Understanding what different browsers actually do is therefore an important part of our wider Computer Repair Advice Norwich section.
Why is it called Tor, and where did it come from?
The name Tor originally came from “The Onion Routing”.
It should normally be written as Tor, rather than in capital letters as “TOR”. The onion reference describes the way information is protected in several encrypted layers while it travels through the Tor network.
The underlying idea of onion routing began during the 1990s. Researchers David Goldschlag, Michael Reed and Paul Syverson at the United States Naval Research Laboratory were investigating whether internet communications could be routed in a way that prevented one observer from seeing both who was communicating and where the communication was going.
In the early 2000s, Roger Dingledine began working with Paul Syverson on a new implementation of onion routing, with Nick Mathewson joining the project soon afterwards. The Tor network was publicly deployed in 2002, while the nonprofit Tor Project was established in 2006.
You can read the fuller background on the official Tor Project history page.
Although Tor’s early development involved US government research, the modern Tor network is not a government-operated browsing service. It is an open-source project supported by an international community, with much of the network’s infrastructure operated by volunteers.
Tor Browser itself was developed to make the network easier for ordinary people to use. It is based on Mozilla Firefox, but includes substantial changes intended to improve privacy, reduce browser fingerprinting and route browsing through the Tor network safely.
How Tor Browser and the Tor network work
With a conventional browser, your computer normally connects to the website you are visiting through your internet provider.
The website can see the public internet address associated with your connection. Your internet provider can also see which services your connection is reaching, although HTTPS encryption prevents it from simply reading the contents of properly secured web pages.
Tor changes the route.
When you open a website using Tor Browser, the connection normally travels through three Tor relays before reaching the destination:
- an entry or guard relay
- a middle relay
- an exit relay
The first relay can see that your connection is using Tor, but it does not receive the complete picture of where your browsing is ultimately going.
The middle relay passes traffic between the first and final relays without knowing both your original identity and the final destination.
The exit relay sends the request out to the ordinary internet. The website sees the address of the Tor exit relay rather than your home or business internet address.
The encryption is arranged in layers, rather like the layers of an onion. Each relay removes only the information it needs to send the connection to the next stage. No individual relay should have the complete combination of your original internet address and the website being visited.
The Tor Project provides a more detailed explanation of this process in its guide to how the Tor network works.
Tor Browser also includes protections beyond simply changing your internet address. It attempts to make different Tor users’ browsers look similar, reducing the ability of websites to identify someone through characteristics such as their screen dimensions, browser configuration, installed features and other device information.
It isolates websites from each other, clears session cookies and browsing history when the browser closes, and includes different security levels that can restrict scripts and potentially risky web features.
Tor can also access ordinary websites such as those ending in .co.uk, .com or .org. It is not limited to hidden websites.
It can additionally access onion services, which use addresses ending in .onion and are only available through the Tor network. These can provide private publishing, communication, file sharing and other services without publicly revealing the location of the server.
That technology has legitimate uses for journalists, researchers, whistleblowing systems, people living under censorship and organisations handling sensitive communications. The fact that something uses an onion address does not automatically make it illegal or dangerous.
However, an unfamiliar onion website should still be treated with the same caution as any other unknown website. Tor can protect the route taken to a website; it cannot guarantee that the person operating that website is trustworthy.
The best uses and advantages of Tor Browser
Tor Browser is most useful when privacy and separation from your normal browsing identity matter more than maximum speed and convenience.
Reducing routine tracking
Ordinary websites usually see a Tor exit address rather than your normal internet address. Tor Browser also tries to reduce cross-site tracking and browser fingerprinting.
This can be useful when researching sensitive personal subjects, health concerns, employment matters, legal questions or other topics that you would prefer not to connect to your usual advertising profile.
Using the internet on monitored networks
Tor can prevent someone monitoring your local connection from easily seeing the individual websites you visit.
Your internet provider, workplace network or public Wi-Fi operator may still be able to see that a connection to the Tor network exists, but they should not receive the same clear picture of the final websites being accessed.
This does not mean every activity on the entire device is protected. Tor Browser protects browsing carried out through Tor Browser. Other browsers, email programs, cloud software and applications continue using their normal connections unless separately configured.
Circumventing censorship
Tor can help users reach information and services that have been blocked by a local network, internet provider or government.
This is one of its most important roles internationally. In countries where news, social media, communication tools or political information are restricted, Tor can provide access to a less censored internet.
Separating research from your normal identity
Researchers, journalists, investigators and ordinary members of the public may use Tor to avoid connecting a particular search or visit directly to their everyday internet address.
It is important to understand that Tor cannot stop someone identifying themselves voluntarily. If you sign into your normal email, social media, shopping or work account, that service still knows which account is being used.
Tor may hide where the connection came from, but it cannot make the account itself anonymous.
Accessing legitimate onion services
Onion services can be used for secure communication, private publishing, sharing files and protecting the location of a service.
The Tor Project explains more about legitimate .onion services and their uses.
Free and open-source software
Tor Browser is free to download and its source code can be examined by security researchers and developers.
That does not make any software completely invulnerable, but transparency allows vulnerabilities, privacy claims and technical decisions to be reviewed rather than depending entirely on promises made by a commercial provider.
When not to use Tor: downsides and limitations
Tor Browser is useful, but it is not the right browser for every task.
It can be slower
Tor traffic follows a longer route through volunteer-operated relays, sometimes located in different countries.
That additional distance, encryption and shared network load can make websites feel slower. Large downloads, high-quality video streaming and other bandwidth-heavy activity may be less practical than through a normal browser.
Tor is designed primarily for private, low-latency communication rather than moving enormous quantities of data as quickly as possible.
Some websites restrict Tor users
Thousands of people can appear to be connecting through the same Tor exit address. Automated website security systems may interpret this as unusual activity.
This can lead to repeated CAPTCHAs, blocked pages, login warnings or temporary account restrictions. Banks and other sensitive services may also react if an account normally used in Norwich suddenly appears to be connecting from an exit relay in another country.
The warning does not necessarily mean that Tor Browser or your computer is infected. The website may simply be reacting to the shared exit address.
It is not a complete replacement for a VPN
Tor Browser routes browsing from Tor Browser through the Tor network. It does not automatically route every application and service on your computer through Tor.
A commercial VPN, by comparison, usually creates an encrypted connection between the device and one VPN provider, potentially covering more applications. That VPN company can still occupy an important position of trust because it operates the server receiving your connection.
Tor distributes the route across several independently operated relays rather than relying on one VPN server, but it is generally slower and less convenient.
They are different tools with different designs. Neither should be treated as a universal privacy button.
We will look at those distinctions more closely in our separate CRN guide to VPN claims and myths.
It does not protect you from scams or malware
Tor Browser does not make a dishonest website honest.
A phishing page can still steal information that you type into it. A malicious download can still damage a computer. A fake support warning can still persuade someone to call a scammer. An unsafe document may still reveal information when opened in another program.
Our guides to phishing emails and fake virus warnings and fake CAPTCHA malware attacks explain some of the browser-based threats that privacy tools cannot solve for you.
Tor protects aspects of the connection. It does not replace careful browsing, software updates, reliable security, strong passwords or good judgement.
Logging into an account identifies you
If you sign into an account containing your real name, email address, payment information or personal history, the service knows that account is being used.
Tor may continue hiding your normal internet address, but the account itself provides an identity.
Similarly, entering personal information into forms, using the same usernames everywhere or revealing identifying details during a conversation can defeat the anonymity you were hoping to preserve.
Downloads can create risks
Files downloaded through Tor may later connect directly to the internet when opened in another application.
Documents can contain external links, remote images, scripts or other features that communicate outside Tor Browser. Opening an untrusted file while connected to the internet may therefore reveal information that the browser connection had concealed.
Additional browser extensions are discouraged
Tor Browser is carefully configured so that its users share similar characteristics.
Installing extra extensions, themes or plugins can make one installation look different from everyone else. That unique combination may make the browser easier to recognise and track.
The Tor Project therefore strongly discourages adding ordinary Firefox extensions to Tor Browser.
It should not be used for torrents
Torrent software can reveal a user’s real internet address even when someone attempts to route it through Tor. It can also place a heavy load on volunteer-operated relays.
The Tor Project specifically advises users not to torrent over Tor.
Your internet provider may know you are using Tor
Tor can conceal the final websites you visit from someone monitoring your local connection, but the connection to the Tor network itself may still be visible.
In places where Tor is blocked or attracts unwanted attention, users may need Tor bridges or other censorship-circumvention methods. That is a more specialist situation than ordinary privacy browsing in the UK and should be approached carefully.
Higher security settings can break websites
Tor Browser includes Standard, Safer and Safest security levels.
Increasing the level disables or restricts features such as JavaScript, fonts, media and other active website content. This can improve protection, but some websites will stop working correctly.
Privacy and convenience are often a balancing act. Turning every protection to maximum and then wondering why the website resembles a jigsaw puzzle with half the pieces missing is a fairly common outcome.
Is Tor Browser right for you?
For most people in Norwich, Tor Browser does not need to replace Firefox, Chrome, Edge or Safari as the everyday browser used for shopping, banking, streaming and routine accounts.
It can instead be kept as a separate tool for occasions when stronger browsing privacy, reduced tracking or access to the Tor network is genuinely useful.
A sensible approach is to:
- download Tor Browser only from the official Tor Project website
- keep it updated
- avoid adding extra extensions
- understand that signing into personal accounts identifies you
- use HTTPS websites wherever possible
- avoid torrenting
- treat unfamiliar downloads and websites cautiously
- remember that Tor protects the connection, not every decision made through it
Do not download a copy from an advertisement, unofficial software site, file-sharing page or a link sent by a stranger. Privacy software is only useful when the software itself is genuine.
At Computer Repair Norwich, we can help when browser problems go beyond choosing the right privacy settings. This includes unwanted extensions, browser redirects, fake warnings, suspicious downloads, malware concerns, poor performance and browsers that no longer behave as expected.
Our Virus and Malware Removal Norwich service covers suspicious browser behaviour, unwanted software and possible infections on PCs, laptops and Macs.
If you are unsure whether Tor Browser is suitable for what you are trying to do, or your existing browser is displaying redirects, pop-ups or other unusual behaviour, contact Computer Repair Norwich to arrange an inspection or ask about the most sensible next step.
