Tor browser's great - but for more complete privacy protection, you need to add this

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ZDNET's key takeaways

• Tor Browser only protects browser traffic.
• To protect other network traffic, you need Tor.
• Tor is free to use and installable on Linux, MacOS, and Windows.

By now, you've probably heard of the Tor Browser. If not, think of it this way: the Tor Browser is a secure web browser that works with the Tor Network to encrypt and anonymize all traffic. The only catch is that the traffic the Tor Browser works with is limited to the browser.

That means, any other network traffic (email, messaging, etc.) is not encrypted or anonymized. 

If you only use your computer as a means to a web-browsing end, that's perfectly OK. But if you use it for other things that send and receive data over the internet, you might want to consider taking some extra steps to help secure those data packets.

Also: I found the most private and secure way to browse the web -- and it isn't incognito mode

It's not as confusing as you think it is.

In fact, I'm going to show you how to do this on Linux, so if you think that's fairly simple, you know the Windows and MacOS versions will be just as easy.

Disclaimer: I recommend you create a system restore point on your machine. In case something goes wrong, you can roll back to a running instance. Whatever OS you use will dictate how this is done.

Tor vs VPN

You might be asking yourself, Why don't I just use a VPN for this? First, some VPN services only work with web browsers. The big reason, however, is that Tor routes traffic through multiple servers to better anonymize your traffic, while a VPN only routes traffic through a single server. In the end, a VPN might offer a more stable connection, but Tor offers a more secure and private connection.

Installing Tor

What you'll need: To make this work, you'll need a running instance of Linux (I'll demonstrate the process on Ubuntu 24.04) and a user with sudo privileges.

If you're using a different operating system, you can download Tor from the official download page and install it as you would any application on either Windows or MacOS.

Also: Why don't more people use desktop Linux? I have a theory you might not like

Let's do Linux.

sudo apt-get install tor -y

If you're using a Fedora-based distribution, you first have to install EPEL release with the command:

sudo dnf install epel-release -y

You can then install Tor with:

sudo dnf install tor -y

You now need to enable the Tor service with the command:

sudo systemctl enable --now tor

export http_proxy="socks5://localhost:9050"
export https_proxy="socks5://localhost:9050"
export no_proxy="localhost,127.0.0.1,::1"

Jack Wallen/ZDNET

If you want to make that permanent, add the above two lines at the bottom of the bashrc. 

You can then test to make sure this is working with the command:

curl https://check.torproject.org

You should see in the output something like this:

Congratulations. This browser is configured to use Tor.

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Notice the "browser" part of that sentence. That means Tor is working for your browser. How do you make this global? Well, depending on your OS, you probably have a Proxy configuration option in Network Settings. Essentially, when you enable/configure a proxy, it means all traffic is routed through it, and in this case, it's the Tor proxy. For example, Pop!_OS (with COSMIC desktop) allows you to enable and configure the proxy by going to Settings > Network & Wireless >  Wi-fi (or Wired if you're plugged in via ethernet cable) > Known Networks > Menu button > Settings. Click the Method drop-down and select Automatic.

On a Ubuntu machine, that location would be in Settings > Network > Proxy. In that window, select Manual from the Configuration drop-down and then use localhost as the URL.

Configuring a proxy in Ubuntu is quite simple.

Bang & Olufsen

If you're OS offers a Manual option, select that and then use the same addresses from the export commands above.

I would also make sure to configure your web browser to use a Proxy. What browser you use will determine how this is configured, but I would suggest selecting Automatic Proxy (or however your browser defines it), and all should be fine. As well, you can configure any other networkable applications to use your proxy.

Also: Why don't more people use desktop Linux? I have a theory you might not like

If you find an application is failing to work through the Tor proxy, make sure to configure it to use the local proxy.

After taking care of this, your OS should now be routing all traffic through the Tor proxy.

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