I got a great app to suggest!
How about Tor Browser? It's free and open source. It allows one to browse the web anonymously, but with a twist: It is not affected by web filters.
What do you guys think? I think it would be a great new app.
New: Kanri (Oct 9, '24), Platform 29.5.3 (Jun 27, '24)
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since the browser is the same as the firefox from his site and all the rest is selfcontained and is made for non installation and portable use.
many of use it, as tor use has an impact on speed, this is sometimes not so smooth surfing, but this is simply the system of the tor.
Otto Sykora
Basel, Switzerland
I noticed Tor Browser uses the browser from PortableApps.com.
Is there a way to use my existing FirefoxPortable?
Is it that all the configuration is done inside the "Start Tor Browser" executable? (meaning starting the browser after the Tor clients are all loaded, then shutting down all the clients after the browser is closed)
Can this be done?
same browser used, thought it is renamed , but that does not matter for the functionality.
Yes you can use your own browser, but this is little bit more work. The launcher does start the tor, the vidalia, the proxy and then the browser. You can in fact rename the name of the browser in the startup scripts, but the browser has to be placed in the path the tor launcher wants it. In other words, you can not have the Firefox in the usual place and run the tor launcher on it. The launcher expects all to be the way it is delivered. However you can complete the browser with any extensions etc you like, so it will behave like normal browser you are used to. And you can switch off the tor function any time.
One day, I did copy in my current version of Firefox portable, then renamed it so it did match the name in the launcher and all did work fine except for some extensions which did not survive the 'move' action and had to be reinstalled again.
Otto Sykora
Basel, Switzerland
http://www.eviltux.de/fs_ete.php
yea s grat and use it many years, now only avaible are german and dutch version.
Or you can compile a launcher that opens your Firefox, and put the launcher where Tor expect his Firefox.
The version of Firefox Portable that's packaged with TOR is exactly what is made here, except that the profile includes extensions and Proxy settings to use the proxy that is included with it (TOR via Vidalia). thus you can make it launch your browser, but you would have to set your browser to use Vidalia or it wouldn't use TOR, and thus would be no different than simply running Firefox Portable.
~3D1T0R
Seems like it is best to just have the extra browser then. Was trying to cut down on another browser on my drive. Would be nice if they just added the necessary extensions and settings to the existing browser. Then toggle it off and on using the Tor Button. If started from the "Start Tor Browser" executable, then it would enable the Tor Button switching on the proxy.
think about the devs at tor.org
How do they know where is your browser and which browser do you mean if you have number of them somewhere?
Clear rules have to be set and maintained. Otherwise you have to start using something like windows registry to check where all your components are located, but this again not all people incl the 'portables' do not like too much.
And the whole thing is not only few extensions, but also separate software and libs which have to be placed in some defined position. Tor is not an extension, it is full network subsystem with its dedicated proxy and this all has to work together.
Otto Sykora
Basel, Switzerland
I don't disagree with you. You made some really valid points.
I know what TOR is. I ran an exit node for over ten years until I started getting complaint letters from websites and my own ISP.
I was hoping there was a way to configure it to find and use my existing FirefoxPortable and keep the automatic starting and stoping of services. I realize I could configure it all manually, but the TOR, Vidalia bundle wants to use the local %APPDATA% directories.
Anyway all of you all have made some really good points. I'll keep the extra browser. Kinda simple with only the few extensions. My existing browser has over forty extensions which could circumvent the whole privacy issue.
hmm, what did they to complain about? I am running regularly relay, thought on linux only. Did not get any complaints so far, but who knows...
Yes the vidalia bundle needs this and that, the complete manual installation and operation of tor is otherwise somewhat complex, so for the simple use of it I use theis torbrowser bundle.
On linux, well different story, there the installtion is real, but the vidalia refused operate the privoxy, I managed to operate there the polipo only. But it works. My connection is too slow , so I will be found on the end of the list anyway only.
Otto Sykora
Basel, Switzerland
Sorry for the long delay in response.
The web admins kept banning my ipaddress due to abuse from users in online chat rooms.I guess some were using the TOR network to attack other users while my exit node was setup. They would temporary block the ipaddress before sending a letter informing me that they would permanently ban my ip.
I was lucky so far.
But somehow I was not clear how one distinguish between the exit node and generic relay. I mean the tor it self should decide when and where the payload should be left out of the tor net, so actually it should be one time here and one time there, not reproducible drop out from the same node for longer time. OK, the last ip can be seen as origin, but it should change randomly.
But if they did try to run some heavy stream in one go, then the nodes might not switch over so fast, this could be the reason.
OK, my upload speed is so slow, that such attack can not make much fun via my node, so difficult to misuse probably.
Otto Sykora
Basel, Switzerland
These streaming chat services ban all TOR ipaddress. I think they go and download a database of all registered exit nodes.
An exit node can be seen. It's the entry point to their servers and your exit from the TOR network onto the internet so it's what they see. Once I told them I was running a TOR exit node I never got another letter from that WebAdmin. I think EFF has a stock letter of response you can use.
you can find Tor browser here and it can be installed in PortableApps.com Platform
https://www.torproject.org/projects/torbrowser.html.en
with tor is not posible fast surfing, i find 3 fast rusian proxys and work more then 6month wihh them
since the traffic is routed via number of nodes, some of them can be slow some fast. I run also relay sometimes, but y upload speed is very slow, so if traffic passing via my old laptop, then it will be slow.
TOR is not just a single proxy, it is a chain of relays exchanging traffic encrypted, so use of a single proxy and tor are two entirely different matters.
The idea of tor, is to anonymize your traffic in firs place, this is not given by using a proxy.
Otto Sykora
Basel, Switzerland
I setup my exit node because a journalist friend said they needed more servers. I ran it for years on Solaris Unix boxes.
i installed the portable apps platform on the 18th may, about 10 mins ago lol
i then downloaded the tor browser bundle and set the install directory to F:\PortableApps
with my usb pen drive as Drive f
restarted portableapps, (it might have been there before) and it was in the list? i think the platform just lists any EXE in the portableapps folder
I didn't loose my mind, I just sold it on ebay
Portable Tor Browser works perfect.. It seems they based on portableapps.com format. Why we don't support it officially? I know it is already portable but we can get the updates automatically if you will support it.
Thank you
The Firefox portable component was Firefox Portable from here but with the splash screen turned off. It was uncredited on their site, installer and app unless you delved into the internal directories, though. Last I heard, they were using Firefox trademarks without permission from Mozilla. I'm unsure if that has changed.
Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!
"The Firefox portable component was Firefox Portable from here but with the splash screen turned off."
That is better I think..
"It was uncredited on their site, installer and app unless you delved into the internal directories, though."
Should we ask them about that?
"Last I heard, they were using Firefox trademarks without permission from Mozilla. I'm unsure if that has changed."
How we can learn the last news about this?
We heard many thinks about IronBrowser too (even discussed on this forums), but we still support it.
It would be really nice to see a Tor Browser which based on open source Firefox project. Unless we need to install apps on operation system because I could not found any way to use Tor as portable.
The last word I heard from Tor is that they were "working on" getting permission from Mozilla (meaning they were distributing it illegally but Mozilla hadn't asked them to stop). I think there was talk about recompiling to get around it but they didn't have the resources. I'm not sure where they are now.
The only things said about Iron browser was that people didn't like what they were doing. They weren't violating licenses or trademarks. They were shipping Chrome without any Google tracking stuff and with a new name.
One big issue is if we distribute Tor from here, PortableApps.com gets fully blocked in all of China and several other countries.
Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!
It is very difficult to understand why Mozilla does not give permission to fork the Firefox project. Bad...
Anyway... There are some projects on this site. As example: https://portableapps.com/node/12372
These projects are flagged as 'development' (even not BETA) projects. So if PortablePlatformMenu will include for developers to install/update module for development progress applications, China and several other countries will block us?
Mozilla has *always* given permission to fork and clone. Always. What they don't allow is people to use the Firefox trademark, trading on their hard work to try and gain fame and fortune.
Yes, if we officially release a Tor client/browser/IM, our entire site as well as the platform's updater and app store will be blocked in China and other countries. Just as the entire Tor site is blocked in China and other countries.
Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!
Laws are really crazy.
They don't block this site which has many projects (as unofficial development projects) like this: https://portableapps.com/node/12372
But they will block us, if we will have on PortableAppMenu an option for developers to download automatically updates from this: https://portableapps.com/node/12372
(or we can start the PortableAppMenu with a -dev paramter or something..)
Nothing to say