CNET Editors' review
Tor Browser Bundle for Mac is a package that installs and manages the Tor project software on your Mac. Tor allows you to hide your identity and prevent IP address-tracking back to your device. The Tor Browser Bundle for Mac comprises a number of files, but it's easy enough to install.
Tor uses a set of servers around the world, most maintained by individuals, that reroute your URL request through two, three, or more different servers in an attempt to make your path from your Mac to the destination URL difficult to track back. Each hop in the Tor network hides your IP address a bit more, and after three hops it is very difficult for the destination device to know where the connection originated from. This effectively hides your IP address. Of course, the problem is the more hops, the longer it takes for traffic to route between the end URL and your machine, so Tor is a slower way of accessing the Internet. The Tor Browser Bundle for Mac is from the Tor project and includes files saying how to set up and use Tor. There's a set of videos on the Tor project Web site to help you get everything working properly, regardless of the browser you ultimately use.
Tor has been around for a while and is a well-used method of hiding your identity and IP address. The Tor Browser Bundle for Mac makes installing Tor on your machine easier. While still a work in progress, the Tor Browser Bundle for Mac is worth installing and using if you value your privacy and want to hide your location from remote sites. While not as friendly as some all-in-one packages available that use Tor, the Tor Browser Bundle for Mac is more versatile.
Tor Browser Bundle - Protect your online privacy - Download Video Previews:Publisher's Description
From The Tor Project:
Tor is free software and an open network that helps you defend against a form of network surveillance that threatens personal freedom and privacy, confidential business activities and relationships, and state security known as traffic analysis. 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 it prevents the sites you visit from learning your physical location. Tor works with many of your existing applications, including web browsers, instant messaging clients, remote login, and other applications based on the TCP protocol. Hundreds of thousands of people around the world use Tor for a wide variety of reasons: journalists and bloggers, human rights workers, law enforcement officers, soldiers, corporations, citizens of repressive regimes, and just ordinary citizens. See the Who Uses Tor? page for examples of typical Tor users. See the overview page for a more detailed explanation of what Tor does, and why this diversity of users is important. Tor doesn't magically encrypt all of your Internet activities, though. You should understand what Tor does and does not do for you. Tor's security improves as its user base grows and as more people volunteer to run relays. (It isn't nearly as hard to set up as you might think, and can significantly enhance your own security.) If running a relay isn't for you, we need help with many other aspects of the project, and we need funds to continue making the Tor network faster and easier to use while maintaining good security.
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All versions:
3.7 starsout of 6 votes
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Current version:
4.0 starsout of 2 votes
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My rating:
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Results 1-2 of 2
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"Works the same as the old browser"
Version: Tor Browser Bundle 2.3.25.4
Pros
I can't tell. As far as I can see it works exactly the same
Cons
Every time you update Tor, it loses all the settings, tabs and bookmarks you had in the previous version.
This is particularly annoying if you've put a lot of time in creating macros and scripts for your download client.
Since the Tor browser is essentially Firefox, it shouldn't be that hard for Tor to have the browser act like the regular Firefox and keep all of it's settings after the update. -
"The link is for 32-bit Tor, but 64-bit also available!"
Version: Tor Browser Bundle 2.3.25.4
Pros
The wonders of the Onion project, Vidalia, and the Tor network all running on Firefox. It is much simpler than it used to be...
Cons
...But this is still fundamentally geekware IMHO if you want to use much more than its anonymity features. The learning curve is kind of rocky.
Summary
NOTE: The 32-bit version is downloaded via the link here. HOWEVER! There is also a 64-bit version! You can choose which of the two versions to download HERE:
https://www.torproject.org/download/download-easy.html.en
There are a lot of terrific things you can do with Tor and the Tor community. Read read read and play play play to learn and figure it all out.
You still have to be careful out there because ratty types like to hang out anonymously too. Be safe at all times. Enjoy your natural right to PRIVACY. Don't let any bozos take it away. Not ever!
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