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Hi all,

Today I noticed this article on ghacks.net:
http://www.ghacks.net/2010/09/08/advanc ... r-windows/

Advanced TOR is a client for the TOR network and is intended to be an improved alternative for Tor+Vidalia+Privoxy bundle for Windows users.
It is able to "force" a program and its plugins to use the Tor proxy regardless of its configured proxy settings.

http://sourceforge.net/projects/advtor/

I tried it and it works perfectly even behind a firewall.
It is also portable!

Very interesting and a welcome addition - thanks Legobas.

My findings:

Looks portable. There's an option under "System" area of options to "try to write to disk less frequently" which is great.

Far and away more options than PortableTor (http://www.portablefreeware.com/?id=1088), although AdvTor is probably very intimidating to normal users. Wish there was like a basic mode with the "force application to use Tor" tool and that's it.

Despite this, its a really awesome program, anonymizing software that doesn't even have proxy capability. As far as I could tell, it successfully and quickly forced Internet Explorer and the already very security-aware QtWeb browser to work anonymously without changing any settings.

A really great addition to the privacy toolset provided by the Tor network.

not bad, i like it more than portable tor... only thing I couldnt do is turn it off without exiting lol.

So it can be added to the database? It seems a good software..

Tested: Portable

Great how you can select a process to force it to use the Tor network!

guinness wrote:Tested: Portable

Great how you can select a process to force it to use the Tor network!

Oh hell yeah -- this one's going in.

been playing with this a bit more and no problems

I just still cant figure out how to turn it off without exiting it lol. I know I can just uncheck the force program but I want to quit the tor networks but leave advanced tor open for later use. anyone know how to do this?

Posted!

http://www.portablefreeware.com/index.php?id=1958

-.- wrote:I just still cant figure out how to turn it off without exiting it lol.

For a program this powerful with so many options, that is a little surprising.

There is an option to Turn It Off, but unfortunately the program will exit!

Although Advanced TOR has many more features and is more updated than PortableTor (http://www.portablefreeware.com/index.php?id=1088), it does not include "Privoxy," which is something that the TOR homepage recommends (http://www.torproject.org/overview.html.en) when browsing the web.

Advanced TOR users can partly remedy this by running in a "Private Browsing" mode available in an increasing number of browsers.

Advanced Onion Router V0.2.0.11
Suggested by Vektor - on 25 Apr 2011
7MB (uncompressed) - Popularity score (1232/21)
Website - Screenshot - Download - Comments (17) - Post comment - Permalink - Edit

Category: Security - Privacy Tools (37)
Synopsis: Advanced Onion Router (formerly Advanced TOR) enables anonymous connections quickly and easily for applications with or without proxy support usually necessary for the TOR network. AdvOR includes a long list of other tools and features for the TOR network including behaving as a server and blocking outgoing connections, ports, and websites.
Writes settings to: Application folder
How to extract: Download the binary ZIP package and extract to a folder of your choice. Launch AdvOR.exe.

Optionally -- especially for those running the program from flash memory -- go to the "System" menu in options and check "Try to write to disk less frequently"

NOTE: Vector was kind enough to include detailed information about how to use AdvOR with the browser bundle from torproject.org (Firefox) and/or how to make a portable "tor browser" with Opera

License: Various Open Source
System Requirements: Win95 / Win98 / WinME / WinNT / Win2K / WinXP / Win7

You should be able to update the entry yourself. You can use the "Edit" link.

This was a thread developing in the AOR entry comments that I wanted to move to forums. Here's the (trimmed down) conversation:

Hussein: I use JDownloader to download from fileserve, rapidshare, hotfile, filesonic etc. You know, they have very annoying policy with free users such as lengthy waiting and restricted download data and speed. The best way to deal with it is changing IP which AdvTor can do, but they seem to discover that and give error messages like file not found!

ME: the TOR network is set up so that client sites can run a basic script to block TOR users, as not all sites want anonymous visitors. Its likely those sites detect TOR users and restrict them accordingly.

Hussein: I don't understand why Tor gives a chance to web sites to discover anonymous users, then the whole concept of anonymous browsing is meaningless.

ME: Knowing that you are coming from an anonymous network doesn't mean your identity is exposed. Not every website wants anonymous visitors (they frequently cause problems) and the TOR network has to identify itself to avoid legal challenges. I can go into greater detail about this in forums.

Hussein: Yes, webfork. I need more info please.

Simply put, anonymity is easy to abuse. Something I'm fond of quoting is something Phil Zimmerman said in an interview: he didn't know how to give away powerful security tools without the bad guys having access to them as well. A lot of people take just a little anonymity and decide it means that they can say whatever horrible thing they want (spam, abuse, troll, etc.) without any repercussions. As a result, the TOR network is a bit like a river: its difficult to stop the flow, but its easy to seal your site in a water-tight container. Also like a river, its very difficult to know where any individual drop originated from.

By contrast, many botnets exist and offer the ability for criminals and spammers to work without getting blocked by destination sites. As many botnet operators have been prosecuted, TOR must have a method to "opt-out" of its service to avoid legal challenge. However, because political dissidents need TOR and similar tools to access sites like the BBC, CNN, ACLU, Amnesty International, etc. destination sites can also set up a "whitelist" so TOR users so they always have access. Even so, its likely they have a system set up so that posts from the TOR network are flagged right away to filter spam/jerks.

For more information and background, check out the very well-written Abuse FAQ.

Version 0.3.0.16 is out:
https://sourceforge.net/projects/advtor/
http://www.softpedia.com/get/Internet/S ... -TOR.shtml

Also doing a moderator action to combine this thread with the previous naming (Advanced Tor).

webfork wrote: Version 0.3.0.16 is out:
https://sourceforge.net/projects/advtor/
http://www.softpedia.com/get/Internet/S ... -TOR.shtml

Thanks. I have updated the entry.

webfork wrote:Also doing a moderator action to combine this thread with the previous naming (Advanced Tor).

Thanks for that.