Using Tor Browser, VPN, Proxy, DNS Crypt, and Security Software to Protect Your Privacy Online!

It is important to keep your private life from becoming expose since it can be dangerous if someone found your address, phone number, bank statements, personal photos, invention blueprints, unreleased media files,  and other data online. By Using Tor Browser, VPN, Proxy, DNS Crypt, and Security Software, you are less likely to be spied on, or have your information stolen.

Tor stands for The Onion Router, and Tor is used to bounce your encrypted browsing activities around many Tor servers to hide your location, browsing history, and internet connection from outsiders. Tor works with web browsers, instant messaging clients, remote login, and other programs.

Setting up a Tor Browser on your Windows computer is very easy. You first download Tor from https://www.torproject.org/download/download-easy.html.en , and extract it, and run the “Start Tor Browser.exe” program inside the folder, and it would launch Tor Control Panel by Vidalia, and FireFox TorBrowser Portable Web browser to securely browse the web without being spied on by your ISP, websites, and other unknown spy sources.

Tor is also available on Linux, and Mac. You can also use Tor with Orbot to protect your browsing history in Google Android. You also need OrWeb : Private Web Browser to use Orbot and Orweb together to keep browsing private when you are on your phone or tablet running Google Android.

The Tor Web Browser also comes with NoScript, HTTPS Everywhere, and TorButton which would protect your computer security, and privacy even more when enabled.

The default search engine is DuckDuckGo which is an anonymous search engine which does not track your web search history like more popular search engines.

Using Tor Browser is pretty easy. It is similar to using Firefox, and other web browsers since it has a back, forward, address bar, and other features found on most web browsers.

If you want extra protection using a VPN connection along with Tor will increase your privacy and security when you are online. A VPN encrypts both your wireless and wired based internet connection, so spying programs can’t access it to see your data you are sending with the internet unless they hack a VPN which is harder and more time consuming compared to an unprotected VPN program. If you have access to a wireless router control panel page, I recommend you set your password encryption to WPA2, and use a long password with lowercase, uppercase, numbers, symbols, and numbers in the wifi password. Hotspot Shield provides a free and paid VPN connection for protecting your internet connection online. Hotspot Shield is available for free for Windows, Mac, Android, Apple iOS, and other operating systems, but the free version has ads until you pay for the full version, or use the 7 day free trial.

Both a VPN, and Tor can unblock blocked websites at school, work, and home. A proxy website like http://www.hidemyass.com/ can also unblock sites, and keep your browsing history private even when you are using a regular non-Tor browser, but using a Proxy site with a Tor Browser and VPN connection will make browsing more secure and private.

I also recommend DNS Crypt by Open DNS which encrypts your online DNS traffic to avoid spying from outsiders, and prevent malware and phishing attacks. DNS Crypt also can change your DNS server to Open DNS which is more secure, faster, and more reliablie than most DNS servers. This means your internet is faster, more secure, faster, and more reliable. DNS Crypt OpenDNS installer is available for Windows, and Mac computers, and you can install it on Linux via the Command prompt terminal.

It is also important to secure your computer, and devices from malware, spyware, and virus to keep them secure.

If you use Windows, I recommend BitDefender Total Security 2013 which has an Antivirus, Antispyware, Antimalware, Firewall, parental control, secure web browser, file encryption for password protecting your files and folders, anti-phishing, vulnerability scanner, and many other programs to keep Windows running securely. Plus, it is also very lightweight, so it does not slow down your PC like other PCs. Bitdefender will keep your computer safe, and prevent your data from leaking out or taken away from your PC since it has a 2 way firewall which protects your data from leaving your computer, and hackers from stealing your data.

ClamXAV is a free antivirus for Mac OS X computers which protects your Mac from most viruses and malware for Mac.

Lookout Security & Antivirus for Google Android is designed to keep your Android phone, and tablet safe from virus, spyware, and malware. Before you install Apps on Android, I recommend you read the permissions before downloading them, so you know what apps can do, and can’t do on your device.

Tails OS which is based on Linux is the most private and secure operating system for computers because it uses the Internet anonymously with Tor network. It also comes bundle with tools which encrypt your files, email and instant messaging.

Tails is a live DVD or live USB Linux Operating system that preserves your privacy and anonymity online!

If you have files, and folders you want to password protect,  TrueCrypt is a program which can password protect your files, and folder with a password, or key file to keep people from viewing your files even if they steal them from your computer, e-mails, and online accounts like DropBox, Google Drive, and Box.net. TrueCrypt is available for Windows, Mac, and Linux.

Some versions of Windows like Windows 8 Pro, Windows 7 Pro, etc also has drive encryption to encrypt your entire hard drive when you install Windows.  Mac OS X uses File Vault 2 to keep all your data on a drive safe.  Many versions of Linux like Ubuntu let you chooses encrypt your entire hard drive when installing Linux.

Autologin can also be dangerous since people can access your program and files after someone turn on your PC, so I recommend making a password to password protect your user account in Windows, Mac, and Linux.

Cleaning your web browser history can keep other people who use your computer from seeing what websites you visit. I recommend CCleaner which cleans all your web browser history, computer temp files,  recently opened file history, and more at once. It also has a freespace wiper to overwrite previously deleted files on your hard drive’s free space to prevent someone from recovering your deleted files with data recovery files as easily.

Eraser is also a popular program for deleting and overwriting files, and free space, so deleted data is harder to recover with data recovery software.

By using Tor, a VPN connection, proxy, DNS Crypt, and security software on your computer, your internet browsing should be very private, and secure from spyware, hackers, and snoops.