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ZDNET's key takeaways
Using the Tor network couldn't be easier.
The free Carburetor app is a one-click affair.
You'll enjoy anonymity and encryption without the fuss.
The Tor network is one of the safest, most reliable ways of adding a strong layer of privacy and protection for your Linux desktop, and everyone should consider using it. Not only does Tor give you anonymity, but it also provides data encryption. Personally, I prefer using Tor over VPNs, because Tor routes your internet traffic through multiple volunteer-operated servers, making it far more difficult to trace.
The problem with Tor is that, to some, it can seem a bit intimidating. Sure, you can opt to use the Tor Browser, but that only protects your web browsing, so it's not global protection on your desktop.
Also: I found the most private and secure way to browse the web -- and it isn't incognito mode
There is, however, a simple app you can use to gain global anonymity/encryption for all of your desktop apps that send data packets beyond your LAN. That app is called Carburetor, and it's only available for Linux.
Once you've installed Carburetor, Tor Network is just a click away.
Let me show you how to install and use Carburetor.
Installing Carburetor
What you'll need: The only thing you'll need for this is a Linux distribution that supports Flatpak apps. If your Linux distribution doesn't have Flatpak installed, you can install it from the standard repositories (such as sudo apt-get install flatpak -y). That's it. Let's get you anonymous.
Also: How to install Linux applications from the command line
1. Open a terminal window Open your favorite terminal window application. Show more
After the installation is completed, you should find the Carburetor launcher in your desktop menu. If it doesn't appear, log out and log back in, and it should be there.
Also: How to simplify Flatpak app installation on the KDE Plasma desktop
2. Install Carburetor As long as Flatpak is installed on your desktop machine, you can install the app with the command: Show more
flatpak install flathub io.frama.tractor.carburetor
Using Carburetor
Using Carburetor is incredibly simple. All you do is click Connect from the app window, and Carburetor will make the Tor network connection. Once the connection is made, you can go to a site like What Is My IP and check to see if you are now anonymous. The IP address and location should be masked.
The Carburetor app gives you one-click access to the Tor network. Jack Wallen/ZDNET
You can also switch countries. To do that, click the hamburger menu at the top of the app and select Preferences. In the preferences window, select your Exit Country from the drop-down and then close the Preferences window. Click New ID, and the new Exit Country should be applied.
Selecting the Netherlands as my Exit Country. Jack Wallen/ZDNET
Go back to What Is My IP, refresh the page, and it should reflect the change.
What Is My IP address shows that Carburetor is working. Jack Wallen/ZDNET
From within Preferences, you can also enable incoming connections (I would strongly suggest against that) and enable the Fascist Firewall Mode, which restricts all connections to ports 80 and 443 (which are HTTP ports). In the Proxy tab, you can change ports for socks, DNS, and HTTP (I'd leave them as the default), and in the Bridges tab, you can configure pluggable transports and bridges (you shouldn't need these options).
And that, my anonymous friends, is how you make using the Tor network on Linux as simple as it gets.
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