Tor Browser 4.5 is released

by mikeperry | April 28, 2015

The Tor Browser Team is proud to announce the first stable release in the 4.5 series. This release is available from the Tor Browser Project page and also from our distribution directory.

The 4.5 series provides significant usability, security, and privacy enhancements over the 4.0 series. Because these changes are significant, we will be delaying the automatic update of 4.0 users to the 4.5 series for one week.

Usability Improvements


On the usability front, we've improved the application launch experience for both Windows and Linux users. During install, Windows users are now given the choice to add Tor Browser to the Start Menu/Applications view, which should make it easier to find and launch. This choice is on by default, but can be disabled, and only affects the creation of shortcuts - the actual Tor Browser is still self-contained as a portable app folder. On the Linux side, users now start Tor Browser through a new wrapper that enables launching from the File Manager, the Desktop, or the Applications menu. The same wrapper can also be used from the command line.

We've also simplified the Tor menu (the green onion) and the associated configuration windows. The menu now provides information about the current Tor Circuit in use for a page, and also provides an option to request a new Tor Circuit for a site. Tor Browser is also much better at handling Tor Circuits in general: while a site remains in active use, all associated requests will continue to be performed over the same Tor Circuit. This means that sites should no longer suddenly change languages, behaviors, or log you out while you are using them.


Figure 1: The new Tor Onion Menu


Security Improvements


On the security front, the most exciting news is the new Security Slider. The Security Slider provides user-friendly vulnerability surface reduction - as the security level is increased, browser features that were shown to have a high historical vulnerability count in the iSec Partners hardening study are progressively disabled. This feature is available from the Tor onion menu's "Privacy and Security Settings" choice.


Figure 2: The new Security Slider

Our Windows packages are now signed with a hardware signing token graciously donated by DigiCert. This means that Windows users should no longer be prompted about Tor Browser coming from an unknown source. Additionally, our automatic updates are now individually signed with an offline signing key. In both cases, these signatures can be reproducibly removed, so that builders can continue to verify that the packages they produce match the official build binaries.

The 4.5 series also features a rewrite of the obfs2, obfs3, and ScrambleSuit transports in GoLang, as well as the introduction of the new obfs4 transport. The obfs4 transport provides additional DPI and probing resistance features which prevent automated scanning for Tor bridges. As long as they are not discovered via other mechanisms, fresh obfs4 bridge addresses will work in China today. Additionally, barring new attacks, private obfs4 addresses should continue to work indefinitely.


Privacy Improvements


On the privacy front, the 4.5 series improves on our pre-existing first party isolation implementation to prevent third party tracking. First party isolation provides the property that third party advertisements, like buttons, and "mashup" content that is included on one site will only know about your activity on that site, and will not be able to match it to your activity while you are on any other site. In other words, with first party isolation, Facebook, Twitter, and Google+ can't track you around the entire web using their infamous like buttons.

Specifically, in the 4.5 release, we now ensure that blob: URIs are scoped to the URL bar domain that created them, and the SharedWorker API has been disabled to prevent cross-site and third party communication. We also now make full use of Tor's circuit isolation to ensure that all requests for any third party content included by a site travel down the same Tor Circuit. This isolation also ensures that requests to the same third party site actually use separate Tor Circuits when the URL bar domain is different. This request isolation is enforced even when long-lived "HTTP Keep-Alive" connections are used.

We have also improved our resolution and locale fingerprinting defenses, and we now disable the device sensor and video statistics APIs.

New Search Provider


Our default search provider has also been changed to Disconnect. Disconnect provides private Google search results to Tor users without Captchas or bans.

Full Changelogs


Here is the complete list of changes in the 4.5 series since 4.0:

  • All Platforms
    • Update Tor to 0.2.6.7 with additional patches:
      • Bug 15482: Reset timestamp_dirty each time a SOCKSAuth circuit is used
    • Update NoScript to 2.6.9.22
    • Update HTTPS-Everywhere to 5.0.3
      • Bug 15689: Resume building HTTPS-Everywhere from git tags
    • Update meek to 0.17
    • Include obfs4proxy 0.0.5
      • Use obfs4proxy for obfs2, obfs3, obfs4, and ScrambleSuit bridges
    • Pluggable Transport Dependency Updates:
      • Bug 15265: Switch go.net repo to golang.org/x/net
      • Bug 15448: Use golang 1.4.2 for meek and obs4proxy
    • Update Tor Launcher to 0.2.7.4. Changes since 0.2.7.0.2 in 4.0.8:
      • Bug 11879: Stop bootstrap if Cancel or Open Settings is clicked
      • Bug 13271: Display Bridge Configuration wizard pane before Proxy pane
      • Bug 13576: Don't strip "bridge" from the middle of bridge lines
      • Bug 13983: Directory search path fix for Tor Messanger+TorBirdy
      • Bug 14122: Hide logo if TOR_HIDE_BROWSER_LOGO set
      • Bug 14336: Fix navigation button display issues on some wizard panes
      • Bug 15657: Display the host:port of any connection faiures in bootstrap
      • Bug 15704: Do not enable network if wizard is opened
    • Update Torbutton to 1.9.2.2. Changes since 1.7.0.2 in 4.0.8:
      • Bug 3455: Use SOCKS user+pass to isolate all requests from the same url domain
      • Bug 5698: Use "Tor Browser" branding in "About Tor Browser" dialog
      • Bug 7255: Warn users about maximizing windows
      • Bug 8400: Prompt for restart if disk records are enabled/disabled.
      • Bug 8641: Create browser UI to indicate current tab's Tor circuit IPs
        • (Many Circuit UI issues were fixed during 4.5; see release changelogs for those).
        • Bug 13651: Prevent circuit-status related UI hang.
        • Bug 13666: Various circuit status UI fixes
        • Bug 13671: Make bridges visible on circuit display
        • Bug 13672: Make circuit display optional
        • Bug 13881: Localize strings for tor circuit display
        • Bug 13882: Fix display of bridges after bridge settings have been changed
        • Bugs 13891+15207: Fix exceptions/errors in circuit display with bridges
        • Bug 14324: Show HS circuit in Tor circuit display
        • Bug 14866: Show correct circuit when more than one exists for a given domain
        • Bug 14937: Show meek and flashproxy bridges in tor circuit display
        • Bug 15086: Handle RTL text in Tor circuit display
        • Bug 15472: Make node text black in circuit status UI
        • Bug 15510: Close Tor Circuit UI control port connections on New Identity

        -->

    • Bug 9387: Security Slider 1.0
      • Include descriptions and tooltip hints for security levels
      • Notify users that the security slider exists
      • Make use of new SVG, jar, and MathML prefs
    • Bug 9442: Add New Circuit button to Torbutton menu
    • Bug 9906: Warn users before closing all windows and performing new identity.
    • Bug 10216: Add a pref to disable the local tor control port test
    • Bug 10280: Strings and pref for preventing plugin initialization.
    • Bug 11175: Remove "About Torbutton" from onion menu.
    • Bug 11236: Don't set omnibox order in Torbutton (to prevent translation)
    • Bug 11449: Fix new identity error if NoScript is not enabled
    • Bug 13019: Change locale spoofing pref to boolean
    • Bug 13079: Option to skip control port verification
    • Bug 13406: Stop directing users to download-easy.html.en on update
    • Bug 13650: Clip initial window height to 1000px
    • Bugs 13751+13900: Remove SafeCache cache isolation code in favor of C++ patch
    • Bug 13766: Set a 10 minute circuit lifespan for non-content requests
    • Bug 13835: Option to change default Tor Browser homepage
    • Bug 13998: Handle changes in NoScript 2.6.9.8+
    • Bug 14100: Option to hide NetworkSettings menuitem
    • Bug 14392: Don't steal input focus in about:tor search box
    • Bug 14429: Provide automatic window resizing, but disable for now
    • Bug 14448: Restore Torbutton menu operation on non-English localizations
    • Bug 14490: Use Disconnect search in about:tor search box
    • Bug 14630: Hide Torbutton's proxy settings tab.
    • Bug 14631: Improve profile access error msgs (strings for translation).
    • Bugs 14632+15334: Display Cookie Protections only if disk records are enabled
    • Bug 15085: Fix about:tor RTL text alignment problems
    • Bug 15460: Ensure FTP urls use content-window circuit isolation
    • Bug 15502: Wipe blob: URIs on New Identity
    • Bug 15533: Restore default security level when restoring defaults
    • Bug 15562: Bind SharedWorkers to thirdparty pref
  • Bug 3455: Patch Firefox SOCKS and proxy filters to allow user+pass isolation
  • Bug 4100: Raise HTTP Keep-Alive back to 115 second default
  • Bug 5698: Fix branding in "About Torbrowser" window
  • Bug 10280: Don't load any plugins into the address space by default
  • Bug 11236: Fix omnibox order for non-English builds
    • Also remove Amazon, eBay and bing; add Youtube and Twitter
  • Bug 11955: Backport HTTPS Certificate Pinning patches from Firefox 32
  • Bug 12430: Provide a preference to disable remote jar: urls
  • Bugs 12827+15794: Create preference to disable SVG images (for security slider)
  • Bug 13019: Prevent Javascript from leaking system locale
  • Bug 13379: Sign our MAR update files
  • Bug 13439: No canvas prompt for content callers
  • Bug 13548: Create preference to disable MathML (for security slider)
  • Bug 13586: Make meek use TLS session tickets (to look like stock Firefox).
  • Bug 13684: Backport Mozilla bug #1066190 (pinning issue fixed in Firefox 33)
  • Bug 13788: Fix broken meek in 4.5-alpha series
  • Bug 13875: Spoof window.devicePixelRatio to avoid DPI fingerprinting
  • Bug 13900: Remove 3rd party HTTP auth tokens via Firefox patch
  • Bug 14392: Make about:tor hide itself from the URL bar
  • Bug 14490: Make Disconnect the default omnibox search engine
  • Bug 14631: Improve startup error messages for filesystem permissions issues
  • Bugs 14716+13254: Fix issues with HTTP Auth usage and TLS connection info display
  • Bug 14937: Hard-code meek and flashproxy node fingerprints
  • Bug 15029: Don't prompt to include missing plugins
  • Bug 15406: Only include addons in incremental updates if they actually update
  • Bug 15411: Remove old (and unused) cacheDomain cache isolation mechanism
  • Bug 15502: Isolate blob: URI scope to URL domain; block WebWorker access
  • Bug 15562: Disable Javascript SharedWorkers due to third party tracking
  • Bug 15757: Disable Mozilla video statistics API extensions
  • Bug 15758: Disable Device Sensor APIs

  • Linux

    • Bug 12468: Only print/write log messages if launched with --debug
    • Bug 13375: Create a hybrid GUI/desktop/shell launcher wrapper
    • Bug 13717: Make sure we use the bash shell on Linux
    • Bug 15672: Provide desktop app registration+unregistration for Linux
    • Bug 15747: Improve start-tor-browser argument handling

  • Windows

    • Bug 3861: Begin signing Tor Browser for Windows the Windows way
    • Bug 10761: Fix instances of shutdown crashes
    • Bug 13169: Don't use /dev/random on Windows for SSP
    • Bug 14688: Create shortcuts to desktop and start menu by default (optional)
    • Bug 15201: Disable 'runas Administrator' codepaths in updater
    • Bug 15539: Make installer exe signatures reproducibly removable

  • Mac

    • Bug 10138: Switch to 64bit builds for MacOS

    Here is the list of changes since the last 4.5 alpha (4.5a5):

    • All Platforms
      • Update Tor to 0.2.6.7 with additional patches:
        • Bug 15482: Reset timestamp_dirty each time a SOCKSAuth circuit is used
      • Update NoScript to 2.6.9.22
      • Update HTTPS-Everywhere to 5.0.3
        • Bug 15689: Resume building HTTPS-Everywhere from git tags
      • Update meek to 0.17
      • Update obfs4proxy to 0.0.5
      • Update Tor Launcher to 0.2.7.4
        • Bug 15704: Do not enable network if wizard is opened
        • Bug 11879: Stop bootstrap if Cancel or Open Settings is clicked
        • Bug 13576: Don't strip "bridge" from the middle of bridge lines
        • Bug 15657: Display the host:port of any connection faiures in bootstrap
      • Update Torbutton to 1.9.2.2
        • Bug 15562: Bind SharedWorkers to thirdparty pref
        • Bug 15533: Restore default security level when restoring defaults
        • Bug 15510: Close Tor Circuit UI control port connections on New Identity
        • Bug 15472: Make node text black in circuit status UI
        • Bug 15502: Wipe blob URIs on New Identity
        • Bug 15795: Some security slider prefs do not trigger custom checkbox
        • Bug 14429: Disable automatic window resizing for now
      • Bug 4100: Raise HTTP Keep-Alive back to 115 second default
      • Bug 13875: Spoof window.devicePixelRatio to avoid DPI fingerprinting
      • Bug 15411: Remove old (and unused) cacheDomain cache isolation mechanism
      • Bugs 14716+13254: Fix issues with HTTP Auth usage and TLS connection info display
      • Bug 15502: Isolate blob URI scope to URL domain; block WebWorker access
      • Bug 15794: Crash on some pages with SVG images if SVG is disabled
      • Bug 15562: Disable Javascript SharedWorkers due to third party tracking
      • Bug 15757: Disable Mozilla video statistics API extensions
      • Bug 15758: Disable Device Sensor APIs
    • Linux
      • Bug 15747: Improve start-tor-browser argument handling
      • Bug 15672: Provide desktop app registration+unregistration for Linux
    • Windows
      • Bug 15539: Make installer exe signatures reproducibly removable
      • Bug 10761: Fix instances of shutdown crashes

    Post update 4/28/2015: Provide screenshots of the Tor Onion menu and Security Slider.
    Post update 4/28/2015: Add section headers.

  • Comments

    Please note that the comment area below has been archived.

    April 28, 2015

    Permalink

    ░░░░░░░░▌▒█░░░░░░░░░░░▄▀▒▌ Wow new version
    ░░░░░░░░▌▒▒█░░░░░░░░▄▀▒▒▒▐
    ░░░░░░░▐▄▀▒▒▀▀▀▀▄▄▄▀▒▒▒▒▒▐
    ░░░░░▄▄▀▒░▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒█▒▒▄█▒▐ Much changed
    ░░░▄▀▒▒▒░░░▒▒▒░░░▒▒▒▀██▀▒▌
    ░░▐▒▒▒▄▄▒▒▒▒░░░▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▀▄▒▒▌ Such secure
    ░░▌░░▌█▀▒▒▒▒▒▄▀█▄▒▒▒▒▒▒▒█▒▐
    ░▐░░░▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▌██▀▒▒░░░▒▒▒▀▄▌ Very good job
    ░▌░▒▄██▄▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒░░░░░░▒▒▒▒▌
    ▀▒▀▐▄█▄█▌▄░▀▒▒░░░░░░░░░░▒▒▒▐
    ▐▒▒▐▀▐▀▒░▄▄▒▄▒▒▒▒▒▒░▒░▒░▒▒▒▒▌
    ▐▒▒▒▀▀▄▄▒▒▒▄▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒░▒░▒░▒▒▐

    May 30, 2015

    In reply to by Anonymous (not verified)

    Permalink

    the Enable/Disable Rules does not appear immediately and you get exposed to trackers because of it. Can you make it a lot easier to do stop all of them from tracking? its on the HTTPS everywhere part but for some reason it does not show the option (to edit the enable/disable rules) without being exposed.

    April 28, 2015

    In reply to gk

    Permalink

    Interesting. The problem seems to have gone away when I tested it again. I think the key is to do what you suggested: reload the page or go to a different one.

    April 28, 2015

    In reply to gk

    Permalink

    Same person again. I posted earlier that reloading seemed to have solved the issue. However, I still think it's bad that the UI doesn't change immediately to reflect the newly-set security settings.

    April 28, 2015

    Permalink

    I love it EXCEPT one thing: the fact that there's no "Never show me this again" option for the warning when resizing the window.

    For users who already know and understand the risk of resizing the window, this is very annoying.

    Even those who don't yet know the risk will get the picture!

    You only get it shown three times which seemed to be a good trade-off between making sure that users don't get annoyed and making sure that they really notice things and don't just click it away.

    April 29, 2015

    In reply to gk

    Permalink

    I'm not OP but why continue to force resizing full windows after three warnings? Couldn't full screen be an exception even when non-full screen sizes are getting resized

    I use TOR on three different devices- with three different monitor sizes.

    When the windows open I check the screen size on each with ip-check and https://arthuredelstein.github.io/tordemos/media-query-fingerprint.html.

    In all three cases (despite the greatly differing monitor sizes) the window/screen size is always shown as 1000 x X00.

    Can I change the screen size to make better use of the available area of the relevant monitor, as long as I increase either value in increments of 100, without compromising anonymity?

    Thanks for any information.

    April 28, 2015

    Permalink

    'Uh oh, spaghettios!

    There currently aren't any bridges available... Perhaps you should try going back and choosing a different bridge type!'

    I did and the result was the same. Great update but there are NO BRIDGES. NONE, LIKE 0. How can people such as myself who live in censored countries use Tor?

    Please someone add bridges obfs3,obfs4, scramblesuit or fteproxy, PLEASE. Keep up the good work and much appreciated in advance.

    April 29, 2015

    In reply to gk

    Permalink

    Hi. Thanks for reply. Having still trouble through https://bridges.torproject.org to obtain any kind of bridges. I need the initial connection to be through bridges not connecting to Tor at all (safety reasons). Everything was working perfect until this update, and now there are no bridges listed and I need them. Any ideas? Cheers.

    April 28, 2015

    Permalink

    What prompted the change in search engine? Are we now getting paid to include disconnect as the default search engine?

    We don't get paid for that as it currently stands. But Startpage was not happy with our traffic and showed sometimes CAPTCHAs. Disconnect on the other hand approached us with respect to search engine traffic and donated some money.

    April 28, 2015

    In reply to gk

    Permalink

    I'm very happy with the change, I personally hate the results I get from StartPage. Disconnect results are much better.

    Hello.
    I sometimes use startpage, sometimes use duckduckgo. DDG is the default a they don't show captchas. Also, they offer a hidden service to search the web, which I think could be used as the default.
    I don't know how good or bad Disconnect is, but if they offered to support the traffic and donated money it might be worth it :)
    What about having the hidden service of ddg as the default? Bad idea? Why?

    DDG search results are pretty worthless IMO. Disconnect is much better in terms of search results. I don't think simply offering a HS should mean DDG is the default, rather, good search results should be the deciding factor.

    And has anyone asked Disconnect to run a HS? They may be willing.

    Disconect.me "approached [...]" and "offered money". Is there a free lunch? There must be some trade off (NSA wants to see more Tor traffic again?)

    As for StartPage sometimes showing CAPTCHAS... Have you seen it a lot? It doesn't happen often, in my experience. And if it happens, perhaps the traffic originates from such IP sources that it is a reasonable measure?

    Mmmm...

    May 07, 2015

    In reply to gk

    Permalink

    The change of search engine made me scratch my head.
    1. they tell nothing about them self, for example (server location)
    2. they do not explain how they do protect their users (are there any logs?)
    3. this made me question their relationship with google, since google
    aren't exactly known for protecting their users privacy, rather the opposite.
    (there we use another search engine then google)

    but beside these questions i got in my head. GREAT JOB!
    love the circuit, design & security settings.

    well done guys, donations will come! keep up the good work!

    April 28, 2015

    Permalink

    Is it safe to install adblock plus or adblock edge to this version of the tor browser or will it break something and screw me over?

    Tor's standard advice on extra add-ons as I understand it:

    1. Add-ons may introduce privacy leaks

    2. Even if an add-on is perfectly written and tested to avoid leaks, its effect of selective blocking of web resources from your browsing can help fingerprint you

    Regarding (1), the add-ons you mention, Add-Blocks Plus/Edge are written primarily to prevent annoyance of ads. Some privacy may be a partial side effect. The opposite are add-ons to Firefox like Request Policy or the EFF's Privacy Badger (and Tor's included NoScript) which are primarily privacy tools that have a side-effect of blocking many ads.

    Even so, there is one other point in favor of not blocking ads: prevent even more websites from hating Tor users due to not giving them revenue in ads. We already have enough problems with cloudflare as it is.
    On the other hand, if ads are considered an intrusive and faulty part of web browsing, maybe Tor Browser should block them (not just the tracking part, actually prevent them from showing). TAILS has it I think.

    Maybe have adblock incorporated into the security slider? As in the top maximum security we could also block ads?

    I like your idea about blocking ads in the security slider. And another point worth looking into is page rendering speed increases that may come with preventing ads from loading.

    Feel free to donate to those sites, I'm not stopping you, but I don't like those parasitic ads or services. If I want to see ads, i'll go watch a NFL game. And don't blame adblock for websites hating Tor, they hate it even without adblock because the mined data is worthless to them. Tor and ad services are mutually exclusive.

    April 28, 2015

    In reply to gk

    Permalink

    thank you

    April 28, 2015

    Permalink

    Just to confirm I'm reading correctly: The 4.5 series' automatic updater will now have two forms of automatic update protection: HTTPS and verified MAR files? So even if the HTTPS is somehow broken the updater will check that the MAR is properly signed and reject imposter updates?

    April 28, 2015

    Permalink

    sha256.txt (from https://dist.torproject.org/torbrowser) says:
    d8b31cea99a3497f4630a922b4985505bbcb851190de02a2a500fab4193354c6 torbrowser-install-4.5_en-US.exe

    my downloads from dist and download/download-easy.html.en
    checked with hashmyfiles:
    a3219f359bf3f04056a1c8796d103d1bc2e0bd24f181538f70564b3d19532c3a torbrowser-install-4.5_en-US.exe

    gpg says 'Good Signature'

    Anyone has any ideas why this is happening? I have the same problem. Should I go ahead and use the file that i just downloaded, not caring about the mismatch of the signatures?

    April 29, 2015

    In reply to gk

    Permalink

    but the documentation doesn't help

    on windows remove the signature with delcert.exe f.e.
    then compare the hashes

    April 28, 2015

    Permalink

    Where did the proxy settings tab go?

    Where are the settings at?

    Is there a different SOCKS Host number and Port now?

    Is it still SOCKS 5 or something different?

    Thank You:)

    That tab is hidden now because it was quite confusing and cluttered the user interface unnecessarily. The settings are not changed compared to previous Tor Browser versions.

    April 28, 2015

    Permalink

    Is [redacted] the default entry (guard) relay? [redacted] based IP. Just it always seems to enter Tor thru this IP. Is this by design?

    That is your "Guard" node. It is by design. See https://www.torproject.org/docs/faq.html.en#EntryGuards.

    You should not post that IP publicly, because knowing that IP gives an adversary a lot of ways to deanonymize you. I set a bad example by doing it in the screenshot, but I didn't want to confuse people with a weirdly redacted IP. The IP from the screenshot is not my normal Guard node, however. I would never publish my real Guard like that.

    I redacted your Guard IP for you.

    April 30, 2015

    In reply to mikeperry

    Permalink

    is deleting tor's state file the best (or only?) way to force it to pick a new guard?

    I would like to be able to manually add and remove nodes from my guard list without restarting tor and breaking all of my open circuits, via a control port interface, but I haven't found a way to.

    April 28, 2015

    Permalink

    Norton anti virus flags the download saying that it is probably a virus. (Not looking for a debate about anti virus software, just thought someone should probably be made aware of this.)

    May 01, 2015

    In reply to mikeperry

    Permalink

    Yeah, nice illustration about the available Mac knowledge on older Mac's.

    "not working on macpro"

    Assuming that you're talking about an older Mac (not the Black Mac Pro).
    All Intel Mac's with the right Mac OS X can run 64 bit applications, even the so called 32 bit early 2006 "Core Duo" Mac's (Macbooks for example) can run Firefox in 64 bit mode perfectly well (but not 'clone' Torbrowser).

    The alternative advertised (nice illustration of Mac knowledge again), running Tails from USB for example is far from a user-friendly experience : who did get it actually get it to work? I didn't.
    I'm really interested in who did on these Mac's (and which usb brands).
    I know there must be a lot of people that have this dropped support problem, there still must be a lot of Mac's from that period running. Probably even more in places where people cannot afford newer machines.
    Is this a Tails discussion? No actually not because it was advised as an alternative by Torproject. An alternative that is in my opinion not an alternative because it ain't working.

    Anyhow, this dropping Mac support discussion is a lost discussion, sad but true.

    On a Quad Core (or More Core) Mac Pro you can easily run Torbrowser and also Tails (at least from dvd) as well.
    Please make sure you run at least OS X 10.6 on your Intel Mac anyway.
    From different perspectives, functionality, 3rd party application support and security reasons this is the minimal OS X you should run on that or any Intel Mac.

    The advantage you get is that it will use the 64 bit possibilities and will give you a faster running Mac as well, even on a early 2006 Core Duo Mac.

    So, could it be that you're still running Mac OS X Leopard 10.5 or even Tiger 10.4?
    Just upgrade to Mac OS X Snow Leopard 10.6 anyhow.
    It's just worth it to do that, and if you were not on Snow Leopard yet this could be the cause of your problem because with Leopard you only can run applications in 32 bit mode and the new Torbrowser is 64 bit.

    So, with Snow Leopard you can also run applications in 64 bit mode, even on a 32 bit Mac (unless application developers somehow manage to drop support while even mother-Firefox is still supporting it. Still a safe browser on Mac's too).

    Beside the critics part, there is also a special thanks part (gotcha) :
    The 4.5 alpha version was already great from the beginning.
    The definite 4.5 version is even better.
    For example, finally fixed the Info Window and Security Information!

    Very good job,
    yes developers, I'm very pleased with that and thank you for that and the many more nice to have improvements.

    April 28, 2015

    Permalink

    Hey,

    When trying to install on arch from the aur https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/tor-browser-en/

    I get this

    ==> Verifying source file signatures with gpg...
    tor-browser-linux64-4.5_en-US.tar.xz ... FAILED (unknown public key 2E1AC68ED40814E0)
    ==> ERROR: One or more PGP signatures could not be verified!
    ==> ERROR: Makepkg was unable to build tor-browser-en

    yawning

    April 29, 2015

    In reply to mikeperry

    Permalink

    AUR packages are community contributed so the Arch Developers have nothing to do with this. The AUR package just pulls down the official tarballs and tries to verify the signature, so the signing key needs to be in the user's keyring, or the verification step will fail.

    This is documented in the deep dark most secret depths of the Arch Wiki: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Tor#Web_browsing

    There's also a way to get makepkg to skip checking PGP signatures (not recommended), hidden in the man page, but who has time to read documentation?

    May 02, 2015

    In reply to yawning

    Permalink

    Hey,

    can you just import the key?

    gpg --recv-keys 416F061063FEE659

    This is for vidalia as it had the same problem, after I imported the key everything went smoothly. Also why has support for vidalia stopped?? It was so easy to use and make relays.

    31.6.0 is the current "Extended Support Release": https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/organizations/

    It still receives security patches but no other changes for 9 month intervals. This makes it easier for us to audit Firefox for privacy issues, as well as maintain our 60+ patches without needing to completely rewrite them every 6 weeks.

    We will be switching to Firefox 38 (the next Extended Support Release) this summer.

    Hrmm. According to https://github.com/asciimoo/searx/wiki/possible-search-engines, searx already uses Disconnect on the back end, at least for some stuff.

    I admit searx looks pretty nice as far as DIY search engine projects go, but at the end of the day it is just another one hop proxy for other major search engines. It seems like something we could add to the omnibox as an option, though. If you file a ticket with a patch or a search plugin xml file, I'd probably merge it. But I'm not convinced that it is overall a better default option than Disconnect at this point.

    April 29, 2015

    In reply to mikeperry

    Permalink

    Please don't change Disconnect if there are no issues with it as a company. I really like the search results from Disconnect, while search results from StartPage sucked big time.

    As a no-cellphone-having tor-for-everything privacy vegan, i've got to say: if your distrust of google causes you boycott things just because they're developed by ex-Google employees... wow. good luck finding an operating system!

    I wouldn't trust disconnect.me not to track me any more or less than whoever is running searx.me (though with tor, any site's tracking ability shouldn't be able to extend across browsing sessions). If anyone wants to provide a cpatcha-free way to search Google I'll gladly take it.

    Unfortunately both searx.me and disconnect.me are giving me lots of non-matching results for an exact-phrase search I just did ("who compiles the compilers") which using Google directly does not.

    Searx is appealing because it is free software, of course, but Tor Browser shouldn't switch to any hosted instance of it without ensuring the operator is ready for the quantity of traffic that being the default entails.

    April 28, 2015

    Permalink

    New 4.5 version does not work with HTTP/S proxy, that is bad. Staying at previous 4.0.8.

    It seems that socks autenticators are deterministic, not random. It does not isolate streams of different torbrowsers if they surf the same sites.

    What do you mean HTTP/S proxy? Where are you configuring this option in 4.0.8?

    The SOCKS authenticators don't need to be random. Tor uses them to provide isolation, not to choose which nodes to use. It still chooses randomly among all available nodes, it just keeps the streams on separate circuits if the auths are different.

    April 29, 2015

    In reply to mikeperry

    Permalink

    > What do you mean HTTP/S proxy? Where are you configuring this option in 4.0.8?

    Privoxy for example. Green onion button - Preferences - Proxy Settings - HTTP/SSL Proxy. (Although Edit - Preferences - Advanced - Network - Settings does not apply the options for some cause). I know that this is not the recommended use case, but prefer using HTTP proxy for the sake of statistics (torbrowser does not give detailed log of HTTP-session up to URL) and a separate chrooted Tor daemon which is more secure. I understand that HTTP proxy is quite uncommon option among majority of Tor users, but do not think that it is completely useless and should be excluded.

    > The SOCKS authenticators don't need to be random. Tor uses them to provide isolation, not to choose which nodes to use.

    Multiple Tor users may be created on the same system so their separate profiles do not interfered. Their traffic can be interleaved over different SocksPorts, but using IsolateSOCKSAuth instead is more convenient. However If authenticators are deterministic, these system users do not have different chains of nodes when browsing the same sites, and stream isolation is not provided for them in this case.

    April 29, 2015

    In reply to mikeperry

    Permalink

    I think the commenter is saying, in the second paragraph, that if you connect multiple Tor Browser instances to the same tor daemon, then tabs with the same urlbar domain on different TB instances will not get isolated circuits; and the commenter proposes adding a unique/random per-TB-instance prefix to the Socks credentials.

    April 28, 2015

    Permalink

    I've 2 questions regarding the use of 4.5 version:

    (1) After extracting tor-browser-linux64-4.5_en-US.tar.xz, how do I launch Tor Browser using a terminal in Ubuntu?

    (2) How can I view real-time logging when using the latest 4.5 Tor Browser?

    I wish to see the such a list of messages when connecting to Tor when I am using version 4.5. How do I go about doing it?

    Run ./start-tor-browser.desktop --help.

    At the bottom, you will see:

    Tor Browser Script Options
    --verbose Display Tor and Firefox output in the terminal
    --log [file] Record Tor and Firefox output in file (default: tor-browser.log)
    --detach Detach from terminal and run Tor Browser in the background.
    --register-app Register Tor Browser as a desktop app for this user
    --unregister-app Unregister Tor Browser as a desktop app for this user

    You probably want to run either ./start-tor-browser.desktop --verbose, or ./start-tor-browser.desktop --log. You can also do both at the same time.

    May 23, 2015

    In reply to mikeperry

    Permalink

    I had the same question (and surely many other would have it) and was kinda hard to find this answer though (thanks!)... I think it would be good to put this on the main post.

    April 28, 2015

    Permalink

    Thanks for the update.

    But I have a problem with the meek.

    It works fine wih windows 8.1,but on another computer with windows 7 ultimate ,the meek doesn't work, the tor stuck in the connecting screen.And other things like obfs4 seems to work

    Is it just me or something is wrong?

    What does the tor log say? After it fails to connect, there should be a button that offers to copy the log to the clipboard. From there you can paste it into a text program and see what it says. If you see a line like this:
    We were supposed to connect to bridge '0.0.2.0:2' using pluggable transport 'meek', but we can't find a pluggable transport proxy supporting 'meek'. This can happen if you haven't provided a ClientTransportPlugin line, or if your pluggable transport proxy stopped running.
    If you see a line like that, something is wrong, and you can help us by opening a ticket on the bug tracker.

    While it is trying to connect, open the Windows task manager and see if you have processes named meek-client-torbrowser.exe and meek-client.exe.

    We can help you debug this. It will help if you can open a ticket. Create an account at https://trac.torproject.org/projects/tor/register and then make a new ticket at https://trac.torproject.org/projects/tor/newticket.

    April 30, 2015

    In reply to dcf

    Permalink

    thank you for the reply. unfortunately my problem goes on. there is no process as meek-client-torbrowser.exe or meek-client.exe. I'm going to use the bug tracker.

    April 28, 2015

    Permalink

    Sorry to put it over this channel, have no account on the mailing list.
    Apparantly jeffstorrelay $A1BF187A0DCC05EFC6EC08667E69AF8CC9DB1E81 tried to degrade a SSL connection to a server. Connection was not possible due to incompatible ciphers. After changing the exit node the connection was possible as it has been many times before.

    April 29, 2015

    Permalink

    I got to say that this 4.5 version is a very good release due to all the new updates and improvements!

    April 29, 2015

    Permalink

    It's good and all we know the exact IP addresses of the circuits but how exactly is this done? Without the relay knowing which node is what?

    It shouldnt be possible for a user to know all the circuits in the circuit right? other than the entry/exit not the middle node? Or am I missing something

    I dont want to be a target in the future just because somehow a relay might know which node is connecting to which.

    Torbutton is asking your local Tor client about circuit information and your local Tor client is giving that information back. It needs to know this (= the guard, the middle and the exit node) as it is building the circuit in the first place. This all happens on your computer and the relays themselves are not involved in selecting a path through the Tor network.

    April 29, 2015

    Permalink

    I love your Work but your priority should be to enhance security with stronger encryption. Thats THE main Tor's weakness.

    there is more and more abuse of power even in "free" countries like France. Tor have to react.

    No matter what algorithm you use, if an attacker controls both Entry and Exit node then you're deanonymized.

    What Tor needs is to attract more people who are willing to run Exit-nodes.

    Tor users need to find trusted friends who live in free counties and are willing to run a private bridge for the censored friend.

    sure, and that's why i use a bridge in a trusted country ( we never cant be 100% sure..) and blacklist some exitnodes .
    I really dont understand why Tor doesnt take the encryption problem seriously.
    I suppose central agency can decrypt tor today, the NSA anyway, so if your enemy know the right person, tor become useless.

    Excuse me, encryption is the only thing that Tor always have been doing really well.

    Encryption have for some time now been a well understood technology, and the thing easiest to get right and secure in an anonymity solution. Even today when Tor have improved a lot in other areas which they used to ignore during the pre-TBB time, I feel confident that encryption is still the hardest thing to break in Tor.

    April 29, 2015

    Permalink

    Have been getting a Click jacking warning when trying to complete a captcha on a file host.

    Happens when trying to enter the text and again when trying to copy / paste the jumbled text from one box to another.

    Never got such a warning in previous versions

    For example: set highest security level or forbid Javascript globally in the NoScript settings, then load a Cloudflare-protected page like

    https://support.cloudflare.com/hc/en-us/articles/203306930-Does-CloudFl…

    When you start typing the captcha, you'll get a ClearClick alert from NoScript and have to unlock the input field to complete the captcha.

    BTW: If Javascript is allowed, Cloudflare generates a simpler captcha that doesn't trigger a ClearClick alert.

    Question is Why ?
    Is it a bug ?
    Is it just a false positive ?
    And what's changed in NoScript since previous version where I never saw any clear click warning on anything I clicked.

    Yes, it happens to me too. As you say, this didn't happen on any previous versions.

    Does gk have an idea why it is happening now, and how to solve this 'problem'.

    Thanks

    Yes, this happens to me too.

    It's a bit inconvenient.

    Does anyone know why it is happening now - 4.0.8 was fine.

    Any ideas how to solve the problem?

    April 29, 2015

    Permalink

    "...menu now provides information about the current Tor Circuit in use for a page, and also..."

    Fantastic. First step in the right direction like Vidalia -with all features- was.

    And in TAILS this is a PROBLEM cause of integration in browser??

    I haven't seen the new 4.5.
    Is info about Crypto algorithm and Media Info
    reintegrated or is there something special not?

    April 29, 2015

    Permalink

    Thanks for your efforts. In theory, Tor Browser 4.5 is a very great browser. But I have some issues plaguing me.

    All provided Bridges Functions didn't work after upgrading to 4.5.
    flashproxy, fte, fte-ipv6, meek-amazon, meek-azure, obfs3, obfs4, scramblesuit.....all died.

    I saw the Pluggable Transports working through my system monitor, but all shut down automatically within a few seconds.

    Now I have to enter my custom bridges manually.

    Another issue, the tor onion menu sometimes displayed but sometimes not displayed.

    I have tried it in both of my two computers (WinXP & Win7), but same outcome.

    I am not a new user to Tor Browser. But I don't know how to solve these issues. Anyone can help? Thanks!

    Oh, my god. People who are living in heaven will never understand hell. I'm living in the region occupied by an evil red regime. All universal values are invalid here. We don't have a normal internet but a very very fu*king big and powerful intranet. So, Tor and Bridges to Tor, and or meek are very important for me. Please optimize the Bridges Function. Thank you very much.

    I'm so sorry. Perhaps, we have misunderstanding with each other's words.
    I meant that maybe the bridges function (especially meek) in new version 4.5 was being blocked by the GFW.
    I am very helpless. I need technical supports to solve this issue.
    Thanks!

    I assume you were referring to the sha256sum of torbrowser-install-4.5_en-US.exe?

    If you're using the Windows version of Tor Browser 4.5, may I suggest that you also use gpg4win to verify the signature of that software.

    This is what I did after reading your above post:

    Using gpg4win, I verified that Tor Browser 4.5 (Windows platform) had not been tampered with.

    However my computation of the sha256sum of torbrowser-install-4.5_en-US.exe is a3219f359bf3f04056a1c8796d103d1bc2e0bd24f181538f70564b3d19532c3a

    which is different from the one published in https://dist.torproject.org/torbrowser/4.5/sha256sums.txt

    Perhaps mikeperry, arma or erinn would like to explain the discrepancy?

    Windows bundles are signed now using the authenticode method to avoid scary warnings if you try to run the installer after downloading it (or in some cases to be able to run the installer at all). This signing happens after the build and thus changes the SHA256 sum. In order to use the advanced verification method outlined on https://www.torproject.org/docs/verifying-signatures.html.en you have to strip that signature off first. One tool mentioned there doing this is osslsigncode. There might be other tools which are easier to use for Windows users though.

    April 29, 2015

    Permalink

    "Update Tor to 0.2.6.7 with additional patches: "

    Does this mean Tor 0.2.6.7 is now stable and can be compiled from source and used?

    Another thing.. Don't you think that the default search engine for Tor Browser should be DuckDuckGo over its Hidden service? This makes more sense than Startpage.

    In terms of search results, Disconnect is far better than DuckDuckGo, as it uses Google, while DuckDuckGo does not. I for one am really happy with Disconnect, so much so I made it the default search engine for my non-Tor Browsers like Chrome and Firefox.

    It makes no sense (to me) to use a search engine simply because it has a hidden service, if the search results are poor.

    DDG search results are quite good, often better than those from Startpage. What surprised me is that a direct search at Google sometimes gave me results than I did not get by searching over Startpage.

    April 29, 2015

    Permalink

    On Windows, the privacy and security settings screen doesn't show any description for the current security level unless I change it

    I guess what happens is that you don't use the security slider to disable JavaScript (i.e. set its mode to "high"). In this case you are using the slider's custom mode (the "Custom Values" checkbox should be checked now) which results in no descriptions.

    April 30, 2015

    In reply to gk

    Permalink

    Tor Browser > Edit > Preferences > Advanced > Network > No proxy

    1. extensions.torbutton.saved.transparentTor true<br />
    2. extensions.torbutton.settings_method transparent<br />
    3. network.proxy.socks_remote_dns false

    (export TOR_SKIP_LAUNCH=1; <i>path-to-tor-browser-dir</i>/Browser/start-tor-browser --verbose)

    April 30, 2015

    In reply to gk

    Permalink

    Quick and dirty about:config method floods Browser Console with errors (i.e. originalProxy is null in domain-isolator.js) though.

    May 01, 2015

    In reply to gk

    Permalink

    or instead, set TOR_TRANSPROXY=1 before launch

    April 29, 2015

    Permalink

    On April 21st, 2015 Anonymous said:

    When I drag text from Kwrite, if the character is Chinese, to the text field of Tbb 4.5a5, the copy one is going to be an unrecognized symbol.

    Plus, dragging Chinese text from Knotes to both Tbb 4.5a and 4.08 is also effected.

    reply

    April 29, 2015

    Permalink

    I am currently using TBB 4.0.8; and usually, i have been noticed about a new update.
    However, TBB has not shown an notification about the 4.5 update. Is this normal?

    April 29, 2015

    Permalink

    re attack surface area
    why not have a means to disable frames? 90% of the time they merely exist to let me know how many likes (and let facebook know that i've been there and elsewhere)

    April 29, 2015

    Permalink

    Fedora 20, downloaded using 'torbrowser-launcher', it fails with "SIGNATURE VERIFICATION FAILED!", and on the command line:
    gpg: Signature made Tue 31 Mar 2015 10:35:12 AM EDT using RSA key ID D40814E0
    gpg: Can't check signature: public key not found

    I have no idea why it is downloading the 4.5a5 version today when you say above in the blog post that you are not releasing 4.5 to public consumption in this week. I try to get and verify the file myself (after importing the correct key manually to my keyring using your instructions at www.torproject.org/docs/verifying-signatures.html.en):

    gpg --verify sha256sums.txt.asc tor-browser-linux64-4.5a5_en-US.tar.xz
    gpg: Signature made Tue 31 Mar 2015 10:35:12 AM EDT using RSA key ID D40814E0
    gpg: BAD signature from "Tor Browser Developers (signing key) "

    "BAD signature"? I got this all three times I tried cleaning and re-downloading, even with another user on the system.

    April 29, 2015

    Permalink

    Minor bug on the resizing feature, on Windows, right after starting Tor Browser or clicking new identity and before it is fully loaded and resized if I minimize the window by clicking the tray bar icon, the window disappears and doesn't come back again

    April 29, 2015

    Permalink

    I notice that while using tor 4.5 and opening a normal browser the normal browser sometimes lost internet connection.

    April 30, 2015

    Permalink

    Great Update. But i have an issue. The download window doesn't get updated anymore. Downloads appear but the download rate and the transferred amount isn't updated every few msec. Only pressing F5 updates the window.

    When i move the button for the download window to the toolbar it doesn't work in this version.

    I am on Windows 7.

    April 30, 2015

    Permalink

    Sometimes Tor Browser 4.5 doesn't show circuit in the Onion menu.

    I see all menu, but no circuit related information.

    That might be the case because you are loading an internal page which does obviously not involve a Tor circuit. But hard to say without having an example which fails.

    Same problem here. Whether or not the Tor circuit is shown is hit and miss. I can find no pattern to it. Very frustrating. To me it's important to look at the circuit. One time all three servers showed being in the same country. BUT I CAN'T ALWAYS FIND OUT.

    April 30, 2015

    Permalink

    Flash proxy doesn't work.

    30.04.2015 22:14:15.493 [NOTICE] DisableNetwork is set. Tor will not make or accept non-control network connections. Shutting down all existing connections.
    30.04.2015 22:14:15.493 [NOTICE] Opening Socks listener on 127.0.0.1:9150
    30.04.2015 22:14:17.430 [NOTICE] Bootstrapped 5%: Connecting to directory server
    30.04.2015 22:14:17.431 [NOTICE] Bootstrapped 10%: Finishing handshake with directory server
    30.04.2015 22:19:17.430 [WARN] Problem bootstrapping. Stuck at 10%: Finishing handshake with directory server. (DONE; DONE; count 1; recommendation warn; host 4D6C0DF6DEC9398A4DEF07084F3CD395A96DD2AD at 0.0.1.0:1)
    30.04.2015 22:19:17.430 [WARN] 1 connections have failed:
    30.04.2015 22:19:17.430 [WARN] 1 connections died in state handshaking (TLS) with SSL state SSLv2/v3 read server hello A in HANDSHAKE

    April 30, 2015

    Permalink

    Wait, you're giving people the option to activate Flash???

    I think even listing the "privacy settings" is a mistake. Just a chance for uninformed or unfocused or tired people to accidentally turn Tor Browser into Internet Explorer.

    Human error exists, why do you encourage it??

    April 30, 2015

    Permalink

    Thx for big update! You are the best!

    There is a problem with the new search engine disconnect. You click on the search result, target site see your https-referer (http not). The exact result is not in plain text, still a problem?!

    Example:

    Use disconnect and search for https://referer.rustybrick.com/

    Then click on it. See the result.

    Test done with Tor 4.0.8. (Win)

    April 30, 2015

    Permalink

    One of the best improvements is the isolation of different tabs. However I would like to know if there is anything else to be further isolated for the tabs to look like from different browser windows, for example are cookies isolated between tabs, whether as first party or third-party? What happens to the connections of addons, does the downloads of DownThemAll get isolated as well or could such addons even get correlated with the connections from browser tabs?

    First, there is no tab isolation. What is happening is that different things (like circuits, caches, DOM storage etc.) are isolated to the URL bar domain. (Eventually this will happen for cookies as well but we are not there yet.) This means having google.com open in two tabs would send all requests over the same circuit using the same parts of the cache, the same parts of the DOM storage etc.

    Then there are things like update checks of extensions or downloading extensions via the add-on manager in the browser that don't have a URL bar domain: they get put onto an own, different circuit currently.

    We are currently reworking our Tor Browser design document (https://www.torproject.org/projects/torbrowser/design/) which should have all the details shortly.

    May 01, 2015

    In reply to gk

    Permalink

    If you open a new second window, are the cookies and more separate to the first window?

    Does this mean that it's more private if you use two windows over two tabs in one window? thank you.

    May 01, 2015

    Permalink

    Got a tor browser warning of someone hack attempting to make me click a link. I never saw this feature before. I closed tor immediately

    May 01, 2015

    Permalink

    Your tremendous efforts with this latest TB v4.5 are fantastic and deeply appreciated!

    There are however, two issues that seem troublesome but may or may not be intended temporary or permanent design features ...

    1) The NoScript Whitelist does not seem to be working properly because Whitelisted items seem to disappear randomly for unknown reasons and must be constantly re-added.

    2) As a few others have noted in the comments above, some of the provided bridge transport types don't seem to be working. For example, "meek-azure" worked in v4.0.8 and v4.5a5 but, hangs in v4.5.

    3) In the TB v4.5a5 options, there was a "TEXT" Applications "Content Type" that allowed the selection of a preferred Action. This was very useful but, seems to be missing in v4.5.

    THANKS Again for your dedication!

    May 01, 2015

    Permalink

    Problem with downloading from cloudflare

    V. 4.5:

    doesn't work. error message from cloudflare:

    "ERROR: Wrong IP. If you are using proxy, please turn it off / Or buy premium key to remove the limitation"

    Tried with different IP, same problem. Tried with different security slider (second lowest), same problem. Tried with temporary allow all scripts on this site, same problem.

    V. 4.0.8 with temporary allow all scripts on this site: no problem on same file, downloaded it two times on different IP.

    So:

    - There is a problem with the new security things on 4.5. Or Cloudflare only blocks some tor-exit-nodes. I think it's problem with the new setting things..

    Thanks for help

    May 04, 2015

    In reply to gk

    Permalink

    gk, it's me again. Just reproduced it with another file, same problem with 4.5.

    Try the link I gave you.

    Then click on "Download from nitroflare.com"

    Now temporary allow all scripts on this site cause of easier captcha, enter it.

    Next site: On the left (free download) at the botton click on "slow download". Then it appears a beautiful page with real cloudes. Click on close on the right.

    New popup appears, close it. Now you see the name of the file and MB.

    Click on free download. it should start a timer from 60s to 0. If this doesn't appear and something like "you can download only in xx minutes) you have to do the same thing again with a new identity. Cause someone had already used this IP for downloading in the last 2 hours.

    If you come to the timer 60 to 0 at 0 there is a captcha. Do it. Then "slow download", then "click here for download". And now the problem with 4.5: "ERROR: Wrong IP. If you are using proxy, please turn it off / Or buy premium key to remove the limitation"

    With 4.0.8 it it starts the download.

    .

    May 08, 2015

    In reply to arma

    Permalink

    thanks!

    May 01, 2015

    Permalink

    How about making 256 bit encryption the default setting when the Security Slider is set to 'high'? I've read 128 bit encryption is Tor Browser's default setting but 256 is available if a client goes into 'about:config' and modifies some settings.

    May 02, 2015

    Permalink

    The new update is just Fantastic. Thanks Tor project for your hard work into Tor browser 4.5. Keep up the good work.

    May 02, 2015

    Permalink

    Who has ever heard of Disconnect before ? What reason is there to trust it ?

    May 02, 2015

    Permalink

    hello, when i am downloading a file (for instance a picture) from the net using firefox or the tor browser, it happens quite often that it already exists a file with the exact same filename as the file i'm downloading in the folder where i want to put it. then i have to say "no, i don't want to overwrite the file" and change the filename of the file i'm downloading. my question is if it is possible to make firefox or the tor browser automatically rename files if their filename already exists? (also this specifically to tor browser cause of the "don't add add-ons to tor browser issue" any methods besides installing downthemall or the like) and someone might pass this issue to mozilla and debian i think. would save me a lot of time:) thanks!

    May 03, 2015

    Permalink

    FINALLY we can see our circuit. Orbot would tell you what relays your traffic went through but not Tor Browser (unless I missed it in some obscure place). Well done.

    May 03, 2015

    Permalink

    Can we expect a complete vidalia replacement for tor browser so we can see all relays and all circuits? What about android tor browser? Its pretty poor atm.

    May 03, 2015

    Permalink

    A very important security update that I hope will be implemented is the following:

    Tor Browser could make sure that the relay pair(Entry, Middle, Exit) aren't from the same country(such as: USA->USA->USA(worst case), USA->Russia->USA(just as bad), USA->USA->Russia(bad)).

    Another would be making sure relays aren't from same region. Such as Europe->Europe->Europe. It would be best like: Europe -> Anything -> Asia.

    Another thing would be checking from which jurisdiction you're at and from that choose which would be best entry.

    For example, if you're from Europe or USA then you choose Entry as Asia or Russia.

    I agree. Especially since the "Show Circuit" feature doesn't work consistently. The user should have SOME choice about countries to avoid or not to double up on. Using the same country for all three servers never seemed like a good idea to me. You do not know who runs the servers. There's no guarantee that three servers in three different countries aren't jointly "coordinated", but allowing the user to force servers from different jurisdictions seems like a good idea to me.

    May 03, 2015

    Permalink

    There are a serious issues with recaptcha from google.

    Google has changed the recaptcha system from text to images, but with tor browser we cant see the images to solve the captcha.

    I tried disable Noscript and HTTPS and nothing

    I can't believe I can only find one complaint about this.

    GUYS I ALSO HAVE THIS ISSUE.
    THIS IS MAJOR ISSUE

    I cannot login to websites using Google Recaptch ever since they changed it. I am just stuck. HELP!! Damn how can I display this damn Google Recaptcha. The old ones from Google worked fine, but this new one with Image selection doesn't work with TOR!!!!!

    Major issue, non-workable

    May 04, 2015

    Permalink

    I am a newbie to TOR, I started with 4.0.7 and Vidalia which I still use with 4.5 as it gives me more information than the new "Tor circuit information...".

    I know that you do not maintain Vidalia but I would appreciate your comments on the following warning message I just got: "Potentially Dangerous Connection! - One of your applications established a connection through Tor to "127.0.0.1:443" using a protocol that may leak information about your destination. Please ensure you configure your applications to use only SOCKS4a or SOCKS5 with remote hostname resolution."

    I am rather confused since I have not specifically configured and application.

    Any informastion would be welcome.

    Thanks

    I too, still use Vidalia and have gotten that warning. And I've seen a few queries elsewhere on the net. But no actual answers. I know the Tor project doesn't support the continued use of Vidalia, but the thing is, I don't the problem is Vidalia-related. That makes it even more curious that no one has even addressed your query, going on nearly 2 months.

    May 04, 2015

    Permalink

    whilst viewing a forum I accessed through Hidden Wiki via TOR, a window popped out from the no-script feature of TOR and advised me to press the image in the pop-up window to avert a skipjack play!

    I did but nothing happened so I pressed the URL in the pop up window and the original forum window became accessible again but slightly different with the same info!

    I had set the TOR 4.5 setting to the max in security so i was a bit surprised about this!

    prior to accessing the forum I had set the "about;config" to kill any java access by the program

    is there anything to concern about this - I am a bit bemused as to what the whole thing was about !!

    May 04, 2015

    Permalink

    Great stuff, loving the constant and cosistent updates/patches!

    I really upgraded from 4.08 to 4.5 TBB but when I go to the addons menu, it gives me an error:

    XML Parsing Error: undefined entity
    Location: about:addons
    Line Number 359, Column 15:

    May 09, 2015

    In reply to gk

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    Yep, it seems when installing over a older version, tor doesn't even get updated (even though installation is successful) and causes problems like this. Completely New installation doesn't have this problem

    May 04, 2015

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    What is the status on using Enhanced Mitigation Experience Toolkit? Is it safe to use with TBB on Windows? I know it's created by Microsoft and it's closed source so what are the possible negatives as well as positives from using this?

    May 04, 2015

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    Is it safe to keep browser and form history when using TBB? Are there any problems associated with doing this?

    May 04, 2015

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    It seems Adblock Edge is gonna get discontinued in June. Is it ok to use µBlock, its successor or no?

    May 04, 2015

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    Would enabling bridges in TBB add more security/anonymity to the browser or is it worse than default connection settings?

    May 04, 2015

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    Super release 4.5! One question: how would changing TBB's user agent to a default firefox/chrome affect anonymity/fingerprinting?

    May 08, 2015

    In reply to gk

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    Would it help with reducing fingerprinting if we changed the user agent to the one in the default mozilla firefox browser instead of the ESR?

    May 04, 2015

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    When can we expect an automatic upgrade from 4.08 to 4.5, and is it safe to use 4.0.8?

    May 05, 2015

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    Thanks for your excellent work, I really appreciate the Tor Browser and the work you do. There is too much censorship in England - blocking of sites due to copyright, surveillance, and draconian porn laws.

    May 05, 2015

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    Strange behavior : Cross browser remembering page search info

    I already noticed for a while (some versions) that search keywords are not cleaned. The keywords you can type below if you search for certain words in a webpage.

    If you choose a new identity or even close the browser and startup again, if you open the search (page) window you'll see that old keyword again.
    That could maybe compromise your local privacy a bit (depending on the keyword).
    Then I was slightly wondering if a script on a website even could read one way or another that keyword as well. Because if you don't clean that field you'll take that information with you to every website you visit, leaving some sort of a track behind you (if website owners managed to read that information that keyword or even phrase Torbrowser is storing).

    It's even getting better (worse) now because I discovered that it even goes further then that. Just had the strange experience that the keyword could not be erased anymore, it just came back, could only replace it by something else but not leave the search field empty anymore, and to my surprise finally that it even showed up in another normal Firefox browser where I also could not clean that same keyword appearing again!
    If a keyword even can sho up in a normal Firefox version, then it maybe could really directly compromise your identity if a website could read that information (yes, you should visit the same page with a normal browser and sometimes with Torbrowser, but maybe some people do in some cases?).

    Okay (not), I took another fresh Torbrowser installer and installed a fresh Torbrowser on my desktop. Opened it, looked for the keyword field and there was the same last word I typed in the old Torbrowser/Firefox browser again.
    Took another fresh Firefox, the same word was there also again.

    Tried it with other non-mozilla browsers, no keywords given.
    Went to another user account, opened a Firefox browser, no keyword.
    So it was a user account related and mozilla browser related problem.

    Now, this behavior of not cleaning a keyword and even taking it with it to a normal Firefox browser and not being able to clean the search word (a dot, number or even an empty hit of the space bar) is in my opinion a bit alarming.
    I think that means that some persistent information is/or was stored outside Torbrowser (why?), somewhere in a related mozilla directory where it does not get/or cannot be cleaned and is eventually used by every mozilla browser you open in that account.

    I did have to do a serious system (caches etc.) clean up in safe boot modus to get rid of this persistent keyword storage problem since I did not know exactly where to look for cleaning this behavior.
    (For the humorous people, it wasn't a special word, just a normal search on a normal page, no malware expected overthere. Browsers startup in safe modus did not help either).

    Do other users have seen or experienced this kind of behavior of persitenly remembering the page search word as well?

    Torbrowser version I was using 4.5 on a Mac.
    Remembering the keyword after renewal or browser restart was already there in older Torbrowser versions. Cross browser remembering looks like new behavior.

    Thanks for the attention.

    May 06, 2015

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    It's been a week, but the auto-updater doesn't seem to be working.

    Running Tor Browser 4.0.8 on Windows, using the updater in Help -> About Tor Browser shows "Tor Browser is up to date" even though it's not.

    I could just download the binaries, but I thought this was worth pointing out.

    May 06, 2015

    In reply to arma

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    Thank you for the quick response, and all your hard work on Tor. :)

    May 07, 2015

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    I use http://file2hd.com/ to download videos from Youtube over TOR.

    With up to and including TOR 4.0.8 everything worked fine. After entering the URL, clicking "I have read and agree to the Terms of Service" and marking "Movies" as the files I wanted I would see (for example):

    http://youtube.com/Peter Pop feat Lora Singuri in doi - Low Quality 240p [File2HD.com].mp4
    http://youtube.com/Peter Pop feat Lora Singuri in doi - Low Quality 240p [File2HD.com].flv
    http://youtube.com/Peter Pop feat Lora Singuri in doi - Standard Quality 360p [File2HD.com].mp4
    http://youtube.com/Peter Pop feat Lora Singuri in doi - HD 720p [File2HD.com].mp4

    I would then click on the file quality I wanted and the download would start.

    However, with 4.5, I still get up to choosing the file quality I want but after clicking on the file the next screen is again the Start screen: asking me to enter the URL, click on " I have read and……." and chose ,for example, Movies. The file I have just chosen does not download. If I fill the details again, the file still does not download, I am sent back to the Start screen again.

    Please help.

    Thanks

    PS thanks for an otherwise excellent piece of work.

    May 07, 2015

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    so on 4.0.8 what was the security level? I am not sure where to have the slider? I mean should I have it at the highest setting when going to onion sites etc, was 4.0.8 technically set on high or low?

    May 08, 2015

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    Why is TBB "secure" window size when it is used as default? Why not set window size default for all TBB users as full screen, would that not give the same amount of privacy from being fingerprinted?

    May 08, 2015

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    Yesterday I came across a plugin called "Disable Plugin & Mimetype Enumeration " which hides your plugins/mimetype from sites. Is this already implemented into TBB or is it okay to just to use this addon?

    May 08, 2015

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    Is there a bug regarding DNS lookup?

    I have reported above a message (via Vidalia) re a connection made to 127.0.0.1:443.

    Today I am getting reports of such connections, not to 127.0.0.1 but to 19X.X6.2X4.21X.

    On github (https://github.com/ethans/switchy/issues/455) someone reported the same thing a few days ago.

    The final remark from github is:
    This is very dangerous because DNS lookup is being done through ISP which is what TOR is informing me of when DNS lookup should be done through TOR

    Could GK please respond as a matter of urgency?

    Thanks

    Have you tried logging in? You can either make an account (this is the recommended way if you want to hear about progress on your ticket), or use the cypherpunks account listed on the front page of the wiki.

    May 11, 2015

    In reply to arma

    Permalink

    Arma thanks.

    I have tried to create an account, via TOR, but I just keep getting the response that the page thinks my submission is Spam.

    I then try to fill in the Captcha but I never get it right. Even using a magnifying glass to try to 'guess' what the letters are in the captcha, I fail every time.

    I can understand the need to guard against spam, but is it necessary to make the captchas so difficult to understand?

    May 09, 2015

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    Why does Tor only use 3 relays as opposed to 4, 5 or more? Which one would provide more anonymity?

    May 10, 2015

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    Can someone explain why i´m connecting to the same exact Ip/node every time use tor browser?(the first of 3 ip´s) It has not changed since i downloaded it a couple of days ago.
    What if this node is computerized?
    I thought the point of Tor was to connect to different nodes every time.

    May 10, 2015

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    Certificate management/validation (repeated question)

    1) The standard available option "When an OCSP server connection fails, threat the certificate as invalid" is not activated.
    Why not?

    2) What could be the reason that if you do activate this OCSP check, that one can experience getting more and more error pages like 'secure connection failed'.
    It really seems to increase last several months. A lot of times even directly after startup Torbrowser and trying to connect to a secure webpage.
    Does this seem to point at the possible questionable 'quality' of the exit node?

    3) Since the beginning of the Alpha version of the 4.5 Torbrowser I did see on a regular basis this mysterious middle node "?? 104.236.37.219" . It seems the only one that's giving this question mark message.
    Did you notice/know? What's up with this node?

    May 11, 2015

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    Hello, when i activate menu-bar with "view/toolbars --> menue bar and bookmarks - can someone read or track this changing?

    think windosize wont change. can someone tell me plesse

    thx 2016

    May 11, 2015

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    4.5 will not install on my Windows XP. When I download 4.5 it reaches 34.1 MB and hangs there until Tor Browser asks Zone Alarm for internet access (something I already permitted). When I give it the permission it already had, the download finishes at 34.1 MB though the file is supposed to be 34.2 MB.

    When I try to install it it does nothing.

    "will be prompted to update automatically by their Tor Browser, while users of the stable 4.0.8 will receive the same prompt in about a week’s time"

    I have not received this prompt.

    May 12, 2015

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    WHAT ARE CONCERNED TOR USERS SUPPOSED TO DO.

    I have had no response from arma or gk about what may be a bug in the dns lookup of 4.5, so I registered at trac.tor.

    I submitted a report but it was rejected as possible spam, probably because I submitted it over TOR!!!

    The way to get the system to believe that it is not spam was to 'try' to fill out the indecipherable captcha that I have complained about above.

    I tried but, as reported above, I failed.

    What am I supposed to do?

    May 12, 2015

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    DNS look-up

    Regarding my recent post on this.

    I have just found an old Tor item from 2012:
    https://blog.torproject.org/category/tags/dns-bypass

    The solution given is:
    To fix this dns leak/security hole, follow these steps:

    Type “about:config” (without the quotes) into the Firefox URL bar. Press Enter.
    Type “websocket” (again, without the quotes) into the search bar that appears below "about:config".
    Double-click on “network.websocket.enabled”. That line should now show “false” in the ‘Value’ column.

    I have just gone into about:config and have found “network.websocket.enabled”. Should this be set to 'false'.

    For the sake of users, could Arma or GK please respond? As I have said, if the trac captures were not so difficult to understand, I would submit a bug report.

    Thank you

    May 13, 2015

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    ^Are you the same guy who wrote the following?
    "Is there a bug regarding DNS lookup?

    I have reported above a message (via Vidalia) re a connection made to 127.0.0.1:443.

    Today I am getting reports of such connections, not to 127.0.0.1 but to 19X.X6.2X4.21X."

    "WHAT ARE CONCERNED TOR USERS SUPPOSED TO DO."

    ALL TOR USERS AFAIK aren't supposed to use the outdated & non supported Vidalia anymore.

    May 17, 2015

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    A thousand thanks to mikeperry and the other devs for all their work!

    My experience using the Tor Browser version included in Tails 1.4 has so far been inconsistent and confusing, for reasons which are unknown to me and quite possibly independent of the significant improvements in the new browser. My problems seemed to cease when I stopped using the privacy slider and manually reverted to my old (wrong) way of using the browser, among a few other changes, but I am cautiously optimistic that eventually I'll e able to use the slider without experiencing ill effects.

    > Are you the same guy who wrote the following?

    No.

    > ALL TOR USERS AFAIK aren't supposed to use the outdated & non supported Vidalia anymore.

    That can't be right, since Vidalia is used in Tails 1.4. If I am wrong, say so because then I must have a bad PGP key, a bad detached sig, and a bad iso image.

    June 09, 2015

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    hi guys,

    i have error in my tor browser

    Tor failed to establish a Tor network connection.

    Establishing an encrypted directory connection failed (done - 0.0.1.0:1).
    09/06/2015 10:45:46 a.m..198 [NOTICE] DisableNetwork is set. Tor will not make or accept non-control network connections. Shutting down all existing connections.
    09/06/2015 10:45:48 a.m..164 [NOTICE] Opening Socks listener on 127.0.0.1:9150
    09/06/2015 10:45:50 a.m..101 [NOTICE] Closing no-longer-configured Socks listener on 127.0.0.1:9150
    09/06/2015 10:45:50 a.m..101 [NOTICE] DisableNetwork is set. Tor will not make or accept non-control network connections. Shutting down all existing connections.
    09/06/2015 10:45:50 a.m..101 [NOTICE] Closing old Socks listener on 127.0.0.1:9150
    09/06/2015 10:45:51 a.m..286 [NOTICE] Opening Socks listener on 127.0.0.1:9150
    09/06/2015 10:45:52 a.m..418 [NOTICE] Closing no-longer-configured Socks listener on 127.0.0.1:9150
    09/06/2015 10:45:52 a.m..418 [NOTICE] DisableNetwork is set. Tor will not make or accept non-control network connections. Shutting down all existing connections.
    09/06/2015 10:45:52 a.m..418 [NOTICE] Closing old Socks listener on 127.0.0.1:9150
    09/06/2015 10:45:56 a.m..740 [NOTICE] DisableNetwork is set. Tor will not make or accept non-control network connections. Shutting down all existing connections.
    09/06/2015 10:45:56 a.m..741 [NOTICE] DisableNetwork is set. Tor will not make or accept non-control network connections. Shutting down all existing connections.
    09/06/2015 10:45:56 a.m..741 [NOTICE] DisableNetwork is set. Tor will not make or accept non-control network connections. Shutting down all existing connections.
    09/06/2015 10:45:56 a.m..741 [NOTICE] Opening Socks listener on 127.0.0.1:9150
    09/06/2015 10:45:58 a.m..153 [NOTICE] Bootstrapped 5%: Connecting to directory server
    09/06/2015 10:45:58 a.m..163 [NOTICE] Bootstrapped 10%: Finishing handshake with directory server
    09/06/2015 10:45:59 a.m..729 [NOTICE] Closing no-longer-configured Socks listener on 127.0.0.1:9150
    09/06/2015 10:45:59 a.m..729 [NOTICE] DisableNetwork is set. Tor will not make or accept non-control network connections. Shutting down all existing connections.
    09/06/2015 10:45:59 a.m..730 [NOTICE] Closing old Socks listener on 127.0.0.1:9150
    09/06/2015 10:45:59 a.m..730 [WARN] Problem bootstrapping. Stuck at 10%: Finishing handshake with directory server. (DONE; DONE; count 1; recommendation warn; host 4D6C0DF6DEC9398A4DEF07084F3CD395A96DD2AD at 0.0.1.0:1)
    09/06/2015 10:45:59 a.m..730 [WARN] 1 connections have failed:
    09/06/2015 10:45:59 a.m..730 [WARN] 1 connections died in state handshaking (TLS) with SSL state SSLv2/v3 read server hello A in HANDSHAKE

    he was working properly but derrepente began to show me the error, and try to change the providded bridges in flashproxy, fte,fte-ipv6, meek amazon meek azure, meek google, obfs3 (recommended), obfs4 and scramblesuit but none run,

    if any of you could assist me it would be greatly appreciated, my mail if you have any tutorial to solve this failure is steven341992@hotmail.com

    thank you very much

    July 07, 2015

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    i like the new version.

    thank you for developing tor!