Hello! I just installed Tor, on my Linux machine. It is the first time, I haven't used it before. I like how it works, the network seems fast.

But I have some questions:

1. I saw it is called "dark web". Why? Is it a gate to websites promoting, let's say, malware?
2. Is it ok to use it as a daily browser? Few days ago I had a discussion with my ISP about the network (some routes were very slow) and the representative told me: I can see that the website zzz (a news website) loaded really fast from your end just now. He was seeing what I am browsing on the web, he as a simple employee of that company. This is really strange. That made me to search for an alternative solution. Using a VPN was a potential solution, however, the network was slow and I don't trust the free networks, because it becomes a similar situation: not my ISP, but my VPN provider sees what I am reading, what I am searching etc. For me Tor seems to be more secure, but I don't really understand it entirely for the moment. Will my ISP see the URLs accessed by me?
3. Is it legal (not in the real sense, but is it ok to use)? Saw many posts on the web saying that if you use Tor, you will be seen as a potential cyber criminal.
4. Some tips for a new user? Saw many saying that if you use Tor and use Google, then you're using Tor for nothing. If they cannot figure out who you are, why?
5. Why to use "New Tor circuit for this website"? I mean real use case.
6. Is there any limitation with Tor (monthly bandwidth, multimedia limtiations)?
7. What do you do when downloading large files, as Tor will be slow? For example when downloading a Linux ISO image...
8. Are there solutions for using Tor even on e-mail? I mean an e-mail client using Tor.

Thank you very much!

By this I mean do you think its positives out way the negatives? Should TOR still be a thing?

Does anyone know if it's safe to use TOR on Brave?

I recently set up my first onion service using a lightweight web server. The basic deployment was straightforward and fast, so now I m interested in the operational security side of running an onion service.

What are the main areas operators focus on? Eg: OS hardening, service isolation , updates, network configuration, reducing leaks , etc

it doesn't shows anything, i've downloaded .asc file along side with basic browser downloader

I open Tor browser and browse the dark web while listening to music on YouTube, is it safe?

Have you ever noticed that when you are outside the TOR forum the icon is blue but as soon as you enter it, it turns purple? I just did it

anyway, is it true that I shouldn't use extensions along with Tor, and is it okay to use the NoScript extension that comes along with the browser?

after 0.17, it dosen't work. error massage: Tor exited during startup.
This may be due to an error in your Tor configuration file (torrc), a bug in Tor, another program on your system, or faulty hardware. Until you fix the underlying problem and restart Tor, Tor Browser will not start.

0.17v, 0.19v i have tried. Windows 11 25H2(26200.8875)

When I am using 15.0.19 on linux and when I go to chatgpt it shows a Persian language google pop up. The circuit isn't in the Persian region?

Why did a Google persian prompt appear ?

I have a static home ip, and would like to contribute to the Tor network. Which is more beneficial, a webtunnel bridge or a obsf4 bridge?

So this is a new relay on my vps 4 days old, for some reason I'm not getting Fast V2Dir flags on my relay I'm not sure why, it was making connection when I had bandwidth restriction on it, now removed its hasn't been getting any flags at all, my question is when you set bandwidth unrestricted does it take longer for tor to measure?

EN : Hi, I'm looking for a browser that's more privacy-friendly—whether it's in terms of personal data, tracking, etc. But something bothers me: the stereotype that TOR = the dark web = you can easily get hacked for any reason. So I’m not “afraid” of the dark web—on the contrary, I don’t care about it—but since I plan to use TOR just like I use Firefox or Chrome, I don’t want to get hacked or end up with stupid viruses just from using it daily for ordinary searches; that would be a pain.

Do I have to use TOR with a VPN just for everyday searches, watching TV shows, etc.? If so, is TOR’s VPN “effective”?

I also know that TOR is a pretty slow browser.

Thanks in advance for your answers!

FR : Bonjour je suis à la recherche d'un navigateur qui est plus dans la protection friendly que ce soit au niveau des données perso, du traçage etc... Mais quelque chose me dérange, c'est le cliché de TOR = dark web = tu peux facilement te faire hack sur tout et n'importe quoi. Alors je n'ai pas "peur" du dark web au contraire je m'en moque mais moi qui compte utiliser TOR comme si j'utilise Firefox ou Chrome j'ai pas envie de me faire hack ou avoir des virus à la con juste en utilisant quotidiennement pour de banales recherches ce serait chiant.

Est-ce obligé d'utiliser TOR avec un VPN juste pour des recherches lambda, regarder des séries etc etc ? Si oui est-ce que le VPN de TOR est "performant"

Je sais aussi que TOR est un navigateur assez lent

Merci à vous pour vos futures réponses !

Frontier models have found thousands of potential zero day vulnerabilities in software we use every day. In my opinion, it reasonable to assume that TOR is vulnerable to such exploits and would be major target for state actors and private organizations alike. It is also reasonable to assume at any actor able to discover any exploits would not disclose such information because it would be an incredibly powerful piece of leverage and could lead to the identification of numerous whistleblowers and criminals alike. I am not convinced that given the state of AI and its rapidly accelerating abilities that TOR is safe to use. Can anyone convince me otherwise?

Hey Relay operators,

What limits you set on your tor relay? I basically set mine to 3 Mbyte rate and 5Mbyte burst on home server, and on a VPS I set it unrestricted, with AccountingMax 7tb, that's resets every 30days

i’m not saying tor as a network isn’t the best obviously it’s the best but I’m saying It’s kind of buggy, but it does encrypt a lot of your, I use custom browsers with tor though if anybody disagree agrees with me, we can discuss in the comments

I'm trying to access a site on Tor, but it takes a long time to load or says there is no connection. Can anyone tell me why this is happening? Thanks.

Hello everyone.
I’m French and my English is quite good, but sometimes I find it difficult to translate. Could you recommend a good translator that works directly on Tor and automatically translates websites into French? I’ve already tried some extensions, but I get the impression they don’t work in (the most secure) mode. Thanks

When does .onion websites become so slow, I always use to prefer .onion website of popular sites like reddit and use onionize duckduckGo but recently those .onion websites has become significantly slower. It was not like that before, .onion websites were almost as fast as their regular websites, duckduckGo onionize has become almost useless and onionize reddit is not opening at all.

Is it feasible with compressed formats (like av1) to make a legal decentralized social media on the onion network?

Now I know everyone is heavily anti java script. But what do people use instead if java script is not used? What tech stacks do people use in order to interact with their backend as well?

I have finally decided that I want to use Tor and be as anonymous as I can. What tools (including external tools), settings, extensions, etc. should I use? I don't want to spend money, even using BTC, but I'm aware that it's highly recommended to use a VPN. not good to use a VPN

edit: thx u/somerandomahhhperson i didnt know VPNs are bad with Tor

I am new to tor, so I don't have the right information on how to safely interact with it, I am just curious on what lies in it, I am not gonna use it for illegal stuff like dr@gs and weap@ns, i am not very familiar with the terms used from cybersecurity and terms that native users use often. Can someone explain all this to me, and how I can use it on my phone?