PortableTor is a free repackaged version of the bundled Tor Software

Tor (anonymity network)

Tor is a system intended to enable online anonymity. Tor client software routes Internet traffic through a worldwide volunteer network of servers in order to conceal a user's location or usage from someone conducting network surveillance or traffic analysis...

 by Roger Dingledine and Nick Mathewson. The program allows the end user to connect to the Tor anonymity network from a removable media without installing anything to the hard drive. This allows the application bundle to be run from a USB flash drive

USB flash drive

A flash drive is a data storage device that consists of flash memory with an integrated Universal Serial Bus interface. flash drives are typically removable and rewritable, and physically much smaller than a floppy disk. Most weigh less than 30 g...

 or other portable devices and media on any Windows

Microsoft Windows

Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...

 computer, or Linux

Linux

Linux is a Unix-like computer operating system assembled under the model of free and open source software development and distribution. The defining component of any Linux system is the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released October 5, 1991 by Linus Torvalds...

/UNIX

Unix

Unix is a multitasking, multi-user computer operating system originally developed in 1969 by a group of AT&T employees at Bell Labs, including Ken Thompson, Dennis Ritchie, Brian Kernighan, Douglas McIlroy, and Joe Ossanna...

 computer running Wine

Wine (software)

Wine is a free software application that aims to allow computer programs written for Microsoft Windows to run on Unix-like operating systems. Wine also provides a software library, known as Winelib, against which developers can compile Windows applications to help port them to Unix-like...

. The program is fully functional as an anonymous gateway on its own, but requires other programs which actually use the network, such as Portable Firefox.

Tor Network

Tor / PortableTor works by routing Internet

Internet

The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...

 traffic through several "onion

Onion routing

Onion routing is a technique for anonymous communication over a computer network. Messages are repeatedly encrypted and then sent through several network nodes called onion routers. Like someone unpeeling an onion, each onion router removes a layer of encryption to uncover routing instructions, and...

" servers, obscuring the originating address. This naturally provides anonymity

Anonymity

Anonymity is derived from the Greek word ἀνωνυμία, anonymia, meaning "without a name" or "namelessness". In colloquial use, anonymity typically refers to the state of an individual's personal identity, or personally identifiable information, being publicly unknown.There are many reasons why a...

 for other Internet

Internet

The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...

 programs that are configured to connect to it on the system, or even network. Applications can be directed to the Tor network through a SOCKS

SOCKS

SOCKS is an Internet protocol that routes network packets between a client and server through a proxy server. SOCKS5 additionally provides authentication so only authorized users may access a server...

 proxy

Proxy server

In computer networks, a proxy server is a server that acts as an intermediary for requests from clients seeking resources from other servers. A client connects to the proxy server, requesting some service, such as a file, connection, web page, or other resource available from a different server...

 at localhost

Localhost

In computer networking, localhost is the standard hostname given to the address of the loopback network interface. The name is also a reserved top-level domain name In computer networking, localhost (meaning this computer) is the standard hostname given to the address of the loopback network...

 on port 9050 as well as a HTTP proxy at localhost on port 8118. This port can be changed via the torrc configuration file in the Tor section of the program.

Reading the Tor documentation is highly recommended to prevent configuration mistakes that could compromise the user's anonymity. PortableTor comes with the default options as its installation counterpart, and configuration is encouraged as the user sees fit.

Changes

Updates and changes to the software are released in parallel as they are released on the official Tor page. A change log is available with each software release.

External links

• Download Portable Tor from Softpedia.com
• Portable Tor Website currently not functional