wa4chq Posted June 6, 2020 Share Posted June 6, 2020 Hey all....it's been a while for me to check things out here, so hope all of you are well. I've been using the wifi at the public library in Gloucester, VA and also the free spots set up in my town of Mathews. I like knowing my browsing is protected. Thanks to the info I got from you guys, I setup PIAVPN last fall. Anyway the other day I notice they suggested I update. So following the info on their webpage, I uninstalled all things PIA and proceeded to install the latest version. I could not get it to work. I tried everything but kept getting errors. So the next day, I went back to their site, logged in and started a chat with the tech folks. Nothing they suggested worked...it was what I had been doing. However the tech guy said he would notify the higher ups with my problem and see if they could help. The next day, I found an email from them with a few commands to try. Well thankfully, it worked!! So I'm back out in the parking lot of the Gloucester Library typing away on my secure lappy. Take care and have a great weekend..... 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
V.T. Eric Layton Posted June 6, 2020 Share Posted June 6, 2020 I never had any complaints when I was using PIA. One thing I always said about them was that they have EXCELLENT customer, and particularly, technical support. Glad they got it fixed for you. Sadly, I cancelled them because I do not have the funds to pay for it anymore, and also because I'm not sure how much longer I will even have Internet access here in my home. I'm now using TOR browser... it's better than nothing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wa4chq Posted June 7, 2020 Author Share Posted June 7, 2020 (edited) 22 hours ago, V.T. Eric Layton said: I never had any complaints when I was using PIA. One thing I always said about them was that they have EXCELLENT customer, and particularly, technical support. Glad they got it fixed for you. Sadly, I cancelled them because I do not have the funds to pay for it anymore, and also because I'm not sure how much longer I will even have Internet access here in my home. I'm now using TOR browser... it's better than nothing. Hey Eric. Yeah, happy that I'm secure (I hope!). OK about lack of funds and internet access. I've been there too.... Regarding TOR browser, I really don't know anything about it but I bet it has nothing to do with a hammer-wielding god. I first ran across it when I was in my 'download every live distro created' phase. I found "Tails" and installed it to a flash drive and saw it boot up and that's about it....lol. Edited June 7, 2020 by wa4chq Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
V.T. Eric Layton Posted June 7, 2020 Share Posted June 7, 2020 TOR is "the onion router". The concept is that that all outgoing browser requests are encrypted and bounced through numerous worldwide servers before reaching an exit server (random - anywhere), then the connection is made to the requested site. It's was originally a military creation (I believe U.S. Navy). An interesting article about TOR here --> https://www.tomsguide.com/us/what-is-tor-faq,news-17754.html Previously, TOR required proxy set-up and other baloney within your browser to get it to work. Nowadays, they've made it easier. You can just download the entire browser (currently v9.5 based on Mozilla Firefox 68.9.0esr). You can download the package here --> https://www.torproject.org/ I just un-packaged the binary and run it from my /home/vtel57/.builds-vtel57 directory. The browser will alert you to upgrades and install them when you give it permission to do so. Easy-peasy. Because of the method TOR uses to bounce between servers all over when making a browser request, there is some slowdown due to encryption load and speed of the intervening servers. I haven't noticed much of a slowdown in my usage, though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
securitybreach Posted June 7, 2020 Share Posted June 7, 2020 Yes, Tor was created and is still partially funded by the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory along with the Tor Foundation, US Department of State, DARPA, Mullvad VPN and many others for secure communications when secure networks are not available. It is mostly used by governments, spies, journalists, whistle-blowers, miltiaries, those that value privacy, etc. nowadays. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wa4chq Posted June 12, 2020 Author Share Posted June 12, 2020 (edited) Hey SB and Eric...tnx for the replies and info. Interesting. I appreciate how you guys take the time to explain things. Bookmarking the links. So I wonder if TOR is pronounced "thor" like Thor is pronounced "Tor"? jus' kiddin' Have a great weekend. Edited June 12, 2020 by wa4chq 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
securitybreach Posted June 12, 2020 Share Posted June 12, 2020 16 minutes ago, wa4chq said: Hey SB and Eric...tnx for the replies and info. Interesting. I appreciate how you guys take the time to explain things. Bookmarking the links. So I wonder if TOR is pronounced "thor" like Thor is pronounced "Tor"? jus' kiddin' Have a great weekend. No problem, glad to help Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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