Just make sure to check all of the boxes (including Install the Firefox plugin / extension) in the installation, and let it install. You probably won't need to choose the option to let it start with Windows, but that is your choice.

Once you've got everything installed, run the "Privoxy" program first. If you Run the "Vidalia" program first, you'll get an error message from Privoxy saying there's another proxy program setup using that port (which is Polipo).

Once you run Privoxy, you'll see in the Privoxy window where it says: "Privoxy(00001ec8) Info: Listening on port 8118 for local connections only", and the Privoxy icon in your system tray.

Next, run the "Vidalia" program. You'll see the icon in your system tray first turn Yellow as it's connecting, and finally Green once it's actually connected to the Tor network, as shown below:

Once it connects, the next thing you'll need to do is start IE (if it's not already running), and go to it's settings pages, AKA "Internet Options" (shown below):

Next, click on the "Connections" tab, following the numbers shown in the screenshot below, and entering in the same information in the "Proxy Server" lines as also shown:

Privoxy by default uses port 8118. If you've changed it or it's different, you can easily see in the Privoxy window what the port is to use above instead of 8118:

The first thing you'll always want to do after connecting is to go to an IP displaying website, to confirm that you're connected to Tor and anonymous. I prefer using IP Chicken. Also, see our "How To Do I Find My IP Address" thread.

You can also watch all the traffic go through Privoxy by watching it's log window as you surf:

Once you do that, you're still running Tor (in your system tray), however, your Browser isn't using it, so any web surfing you do is back to it's original state. Your own IP address, you're original surfing speed, and so on. To use Tor again, simply click the Tor button again, until it's green.

2. You may (often) notice that some websites show up in different languages while using Tor. This is because some of the nodes (people) are living there! And you're going through them (the end node is from there), so it returns the website page in that language. Either you can tough it out and try to figure which buttons do what, or you can change your "Tor Identity" and hope you get a new IP in your own language.

Changing your "Identity" fetches you a new IP address each time you click it, it may or may not be a faster or better connection.

3. To disconnect from the Tor network, just right click the Tor icon in the system tray, and choose "Stop Tor" or "Exit".

4. You may not be able to get to some websites. Tor has alot of people using it's anonymity to abuse websites. In return, some websites block Tor users, or any user who is on a proxy. when this happens, a page may just seem to hang forever, or you may get some sort of notice or error message.

5. Both Tor and Privoxy have plenty of configuration options that you can play with and tweak. We have shown you the basics on simply how to get up and running on Tor. Feel free to play around with the settings!

6. You may want to try using Tor with Polipo (or other ways) as well! Be sure to either click the links below, or search/surf GeekDrop for our tutorials for beginners on how to do so!

And that's it!, Happy anonymous surfing!