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I recently showed you why you should start using the Tor browser for any kind of confidential web browsing. But what if I told you there is a entire operating system based on the Tor network? It’s called Tails and can be run from a USB stick, DVD, or virtual machine.
You might think that using the Tor browser is perfectly reasonable, but the whole idea of ??a Tor-based operating system is just one step away from being paranoid. But think about it.
How many times do you use someone else’s computer? How many times do you use a computer in an Internet cafe? When you do, you will not want to enter any passwords or leave traces of what you have browsed on the Internet.
Therefore, to protect against this, you can plug in a USB stick with Tails installed and browse the files from there instead. There is no trace of what you were doing online on the host computer, and your geographic location is hidden by Tor relays.
But don’t be completely relaxed. Tails itself lists a myriad of reasons why Tails is still partially insecure, so be careful.
Download Tails
To the right of any Tails page is a green Install button. Click on it to start downloading.
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The next page will ask you which operating system you are booting from. But I would suggest to ignore that and look under the USB – Boot only option (for USB sticks) instead. Click on this.
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Now you can choose between regular download or BitTorrent download. The download size is 1.2 GB, so you need to decide which download method suits you best. I chose the usual method.
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When you press the green download button, the USB “image†download (file format – img) will start. Now, the next stage on the download page will light up, which checks the download to make sure you have a legitimate version of Tails and not a malware infection installed by a hacker.
This includes installing a browser extension, but you can easily remove it after that.
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When the browser extension is installed, a “Confirm” button will appear. Click the button to navigate to and select the USB image you just downloaded. The extension will then start analyzing it.
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And it passes with honor.
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Install Tails on a USB Stick
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You will now need a USB stick. Tails requires at least 8GB of free space on the USB stick to work properly.
Also note that Tails will reformat and completely erase the current contents of the USB stick, so make sure there is nothing important on it. If so, please make a backup elsewhere
To write Tails to a USB stick, you need a portable program from Tails called Etcher. You can download it right here
Now open it, navigate to the disk image and the USB stick where it should be installed.
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Click “Flash!” and it will start erasing data from USB stick and transferring data via Tails
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Restart Computer and Run Tails
When Etcher is done, it’s time to restart your computer and start Tails
If your computer has only one operating system (like Windows or macOS), they’ll just wave to you. But when there is more than one operating system, you have to choose which one you want from the boot menu.
Since Tails is not installed on the hard drive itself, you need to keep the Tails USB stick in the USB socket when you restart your computer. Then, when the computer boots up, enter the boot menu (for me it pressed the F11 button, but your computer may use a different button. This is usually displayed on the boot screen). On the boot screen, select your USB drive and Tails will start booting.
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The first thing to keep in mind is that this is not a Linux distribution into which you can install programs. Tails provides you with security-focused programs, but you are not advised to install any others.
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Clicking on the “Applications” link in the upper left corner will show you what you need to play with. Although some, in my opinion, are no longer needed. Who needs to use Pidgin Messenger more? How many people use Thunderbird for email?
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The ONLY browser on Tails is the Tor browser, and should remain that way for security reasons. As you can see, it works great when browsing regular websites.
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In the next menu, you have some interesting ones such as Bitcoin wallet and Onionshare. I recently discussed Onionshare in another article that allows you to transfer files to someone using the Tor network
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Another nice feature is that you can encrypt the contents of the clipboard using a passphrase or PGP public keys This prevents anyone from using CTRL + V to see what you copied and pasted last.
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Tails is a great system if you like your security and privacy, but Linux itself is a completely different system to get used to compared to Windows or macOS. The last two focus on usability and make your work as easy as possible.
Linux requires a little more elbow grease. But once you begin to understand how Linux works, you will soon see its many benefits.