The latest stable release of Tor for Windows 32 is 0.0.9.4. Download it by clicking the link. You may be able to find experimental versions here, if you're looking for new features and new bugs.
Our Tor installer should make everything pretty simple. Below is a screenshot of the setup page:
By default, Tor is not configured to run at startup. You can enable this by checking the "Run at startup" box as shown below. Be sure to leave the other boxes checked.
Once the installer is finished, it will run Tor in a DOS window so you can see its logs and errors. (You can minimize this window, but do not close it.)
Tor comes configured as a client by default. It uses a built-in default configuration file, and most people won't need to change any of the settings. Tor is now installed.
After installing Tor, you need to configure your applications to use it. The first step is to set up web browsing. Start by installing Privoxy (click on 'recent releases', then scroll down to the Win32 installer packages). Privoxy is a filtering web proxy that integrates well with Tor. Once it's installed, it should appear in your system tray as a "P" in a circle, as pictured below:
You need to configure Privoxy to use Tor. Open Privoxy's main config file by selecting it from Start Menu|All Programs:
Add the line
forward-socks4a / localhost:9050 .
to Privoxy's config file. Don't forget to add the dot at the end.
The easiest way is to select the above line and copy/paste it into
the file. Be sure to save.
Then change your browser to HTTP proxy at localhost port 8118. (That's where Privoxy listens.) In Mozilla, this is in Edit|Preferences|Advanced|Proxies. In IE, it's Tools|Internet Options|Connections|LAN Settings|Advanced. You should also set your SSL proxy (IE calls it "Secure") to the same thing, to hide your SSL traffic too. In IE, this looks something like:
Using privoxy is necessary because browsers leak your DNS requests when they use a SOCKS proxy directly, which is bad for your anonymity. Privoxy also removes certain dangerous headers from your web requests, and blocks obnoxious ad sites like Doubleclick.
To test if it's working, go to this site and see what IP it says you're coming from. (If it's down, you can try the junkbusters site instead.)
If you have a personal firewall that limits your computer's ability to connect to itself, be sure to allow connections from your local applications to local port 8118 and port 9050. If your firewall blocks outgoing connections, punch a hole so it can connect to at least TCP ports 80, 443, and 9001-9033. For more troubleshooting suggestions, see the FAQ.
To Torify another application that supports HTTP, just point it at Privoxy (that is, localhost port 8118). To use SOCKS directly (for example, for instant messaging, Jabber, IRC, etc), point your application directly at Tor (localhost port 9050). For applications that support neither SOCKS nor HTTP, take a look at SocksCap, FreeCap, or the Hummingbird SOCKS client. (FreeCap is free software; the others are proprietary.) Let us know if you get them working so we can add better instructions here.
If you have suggestions for improving this document, please send them to us. Thanks!