This will allow some applications that do not support SOCKS to work with Tor. If you installed Tor from the Vidalia Bundle, Tor Browser Bundle or Tor IM Browser Bundle, Tor will have also configured an HTTP application proxy as a front-end to the Tor network. Tor uses a SOCKS proxy interface to connect to applications, so any application that supports SOCKS (versions 4, 4a and 5) can have its traffic anonymized with Tor, including: Tor is compatible with most versions of Windows, Mac OS X, and GNU/Linux. It is also possible to run a portable version of the program from a USB flash drive or other external device. To connect to the Internet through the Tor network and use it for anonymity, privacy, and circumvention, you need to install the Tor client software on your computer. any of the independent relays to know who you are and where you go either by directly having your IP address or by being able to correlate browsing habits by consistently observing your traffic.

the target Web site to know who you are (at least, to know your IP address).your ISP or any other local observer to know what your target Web site is or what information you are sending.

All the traffic between Tor servers (or relays) is encrypted, and each of the relays knows only the IP address of two other machines – the one immediately previous to it and the one immediately after it in the chain. Tor (The Onion Router) is a very sophisticated network of proxy servers.When you use Tor to access a Web site, your communications are randomly routed through a network of independent, volunteer proxies.

The onion router