# Running Tor on Mac OS X

## Step One: Download and Install Tor

The latest beta release of Tor for Macintosh OS X 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 selecting "Customize" in the Installer.

And then checking the "Tor Startup Script" box as shown below. Be sure to leave the other boxes checked.

Once the installer is finished and your computer restarts, Tor will start automatically. 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.

Privoxy is installed as part of the Tor bundle package installer. Privoxy is a filtering web proxy that integrates well with Tor. Once it's installed, it will start automatically when your computer is restarted.

You do not need to configure Privoxy to use Tor. A custom Privoxy configuration for Tor has been installed as part of the installer package.

## Step Two: Configure your applications to use Tor

After installing Tor, you need to configure your applications to use it. The first step is to set up web browsing. Change your browser to HTTP proxy at localhost port 8118. (That's where Privoxy listens.) In Mozilla, this is in Mozilla|Preferences|Advanced|Proxies. In Firefox it's Firefox|Preferences|General|ConnectionSettings. You should set both your Web Proxy (HTTP) and your Secure Web Proxy (HTTPS or SSL) to localhost port 8118, to hide your SSL traffic too.

If you want to use Tor with Safari, you need to change your Network Settings. The process looks something like:

Select your Network Preferences from the Apple | Location menu.

Select the Network Interface you want to enable Tor on. If you use more than one Interface you must change the proxy settings for each individually.

Select and enter localhost and port 8118 for both Web Proxy (HTTP) and your Secure Web Proxy (HTTPS)

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 connect or socat. Let us know if you get them working so we can add better instructions here.

If you have suggestions for improving this document, please post them on our bugtracker in the website category. Thanks!