[or-cvs] r23063: {website} a start at cleaning up the "it isn't working" faq entry (website/trunk/en)

Roger Dingledine arma at torproject.org
Thu Aug 26 19:16:46 UTC 2010


Author: arma
Date: 2010-08-26 19:16:46 +0000 (Thu, 26 Aug 2010)
New Revision: 23063

Modified:
   website/trunk/en/faq.wml
Log:
a start at cleaning up the "it isn't working" faq entry


Modified: website/trunk/en/faq.wml
===================================================================
--- website/trunk/en/faq.wml	2010-08-26 18:47:41 UTC (rev 23062)
+++ website/trunk/en/faq.wml	2010-08-26 19:16:46 UTC (rev 23063)
@@ -710,66 +710,85 @@
 it's not working.</a></h3>
 
 <p>
-Are you sure Tor and Polipo are both running? If you're using Vidalia,
-you may have to click on the onion and select "Start" to launch Tor.
+Once you've installed the Tor bundle, there are two questions to ask:
+first, is your Tor able to establish a circuit? And second, is your
+Firefox correctly configured to send its traffic through Tor?
 </p>
 
-<p>
-Did you configure your web browser to http proxy to port 8118? Most people
-should do this simply by installing Torbutton and making sure it says
-"Tor enabled" at the bottom.
+<p>If Tor can establish a circuit, the onion icon in
+Vidalia will turn green. You can also check in the Vidalia
+Control Panel to make sure it says "Connected to the Tor
+network!" under Status. For those not using Vidalia, check your <a
+href="<wiki>TorFAQ#HowdoIsetuploggingorseeTorslogs">Tor logs</a> for
+a line saying that Tor "has successfully opened a circuit. Looks like
+client functionality is working."
 </p>
 
 <p>
-If you are using Firefox and would like to use Tor via the Torbutton
-extension, make sure you don't have any other proxy add-on such as
-Foxy Proxy enabled, as it will bypass Torbutton's proxy settings
-for your browser. Note that using Foxy Proxy is NOT a sufficient
-substitute for Torbutton. There are many known attacks against
-a browser setup that does not include Torbutton. Read more in the
-<a href="<page torbutton/faq>">Torbutton FAQ</a> and
-the <a href="https://www.torproject.org/torbutton/design/>">Torbutton design</a>
-specification.
+If Tor can't establish a circuit, here are some hints:
 </p>
 
-<p>
-Check your <a href="<wiki>TorFAQ#HowdoIsetuploggingorseeTorslogs">Tor
-logs</a>. Do they give you any hints about what's going wrong?
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Check your system clock. If it's more than a few hours off, Tor will
+<ol>
+<li>Are you sure Tor is running? If you're using Vidalia, you may have
+to click on the onion and select "Start" to launch Tor.</li>
+<li>Check your system clock. If it's more than a few hours off, Tor will
 refuse to build circuits. For XP users, synchronize your clock under
 the clock -&gt; Internet time tab. In addition, correct the day and date
-under the 'Date &amp; Time' Tab.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Is your Internet connection <a
+under the 'Date &amp; Time' Tab.</li>
+<li>Is your Internet connection <a
 href="<wiki>TorFAQ#Myfirewallonlyallowsafewoutgoingports.">firewalled</a>,
 or do you normally need to use a <a
 href="<wiki>TorFAQ#MyInternetconnectionrequiresanHTTPorSOCKSproxy.">proxy</a>?
-Are you running programs like Norton Internet Security that block certain
-connections, even though you don't realize they do?
-</p>
+</li>
+<li>Are you running programs like Norton Internet Security or SELinux that
+block certain connections, even though you don't realize they do? They
+could be preventing Tor from making network connections.</li>
+<li>Are you in China, or behind a restrictive corporate network firewall
+that blocks the public Tor relays? If so, you should learn about <a
+href="<page bridges>">Tor bridges</a>.</li>
+<li>Check your <a href="<wiki>TorFAQ#HowdoIsetuploggingorseeTorslogs">Tor
+logs</a>. Do they give you any hints about what's going wrong?</li>
+</ol>
 
 <p>
-If you installed Polipo yourself (not from a bundle), did you edit the
-config file as described? Did you restart Polipo after this change?
+Step two is to confirm that Firefox is correctly configured to send its
+traffic through Tor. Try the <a href="https://check.torproject.org/">Tor
+Check</a> site and see whether it thinks you are using Tor. See <a
+href="<wiki>TorFAQ#HowcanItellifTorisworkingandthatmyconnectionsreallyareanonymizedArethereexternalserversthatwilltestmyconnection">the
+Tor check FAQ entry</a> for details.
+<p>
+
+<p>
+If it thinks you're not using Tor, here are some hints:
 </p>
 
-<p>
-For Red Hat Linux and related systems, do you have SELinux enabled? If
+<ol>
+<li>Did you install the Torbutton extension for Firefox? The installation
+bundles include it, but sometimes people forget to install it. Make sure
+it says "Tor enabled" at the bottom right of your Firefox window. (For
+expert users, make sure your http proxy is set to localhost port
+8118.)</li>
+<li>Do you have incompatible Firefox extensions like Foxyproxy
+installed?  If so, uninstall them. (Note that using Foxy Proxy is NOT
+a sufficient substitute for Torbutton. There are many known attacks
+against a browser setup that does not include Torbutton. Read more
+in the <a href="<page torbutton/faq>">Torbutton FAQ</a> and the <a
+href="https://www.torproject.org/torbutton/design/">Torbutton design</a>
+specification.)</li>
+<li>Check that Polipo, the http proxy that passes traffic between Firefox
+and Tor, is running. On Windows, look in the task manager and check for
+a polipo.exe. On OS X, open the utilities folder in your applications
+folder, and open Terminal.app. Then run "ps aux|grep polipo".</li>
+<li>If you're on Linux, make sure Privoxy isn't running, since it will
+conflict with the port that our Polipo configuration file picks.</li>
+<li>If you installed Polipo yourself (not from a bundle), did you edit the
+config file as described? Did you restart Polipo after this change?</li>
+<li>For Red Hat Linux and related systems, do you have SELinux enabled? If
 so, it might be preventing Polipo from talking to Tor. We also run across
 BSD users periodically who have local firewall rules that prevent some
-connections to localhost.
-</p>
+connections to localhost.</li>
+</ol>
 
-<p>
-When it's working, Tor should report that it "has successfully opened
-a circuit.  Looks like client functionality is working."
-</p>
-
 <hr />
 
 <a id="VidaliaPassword"></a>



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