Silk Road forums

Discussion => Newbie discussion => Topic started by: ArkVibeTribe on July 18, 2013, 04:28 pm

Title: Vidalia Control Panel
Post by: ArkVibeTribe on July 18, 2013, 04:28 pm
Hello all..

This would definitely belong in the Newbie discussion board.

I am just curious to what settings people prefer on the Vidalia Control Panel, and when it's appropriate to "Use a New Identity" ?

I really would appreciate some logical/helpful input.

Thanks in advance to those who are giving helpful advice to noobs like myself!
Title: Re: Vidalia Control Panel
Post by: isallmememe on July 18, 2013, 04:39 pm
i don't know enough about how it works to answer your question but i do randomly click new identity during a session as i feel it could make it harder for anyone to keep track of me by doing so.
Title: Re: Vidalia Control Panel
Post by: ArkVibeTribe on July 18, 2013, 04:49 pm
Well.. I've been using Tor for about a week now, maybe less, and have no used a new identity. Are there any circumstances where using a new identity would be a bad/confusing thing?
Title: Re: Vidalia Control Panel
Post by: Nakorx on July 18, 2013, 07:39 pm
Unless you know what you are doing 100%, it is best to leave the control settings the way they are. And by Vidalia control settings, I assume you mean just that, the "settings" menu on the Vidalia Control panel.

As to changing identity, I have been using Tor for about 15 months and have never had to change identity. Not even when I have been ultra-paranoid.
However, there are some really useful tips that it can be used for:
1) When you get the Tor message "such and such has timed out, try again later"
2) Or a variation, like this "there was problem with the server at so and so and the system has not been able to load your data before it was reset.

Now many of these problems can be solved just as the page says, just hit "try again".
But there are a few that behave differently, and if you look carefully, you will notice that the little circle, representing data traffic, is missing, and you will instantly get the message "there is a problem loading this page". (By the way, these might not be exactly the correct messages, as I am doing this from memory, but they are close enough) and without getting technical, it is because Tor has marked these pages as being inaccessible for the time being, which could be hours!

Now this is where the "New Identity" comes in useful. If you select the New Identity under these circumstances, you will fool Tor into thinking you are a new user and have never visited this site before and it will usually work.

So next time you get the "problem page will not load" give it a try.

Title: Re: Vidalia Control Panel
Post by: ArkVibeTribe on July 19, 2013, 02:36 am
Unless you know what you are doing 100%, it is best to leave the control settings the way they are. And by Vidalia control settings, I assume you mean just that, the "settings" menu on the Vidalia Control panel.

As to changing identity, I have been using Tor for about 15 months and have never had to change identity. Not even when I have been ultra-paranoid.
However, there are some really useful tips that it can be used for:
1) When you get the Tor message "such and such has timed out, try again later"
2) Or a variation, like this "there was problem with the server at so and so and the system has not been able to load your data before it was reset.

Now many of these problems can be solved just as the page says, just hit "try again".
But there are a few that behave differently, and if you look carefully, you will notice that the little circle, representing data traffic, is missing, and you will instantly get the message "there is a problem loading this page". (By the way, these might not be exactly the correct messages, as I am doing this from memory, but they are close enough) and without getting technical, it is because Tor has marked these pages as being inaccessible for the time being, which could be hours!

Now this is where the "New Identity" comes in useful. If you select the New Identity under these circumstances, you will fool Tor into thinking you are a new user and have never visited this site before and it will usually work.

So next time you get the "problem page will not load" give it a try.


Thank you so much Nakorx! I actually do have the problem of not being able to load this forum or SR because of those exact timeouts and errors you are talking about. Maybe I'll finally get a new identity once it's frustrated me enough and in a serious situation.

+1 for you friend.. if I knew how, or were able to.

Cheers!
Title: Re: Vidalia Control Panel
Post by: monesty on July 19, 2013, 02:41 am
The only time I hit 'new identity' is when a page stops up as described above. Otherwise I don't have much concern over it.
Title: Re: Vidalia Control Panel
Post by: ArkVibeTribe on July 19, 2013, 02:48 am
Yep! Just tried it for the first time when both SR and these forums wouldn't load. Hit new identity, restarted tor.. and they popped right up!

Now I am having trouble with the verifications codes to post on here. I type them in correctly but it will give me an error of saying I did not enter them correctly.
Title: Re: Vidalia Control Panel
Post by: cryngie on July 19, 2013, 02:58 am
I use new identity when i get ip blocked from pages apart from that no other use for me
Title: Re: Vidalia Control Panel
Post by: Aussie bob on July 19, 2013, 03:03 am
  I don't know for sure either way, but a few respected members on the forums advocate using new identity if you are using SR or the forums and then decide to open a tab in tor browser to surf clear net for whatever reason, and then again when coming back to hidden site. I don't know why, because I thought your ip couldn't be detected in hidden sites (maybe to protect from compromised hidden site?) but it's not going to hurt, AB
Title: Re: Vidalia Control Panel
Post by: monesty on July 19, 2013, 08:23 am
The captchas can be tricky. I usually look at them two or three times before they are clear. Old eyes don't help either.
Title: Re: Vidalia Control Panel
Post by: PlanB on July 19, 2013, 09:55 am
As many others on this page have said, the majority of the time you won't need to mess around with any of the button's on the control panel of Vidalia. However if you did want to mess then here's my understanding of what some of the buttons do if used.

• Stop Tor - Completely stops the connection between other networks basically stopping you from surfing.
• Setup Relaying - Means you can set yourself up to be one of the middleman networks to help peoples connections to become scrambled and untraceable, just like for what happens to you when your surfing....Someone is being that scramble relay for you.
• View Network - View network allows you to see currently the journey your connection is taking whilst it goes through the interwebs, so you can see what countries your connection goes through to be scrambled, so my connection is going through USA & Norway.
• Use New Identity - This resets which path and people your connection travels through to be scrambled, I usually press this when Tor is having loading problems, therefore my connection changes and goes through a new middleman giving me a working relay.

All the other smaller buttons are mostly self explanatory like the bandwidth graph for example. Hopefully this has been of some help to you, happy surfing chap!

PlanB 8)
Title: Re: Vidalia Control Panel
Post by: foobarbaz on July 19, 2013, 10:01 am
Thanks for the details.