Private window with Tor

Having the same exact issue. Windows 10 PC. Really puzzled as I have two PCs, both Windows 10 64bit and both using the latest version of Brave, but with one PC Tor browser doesn’t work and with the other PC it works fine. Any ideas as to what I can do??

Hi, @arirandrome, and welcome. Since you are on Windows, I’m wondering if the cause of your trouble is this now-widely-reported issue with the Tor component being flagged by Defender as malware:
https://community.brave.com/t/invalid-digital-signature-for-tor-0-3-5-8-win32-brave-0/104764
Every time I open a new Private window with Tor in Windows on any version of Brave, Defender squawks and the new window says there’s no Internet. Sound familiar? As to why one it works on one PC and not the other, are the Defender updates the same?

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That might be the issue as it does sound familiar. Is the solution to shut Defender off? Are there work-arounds?

In the thread I linked, there are requests made of the devs as to whether it’s safe to tell Defender to just allow the component. I think it is, but I’ve quarantined it just in case. I’d recommend keeping an eye on that thread to see if the devs respond. Release, Beta, Dev, and Nightly all use the same component in (I believe) the same manner, so they’re all broken with the component quarantined/blocked.

Mine didn’t work and I have Defender turned off! But happy to report that it’s working again now.

Barry

Will keep an eye on the thread. Thanks for the help.

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is there no way to download old versions in windows as we do in .apk Android

Hi, @bttower and welcome. You could give it a shot. I’ve not tried it so I have no idea whether it will work. To find older versions, browse https://github.com/brave/brave-browser/releases.

hi @hnktong, thanks i will try, when you think all this will be sorted out

If you have other AV software Defender will probably be at odds with that as well and badly slowing your computer. It has given me many problems that’s why I switch it off completely, especially when using other AV packages.

Barry

I imagine this is going to be a fairly high priority item, but I honestly don’t know how quickly the devs can fix it. At least one Issue has been opened on GitHub for it, and I’m fairly certain they already knew it was a problem, so hopefully they can turn around a fix quickly. Until then, if you have to use Tor and aren’t comfortable allowing the component in Defender/AV software, consider using the Tor Browser.

I’d said earlier that Tor was working again on my Win 10 PC, but it’s damn well stopped working again now. What’s going on?

Barry

@bcornes, I know you have turned Defender completely off, but because Windows has a tendency to turn things back on and ignore what we tell it to do, anyway, could you open up Windows Security, click on Virus & threat protection, and check Protection history to see if there’s something like this, there? And if not, perhaps in whatever antimalware/AV software you might be using instead? You might check out the thread linked above about Invalid signature of tor-… if you’ve not, yet.
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Yeah, I discovered this morning that both Windoes Defender and Malwarebytes are trapping Brave when TOR is activated. But even with Defender turned off and Malwarebytes closed, I still cannot use TOR to access any website, even gmail.

The problem is serious for two reasons, the other reason being this: If Brave TOR requires users to disable virus and malware protection, it leaves open for infiltration the very people who most need security. Its almost like Brave wants security down in order to make TOR users vulnerable to , well, to state actors who might have a keen interest in identifying TOR users. That’s just just speculation, but a program that requires shields down in order to function should not be included in a browser that boasts of its privacy and security. Take down the TOR option until you gt it right, Brave. End users are not your test sled.

Just checked my AV and saw these in quarantine … Do I recover the files?

Barry

My guess is that it’s safe, but I’ve not done so. My desire to play it safe is stronger than my need/desire to use Tor. I’ve asked in another thread whether it’s safe, but that inquiry may be swamped by the volume of text in my post and more generally on the thread.

Windows 10 is calling it a Trojan virus and it is being blocked. Some file that is hard to get into user/appdata…

Yes, there are many threads discussing and in the GitHub Issue devs posted a solution from Microsoft. I haven’t tried the MS solution, but I gathered a bunch of the threads and the GitHub Issue here:

did copy it but made no difference. Then a week went by and did nothing and it worked again. go figure.

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