Tor/Vidalia does not anonymize traffic.
 

I am running Ubuntu 10.04, Vidalia 0.2.9, and Tor 0.2.1.26.

When I enable Vidalia (which automatically starts the tor service), it says it's working properly, and does not give me any error messages in the message log. But when I go to an external IP checking site, it can still see my normal IP.

I have tried clicking "Use new identity" in Vidalia, and that doesn't fix it either.

My current network setup is laptop<-->wireless access point<-->DSL modem.

Any idea how I could diagnose this?

Thanks,
jrtayloriv

Did you set correct proxy server in your browser?

No, I don't have a proxy set up at all. But I shouldn't need to, from what I understand. I am aware that this does not provide very strong anonymity, but all that is important to me for my application is anonymizing my IP.

So, my problem still remains ... what could cause Tor to think it's working, but not actually anonymize my IP?

Thanks again,
jrtayloriv

I've never used Vidalia. I use Tor with polipo proxy http server as it is wrote in documentation and I browser have to use this proxy to anonymize you.

I agree with this. I have never used Vidalia but use polipo with no issue in Ubuntu.

Is there any particular reason that you are using Vidalia rather than another more documented setup?

What do you mean "a more documented setup"? Vidalia is the official TorProject GUI for tor. I am using it, because it is the best GUI interface I've found to tor, and has never caused me any problems before.

Adding a proxy (that I don't need) wouldn't fix the problem of tor not working, it would just complicate things and make it harder to debug.

Anyone have any ideas why Tor might think it is working, and not throw any errors, but fail to anonymize my traffic, given the network setup I mentioned above?

Thanks,
jrtayloriv

I think what they are referring to is the Firefox " tor button" plugin
that auto sets the proxy