Phasing Out of Tor Browser on Windows 8 Platform: What’s Next?

Tor Browser 13.5 is now available for desktop and mobile devices. This update refines some of the changes that were introduced in Tor Browser 13.0, specifically window letterboxing on desktop, and lays the groundwork for Connection Assist support in the Android-based Tor Browser. This will also be the last release for PCs running Windows 8.1 or older, and macOS 10.14 and older.

As you may know, last year’s Tor Browser 13.0 update introduced a landscape content window option and the ability to freely resize the browser’s container window. But Tor Browser still needs to work with a selection of pre-set content window sizes (called “buckets”) to prevent fingerprinting and maintain user anonymity.

So, window resizing led to a new problem—if you expand a window to a size that does not match one of the browser’s “buckets,” letterboxing is used to fill the extra space. Several users assumed that the letterboxing effect was some kind of bug , as it runs counter to typical app behavior and isn’t mentioned within the browser’s settings. Some users went as far as to disable letterboxing, which is a bad idea, as the feature exists for privacy purposes.

Today’s Tor Browser 13.5 release adds new letterbox alignment options to the settings. You can also toggle a setting that forces the browser to remember your previous window size, and the visual design of letterboxing has been updated to make the feature look more deliberate (the content window now casts a slight shadow on the letterbox). And, interestingly, double-clicking the letterbox will now snap your window to the most appropriate bucket size.

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Bridge users also gain some nice improvements. Bridge Cards are no longer displayed in a confusing stack and can be shared all at once (sharing used to be a one-at-a-time piecemeal kinda thing). A new “source” icon is now appended to each Bridge Card, and a “Find More Bridges” portal is now provided within Tor Browser’s settings.

As for the Android app—well, it’s starting to feel like a real version of the Tor Browser. Finally, you can connect automatically at app startup, and the settings menu may now be accessed before establishing a connection with Tor. The logs system has also been rebuilt and relocated to “Connection Settings” to more closely match desktop behavior.

Tor Browser on Android also has a new, “native” connection screen. This lays the groundwork for Connection Assist support, which will help users circumvent censorship from their mobile device. Connection Assist on Android is planned for a future update, presumably Tor Browser 14.0, which is scheduled for later this year.

Tor Browser 14 will drop support for several older operating systems: Windows 7, Windows 8 and 8.1, and macOS 10.12-10.14. Failing to keep Tor Browser up to date can put your security and privacy in jeopardy, so if you’re using an outdated operating system, prepare to upgrade before the year’s end. This is particularly true if you use Tor Browser to circumvent government censorship or access sensitive materials. The reasons for this change are explained on the Tor Browser forum.

You can install the Tor Browser 13.5 update from the Tor downloads page or the Tor distribution directory . A full changelog can be found at the bottom of Tor Project’s blog post.

Source: Tor Project

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