How to be Anonymous Online: Step-by-Step Anonymity with Tor, Tails, Bitcoin and Writeprints (2016)

Section: Build A Toolbox

The first thing you need to do is gather your tools. By the end of this section, everything you need will be in place and ready to go.

If you are already comfortable and familiar with Tails, you can skip to Section: Safe Updates and PGP Program Authentication.

Your Tool List:

Hardware

· DVD Bootable Computer with a DVD burner

· Three Blank DVD-R's (you only need one to get started)

· One 4 GB+ USB Flash Drive (Important –The flash drive you use must NOT be "Windows 8 Certified." If you fail to find a flash drive that is NOT "Windows 8 Certified," you can use a Micro SD Card with a USB adapter. Many SD cards come with the USB adapter so a quick trip to Walmart and $10 should take care of things)

· (Optional) Micro SD card with a USB adapter

Software

· Tails

· Plop Boot Manager

· InfraRecorder

Step 1: On your Desktop, create a folder named Toolbox.

Step 2: Download your Tools

1. I have bunched all the software you need into one .zip file that you can download from my website.

2. I have https encryption, malware protection, and you do not have to register or subscribe to anything.

3. I recommend that you initially download the Tools from my website, so you have the exact versions I used when writing this guide. Doing so will make it much easier to follow along.

4. Later on, you will download and install the latest versions of the software directly from the developer’s websites.

5. Download the tools from https://howtobeanonymousonline.info/toolbox/ (click ‘Download Toolbox’ to download the file from my secureserver online storage)

6. Save the Toolbox.zip file into the Toolbox folder on your desktop (it is over 800MB because it contains an outdated version of Linux that will serve as the foundation of the system)

7. Now, extract the Toolbox.zip file's contents into the Toolbox folder (right-click > Extract All)

If you need a .zip file extraction program, I use 7-zip (http://sourceforge.net/projects/sevenzip)

If you would rather download the Tools directly from the developer websites up front, the links are posted below:

· Tails ISO Image (https://tails.boum.org)

· Plop Boot Manager (http://www.plop.at)

· InfraRecorder (http://portableapps.com/apps/utilities/infrarecorder_portable)

Step 3: Burn two DVD's

Burn Tails

1. Insert a blank DVD-R into your computer

2. Go to your Toolbox folder

3. Right-click the Tails.iso file

4. Select Burn or Burn disc image *** (if this option does not exist or work, see below) ***

Burn Plop Boot Manager

1. Insert a blank DVD-R into your computer

2. Go to your Toolbox folder

3. Right-click the Plop Boot Manager.iso file

4. Select Burn or Burn disc image *** (if this option does not exist or work, see below) ***

If you succeed in burning these DVD’s, you can delete InfraRecorder from your Toolbox as you do not need it.

***To burn your DVD's, install InfraRecorder from your Toolbox

· Install InfraRecorder by double-clicking the InfraRecorderPortable_XXX.exe file and selecting OK

· Install and take note of the install location (probably Toolbox/InfraRecorderPortable)

· Once installed, open InfraRecorder by double-clicking InfraRecorderPortable.exe

· Click the Write Image box

· Find the Toolbox folder and Open the Tails.iso file or Plop Boot Manager.iso file

· Choose your DVD drive from the drop-down box and click OK (the drive is probably preselected)

· Once the DVD is burned, you may close InfraRecorder