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Comment by Aisen8010 | Hacker News Reader

I installed the Tor Browser to access the Z Library a few days ago. I guess I shouldn't complain, but the downloads are very slow (I'm not sure if the problem is in my end).

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Check Library Genesis (on the open web) before resorting to z-lib, as that's where z_lib got most of their content in the first place.

Tor works by proxying through (at least) 3 PCs before hitting the open web. The problem is that you’re trying to download big files which is not a use case for tor.

It’s specifically for browsing the web anonymously.

When I first starting using Tor in the mid aughts, I was using it to download movies and music. I remember talking with a security friend and he was like, "Bruh, what are you doing? That's not what Tor is for." and then launched into a 20 min rant about why I was misusing Tor and affecting other people using the service by what I was doing.

It was a good lesson and helped me realize what Tor should really be used for.

It's likely that downloading music and movies is actually helpful for those using TOR to "avoid death" - because it provides more cover and traffic.

Was it always 7? I seem to remember it being like 3-4?

For a circuit to clearnet it's 3. Guard --> Middle --> Exit. For a onion service it's 6 and the connection is a bit more complicated [0]. The speed varies from very fast to unbearable depending on your circuit and how bad the ddos is at that moment. [1] You can try to create a new and hopefully faster circuit by clicking on the onion symbol on the left in the address bar.

[0] https://github.com/mikeperry-tor/vanguards/blob/master/READM...

[1] https://status.torproject.org/issues/2022-06-09-network-ddos...

My mistake, updated my comment

In your defense I also wasn't sure for a minute and had to look it up. Could also have been three hops to the intro point from the onion service.

Connecting to hidden services it's 6 hops, reaching out to the internet it's 3 hops.

https://i.imgur.com/h1vlxNh.png

In general connecting over Tor or I2p is slow.

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