Things who are essential to know before trying to browse anonymously:
Understand that Tor only makes your TCP-stream (data transfer) anonymous. Your applications may still leak information about you. Typical pitfalls include:
Browsing with Java enabled. Java does not respect the web browsers proxy settings, which means that Java applets are still able to connect to websites without going through Tor.
The same applies to Active X and other such “extentions”.
JavaScript can reveal all sorts of information about your browser, such as your operating system, all the browser plugins you have installed, your screen resolution, the size of your browser window, and so on. You should disable javascript when using Tor.
DNS leaks. This means that the application you are using looks up DNS names without going thorugh Tor. Most browsers who support proxies will look up DNS requets through Tor, make sure your browser is configured to do that.
And always remember that what you do over an anonymous connection is just as important, or even more important, than the connection itself. If you upload your scanned government photo ID then it easy to identify you regardless of the connection used to upload it is anonymous or not. The same applies to your software programs, if they are leaking information then you’ll be exposed regardless of the connection they use to leak it.
