this is pretty much finished ^^ ! if there are any mistakes tell me. the dark web is a hyperfixation for me so i cracked this out a lot faster than expected :)
it was started on 7th april 2021, the links are up to date as of 9th april 2021

welcome to parox's guide to the dark web (shshshh oo spooky!)

heh sorry in advance if my writing is scattered, unorganised or just difficult to understand. i find it quite hard to materialise my thoughts onto paper (or in this case a html file) since i have so many of them (i tend to just write in notes/bullet point form if im the only one reading it). if u do read this tho, ty for baring with me i apreciate it <3

warning warning warning !! wee woo wee woo !! please ! please,, do not try accessing the dark web without doing research and understanding what ur doing
this is in no means an extensive guide and should only be read for fun, with no intent to browse dark web, or as a starting point to ur own research.
anyway lets start ^^

1.wait... whats the dark web??

in short, the dark web is the side of the internet hidden from usual search engines like google or ...bing (yuck) and can only be used by certain softwares (most notibly ). the dark web should not be confused with deep web, the deep web just constists of sites that arent public to search engines but can simply be accessed with some form of authentication (examples: medical records, bank logs).

the dark web is most commonly associated with illegal markets selling drugs, guns and ammo and fake passports, with the silk road site being seized it brought dark web into the mainstream with the connotaitions of illegality. lemme just tell u, if u do things right the dark web isnt that scary. yes, those sites exist but thats not all the dark web is.

2. did u say tor? the dark web is ussually accessed through tor browser but can be accessed by other (although less popular) browsers like 12P and freenet. tor uses onion routing which is encryption in the application layer of a communication protocol stack and then transferred through different relays present in the Tor network, nested like the layers of an onion (oh neat now the name makes sense!). it also uses the several IP addresses in between your browsing activity in order to hide the actual IP address that you have assigned from your local internet service provider

(pspspspshsht this is a good visualiser :) )

tldr; tor hides ur ip and has hella layers of encryption (thats exactly what we need)!

tor also uses its own sites (.onion sites) which are on the tor network which means u cant just find em through google search results. onion urls tend to be a string of 16 random lowercase letters and numbers (from 2 to 7), this has some exeptions though, if the site is not paying quite a lot extra or using v3 urls

examples:
(if on a regular browser, these urls wont work so theres no point in copying and pasting them into the search bar lolol

this is a deepweb radio station (how wholesome uwu)

this is the hidden wiki, its so long bc it has the new longer, more secure v3 onion url

fun fact: tor was first developed by the u.s. navy to help informants posted in foreign countries to relay information back safely :o

3. so i just need to download tor and i can browse the dark web??

yes but actually no.
this is where ur own research is very important ! i can give you some ideas of the routes u can take but do some research into what u think is best ^^ anyway. here are some ideas:

im sure everyone at this point knows what a vpn is. a virtual private network that u can use to watch the office on netflix. but. since it lets u change what location your requests are seemingly coming from, u can use it to hide ur location on the dark web (wow just what we need!). i, personally, dont think it is that nessacary (although i use tails and so dont need one, so what do i know) but once again, research! if ur using whonix or qubes, check the documentation or reddit and see if they reccomend it ! and if ur just running tor straight on ur computer then please do use it. other than the onion routing that tor uses, u have no protection. i know people who have browsed tor directly on their pc, on windows, no vpn, and they were fine. but i definetly would not risk it. anyway,, vpn reccomendations are the basic ones, expressvpn, nordvpn. im sure there are other good options but these seem to do the job. when choosing, look for a logless vpn, i think nordvpn is better but im pretty sure its a little more expensive

a vm stands for virtual machine which is an emulated computer system. for example u may have a windows computer but run an emulated linux or mac on it. this is good if u need to run certain software for a certain os or, in our case, need a way to contain malware from the dark web. now, vms arent really for privacy since u are still running this on ur usual pc but if ur just looking to browse perfectly normal websites and dont want the risk of clicking on a link that grabs info from ur actual pc then its great !
personaly, when i first took interest in the dark web using a vm was my first option since i had already used vms before. i downloaded whonix from its official site (please! always check the validity of ur downloads when doing this) and ran it on my usual laptop. i only did this to find out how tor worked and what to expect from it.
that was a one time thing and i now use...


this is my biggest reccomendation !! i have a bootable usb just over 8gb that i have downloaded an entire os onto (yes u heard correctly!)
i use this usb with an old laptop and plug it in and select it before windows boots up, this means everything i do is seperate to my usual pc. tails is probably the first choice for this (it was definetly mine) since it also wipes its memory once u shut it down, that is if u dont have a persistant storage set up for specific things) this is definetly the easiest and safest option, tor comes pre installed along with other helpful programs and u do not need to use a vpn (it actually discouraged by tails since it can make things less secure in this case) there are obviously other options! but im most knowledgeble on tails. once again do research :)

4. im in.... now what?

well some good starting points are
> hidden wiki, my first site, a big reccomendation. gives u a good first taste for the dark web :)
> duck duck go, clearnet search engine, big focus on privacy. dont use google on tor
> onion search, darknet search engine, not always the best results, be consious of what ur clicking on.

these are onion urls, in case ur already on tor ;)
> http://cnkj6nippubgycuj.onion/ torch, a very reliable darknet search engine
> http://tordex7iie7z2wcg.onion/ tordex, darknet search, god theres so many dodgy ads but it has good results so i cant complain

forums (not including 8chan because ew)
> http://answerstedhctbek.onion/ hidden answers, its yahoo answers but more risque. pretty entertaining
> http://zw3crggtadila2sg.onion/ torchan, a lot less toxic than 4chan, a fav, heart eyes emoji
> dreadytofatroptsdj6io7l3xptbet6onoyno2yv7jicoxknyazubrad.onion/ dread, reddit type beat, mostly about dark markets, i dont use it but i know its popular

other fun stuff
> ciadotgov4sjwlzihbbgxnqg3xiyrg7so2r2o3lt5wz5ypk4sxyjstad.onion/ cia's official tor site, such wow
> piratebayztemzmv.onion/ piratebay for (shshshhh illegal torrenting)

this is a very short list of faves, hidden wiki has so many more links. i also dont want to endorse anything illegal (other than piratebay since most if not all software should be freeware is very important to me) so i tried to keep that in mind :P

5. dont forget to stay safe <3

> have noscript. its a browser extension that blocks javascript on tor (tails comes with it preinstalled hehe). javascript is a big no no since it causes browser finger printing
> use duck duck go instead of google when on clear net
> use telegram to talk to people from the dark web. it uses end to end encryption so use it to stay in touch with dark net friends :)


> log into personal accounts / link ur darknet identity with ur clearnet identity
> click on random links, this ones a no brainer
> change too many settings on tor browser or tails os. the reason ur anonymous is because ur blending in with a crowd of other tor / tails users. changing too many settings makes u unique > buy anything without knowing what ur doing !!

anyway, here is some further reading !

tails documentaion

dnm (dark net market) bible, u can download it !

onions subreddit

thats it ! i hope i've filled u with inspiration to check the dark web out. i think it's a pretty cool place, its super interesting to see what the internet would be without surveilance and just what society looks like without rules. i browse the dark web for fun and have met a couple friends on there.

with that being said, there are still disgusting things on there, this is why i urge u be cautious with what u click on to avoid abuse, cp, torture, ect. most sites of that nature os circled around a tight circle of people but it is can still visible.





please stay safe, parox loves u <3 !