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Tails
|
Reader supplied reviews for Tails
Average rating
4.8 from 16 review(s)
Version: 5.11
Rating: 8
Date: 2023-04-06
Votes: 3
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Some of the aspects I like:
Privacy and Anonymity: Tail OS routes internet connections through the Tor network by default, which helps users maintain their privacy and anonymity online. It prevents websites from tracking user activities and location, and it encrypts all internet traffic, making it difficult for third parties to intercept or monitor online activities.
Security: Tail OS is designed with a strong focus on security, as it is built on a Linux foundation and incorporates various security measures, such as kernel-level firewall, automatic data encryption, and secure file deletion. It also provides a hardened environment for browsing, email, and other online activities, reducing the risk of malware and other cyber threats.
Portable and Live System: Tail OS is a live system, which means it can be run from a USB drive or DVD without installation on the computer's hard drive. This makes it easy to carry and use on any computer, while leaving no traces of user activity on the host system. It's particularly useful for users who need to use public computers or want to protect their data while using a borrowed or shared device.
Free and Open Source Software (FOSS): Tail OS is free to use and is based on open source software, which means that its source code is publicly available for inspection and auditing by the community. This enhances transparency, security, and trust in the software, as it can be independently verified for any backdoors or vulnerabilities.
User-Friendly Interface: Tail OS comes with a user-friendly interface that makes it accessible even for users with limited technical expertise. It provides pre-configured applications for secure browsing, email, messaging, and file management, making it easy for users to adopt secure practices without extensive technical knowledge.
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Version: 5.11
Rating: 6
Date: 2023-03-21
Votes: 1
|
Tor Browser is great for private/anonymous browsing and to have it combined with an OS on a bootable USB seemed like a really interesting idea. Well, the OS is clunky and outdated, and the Persistent Storage feature just doesn't work. Nothing ever gets saved into it. I spent a couple of hours fiddling with the configuration and rebooting and trying again. Persistent Storage is essential, otherwise you have to set your configuration every time you start and you can't retain bookmarks and file downloads from session to session.
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Version: 5.8
Rating: 2
Date: 2023-01-01
Votes: 17
|
I used Tails quite a bit back in the day. After a while I just got tired of the promises and the endless glacial improvements. I have moved on.
But despite that, I grabbed the 5.8 version the other day. I loaded it on a old slow USB drive. At first, it seemed to go ok.
Where I ran off the rails was with trying to get and use bridges. It was suggested that I have the system send bridges to my 'gmail' account. I don't have a gmail account and won't get one. Anyone wanting to improve their privacy knows Google is not the place to start. For bridges, go directly to TOR. So I got the bridges, but Tails repeatedly refused to use them. In the past, bridges worked without a blink of complaint. Not for me, not this time.
Bridges are a great help in unsafe environments. Not being able to get them safely and use them is not good for users.
Tails still can't complete randomize the MAC address on start up. Yet, after start up one can go in to the network setting and completely randomize the MAC address after every connection! Really?
The unsafe browser was another issue. I connected to the internet in a public setting with a border manager. Fine. I attempted to start the unsafe browser. It told me to connect first. So, to make sure I had a good connection, I reconnected yet again, only to get the same complaint. WAT???? In a public setting, the Unsafe browser is absolutely needed to connect. If the unsafe browser will not start, you are DIW...'dead in the water.' Meaning Tails is USELESS!
*** The whole point of Tails is for it to work dependably while keeping the user reasonable safe in unsafe circumstances.***
Also, ifconfig is gone. To manually change the MAC address, one has to wander through the IP command.
Nothing about this thing is intuitive.
Tails has great potential. However, the folks running the show there will never, ever realize that potential. Creeping, creaking development is not the solution either.
My solution; I restarted my laptop, started Mint and applied a vigorous treatment of gparted to the Tails USB drive. Done!
|
Version: 5.4
Rating: 7
Date: 2022-09-04
Votes: 0
|
v5.4 works for me, but there are oodles of features that I liked in v1.8.2 that are totally lacking in later versions. Just a few:
I like the older GUI better. I like title bars. I like scroll bars wide enough to see and click on, with an arrowhead at each end. I like progress gauges thick enough to see without squinting, or at a distance. I like being able to rearrange the order of rectangles on the taskbar, and I like being able to see the rectangle's (task's) whole long title in a tooltip if I mouse over the rectangle. (Why were so many GUI basics lost in later versions?)
Good old Vidalia runs circles around "Tor Circuits" in terms of usefulness. Which isn't really saying much, given that Tor Circus has zero functionality -- it's a purely read-only app. (So there's no way to escape from a troublesome tor circuit.)
Old Tor Browser makes it easy to spoof useragent via about:config. Can't do that in the new one. Old Tor Browser lets me save MP4s, but new one often gets served unsavable blobs. Old one lets me wrap long lines in View Source; new one doesn't. New one's default text font is far inferior.
Old tails has a handy openPGP applet in the systray. New one doesn't. But its systray has a pull-down-list to select language. :|
Old tails' System Monitor shows me 4 32-bit cpu cores. New one shows me 2 64-bit cores, but only 1 of them ever shows any activity. :|
older versions (3.13.2 and earlier) came with old ptivi video editor; new ones come instead with ffmpeg.
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Version: 5.4
Rating: 1
Date: 2022-08-28
Votes: 4
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Bloated and insecure. I switched to VZ-Llinux combined with Unknown-OS. That's real anonymous, safe and secure. Tails is not Tails, anymore. To be honest, I miss the old and good Tails that was what said to be. As slow as a snale. Why changing a good working 'operating system' into some useless non-sens thing, and why is everything getting worse and worse, every time? It's a piece of useless crap, indeed. Many people take the distance from 'tails', and will be many more, every day. It's far from the tails I knew. Sad...
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Version: 4.29
Rating: 9
Date: 2022-04-21
Votes: 0
|
My goto OS for all "Offline" data management.
As such I do not use the Tor -Browser much.
Once you wrap your mind around the offline storage principle etc,
for which it was designed for, it works perfectly for me.
I also have (at least) two additional (back-up) copies of my primary install.
Synchronizing user data and even installing regular updates are made very easy
The user documentation is also excellent !!
If you are using this OS, it is a much read.
All necessary How-To's can be referenced there.
Application selection is also perfect and if there is something else you need,
like MELD in my case, then installing it is also possible (persistently).
|
Version: 4.26
Rating: 8
Date: 2022-01-29
Votes: 1
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Very good, just one problem: i can't set up the persistant storage.
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Version: 4.26
Rating: 5
Date: 2022-01-13
Votes: 25
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Slow, and bloated. Gets more cumbersome to use with time. For some reason to be private you have to choose the slowest desktop environment available. Also uses systemd for some osbcure reasos, never mind the security concerns it rises.
I pray someone makes a fork from tails, using openrc, wayland, and some fast and light de.
Tails is an amazing idea.
followed by really poor execution
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Version: 4.25
Rating: 2
Date: 2021-12-30
Votes: 15
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Very slow and bloated. The usage of systemd also reduces the promised privacy we are told about.
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Version: 4.25
Rating: 1
Date: 2021-12-30
Votes: 19
|
I've tried everthing to get this to work. Different USB drives, different image writing tools, different computers ...
It just won't work. It didn't work the last 3 times I tried to get it to run. Makes me wonder how much they actually know about their stuff, if they can't even give you proper and working instructions for their software.
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Version: 4.25
Rating: 1
Date: 2021-12-13
Votes: 23
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Slow, difficult to use because of how resource intensive it is, gnome desktop environment is heavyweight and slows down use, a lot of bugs, developers do not take your privacy seriously, web browser has telemetry settings turned on and locked.
Overall, this is not a private distro and should not be used for anyone finding a private distro to be able to communicate safely and securely with others.
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Version: 4.23
Rating: 8
Date: 2021-12-02
Votes: 0
|
VERSION 4.24 REVIEW: Prepared Tails OS for a missionary friend of mine who would be working in Asia. He is not computer literate even than he was able to start, login and use it without an issue. The other security, privacy and anonymity oriented distros like Whoenix or Qubes are not for layman. Tails OS surpasses Whoenix and Qubes when it comes simplicity, usability and functionality. The only negatives I would say 1) slowness both startup and use 2) some features could have been improved like Persistence storage could have been locked and unlocked w/o restart. These are minor improvements and can be neglected.
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Version: 4.23
Rating: 1
Date: 2021-11-30
Votes: 18
|
Tails has been getting worse with each version. Out of date programs that leak your info in this supposedly “secure” distro. It is bloated because of the gnome desktop environment and pretty slow to use as well. Some applications are pretty stale too. It’s hard to recommend a distro that flaunts that it’s for privacy when there are so many remote connections and other not private settings enabled by default and locked in the Tor browser.
You definitely won’t be safe or secure if you use Tails. If you are in a country that is repressive and you need a privacy-based distro to communicate safely and securely with others, Tails is not for that.
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Version: 4.22
Rating: 1
Date: 2021-10-03
Votes: 21
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I would like to make Tails safer, much more private and lighter, but you can't change anything there ..
what a pity ;)
for example, the TOR browser in Tails has:
# devtools.remote.wifi.scan
# browser.tabs.remote.desktopbehavior
allowed, just: "true" :)
|
Version: 4.17
Rating: 7
Date: 2021-04-17
Votes: 2
|
Internet anonymity is an unattainable thing, and there is no turn-key solution to mitigating online snooping by corporate and Government actors. Yes, TAILS is better than a standard distro for privacy, so long as you only use de-centralised and FOSS social media APIs, but anonymity? I don't think so.
Plus, TAILS seems to me to be trying to be an OS instead of a distro, there is no need for a bloated DE and systemd and pulseaudio on what is a tool rather than a daily driver, XFCE, sysV and ALSA would have been a better choice.
Any FOSS noob that uses this because they think it's a way of surfing the deepest, darkest web with anonymity is naively mistaken.
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Version: 4.15
Rating: 10
Date: 2021-02-10
Votes: 2
|
Best incognito live system ever made! Installation is dead simple, persistence storage works great, it works on any x86_64 bit system... etc. Tails system cloning is a very good and important tool. 11/10. Absolutely recommend it!
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Latest Reviews
Project: Tails
Version: 5.11
Rating: 8
Date: 2023-04-06
Votes: 3
|
Some of the aspects I like:
Privacy and Anonymity: Tail OS routes internet connections through the Tor network by default, which helps users maintain their privacy and anonymity online. It prevents websites from tracking user activities and location, and it encrypts all internet traffic, making it difficult for third parties to intercept or monitor online activities.
Security: Tail OS is designed with a strong focus on security, as it is built on a Linux foundation and incorporates various security measures, such as kernel-level firewall, automatic data encryption, and secure file deletion. It also provides a hardened environment for browsing, email, and other online activities, reducing the risk of malware and other cyber threats.
Portable and Live System: Tail OS is a live system, which means it can be run from a USB drive or DVD without installation on the computer's hard drive. This makes it easy to carry and use on any computer, while leaving no traces of user activity on the host system. It's particularly useful for users who need to use public computers or want to protect their data while using a borrowed or shared device.
Free and Open Source Software (FOSS): Tail OS is free to use and is based on open source software, which means that its source code is publicly available for inspection and auditing by the community. This enhances transparency, security, and trust in the software, as it can be independently verified for any backdoors or vulnerabilities.
User-Friendly Interface: Tail OS comes with a user-friendly interface that makes it accessible even for users with limited technical expertise. It provides pre-configured applications for secure browsing, email, messaging, and file management, making it easy for users to adopt secure practices without extensive technical knowledge.
|
Project: Tails
Version: 5.11
Rating: 6
Date: 2023-03-21
Votes: 1
|
Tor Browser is great for private/anonymous browsing and to have it combined with an OS on a bootable USB seemed like a really interesting idea. Well, the OS is clunky and outdated, and the Persistent Storage feature just doesn't work. Nothing ever gets saved into it. I spent a couple of hours fiddling with the configuration and rebooting and trying again. Persistent Storage is essential, otherwise you have to set your configuration every time you start and you can't retain bookmarks and file downloads from session to session.
|
Project: Tails
Version: 5.8
Rating: 2
Date: 2023-01-01
Votes: 17
|
I used Tails quite a bit back in the day. After a while I just got tired of the promises and the endless glacial improvements. I have moved on.
But despite that, I grabbed the 5.8 version the other day. I loaded it on a old slow USB drive. At first, it seemed to go ok.
Where I ran off the rails was with trying to get and use bridges. It was suggested that I have the system send bridges to my 'gmail' account. I don't have a gmail account and won't get one. Anyone wanting to improve their privacy knows Google is not the place to start. For bridges, go directly to TOR. So I got the bridges, but Tails repeatedly refused to use them. In the past, bridges worked without a blink of complaint. Not for me, not this time.
Bridges are a great help in unsafe environments. Not being able to get them safely and use them is not good for users.
Tails still can't complete randomize the MAC address on start up. Yet, after start up one can go in to the network setting and completely randomize the MAC address after every connection! Really?
The unsafe browser was another issue. I connected to the internet in a public setting with a border manager. Fine. I attempted to start the unsafe browser. It told me to connect first. So, to make sure I had a good connection, I reconnected yet again, only to get the same complaint. WAT???? In a public setting, the Unsafe browser is absolutely needed to connect. If the unsafe browser will not start, you are DIW...'dead in the water.' Meaning Tails is USELESS!
*** The whole point of Tails is for it to work dependably while keeping the user reasonable safe in unsafe circumstances.***
Also, ifconfig is gone. To manually change the MAC address, one has to wander through the IP command.
Nothing about this thing is intuitive.
Tails has great potential. However, the folks running the show there will never, ever realize that potential. Creeping, creaking development is not the solution either.
My solution; I restarted my laptop, started Mint and applied a vigorous treatment of gparted to the Tails USB drive. Done!
|
Project: Tails
Version: 5.4
Rating: 7
Date: 2022-09-04
Votes: 0
|
v5.4 works for me, but there are oodles of features that I liked in v1.8.2 that are totally lacking in later versions. Just a few:
I like the older GUI better. I like title bars. I like scroll bars wide enough to see and click on, with an arrowhead at each end. I like progress gauges thick enough to see without squinting, or at a distance. I like being able to rearrange the order of rectangles on the taskbar, and I like being able to see the rectangle's (task's) whole long title in a tooltip if I mouse over the rectangle. (Why were so many GUI basics lost in later versions?)
Good old Vidalia runs circles around "Tor Circuits" in terms of usefulness. Which isn't really saying much, given that Tor Circus has zero functionality -- it's a purely read-only app. (So there's no way to escape from a troublesome tor circuit.)
Old Tor Browser makes it easy to spoof useragent via about:config. Can't do that in the new one. Old Tor Browser lets me save MP4s, but new one often gets served unsavable blobs. Old one lets me wrap long lines in View Source; new one doesn't. New one's default text font is far inferior.
Old tails has a handy openPGP applet in the systray. New one doesn't. But its systray has a pull-down-list to select language. :|
Old tails' System Monitor shows me 4 32-bit cpu cores. New one shows me 2 64-bit cores, but only 1 of them ever shows any activity. :|
older versions (3.13.2 and earlier) came with old ptivi video editor; new ones come instead with ffmpeg.
|
Project: Tails
Version: 5.4
Rating: 1
Date: 2022-08-28
Votes: 4
|
Bloated and insecure. I switched to VZ-Llinux combined with Unknown-OS. That's real anonymous, safe and secure. Tails is not Tails, anymore. To be honest, I miss the old and good Tails that was what said to be. As slow as a snale. Why changing a good working 'operating system' into some useless non-sens thing, and why is everything getting worse and worse, every time? It's a piece of useless crap, indeed. Many people take the distance from 'tails', and will be many more, every day. It's far from the tails I knew. Sad...
|
Project: Tails
Version: 4.29
Rating: 9
Date: 2022-04-21
Votes: 0
|
My goto OS for all "Offline" data management.
As such I do not use the Tor -Browser much.
Once you wrap your mind around the offline storage principle etc,
for which it was designed for, it works perfectly for me.
I also have (at least) two additional (back-up) copies of my primary install.
Synchronizing user data and even installing regular updates are made very easy
The user documentation is also excellent !!
If you are using this OS, it is a much read.
All necessary How-To's can be referenced there.
Application selection is also perfect and if there is something else you need,
like MELD in my case, then installing it is also possible (persistently).
|
Project: Tails
Version: 4.26
Rating: 8
Date: 2022-01-29
Votes: 1
|
Very good, just one problem: i can't set up the persistant storage.
|
Project: Tails
Version: 4.26
Rating: 5
Date: 2022-01-13
Votes: 25
|
Slow, and bloated. Gets more cumbersome to use with time. For some reason to be private you have to choose the slowest desktop environment available. Also uses systemd for some osbcure reasos, never mind the security concerns it rises.
I pray someone makes a fork from tails, using openrc, wayland, and some fast and light de.
Tails is an amazing idea.
followed by really poor execution
|
Project: Tails
Version: 4.25
Rating: 1
Date: 2021-12-30
Votes: 19
|
I've tried everthing to get this to work. Different USB drives, different image writing tools, different computers ...
It just won't work. It didn't work the last 3 times I tried to get it to run. Makes me wonder how much they actually know about their stuff, if they can't even give you proper and working instructions for their software.
|
Project: Tails
Version: 4.25
Rating: 2
Date: 2021-12-30
Votes: 15
|
Very slow and bloated. The usage of systemd also reduces the promised privacy we are told about.
|
Project: Tails
Version: 4.25
Rating: 1
Date: 2021-12-13
Votes: 23
|
Slow, difficult to use because of how resource intensive it is, gnome desktop environment is heavyweight and slows down use, a lot of bugs, developers do not take your privacy seriously, web browser has telemetry settings turned on and locked.
Overall, this is not a private distro and should not be used for anyone finding a private distro to be able to communicate safely and securely with others.
|
Project: Tails
Version: 4.23
Rating: 8
Date: 2021-12-02
Votes: 0
|
VERSION 4.24 REVIEW: Prepared Tails OS for a missionary friend of mine who would be working in Asia. He is not computer literate even than he was able to start, login and use it without an issue. The other security, privacy and anonymity oriented distros like Whoenix or Qubes are not for layman. Tails OS surpasses Whoenix and Qubes when it comes simplicity, usability and functionality. The only negatives I would say 1) slowness both startup and use 2) some features could have been improved like Persistence storage could have been locked and unlocked w/o restart. These are minor improvements and can be neglected.
|
Project: Tails
Version: 4.23
Rating: 1
Date: 2021-11-30
Votes: 18
|
Tails has been getting worse with each version. Out of date programs that leak your info in this supposedly “secure” distro. It is bloated because of the gnome desktop environment and pretty slow to use as well. Some applications are pretty stale too. It’s hard to recommend a distro that flaunts that it’s for privacy when there are so many remote connections and other not private settings enabled by default and locked in the Tor browser.
You definitely won’t be safe or secure if you use Tails. If you are in a country that is repressive and you need a privacy-based distro to communicate safely and securely with others, Tails is not for that.
|
Project: Tails
Version: 4.22
Rating: 1
Date: 2021-10-03
Votes: 21
|
I would like to make Tails safer, much more private and lighter, but you can't change anything there ..
what a pity ;)
for example, the TOR browser in Tails has:
# devtools.remote.wifi.scan
# browser.tabs.remote.desktopbehavior
allowed, just: "true" :)
|
Project: Tails
Version: 4.17
Rating: 7
Date: 2021-04-17
Votes: 2
|
Internet anonymity is an unattainable thing, and there is no turn-key solution to mitigating online snooping by corporate and Government actors. Yes, TAILS is better than a standard distro for privacy, so long as you only use de-centralised and FOSS social media APIs, but anonymity? I don't think so.
Plus, TAILS seems to me to be trying to be an OS instead of a distro, there is no need for a bloated DE and systemd and pulseaudio on what is a tool rather than a daily driver, XFCE, sysV and ALSA would have been a better choice.
Any FOSS noob that uses this because they think it's a way of surfing the deepest, darkest web with anonymity is naively mistaken.
|
Project: Tails
Version: 4.15
Rating: 10
Date: 2021-02-10
Votes: 2
|
Best incognito live system ever made! Installation is dead simple, persistence storage works great, it works on any x86_64 bit system... etc. Tails system cloning is a very good and important tool. 11/10. Absolutely recommend it!
|
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