# Running Tor

Vidalia can help you control your Tor process by letting you start and stop Tor, as well as monitoring Tor's status and letting you know if it exits unexpectedly.

### Starting and Stopping Tor

To start Tor,

1. Select Start from Vidalia's tray menu or press Ctrl+S
.
2. Vidalia's tray icon will change from an onion with a red X to a green onion when Tor has started.

If Vidalia is unable to start Tor, Vidalia will display an error message telling you what went wrong. You can also look at your message log to see if Tor printed any more information about what went wrong.

To stop Tor,

1. Select Stop from Vidalia's tray menu or press Ctrl+T
.
2. Vidalia's tray icon will change from a green onion to a gray onion with a red X when Tor has stopped.

If Vidalia was unable to stop Tor, Vidalia will display an error message telling you what went wrong. You can also look at your message log to see if Tor printed any more information about what went wrong.

### Monitoring Tor's Status

Vidalia tells you about the status of Tor by displaying an icon in your system tray or dock area. The following table shows the different states indicated by an icon in your system's notification area:

| Tor is stopped. Select Start from the Vidalia menu to start Tor.
| Tor is starting up. You can check the message log for status information about Tor while it is starting.
| Tor is running. If you want to stop Tor, select Stop from the Vidalia menu. Tor will print informational messages to the message log while it is running, if you want to see what Tor is doing.
| Tor is in the process of shutting down.

If Tor exits unexpectedly, Vidalia will change its icon to the dark onion with a red X and display an error message letting you know what went wrong. You can also check the message log for details about any problems Tor encountered before it exited.