Liquid glass desk · 17 October 2026 · not a shop

Getting Started

Getting started is the stack you finish before any dark market link. This page is the tool list. The walkthrough is how to enter a dark market.

What the other desks list first

Pages that rank for getting started still open on the same four tools: a system that forgets the session, Tor Browser from the Tor Project, a PGP program on your own machine, and a password store that is not the browser. Darkapple keeps that order. It does not print an hour estimate. A clock is not a check.

Tails and Whonix are the names those guides repeat. An everyday Windows or macOS install can leak identifiers the .onion never sees. Tor Browser on that everyday install is still better than a “Tor for markets” zip, and it is still the weaker habit.

Tor Browser, not a bundle

Install from the Tor Project. Results for how to enter a dark market still attach an accelerated client or a branded pack. That file is its own risk, separate from a bad onion. Move the security slider toward Safest before the first paste. A plugin is not part of the path. Do not sign a clearnet account into the same window.

Then PGP and Monero

PGP comes next, on a throwaway identity, before any market password. Monero is the payment note on this desk. A username or password reused across rooms turns one leak into a set. The market’s own encrypt box is not the lock: the text should already be ciphertext when it is pasted.

Misses those guides keep repeating

1. A regular operating system for the session.
2. A market password typed on a .com or .store page.
3. Skipping the full-string check because the page answered.
4. A “test” send to a QR on a clearnet lander.

When the tools are in place, open one framed room: markets. Nexus and Dark Matter stay archives. Do not deposit.

Research notes only. Onion strings belong in Tor Browser. Clearnet hubs are not logins. Stamp 17 October 2026.