Will TOR work on Yahoo IM?

If not, what free services or programs are available to make IM'ing secure or more secure, especially when you use wireless? Thanks

 

You can use encryption plugins for the IM software, to make sure nobody eavesdropping on your conversations. (for instance use Pidgin with Off-the-Record Messaging)

 

Is Pidgin computer-to-computer? Several friends have room mates that share one wi-fi connection, its obviously trusted since they all know each other, but worried what it takes to prevent other authorized users on the same wi-fi connection from seeing email, IM etc?

 

well if your wi-fi is using at least WPA, then you couldn't have to worry about other people connecting to the network.

Other programs you could use are your-freedom (free account limited to 64KB/sec), JAP, use meebo via proxify using ssl or a free vpn like Relakks (month trial) or anchorfree.

 

Pidgin is just an instant messenger program. But from what you say here, there are two problems. First you need to secure the wireless network (using WPA, as fuzzylogic suggested). Then, if you want an additional layer of security, you can use encryption for end-to-end communication (for instance Pidgin+Off-The-Record for IM, Thunderbird+Enigmail to encrypt your mails, etc.). The programs suggested by fuzzylogic are usefull if you want to create an encrypted VPN, where all the traffic is encrypted.

 

Yes fuzzylogic has a good point to make it WPA protected and it is, so I'm comfortable from that angle. My concern and I probably didn't explain it well enough, is that there are several users on that wi-fi, what would protect any authorized user on that wi-fi system from seeing each other's email and IM traffic? Now should I just use TOR for end-to-end or Pidin OTR IM, or both? Thanks for the replys.

 

all https connections are secure, so for email you can use gmail on this link -
https://mail.google.com/
tor will be secure too and probably that im plugin mentioned.

 

What you can do is use ScatterChat or TorIM. Both of these will allow you to implement IM + Tor + OTR Encryption in a built-in package.