The one dial that matters: Safest
Why the security level goes to the top and stays there.
The Tor Browser shield hides three security levels, and for the crossings in this atlas only one of them is correct. Safest. This plate explains the dial and why it goes to the top.
What the levels do
Standard leaves the browser close to a normal one, with scripting on. Safer disables some of the riskier scripting features. Safest turns scripting off everywhere and disables a broader set of media and font features. The levels are not about the Tor network, which is identical at every setting. They are about what the browser will do with a page once it arrives.
Why Safest
Scripting running in a hostile page is the single most reliable route anyone has to break anonymity from inside the browser. Nearly every serious deanonymisation of the last decade came through a script. Turning scripting off closes that route. Safest does it unconditionally.
The cost, and why it is small here
At Safest some ordinary websites break, because they lean on scripting. The markets in this atlas do not. They are built to work with scripting off, so the login, browsing, checkout and messaging all function at Safest. You give up nothing you need and close the most important hole.
Set the dial to Safest for the session. It is the cheapest strong protection on the map.