The dark web is not a place you visit, it is a route you take. The only software that resolves .onion addresses is Tor Browser, and the only way to get it that does not already carry a tracker is from torproject.org. Download it, verify the signature file against the key on the same page, and install. That is the whole of the setup, and it takes about ten minutes on a machine that is not already slow.
The first time you open it, the connection will take a while and the page will look plain. That is normal. Tor routes every request through three relays, so a page that loads in a second on your normal browser can take twenty seconds here. Do not reload it. A reload starts a new circuit and throws away the progress you were making, which is the single most common thing a first-timer does and the reason so many people conclude the whole thing is broken.
The three mistakes that cost money
They all happen in the first ten minutes. The first is opening an .onion link in a normal browser, which either fails or, worse, loads a copy that looks right and takes your password. The second is reusing a password you use anywhere else, on a network where a seized server is one search away from your credentials. The third is funding a big balance before you have made a single small order, which means a bad first experience costs you more than it should have.
A sensible first session is small and reversible. Make an account with a name that means nothing to you, fund it with an amount you would not mind losing, place one cheap order, and watch what escrow does before you touch anything bigger. If the flow makes sense to you, scale up. If it does not, you have lost a small amount and learned the shape of the thing, which is exactly the right trade for a first time.
Set the security level
Tor Browser has a shield icon in the address bar and a menu that goes from Safest to New Tabs. Leave it where it is by default. If a page you are on stops working when you raise it, that page needs JavaScript to function, which is a sign to be more careful with it, not a reason to lower your protection.
Read this first
darknet.center is a reference service. We list addresses and explain how each shop works, but we do not operate any of them and nothing here makes a purchase lawful in your jurisdiction. Verify every address against the market’s own announcement before you type a password.