Have you heard the words proxy server or proxy site? If you have, but you do not know what it means you will want to read on. I confess to being a little ignorant in the world of online websites and proxy sites. You see I may be handy at finding things, but that doesn’t mean I understand how it all works. So first of all to understand what a proxy site is you need to know what they are.

A proxy site or server allows you to surf the Internet with a buffer. In other words the proxy server will hide your IP address while providing you with information. Often a proxy server will help you download pages quicker or files with more speed. This is helpful if you like to download music, movies, or other files to your computer and want to remain safe.

Proxy sites are often where you can locate these proxy servers. If you are interested in finding a proxy site you just need to search for them with a search engine. Google or even Yahoo! can point you towards proxy sites. The proxy sites allow you to find a proxy server that will help you remain anonymous online while you are downloading your files.

The benefit of course is the faster speed you can get your downloads. When you spend hours online finding music to download to your phone or MP3 player you want to know that your files are being downloaded as fast as possible. Other reasons or benefits for using proxy sites is the hidden IP address. You can search online while making it difficult for hackers to infiltrate you computer with viruses or other damaging things. Proxy sites have been created to protect you and make downloads move at a better pace. You probably didn’t even know you where using a proxy site when you downloaded music and it gives you two or three places to download from.

The World Wide Web is always growing, and with ever more information being exchanged there inevitable exists more threats from things like fraud, information manipulation, identity theft, and virus attacks. Business and Internet users have always been aware of the dangers with the Internet, and thus have taken steps to protect themselves against malicious software and information stealing.

Also, a persons right to privacy are constantly under increased scrutiny because employers have the capability of monitoring emails, web browsing, and instant messaging conversations. A proxy site, the HTTP type, can be used by surfers to shield their online identity.

This happens by hiding their IP address so that they cannot be traced. Every device and computer connected to the Internet has a unique identifier called an IP address which enables accurate communication and identification across the World Wide Web. People that prey on Internet using can use their address to trace the persons browsing habits and allow them to obtain important information which should not be in other persons hands.

Employers will use the IP address of company computers, along with various other methods, to track employees Internet habits while at work. The debate of privacy comes into play here but the law will normally take the employers side here. Because of these issues, more and more people have turned to proxy surf HTTP proxies to enable them to protect their privacy in their surfing habits online.

HTTP proxies allow a person to surf the Internet anonymously, acting as a middle man between the users computer and the Internet. The user can visit any website they want to under the disguise of a anonymous IP address. A HTTP proxy can keep prying eyes off the Internet users web surfing habits. They also have the advantage of being compatible with any type of browser.

However, a HTTP proxy is not always secure and therefore have their disadvantages. Some are left open, either by poor management or just malicious intent. Open HTTP proxies can expose the user to problems like piracy attempts and manners of fraud.

A web based proxy is usually safer to use and can be neatly as efficient as HTTP proxies, but do have their drawbacks. A web proxy can be slow and can contain errors in the display information and cal also crash while the user is browsing. Some are better than others so research and experimentation is needed to find a reliable one that will cater for the users needs.

Proxy site networks is another option available to ensure that web browsing is secure, anonymous, and reliable, though they too have potential drawbacks in inter-networks administration, bandwidth issues, and availability. There is a growing demand for anonymous web browsing and it will only increase so more options are continuing to become available.

However, for every advance in anonymous web browsing, there is a counter advance in Internet espionage. Never assume that the Internet is an anonymous place because it is not. Only if you take certain steps disused in this article can you then minimize the likelihood of prying eyes and other problems.

Part and parcel of network security, be it in a corporation LAN or school university, is the installation of a firewall or web content filter. However as any user will attest to, this can hamper the flow of work, as it restricts access to websites that actually have bearing on their activity.

Proxy Servers

One can go to the administrator and have the web content filter removed temporarily, but to have to go through this procedure over and over will be tedious. A far more convenient method is to use proxies on proxy servers.

Proxy servers, or websites, allow a user to overcome the website blockade. The process itself is not difficult to comprehend: what goes on is that once you are on a proxy server or site, you enter the address or URL of the blocked site. The site will be displayed in a separate window, and you will be able to access it as you would any normal web page.

Not only do you overcome the web content filter, but your IP address is hidden so that the website you are visiting will not be able to tell who is visiting it. The reason is that it is the proxy server’s IP that will be displayed, and not your computer’s.

Advantages of Using Proxy Servers

Aside from circumventing content filter applications, the proxy server has other benefits, one of them is that because the page being accessed does not directly interact with your computer or the network, there is less danger of having the security breached.

Another advantage is that by accessing the web page from a proxy server, the pages are cached on the proxy site. This is important because it makes retrieval of the page much quicker; instead of reloading a page, which can take time if the network or Internet is busy, the file is loaded from the cache instead.

Proxy Lists

This is very convenient for Web users, but unfortunately, due to its popularity, proxy servers can be difficult to access at times, and there will be some webmasters who will try to block proxy servers. The way to go around this is by going to a proxy list site.

There are several proxy list sites available, but the good ones should be regularly maintained; that is, the contents are updated on a consistent basis. In addition, the contents of the proxy list should also include proxy software, links to other sites, and other vital information.

Setting up a DMZ

As has been shown, there will be times when using proxy servers will be necessary. If you have a firewall, there is no need to disable it just so you can use a proxy. Instead, you can configure the firewall so that there will be a DMZ (demilitarized zone). This term is used to refer to that section of the network system that is not covered by the firewall.

There are several ways that you can configure a DMZ on a network. One of the easiest is to select one of the computers and use it as a go between a firewall and the Internet. It usually entails using a directory on the computer as a DMZ. Check the firewall manual for instructions. Once this is setup, you can use a proxy server, and access all websites, while keeping up your security.