Per wikipedia, “a proxy server is a server that receives requests from a client and forwards those requests to other servers”. In layman's terms, a proxy server is like a relay for your computer. When you surf the web you can specify a proxy server at a remote location (e.g., Germany), and all your http transactions will appear to come from that location. A proxy server can be an excellent way to surf the web without worrying about websites tracking your computers IP address and figuring out who you are.
If you specify a proxy in Germany, then every single web based transaction will go through that server. As far as the destination website is concerned, you are located in Germany. This can add some delay to the connection, however, since you now need to take an extra hop to get the destination website. E.g.,
Before the connection would go from: your host destination website
With a proxy in place the connection looks like: your host Proxy destination website
Normally, however, if you are using a proxy this is not a problem. Your main concern is privacy rather than connection speed.
Setting up a proxy server connection in your web browser is quite easy. The steps are outlined below:
- Find a decent public proxy server list. I found this site to be quite useful:
- Pick a proxy server that you want to use. This site has proxies available in Poland, Italy, USA, Brazil, etc..
- Modify your browser's proxy settings to point to the new browser. In Firefox: tools options advanced settings manual proxy configuration (enter the proxy IP address under HTTP proxy and click “use this proxy server for all protocols” click the OK button
Restart your browser and you are now ready to go! If ever you want to disable your proxy server connection just go back into Firefox and reset the connection settings to the previous value (likely Direct Connection the Internet).
For completeness sake, it's worth also mentioning that there are programs that you can buy that automate all this for you. Some examples are ProxyWay and NetAdjust. Personally, I find it more satisfying to manually modify my own browser settings, but I could imagine this programs are also good if you want to auto proxy other apps such as ftp, mirc, etc…
