Proxies are a great tool to help you to unblock various sites on the internet.   A proxy can unblock almost any site.  Sites such as Myspace, Facebook, email and others are common examples of sites that people might want to unblock.  A proxy will work at school, work, the library or home.

You would want to use a proxy when sites that you want to get to are blocked.  They could be blocked because the admins have blocked them using a web filter or firewall.  When this happens the sites are inaccessible.

How proxies work.

When you try to access a site that is blocked, a filter will check the site against a list and then kick back a message that says that the site is blocked.  When you go to a proxy site the filter will see if the proxy site is allowed.  Since the sites are checked against a list, the proxy site will eventually get banned as well, that is why it is key to always have new proxies.

When you get to the proxy site that is not blocked you type in the URL of the site you want to go to, then hit go.  When you hit go the proxy site will actually go out and get the site you asked for.  Then it will rewrite the entire site to make it look like it is a sub page of the proxy its self.  This works because the filter doesn’t realize what is happening and thinks you just went to a sub page on the proxy site.  Thus you are able to get to the sites that you want and avoid the filter.

What else is a proxy good for?

Proxies are good for being anonymous.  In today’s world your IP or Internet Protocol address is traced everywhere you go. It ultimately can lead directly back to your exact address at your house or work.  So when you go to sites that are a little sketchy they could be collecting your ip address and other information about you in order to try and scam you.  There are lots of things that can be done.  When you use a proxy , the entire page is rewritten by the proxy site.  So as far as the other site you are accessing can tell the actual access is coming from the proxy not from your pc.  So it records the proxy ip address.  Proxies are already preconfigured to avoid being scammed so its all good to go.

How can you always get new proxies?

There are lots of free proxy lists out there.  The proxy list that seems to be the best and always have the newest proxies is called the Freedom Network.  You can google Freedom Network Proxy and you will find a whole list of them.  Most importantly is that you find the Freedom Network proxy list site.  It always has the latest proxies listed on it.  It also offers other options to keep up on the latest proxies. The easiest being that you can sign up to have the newest proxies emailed to you as they come out.  That way all you have to do is check your email like you normally do to get new proxies.  This is handy because at some point the proxy you are using will be blocked just like the original site was.

Do I need to clear my cache , cookies and history when using a proxy?

Yes.  When you use a proxy it is still important to clear your cache, cookies and history.  Some sites will still set cookies in order work correctly so you would want to clear them as they can leave a trace.  All pages are cached in your local cache.  So even though you may not be able to access the same page if it were clicked on again via your cache it will store a physical copy of the page on your machine.  If any human looks thru it they can easily see what you were accessing and you could then get in trouble for it.  When it comes to history you browser will keep a copy of all the URLs that you visited.  Most proxies have url encoding setup so that if you click on the url in your history it will not take you back to the page you were on.  It will simply take you to the proxy home page.  So admins may not be able to get back to the page you were visiting, but they can still see that you were using a proxy.  That alone could be enough to get you in trouble when it comes to the “spirit of the law” kind of thing.  So to play it safe you should always delete you cookies, cache and history in your web browser.

Are proxies free?

Well most proxies are free, but some charge you money.  All proxies on the Freedom Network are free. Its generally in your best interest to use a free proxy.  Cause it will get blocked eventually anyway.  So if you are paying for a proxy then you will lose the rest of the subscription that you have paid for.

How do I find a proxy?

Simply Google Freedom Network Proxy List or Freedom Network Proxy will work well.

This article is distributed with the intention of educating the general public on the truths and myths about using proxies for bypassing filters and providing privacy.

Author: Mark Goad

Site: http://freedomnetwork.info