How to Work With Proxy Servers

Proxy servers act as intermediaries that access websites for you and send their information back to your computer. If you are accessing a computer on a network that blocks certain types of websites, you can work with a proxy server to bypass the blocking software. Proxy servers also mask your computer's Internet Protocol (IP) address so that you can surf the Internet anonymously without leaving behind any specific identifying information.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

1. View the listing of proxy servers (see Resources section for link). Click the link for one of the available proxy servers in the list.

2. Scroll down through the proxy website and locate the text box marked as "Enter URL." Type the full Web address you want to access in the text box, such as "http://www.ehow.com."

3. Scroll down to the "Options" heading and check to see what options you want to use with the proxy server. Click the "Remove Scripts" check box if you want the proxy server to prevent the website from using an Java script that could potentially contain malicious code.

4. Choose the "Remove Images" and "Remove Flash" options to prevent the site from loading any image files or Flash code to make the Web page load faster.

5. Click the "Go" or "Proxy" button to access the website through the proxy server.

Tips & Warnings

• The specific options you need to choose may change slightly between proxy servers, although the overall process will be nearly identical. Many proxy servers will place a toolbar at the top of your website so that you can continue typing in new Web addresses without having to return to the server's main Web page.
• The network administrator who runs your computer network may have already blocked some of the proxy servers in the list. Simply go through the list and try other servers until you find one that hasn't been blocked.

References

• Using Proxy Servers

Resources

• List of Proxy Servers