Many services use personal data of users to improve the quality of their work. For this reason, in recent times, many have begun to look for all sorts of ways to remain anonymous.

The most common way to become anonymous on the Internet is to use anonymous proxies, but not everyone knows what it is. The most important thing is to choose a good proxy provider. A proxy acts as an intermediate computer that passes through incoming and outgoing data.

The main benefits that you can get when using a proxy server:

1. Increasing the speed of the Internet connection;

2. Anonymity of actions on the Internet;

3. The ability to visit sites where the user has already been blocked by IP;

4. The ability to visit sites, direct access to which is closed for any reason.

How does a proxy work?

The client computer has program or operating system settings. According to this setting, all network connections by protocols are made not to IP resources, but to addresses or ports of proxy servers. If it is necessary to access any resource using this protocol, the client computer opens a connection on the required port of the proxy server and makes a request, as if directly to the resource. The request data is recognized, validated, and the permissions of the client computer checked. After that, the proxy, without breaking the connection, opens a connection to the resource and gives the same request. Having received the data, the proxy server sends it to the client.

A proxy is a full-fledged server and client for all supported protocols, it fully controls the implementation and access policies that the administrator has set at each stage of the implementation of these protocols. There are both free and paid services, the latter have many advantages. They are more secure, have more settings, they also have a larger scope of use, you can read more on the proxyempire website. All services are clearly listed.

Classification of proxy servers

HTTP

This type of proxy is the most common at the moment. Most modern programs support this type of server, so it can be used for a wide range of tasks.

Socks

The main disadvantage of Socks proxy is that not every program is compatible with them at the moment. Even for web surfing, you need to install additional software in the browser, because by default they do not support Socks.

CGI

This type of proxy server is often called anonymizer. You can interact with them only through the browser, other programs practically do not support CGI.

FTP

This type of proxy server is commonly used in corporate networks as part of a system to protect equipment from external threats.

Advantages and disadvantages of free proxy servers

Advantages:

• They are free;

• There is no need to use a specific proxy, you can switch without problems;

• Free - does not mean low speed, many free servers work as fast as paid ones;

• Anonymous free servers allow you to remain completely anonymous;

• You can use a chain of several proxy servers, which further increases anonymity on the network.

Flaws:

• Not all servers are stable, and some generally only work for a short time;

• When choosing a server, you need to make sure that it is anonymous, as there are many non-anonymous servers;

• Not all free servers are safe.

Why and who needs a proxy?

1. Improve internet speed

Proxy servers store cached site data. When a user visits a certain site, the data is downloaded from the server. Naturally, such loading occurs many times faster, and the load on popular sites decreases. This is used by Internet service providers and popular services such as YouTube. After reaching a certain amount of traffic, Google provides the provider with a server to cache video content to reduce traffic. Everyone benefits from this solution: Google reduces the load on its servers, providers get faster loading of popular content without increasing connection speed, and users are satisfied with the quality of the services provided.

2. Tracking traffic and filtering access to sites

Traffic tracking and site access filtering occurs in public networks: in companies, schools and other institutions. The proxy monitors user requests to resources, and in cases where access is limited, it displays the request to zero. The user simply will not be able to access such sites. Most often used by companies to restrict access to social networks, entertainment and other resources that are not necessary for work.

3. Data compression

Data compression is used to reduce the amount of traffic transmitted. Some proxy servers have tools that compress content requested by users. People with limited traffic benefit from this. Therefore, according to this principle, “turbo modes” work in browsers.

4. Ensuring confidentiality and anonymity

A computer connected to the Internet has a unique IP address. At that address, you can find out the country and region of residence of a person, the provider's number and the device number in the provider's network. When using most types of proxies, resources will see the ip of the proxy server, not the user's one.