In the complex world of the internet there are several terms and concepts which must be learned in order to keep maximum security and protection while surfing the web. As you know many people are afraid of getting their computers hacked or have their personal and financial information compromised due to security holes in the system being used. Security holes can be found not only in the operating system but they could also be open due to bad firewall configurations (or no firewall at all), malicious scripts which have been downloaded or installed along with bundled software or even internet browser problems.



People who frequent dangerous sites for one reason or the other must be aware of what a proxy can do for them; but the fact is that not only people who visit dangerous sites need the protection offered by a proxy but people who just want to surf the web anonymously without being worried of security problems. A proxy of course can only protect users from having their IPs (internet protocol address) propagated and scripts run without permission; if a user decides to download programs and run them in their computers then they'll definitively need the protection of a good internet and virus security suite.

Proxies are free services which are available to anyone on the web, they can bypass firewall and other settings which prevent users from accessing social sites, for instance, several schools and workplaces block "Myspace" by not allowing people using their network to enter those sites; however people who access a proxy site can browse these sites without a problem. The records kept in the computer are those of the proxy site and not of the site visited through this portal.

Those who wish to use these excellent tools from home or work can simply change their internet explorer connection tab configuration through the LAN settings tab, once this button has been pressed a new windows open and an option which allows us to specify the IP address for the Proxy site appears, this is similar in other browsers such as Firefox, Opera, etc.

Webmasters who want to build their own proxies can do so by installing simple scripts such as "CGI-Proxy" or "PHProxy", they both can be installed in web servers and configured easily, one thing to keep in mind is that if you are a webmaster or just someone who has a virtual hosting plan, make sure to configure the script to block image hot-linking through the site you are about to build, if you don't change this setting your bandwidth usage can go through the roof. Besides using these scripts there are several templates which can help you customize the look of the portal. You can also use your own Photoshop designs if you are an advance web developer.

As you see this type of sites provides several advantages such as improved security, anonymity and easy access to restricted sites within a local network.