What is proxy and how do I use it?

Last updated: September 3, 2022

A proxy is a computer or module that acts as an intermediary between a web browser and the Internet. On the Internet, there are different types of proxy. The most common are HTTP proxies. They support HTTP and FTP protocols.

Proxy servers are notably used to optimize web performance by storing copies of frequently used web pages and to enhance security by filtering certain web content and malware. Proxy servers also enhance theuser anonymity.

How does a proxy server work?

THEuse of proxies is common to access a site reserved for certain IP adress, or to escape the HTTP filter of his company or to surf in anonymous mode.

For example, I'm at work and during my 10 a.m. break, I want to take a quick look at Facebook, but it's impossible to display the page because my company has just installed a firewall that prevents me from accessing it. to Facebook. Hop, I'm going through a little proxy and I can finally see my notifications. 🙂

Explanation:

Here is an HTTP Request without proxy:

By typing an address like https: // www.funinformatique.com / index.php, your computer will connect to the www server.funinformatique.com and ask for the index.php page.

HTTP request with proxy: 

With the use of a proxy, when you type https: // www.funinformatique.com/index.php, your computer will connect to the proxy and ask it to fetch the page from the www server.funinformatique. Com.

How to use a proxy?

We will see in this article how well use a proxy under the various Internet Explorer, Firefox and Chrome browsers in order to change and modify its IP address.

To use a proxy, nothing's easier. I offer two methods:

• The first method consists on the manual proxy configuration
• The second consists of using the extension AnonymoX.

1) Manual Proxy configuration

On Firefox:

To manually configure a proxy in Firefox, nothing could be simpler.

• Go to Firefox, click on Tools, Options, click on the advanced tab and on the Network tab.
  Then click on the settings button: You should have the following window on the screen:

• In the Connection Settings window, click the circle next to the Manual proxy configuration field. Enter your proxy IP address and port. In general, proxies are given in the form of IP address: Port (example: 40.72.124.20:80).

That's it, you click OK and test your proxy.

On Chrome and Internet Explorer: 

If you have a Google Chrome or Internet Explorer browser:

• Go to Chrome, click on the menu icon at the top right, then click on Settings -> show advanced settings (located at the bottom of the page).

• In the Network section, click Change proxy settings. Choose the "Connections" tab and click "Network Settings" for the proxy port configuration.

Now check "use a proxy server for your LAN". Click on the Advanced button to open the window to open the ports. Finally, enter your proxy IP address and port.

2) Use of the AnonymoX extension

For the first method, we will use a extension whose name is AnonymoX.
This extension allows you to establish connections for your sites via proxies located in different countries (USA, England, Germany, etc.).

AnonymoX is available free for Firefox and Chrome. It offers you the possibility to browse the web anonymously by assigning a virtual IP address. The connection is fast and it avoids having to look for proxies.

To use it, start by downloading and installing the extension dedicated to your browser:

• AnonymoX for Chrome
• AnonymoX for Firefox

When restarting, you have an additional icon in the menu bar of your web browser. It is from this icon that you can activate the proxy server and choose the country of your proxy, as shown in the image below:

There! You can now surf anonymously, in complete freedom and without censorship.

Advantage of a proxy

A proxy can have several advantages.

• The proxy makes you anonymous by hiding your IP address, you no longer appear with your own IP address.
• The Proxy caches the most requested pages to speed up your browsing
•  The proxy allows you to access pages that are not accessible by escaping the http filter.
• The proxy gives you the possibility to browse blocked websites in your Country

Disadvantage of a proxy

• As you go through the proxy, then the latter will know all your passwords (unless you are using HTTPS / SSL).
• The proxy can modify the pages on the fly before giving them to you for example it can add an advertisement in a site that you have visited.
• Some proxy can be configured to censor sites.

Conclusion

Well, a proxy is still quite practical, you just have to choose a proxy carefully and have confidence in the server administrator. You can now test if your proxy works or not using this website: www.ipaddresslocation.org, and if you have any problems, questions or suggestions regarding the proxy, don’t hesitate to ask them in the comments!