What is Web Proxy?

A Web proxy acts as a shield between you and the website you are visiting. When you are viewing a web page through a web proxy, the site will see that a specific IP address is accessing its server, but that address is not yours.

Web proxies are a method to hide your IP address from the websites you visit.

They are a bit like search engines, so they're really easy to access. Just enter the website you want to access to an online tool. This prevents the website you are viewing from seeing your physical location. So for web pages, you are basically accessing from somewhere other than your actual location.

What is a web proxy?

A Web proxy acts as a shield between you and the website you are visiting. When you are viewing a web page through a web proxy, the website will see that a specific IP address is accessing its server, but that address is not yours, as all web traffic. Between the computer and the web server is routed through a proxy server.

Another way to visualize a web proxy is that it acts as a middleman. For example, when you request pages TipsMake.com through a proxy online, all you really do is require a proxy server to access TipsMake.com for you, then upon receiving the page you want, it will send it back to you.

The website you are looking at shows the online proxy's IP address instead of your own. This happens over and over, very quickly, so you can browse the website normally, while hiding your identity and not revealing your real public IP address.

Picture 1 of What is Web Proxy?
A Web proxy acts as a shield between you and the website you are visiting

Should I use a web proxy?

Web proxies can be helpful for a number of reasons, but it's also important to know when not to use a web proxy.

Most people use a web proxy to browse anonymously to secure searches from their Internet service provider (ISP) or from other organizations that may be spying on their web usage habits. If you suspect that a particular website is recording your activity, you can use a web proxy to help keep personal information out of the wrong hands.

Maybe, for whatever reason, you have been blocked from accessing a website and you want to return to that site. Similarly, if the site is banned in your country and you want to unblock it, a proxy is a useful solution. Either way, if a website is blocking your IP address, the web proxy can help you unblock by giving you a new IP address.

Some of the other benefits (depending on how you use them) are ad blocking, data compression to save on usage, blocking pop-ups, deleting scripts, and disabling cookies.

However, you need to research a web proxy carefully before diving too deeply into it. You wouldn't want to trust an online proxy that records your bank credentials, stores social media passwords, and accesses your email, right? Depending on the country where the proxy is active, the proxy might give your real IP address to the authorities if required, so be mindful of that.

General proxies (not just web proxies) are also very useful for businesses. Due to the nature of the way it works, a company may monitor network activity to ensure that its employees are not violating Internet usage policies.

Limitations of web proxies

An online proxy can do many things for you: In short, it hides your real IP address. However, even a truly encrypted and anonymized account won't be able to hide your identity, if you are using an online account tied to your real identity.

For example, if you sign in to your Gmail account through a web proxy, your email is not anonymous; Your identity is still tied to the account you are using. The same is true for any account you sign in to while using it, such as a bank account or an Amazon account. Payment information is also not anonymized when used in proxy sessions.

Web proxies also don't hide your Internet usage, so you can't expect a proxy to let you go over data limits. If your phone can only access 2GB of data per month, transferring browsing traffic over the web proxy will not hide any additional data usage from your service provider. However, some web proxies can assist with data compression.

Another thing that a web proxy won't do is hide your browsing history. The proxy is only responsible for forwarding information between you and the target website, but all the websites you visit (including the proxy URL itself) will still be stored in the browser history you are using.

All web browsers allow you to delete history, so you can do so when you are done using the web proxy, to make sure that local users cannot see what you are doing or that you can access it. access the proxy website through browser privacy mode.

Web proxies also only apply to URLs you access through a proxy website, not to the entire Internet connection. This means that websites you visit in other tabs, on other computers, through smart TVs, on game consoles, etc. will not be affected by web proxies. The solution is to encrypt the entire connection, which you can do with a VPN.

Another thing to remember is that you cannot hide it completely. Your ISP will still see that you are accessing the proxy. They won't see the websites you visit through the web proxy, but the fact that you are connected to the web proxy is still visible.

Likewise, your connection to the proxy site is not protected, as only the website you are visiting cannot identify you (i.e., your connection to the web proxy is not encrypted, simply because you are on the web. use an online proxy). Anyone monitoring your connection to the Internet can still see what you're up to.

There are other ways to stay safe online. For example, use an anonymous email service, delete personal information online, use a virtual phone number or fake the phone's GPS location.

Update 15 August 2020
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