Set Up a Proxy Server for Privacy on the WWW

Understanding how to set up a proxy server must be on the agenda for those who would aspire to determine their own online fates. The word “proxy” means “substitute” or anything that serves as an agent, an enabler. Online a proxy is usually a computer that acts as a substitute server. In computing a proxy server is simply an informational middleman, if you will; it handles exchanges between the requester and the ultimate server. The requester is known as the client, and has to go through the proxy in order to get anything. What the proxy does is screen all requests against its set of filters, rules by which it can deny requests. Perhaps the most common such rule is banning access by clients on certain IP addresses.

To properly set up a proxy server, you should research all available options carefully. To start off, let’s take a look at something by the name of WinProxy. People really like it because everything’s absolutely invisible to the requester, with nothing to install on the client computer. Another reason is NAT, or Network Address Translation, since WinProxy is what’s known as a transparent proxy. This ensures that the client system is unaware of the proxy server’s existence. Other than administrative stuff like caching and security, the usual complement of protocols are available.

Getting it going is fairly simple and quick to do. You’ll be hard-pressed to find a better alternative to set up a proxy server. Before you begin setting up WinProxy, install the TCP/IP protocol on all systems connected to the network. Then, install WinProxy on the system, which you want to act as the proxy server. Which, by the way, is available on-demand as a file download. Newbies should use the handy installation wizard for automatic installation. The first screen that appears is the product registration screen,which requires the user to enter the product key. The next two screens gathers information about the type of Internet connection that will be used- dial-up or broadband. Sometimes you’ll have to tell the program yourself. Then comes the login info – namely, username and password. WinProxy then configures the internal and external IP addresses for the network. It assigns a unique address automatically,to each device on the LAN as internal addresses. It uses what your ISP gave you and turns that into an external address. It is this external address that will be shown to those outside your network, providing the anonymity you need. WinProxy will then prompt the you to disconnect from the Internet,if you are already connected.In the final step, WinProxy verifies all the steps and ensures that all operations have been performed properly.