Surfing the Web Anonymously

Written by: webmaster, filed within: Internet

Surfing the web anonymously can help protect your identity and your personal information from getting into the wrong hands. Have you ever been concerned a computer hacker out there will somehow get your personal information, such as your Social Security number, credit card numbers, address, phone number, or other such information? Are you afraid of a hacker using your personal information, without your permission, to run up a bill of thousands of dollars on your credit cards? Maybe you’re concerned a hacker might send you a virus that will ruin your personal computer. If you have such fears, one way you can lessen the chance of such things happening is to surf the web anonymously, and there are different ways of doing just that.

One of the two easiest ways of surfing the web anonymously is using a proxy server every time you are online and setting up the proxy as though your computer were part of a local area network, with all computers in the network using the proxy. If you use that means of surfing the web anonymously, it will appear to whatever website you are using that your computer is wherever the proxy is, possibly in another state, or even another country.  That method of surfing anonymously is not the most efficient, however.

How to use a proxy server to surf the web anonymously depends on which browser you are using. If you are using Internet Explorer, do a search for Proxy list. You will find hundreds of proxies. On Internet Explorer, click Tools, then Internet Options. Then click the Lan Settings button. After you find proxy servers, click the box with the option of using a proxy server. You then need to copy the IP address, a string of numbers that looks something like 128.69.67.45 on the proxy list you found and paste t into the address box. You then need to copy the port number from the proxy list and paste it into the port box. Click okay twice.

If you want to use a simpler and possibly more effective method of surfing the web anonymously, there are a variety of websites that will allow you to surf the web
anonymously, without changing your browser’s settings. Some such services are free. Some are not. Some websites block such proxies. If that happens to you, you can join a proxy mailing list, like http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/proxynews/join. You will receive a new list of proxies every day.  Other sites such as http://www.isurftool.com provides you with a frequently updated list of new proxy servers from which you can select from. You can simply visit the site and select one of the many proxy servers listed.

Why would using a proxy to surf the Internet anonymously be a good idea? According to some websites which help Internet users do just that, many web advertisers are looking to build a database of customer files of a customer’s name, address, retail, catalog and online purchase histories. They plan to do this by the use of Internet cookies. Once you are in their database they can then serve up specific advertisements targeted directly for you. You can hinder such activity by surfing the web anonymously.

Some websites will not allow you to use such proxy servers. One that many commercial sites do accept is http://linkitto.com. When you go to that site, you will then be able to type
in a website you want to view and surf anonymously. Other similar services are provided at these sites:  http://wikiproxy.com,   www.anonymitychecker.com, and www.thecloak.com.  Another website, http://tor.eff.org, protects you from websites gathering marketing statistics about you, without using proxies.

Many of the sites will not require you to install software to surf the web anonymously, but some will. You can find other similar sites by doing an Internet search for “surf  the web anonymously.”

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