We’ve got lots of explanations on this site about proxies and the various options you’ve got about using commercial ones or even free versions you can find online. But often to help this search it’s best to take a step back and ensure you really know what you’re looking for in a proxy server. The below video is a good explanation which is worth watching then invest in a private proxies trial to try them out for yourself.
Video Text Transcript
For those already familiar with the function of a proxy server, there’s a good chance that the mere mention of them brings up images ranging from that of your friendly network engineer to those of steampunk-inspired hackers brandishing ridiculous looking headgear. While these two extremes are not totally incorrect. As far as examples go they don’t exactly represent the entirety of the spectrum either! Now originally proxy servers were instrumental in allowing multiple computers on a local network to access the internet without their IP addresses conflicting. But the invention of an IP remapping method known as network address translation allowed this capability to be inexpensively integrated into routers. However just because proxies are no longer needed to connect to the internet doesn’t mean they have fallen completely out of use. It turns out that there are still quite a few functional roles that proxies can serve for those operating on a network.
One such role is squid style caching which can be used to store things like frequently accessed online files downloads and updates eliminating the need for a networks worth of users to download side materials individually. This not only has the benefit of greatly increasing transfer speeds because files are now taken from a private network instead of over the Internet.
But hey if you’re in Canada it might also have an impact on your overall bandwidth limits as well and proxy networks can be used in conjunction with special tunneling protocols to act as a security gatekeeper verifying or encrypting packets routed through it. Depending on their direction of travel recent demands for increased security among businesses and individuals alike has led to greater use of these services known as VPNs. Which businesses use in an effort to shield things like their customers monetary information or internal company data that they need to be able to access remotely. Individuals use for well similar reasons and also things like accessing online services that are region locked or skirting around overzealous governmental intrusion and censorship.
So to better explain this ask active proxy server functionality will turn to one of my ever popular analogies let’s say your PC IP address sitting at your local internet bar whatever when suddenly you spy this beautiful Linus tech tips forum site two doors down the street. In the window of a foreign bar now although theoretically you should be able to walk down and take a peek at that foreign websites content in reality there is a bouncer named the Great Firewall who prevents you from entering.
So what you have to do then is go next door to your boy the proxy servers place who is able to let you slip into the foreign club through a side door because they can’t tell that you came from. You know scrubland internet cafe or whatever the case may be you can score that websites binary digits and sneak back out without them ever knowing where you came from.
But with all of that said we’ve painted proxy servers with our rainbow colored brush so far and they’re not purely used as a force for good. While most people have honest intentions when using proxy services to discreetly surf the web. A small percentage of users including the fashionably challenged hackers I mentioned before use them for attacks. Including what is referred to as a men in the middle attack which disguises an intrusion into a system as legitimate IP traffic originating from a proxy.
There’s of course lots of scenarios in between the nefarious cyber criminal and the company It technician, However most of these center around privacy or hiding your digital identity in a personal or commercial capacity. For example one of the many uses is that of using automated software, like for instance this one which is an Instagram Bot which is used for promoting and managing Instagram Bots. Why proxies for this? Well Instagram doesn’t like self promotion and having multiple accounts, both of which are essential for proper promotional activities!
This is particularly worrisome because it can end up painting a very large red target on those servers which contain copious amounts of valuable information because as the old saying goes one man’s cash is another man’s treasure or something along those lines. So while automated data caching can be tremendous for reducing little headaches the big headaches that can result if your IT staff isn’t on the ball and some compromised files slip through and push to an entire network of pcs is a clear potential downside! Speaking of clear potential downsides I can’t think of one for Coolermaster they make great cases power supplies fans they’ve got laptop coolers they’ve got all kinds of great stuff and probably the best thing though about coolermaster is just like this series of videos they’re all about actually legitimately educating their users so if you check out Coolermaster University on their website.
They’ve got great information that helps you make an educated decision about whether it’s something like CPU cooler or whether it’s something like a case or a mouse. They’ve got lots of great peripherals like mice and keyboards and also they do a bunch of community outreach as well so stuff like their casemod world series which was running very recently and allowed anyone with a dremel or I mean really even if you just had a screwdriver if you could use it really creatively to enter their case modding contest cool guys there’s a link to them in the video description so if you’re considering a PC upgrade definitely check them out and I think that’s pretty much it guys like this video if you liked it dislike it if you thought it was trash leave a comment if you have suggestions for future fast as possible just like this one and as always don’t forget to subscribe
