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Advice To Surf The Web Anonymously
o, let's talk privacy, and
then let's talk about how What is anonymous surfing?
you haven't got any. That's Remember the old punchline, "On
right, if you are surfing the the Internet, nobody knows you're
Internet, and you aren't doing it a dog?" Well, if you practice
through some third party proxy Anonymous Web Surfing 101 nobody
server, the sites you surf to can will know whether your Fido, the
potentially learn everything family pet out looking for the
about you-your habits, your likes latest craze in dog food or the
and dislikes, who your buying parakeet looking for warmer
preferences and more. climes.
In this way, advertisers can But seriously folks, put simply,
serve up those annoying pop-up anonymous web surfing erases any
ads, spyware can quietly download trace or trail of where you've
to your computer in the been or going on the Internet.
background and track your every
move, government agencies can Your private world remains
watch you, and hackers can private and no one, not even your
slither into your hard drive and Internet Service Provider (that's
steal your world. the guy you pay $20 to $40
Paranoid yet? dollars a month to get on the
Net) won't have a clue about who
If you aren't re-read the the you are. This is how it used to
opening to this article slowly. be, and this is how it should be.
While you are reading it, Period. End of story.
remember an advertiser's spyware
could be phoning in your private Beyond simple paranoia, people
information for future use as you have various reasons to surf
read. anonymously ranging from general
terror about losing their privacy clear your cookies in IE,
to wanting to keep their personal whenever you visit that site, it
surfing sites that they go to on will automatically fill in your
the job away from the prying eyes log in information.
of their employers.
Neat, huh? Well that's okay. But
Beyond the obvious, what are spy what about the cookies that are
websites looking for, and how do downloaded that you don't know
they accomplish it. Websites use about. That's where the grey area
a variety of methods to gather of invasion of privacy comes in.
intel from the most basic which That's also where anonymous web
is your IP address to placing surfing stops it dead in its
cookies on your website. tracks.
Your IP address is where you Sites use a variety of techniques
started from, like your home to gather and collate this
street address. Cookies are information, but the two most
little bits of information placed basic are examining your IP
on your computer that keeps track address and placing cookies on
of your habits. your PC. Matching your IP address
with your cookies makes it easier
One of the easiest cookies is for them to create personal
kept by Internet Explorer, when profiles. If you'd like to see
you visit and log in to a what kind of information sites
website, IE will ask you if you can gather about you, head to
want it to remember your username these two sites, which peer into
and password. If you say yes, it your browser and report what they
will download a small file with find.
that information to your hard
drive. Forever more, or until you
size="-2">http://analyze.privacy. bit tricky to set up so if you
net gives a comprehensive report don't need heavy-duty protection,
plus an introduction to you might want to select one of
privacy.net which shows you more the packages listed below. Either
about cookies, gives you a look way, I no longer have to wonder
at what others see when they look who's virtually following me
at your computer and more. around taking notes.
Browse Spy located at Like most anonymizers, it sends
http://gemal.dk/browserspy/ goes my information through a special
even deeper into your system and series of computers called proxy
gives an eye-opening report on servers which screen me from the
what's on your system right down websites I'm contacting.
to the software you own.
My computer contacts a proxy
Now that you know why you should server instead of the website
surf anonymously and how easy it directly. The website, in turn,
is for others to violate your doesn't see me, it sees the proxy
privacy, how do you stop it? It's servers IP address and proxy
actually easier than you might servers are like the aircraft
think. carriers of the net.
There are a couple software They have so much armament to
packages out there for anonymous block cookies, popups and other
surfing. I personally like Tor web parasites that it never gets
and Vidalia located here. It runs infected or passes anything on to
in the background through my its clients.
Firefox settings, and while it
slows down my surfing a little, Other programs that facilitate
The Tor/Vidalia combination is a anonymous surfing include
Guardster, SnoopBlock and Mega computer -- called a proxy server
Proxy and Anonymizer. My second -- screening you from the
favorite anonymizer, is one of websites you are contacting. Your
the four I just listed. computer contacts only the proxy
Anonymizer is recognized as the server, which contacts the
leader of the pack and is website for you.
relatively simple to use.
The website, in turn, sees only
It's where I started before I got your proxy server and not you. In
involved with servers and such, addition to hiding your IP
and is really good for web address, a proxy server will
surfing protection. usually block cookies, pop-ups
and other annoying web parasites.
Last, if you are at work and
can't load a bunch of stuff to With some systems you have to go
your workstation, simply surf to to an anonymous service website
http://www.the-cloak.com/anonymou and access your favorite website
s-surfing-home.html. It's web from there. With others, you
based, easy and with nothing to download and install software
download, a real godsend. Give which finds an anonymous server
them a donation and you can log for you.
in and surf to your heart's
content. There are numerous services and
programs that facilitate
It's not the prettiest site to anonymous surfing such as
look at, but it is functional and Guardster, SnoopBlocker and Mega
it has never failed me for fast Proxy, but Anonymizer is the
cloaking. pioneer and recognized leader of
the pack.
It's done by having a special
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About the Author:
Alojate.com is the premier web hosting company in Mexico, offering a range or services for all business needs. http://www.alojate.com http://www.alojateextra.com
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