Most of the people hardly know about the use of proxy servers. You might think that proxy servers are only used to gain access to restricted content online or to keep your WIFI network secure. A web proxy server is a comparatively simple intermediate processor that lets you develop an indirect link with other networks. A proxy server online has its internet protocol address, made public rather than a private IP address. This anonymous proxy server can be used for many business reasons from customer experience security purposes to all in between. Many people have heard of proxy servers or proxies, and quite a few know that you can use a proxy server to navigate the internet without leaving breadcrumbs for others to follow or perhaps you’ve only heard about proxies in terms of bypassing the firewall at school or work.
Read this article to know the best ways you can use proxies to improve your online experience and security.
Table of Contents
11 Ways Proxies Can Be Useful
Blocked Internet Protocol (IP)
A proxy is a middleman you can use to be anonymous as you search or use the internet. It is a way to do many things, but chief among the reasons you may use proxies when you have been subjected to an IP block. If, for example, you were kicked off a gaming server and the server blocks your IP, you may be able to log back in using a proxy server to sort out the issue with customer service or handle any other similar issues that arise.
Always remember that someone can get a lot of information about your website using your IP address, like what is your city and country. Sneaky cybercriminals can also access your data and use your IP address to find your ISP, zip code, and even the address of your home. Using the proxy server hides your identity so no one can access your personal information.
Stopping Cookies
A use we can all enjoy is the ability of the proxies to block cookies. Cookies are the little breadcrumbs that are left by websites so when you log back into the site, it “remembers” you and your habits – which makes for rather annoying marketing efforts. Using a proxy between you and the server you’re visiting means the visiting server can’t leave any cookies behind – it has nowhere to leave them on your machine. So, every visit you make is a fresh visit.
This anonymizing prevents cookies’ tracking from adjusting your experience while browsing on websites and defends your system against malware risks on the Internet. Now, using the internet proxy server, you can make your website secure and protect against malware.
Navigating The Firewall
While a firewall is a very useful feature to protect us from ourselves or outsiders are work or school, sometimes the firewall is too broad and blocks websites we need to access. Likewise, if you are logging onto your work accounts from home you may need to go through a proxy server provided by your company to effectively navigate the firewall issue and reach the areas you’re trying to reach.
Compress Traffic
There are some extra features you can expect from your proxy server in addition to providing you with a protective cloak. The proxy website can also compress your traffic to save you bandwidth. This allows for faster load times and shorter waits while you navigate websites and download various programs and media. Proxy can also compress online traffic to save you bandwidth.
The proxy web browser preferably balances the requests to each server, making sure that there is no load on your site. This happens in the backend to determine an effective experience on the customer side. All in all, it can be said that your internet proxy is a good tool to manage online traffic loads and keep the speed of the internet optimized.
Cache Websites
The proxies can cache websites for you to improve the load time even more. By saving certain files from the websites you visit through proxies, the sites have less to do when they load and you can enjoy them that much faster while remaining protected behind the proxy server.
Proxy caching is one of the features of a proxy server site that stores the content on the server, letting web services share these resources with users. The proxy server synchronizes with the source server for caching the documents i.e. images, files, and web pages.
Proxies can be used to increase the speed of the internet and save on bandwidth by caching files and web pages that are accessed by numerous users, blocking ads, and even compressing traffic from sites. This frees up the valuable bandwidth on a busy network and so, your workers can browse the internet quickly.
Remove Ads
Not only can you block the annoying cookies that websites leave behind, but with a proxy server, you can also block all of the ads that result from that breadcrumb trail of previous searches. Even if you already have blocked all of your cookies, you can still block all of the ads that remain, albeit untargeted, on the websites. No cookies, no tracking, no ads. Why not use a proxy?
Stop Malware
A proxy server is often a way we think of bypassing filters. It can be used as a filter in its own right. When you search and explore using proxies, you can effectively block malware and spyware as well because it can’t get through proxies back to your machine. Granted there are still plenty of ways to make mistakes online, so you have to do your work to be safe as well, but that proxy server will do a bit to help you along the way.
You can use the proxy servers to block malware and other forms of viruses from infecting the systems. Proxy servers filter out malicious websites and ensure online security. Outside users can only see your proxy server network, while the users inside the network have to bypass the proxy to access the Internet.
Access Entertainment
A proxy server may allow you greater entertainment options than you’d expect. That proxy server isn’t going to get you access to websites with paid memberships and such, but it will allow you to visit and search international or regional websites as a native if you want quality programming directly from the source. Just find a proxy in the right geographic area and suddenly you appear to be Australian. Or Canadian. Or American. At least online. The proxies allow you to bypass geographical restrictions which is a good way to access enormous websites all around the world without any restrictions.
Remove Tailoring
If you use an internet service that tailors your material and blocks certain things on your behalf, you can easily skip the tailoring by searching through a proxy. This is true as well with search engine results that are tailored through your previous searches. If you want a fresh internet experience every time you log in, you need to be logging in through a proxy. The proxies let you enjoy a better online search experience, without any restrictions and blocked content.
Buy Internationally
Just like you can watch entertainment across international lines, with a proxy server you can shop internationally as well. You can access the website internationally, even though there is a geographical restriction because by using the proxies you can easily bypass the geographical restrictions as your country cannot be identified by the browser.
If you are buying material goods you will still have to deal with shipping and figure out a domestic address to send your purchases made through a domestic proxy, but you have many more options when you’re buying things that are downloads rather than physical. Buy downloads of games music or media while it is on sale elsewhere or just take advantage of exchange rates and enjoy items for less than you’d pay back home…while still sitting at home.
Also Read: VPN vs Proxy: Which One Should You Use?
Access The Deep Web
Finally, when you use a proxy server you can do more on the internet than you might expect or even want to do. Access to the deep web, or the internet that is hidden away from most of the public, should only be accessed through proxy servers simply because there are elements in the deep web you probably don’t want following you back home again. Proxy server allows you to search on the deep web.
Proxies may not have been designed to hide nefarious deeds, but they can certainly be used for that purpose. Fortunately, there are just as many – if not more – good ways and reasons to use a proxy without compromising your ethics and morals. For many of us who hate ads and website tracking, a proxy just makes sense.
Proxy server website lets users avoid content limitations forced by governments or companies. Many governments in the world carefully monitor and limit internet access, and proxy software provides uncensored internet access to their citizens.
Some Drawbacks of Using Proxy Servers
With all the advantages of server proxy, there are also some drawbacks that you should be aware of.
- As I have already discussed in this article the proxy server’s cache system is very active and good, in most cases, your browser websites, your passwords, or secured data may be easily accessed by the proxy service company. So, it is recommended to go for a paid or dedicated one.
- Many times, it happens, though using the encoded network or connections, your information or data can be escaped through methods of SSL and TLS encrypted connections.
- It is known that the proxy server can support you to access restricted and blocked websites. So, it is stated that any offensive and blocked websites that are not good enough for students are also accessed using the online proxy.
Thus, it can be said that the drawbacks of using proxy servers are far less than the advantages and uses of the servers. And it is true that in any technology you can find both disadvantages and advantages. So, it is completely up to you to get good out of this technology of proxy servers. You should give this amazing technology a try!
Conclusion
In this article, I have discussed the benefits of using proxy servers for your website. The proxy servers are known to be an amazing technology that can offer you enormous benefits. This proxy server can be used for several business reasons from customer experience security drives and all in between. The proxy web balances the requests to every server, ensuring that there is no load on your website. Proxy caching is a feature of a proxy server website that stores the content on your server, allowing the web services to share these resources with users.
I hope the information that I have shared in this article is informative and helpful. If you have any queries related to the use of proxy servers, do ask me in the comments section below. Do share this post in your circle, if you find it helpful.
Jaya Chatterjee
We did not know many of the listed uses of the proxy servers. Compressing traffic and removing tailoring are particularly interesting stuff that we will explore further. Thanks for sharing these tips!
Ryan Biddulph
Hi Oleg,
I love my proxie aka, my VPN. Live with the sucker. Because we travel non stop so when I log in to my Paypal or financially sensitive sites, the I fire up the virtual VPN, connect and log in via a US IP address. Brilliant.
Ditto for buying stuff and also for logging in to Netflix or US cable sites. We get caught up on many shows through the good old VPN.
Thanks for sharing 🙂
Ryan
Oleg Calugher
Yes Ryan, this days we need to be more careful online. VPN or Proxy is a good tool to protect your privacy and any other personal data .
Sahil
hello Oleg
thanks for your article first, in my life i never use any other Proxies to use access. first time see these benefits to use them. hopes for more useful article from you./
Oleg Calugher
Hey Sahil,
Welcome to Temok and thank you for the comment,
Good to know that you have found the info regarding Proxies helpful,
thanks,
– Oleg
Joy Healey
Hi Oleg,
A very interesting article, thanks. I’ve never had need to use a proxy server – or, at least I never thought I did!
However, the thought of blocking ads, marketing and malware sounds very useful.
I look forward to your proxy server tutorial with interest.
Joy – Blogging After Dark