What is a web proxy?
A Web Proxy is a server which can act as a proxy for all of your web surfing. Requests for web content that would normally be sent directly to the site you’re visiting will instead be sent to the proxy, which will then fetch the data and forward it back to you, maintaining a copy of the data for itself. This is useful in that with multiple users using the same web proxy, should one user visit a particular site before you have, any of the content on the visited site which has not been updated since the previous user’s visit will not be fetched from the site again. That content which has not been updated on the site will instead be forwarded to you directly from the web proxy, greatly reducing the time it takes to load a web site since the proxy is almost always significantly closer to you than the site you’re visiting.
A Web proxy allows you to retrieve a Web site even when direct access to that site is blocked at your location. Typically, a Web proxy features a form where you submit the URL of a site that you want to view. The proxy then shows you the page, but prevents a direct connection between you and the requested Web site. prox1 When using a Web proxy, you do not have to install software or change settings on your computer. Instead, you go to the URL of the Web proxy, then enter the URL you wish to visit, and click the “submit” button (or equivalent). A Web proxy can be used from any computer, including those in Internet cafés. Examples of free Web proxies include CGIProxy, PHProxy and Zelune. All of them provide the same basic functionality, but some are better at providing certain functions, such as access to videos. These and other Web proxy programs, like Glype, Psiphon, Picidae and bblocked, are software programs that may be run on many different computers.
