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anonymous web surfer

 
Surfing the Web Anonymously
 

    When you surf the web, it's possible for people to collect information about you even when you don't want to advertise who you are. This is true even if your system contains no virus or malware software.

   Basically, information is intercepted and used by others to track your Internet activities

  Specifically, information that is easily available online includes
       
your IP address,
       
your country (and sometimes location based on IP address),
       
what computer system you are on,
    
    ● what browser you use,
       
your browser history, and
       
other information.           
anonymous surfing

  It gets worse. People can get your computer's name and even find out your name if your machine supports programs like finger or identd. Also, cookies can track your habits as you move from machine to machine.

                                    
  Questions to Ask

   How do you stop this from happening?

   First of all, it is possible to surf the web anonymously and thereby stop leaving a trail for others to find. Note that this is not fool-proof, but it makes it much harder for people to know who you are. There are products called anonymous proxy servers that help protect you.

   The anonymous proxy server replaces your Internet address for its own. This has the effect of hiding your IP address and making it much harder for people to track you.

  How to get an anonymous proxy server?

  There are many vendors who sell anonymous proxy servers. There are also free proxy servers available. Two such products are ShadowSurf and Guardster. Guardster (http://www.guardster.com/) offers various services for anonymous and secure access to the web, some paid as well as a free service.

  ShadowSurf (http://www.shadowsurf.com/) ShadowSurf provides anonymous surfing at their site for free. Go to it and you will find a box to enter a URL that you want no one to track.

  There are many others, but these are two that are frequently used.

  Does an anonymous proxy server make you 100% safe?

 
NO. Still, you are much better off if you use such technology.

  What other things should you be concerned about when trying to keep private information private?

  Three other items come to mind when trying to keep your information private. First, you can use an encrypted connection to hide your surfing. This is beyond the scope of involvement for us ordinary web surfers, so this article does not go into detail on it. But if you are curious, search the web and you will find a lot of information on this subject.

  Secondly, delete cookies after each session.

  Third, you can configure your browser to remove JavaScript, Java, and active content. This actually leads to information retrieval limitations and possible diminished browser
functionality, so you need to think about the cost/benefit of this course of action.

  Anonymous proxy servers look like a reasonable approach if you fell strongly about anonymous surfing on the Internet.

                                                                           .. Richard Rossbauer
                                                                             Follow me on Twitter

            

            Please share your comments  -(mailto:Richard@firewalls-and-virus-protection.com)
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Thank you and Safe Surfing.
           Richard

www.RichardPresents.com

 

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