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Making Net-surfing as Easy as Pie

By: Ajeet Khurana

The Internet is truly a great connector. It fixes us with people all over the world. It allows us to view information that we would otherwise have no access to. Using it is probably easier than "easy as pie". And one of the things that helps us access the Internet, is the proxy server.



A proxy server is something like an interceder between the computer you are using and the server that you are trying to access. This concept becomes easier to understand once you comprehend its way of working. Suppose there is a website that is accessed frequently from a particular computer. This site gets saved in the cache of the proxy server. So, whenever another person attempts to go to that site, the page is pulled up from this cache.



The advantage of this style of functioning is that the process is made quicker. This is because the proxy server does not need to go to the real server of that website to view it. The site has already been placed in the proxy server's cache.



Web proxies are proxy servers that limit their job to the world of netizens. Sometimes web proxies are used to block websites that are provocative or offensive. They also serve another, perhaps more important, function of blocking viruses that may be present on the webpages that are being viewed. In fact, a number of organizations make use of proxy servers to perform these very functions. A company could even block its employees from viewing a particular website by making use of a proxy server. Notably, the user is generally unaware that there is in fact a the proxy server.



There are many other kinds of proxy servers that are found on the Internet. These include transparent proxies, split proxies and reverse proxies. Open proxies are proxy servers that are popular with spammers and Internet Relay Chat users.



There is also something called an anonymous proxy server. Such servers provide anonymity, and hence, privacy, to the user. It does this by hiding the IP address of the user. As a result, the number of junk mails and spam that one would otherwise get flooded with are considerably reduced. It is good to use an anonymous proxy server because it keeps you protected from hackers.



If all this interests you, you could find out lots more about proxies on the Internet. But the next time you are able to quickly access your favorite webpage, remember that your invisible friend -- the proxy server -- is at work!

Article Source: Free Content Articles Directory

The author Ajeet Khurana recommends Squid Myspace Proxy, Web Messenger, and Unlock Myspace.

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