How To Use a Fake IP Address & Mask Yourself Online
People often say to me that they don’t like surfing the Internet as they feel every website they go to could hunt them down and knock on their door. Let me tell you this. It is not true.
However, bear in mind, that it is possible to find your location, but they would need a legal case against you to force your Internet Service Provider to hand over your details. However, if you are still worried and would like to surf the web anonymously, you will need to obtain a fake IP address to mask your online identity.
Before I get started, I should mention why people want to use a fake IP address.
- They need to test if a web server is correctly configured.
- A firewall has blocked them out of their own website, and they need to get back in.
- They want to access something that they can’t in their location. For example Google Voice or Hulu.
- They are required to connect to a VPN network.
There are many more reasons for masking your IP address, but I will not go there. There are a few ways in which you can do this.
Change Your Proxy Settings In Your Web Browser
A quick and easy way is to tell your web browser to use a proxy. So how on earth do you do that? It is quite simple actually. But first of all, you have to find a proxy to connect to. Digital Cyber Soft has an up to date list that you can use.
Just simple select a random proxy from the list.
Once you’ve picked one, just enter the settings.
In Firefox: Tools –> Options –> Advance –> Network –> Settings
Then just select Manual proxy configuration and enter the proxy IP address in HTTP Proxy and the Port number. Hit OK.
In Internet Explorer: Tools –> Internet Options –> Connections –> LAN Settings. Tick Use a proxy server for your LAN and enter the Address and Port number.
Hit OK. Once that is done, you can go to CanYouSeeMe and check that your IP is different to the one before you made the changes.
Install GlypeProxy On Your Web Server
If you own a webserver, you can install a free script called GlypeProxy. This script provides you with an admin control panel so you can see what sites visitors have been searching for and other cool features.
By installing it on your own server, you can ensure that no one will be stealing your information, they won’t show you ads and you will be much safer. Before you go ahead and do this, make sure you are allowed to install it by your web hosting provider.
There is also another script that does not give you an admin panel and that is phpProxy which you can download at Sourceforge.
Install Software On Your Computer
Another way to mask your IP address or to use a fake one is to install software onto your computer. One such program is Hotspot Shield. It works by you downloading and installing a program onto your computer which creates a Virtual Private Network (or VPN) from your computer directly to one of their servers.
Use Web Proxies
One of the most common and easiest ways to hide your IP address is to use a web proxy. This is exactly the same as what I mentioned before in installing Glypeproxy, but it’s another script on another server. There are thousands of these on the internet, so its just a case of finding one that you like.
Some of the most popular, and better web proxies are:
Please use these sites at your own risk!
Connect to a VPN Network
By connecting to a VPN network such as your workplace or educational institute, when you browse the internet, your external IP address would be the place to which you are connected to. Once you connect to a VPN network, the rules of what you can do on the network will depend on the network you connect to. For example, they may block access to torrents and adult materials through their internet server.
Dave has previously discussed how to set up your own VPN with Hamachi.
So that is an overview on how you can mask yourself and use a fake IP address. However, please be very careful when you use these services, especially from other websites as you do not know what malicious code they may have put on their sites.
If you use a proxy, which one do you use? If you have any other tips, please tell us in the comments.
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Excellent tip! Can often be very useful.
Thanks very much, I’ve always been searching for a site which offers up-to-date proxies that actually WORK. Excellent!
NotMyIp
http://www.privacy-gateway.com/notmyip.html
Excellent post.
Keep in mind that not all proxies are truly anonymous. Always double check if you are really surfing anonymous. You can check it here: http://ipinfo.info/html/privacy-check.php or here: http://www.2privacy.com/
Unfortunately, Hotspot Shield can not be use anymore for unblocking Hulu and proxies do not offer enough speed. Commercial VPN services, like HideIpVPN, StrongVPN, Blacklogic, AeVPN, etc. have to be used.
Its true about the low speeds these proxies provide. I couldn’t even load my gmail in the default view, had to load it in basic html. Proxies are recommended only if you want to do a particular task anonymously. It will be difficult to do regular surfing with them.
Thanksyou for your tips, and links to other services.
I’m surprised no one has mentioned Tor. I use it from time to time and it works great. http://www.torproject.org/
What to do if I am actually behind a proxy server in a LAN ?
@travis Don’t you find Tor a bit on the slow side? I used it once, but couldn’t get much performance out of it. What’s your secret?
Tor varies on its performance quite a bit. It does get really slow sometimes but I have found that to be the case on most proxies. Tor does give you a little more security than a single proxy though.
I also found that (payed) VPN services are (very) fast. Still, courts could seize login-information to see as to who was using the VPN at a given time, but at least they have then to go after the IP adress they recovered, actually doubling their effort. If you’d connect through several VPN’s you’ll be virtually untracable. I suppost that goes for proxies and tor too, but a good VPN service can be very performant and if you want to download (upload) or look at US video streams, performance is important.
(Comments wont nest below this level)It is strange but it doesn’t work on my firefox, after changing the settings I went canyouseeme.org but my IP address is still the same. anyway I never change the port number, should I change it? then what number should it be?
Hi Eric, If you are talking about “Change Your Proxy Settings In Your Web Browser” You need to add the HTTP Proxy IP address and the Port number, otherwise it will not work. If you have tried an IP address and it still doesn’t work, try a different one and port number.
Remember to check out the two sites that Walter listed above.
why you don’t use http://www.widevpn.com
it has more than 300 dedicated ip with one account
Thank you for the INFO ! Do these proxies work witth MAC OS X ?
Steven
Steven, I can’t see any reason why they won’t work.
Hello !
What about something for MAC OS X ? !
Thanks
Steven
Hi, Thanks for the tips.
I would like to ask the same as JKIII.
What can be done to use a fake ip when I am behind a proxy of the LAN. I cannot use one of this proxy in firefox to access internet. Can I ?
I am not entirely sure about using a ‘fake ip address’ when you are behind a proxy on a LAN as I don’t have this configuration set up.
But I can tell you that when I was at school, they had this configuration, and the only way to access the internet through firefox was to put in the LAN proxy address. I did not try using another one. It may work, it may not. I am not entirely sure.
All I know is that this method works when you are directly connected to the internet.
Sorry if I couldnt help much more.