Deciding to set up a proxy server has to be done if you don’t want to be held back by limitations. The word “proxy” means “substitute” or anything that serves as an agent, an enabler. In case of telecommunication, it is used for a device or program empowered to act for another. In computing a proxy server is simply an informational middleman, if you will; it handles exchanges between the requester and the ultimate server. Anything and everything needed has to go through the proxy; no exceptions. The proxy server analyzes the request according to its filtering rules. Perhaps the most common such rule is banning access by clients on certain IP addresses.

To properly set up a proxy server, a wide variety of choices exist out there. You might start by checking out one of the most popular proxys on the market, a piece of software called WinProxy. The main reason for its popularity is that no software needs to be installed on the client systems. Another reason is NAT, or Network Address Translation, since WinProxy is what’s known as a transparent proxy. This ensures that the client system is unaware of the proxy server’s existence. Other than administrative stuff like caching and security, the usual complement of protocols are available.

The WinProxy Server is easy to install and configure. You’ll be hard-pressed to find a better alternative to set up a proxy server. Before you begin setting up WinProxy, install the TCP/IP protocol on all systems connected to the network. After that you can go on to install WinProxy itself on your system. You can purchase this the traditional way in a store or through a simple download. When you begin the installation, you get the option to run the Install Wizard. Be sure to have your product key handy, as that’s going to be the very first input required of you. From there the programs automated setup routine will determine your internet connection type for you. Under certain rare circumstances you may have to denote such information yourself. Then comes the login info – namely, username and password. WinProxy then configures the internal and external IP addresses for the network. Now perhaps the best thing of all is how it will make an internal LAN address into an anonymous IP address. What your ISP assigned for your modem or router winds up being the external address. This external address is what someone else will see when his system requests something from yours. WinProxy will then prompt the you to disconnect from the Internet,if you are already connected.In the final step, WinProxy verifies all the steps and ensures that all operations have been performed properly.

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