Making Net-surfing As Easy As Pie By Ajeet Khurana At Isnare.com Ezine Articles

Wouldn't you agree that the Internet is wonderful. It joins us with people all over the world. It allows us to view information that we would otherwise not be able to access. 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 connector between the computer you are using and the server that you are trying to access. This concept becomes easier to understand once you figure out its mode of working. Suppose there is a website that is accessed regularly from a particular computer. This site gets saved in the cache of the proxy server. So, if another user tries to visit that very site, the page is pulled up from this cache.

The advantage of this style of functioning is that the process quickens significantly. This is because the proxy server does not have to contact 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 net. Sometimes web proxies are used to impede 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 visited. In fact, a number of organizations make use of proxy servers to perform these very functions. A company could even impede its employees from viewing a particular website by making use of a proxy server. Notably, the user may not be aware of the presence of the proxy server.

There are many other kinds of proxy servers that are available online. These include transparent proxies, split proxies and reverse proxies. Open proxies are proxy servers that are preferred by spammers and Internet Relay Chat users.

There is also something called an anonymous proxy server. This supplies 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 be full of are lessened considerably. It is good to use an anonymous proxy server because it keeps you protected from hackers.

A lot more information about proxy servers is available on the net. But the next time you are able to quickly access your favorite webpage, make sure you silently thank your good old proxy server!

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