Windows Strengths and Weaknesses

The overwhelming majority of computers, both personal and corporate, use Microsoft Windows, which has included Internet access for well over a decade and as Windows became more complex, so has its Internet connectivity software. Windows 98 Second Edition introduced Internet Connection Sharing (ICS) to provide group access to the Internet from a local network. More complexities were added with the outbreak of Routing and Remote Access Service in Widows 2000 Server with its Network Address Translation (NAT) functions.

It took awhile before experts noticed that ICS has specific shortcomings. ICS changes network card addresses, which can cause problems on intranets. Because of this, ICS can only be used in small office or home networks and even then, ICS in office networks is not recommended, because there is no user authorization or validation with ICS. Even using it on a home network makes any connection to the Internet insecure, since it is so easy for criminals to gain access to your computers by falsifying where they are coming from (their IP and MAC addresses).

Some Help is Needed

Windows can organize Internet sharing, but security has never been a strong point. In practice either hardware or software solutions from other companies are generally purchased to provide the security solutions needed. One of the more important of these is UserGate Proxy Server.

UserGate Proxy Server provides local network users with a secure Internet access by defining policies of this access, forbidding particular Internet resources, and limiting traffic or time of a user’s work on the Internet. Additionally, UserGate can keep distinct traffic calculations of users and of protocols, which greatly simplifies Internet traffic cost control. Lately, among Internet Service Providers (ISP) there has been a tendency towards unlimited traffic and for that purpose, UserGate Proxy Server provides a very flexible system of rules.

UserGate Proxy Server with NAT support works on Windows 2000/2003/XP with the Internet (using the standard TCP/IP protocols). UserGate can also work on Windows 98 and Windows NT 4.0, but without NAT support. UserGate does not require any special resources for its operation; it simply needs a relatively small amount of hard drive memory for its cache and log files. UserGate can also be installed on a dedicated computer to maximize your network’s resources.

Proxy Servers

Your web browser (whether it is Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari, Netscape, Opera or Mozilla to name the most popular) is already able to cache documents. However, significant disk space is not reserved for these purposes if the Internet connection is shared by an entire office. The reason for this is that the probability of one person visiting the same web pages is far less than if dozens or hundreds of people are sharing the connection. Creating a common cache for a company can greatly decrease bandwidth waste as well as make almost instantaneous the receipt of documents that are commonly accessed by employees. UserGate Proxy Server can also link with the external cascade proxy servers (of your Internet Service Provider) to increase the speed of receiving data and reduce your Internet bills (traffic costs for a provider are usually less when a proxy server is used).

Program Configuration

Configuring the cache settings is done from the «Services» page. The first step is to enable the cache, then you can set its separate options, which include caching of POST requests, dynamic objects, cookies, and FTP content. You can also set the size of the disc space for the cache and the time-to-live of cached documents.

Other options must also be set before you can start working with the program. As a rule, this task is completed in the following order:

1. Create users of the program.

2. Configure DNS and NAT on the UserGate server. At this stage you can configure NAT using the wizard.

3. Set parameters of the various protocols (HTTP, FTP, SOCKS), the intranet interface on which they will be listened for, and whether cascading will be done. All of these can be set at their corresponding pages of service settings.

4. Configure the network connection on each client computer, including gateway and DNS in TCP/IP in network connection properties, which must be set.

5. Create an Internet access policy.

Modules to Make Things Easier

To make the program more user-friendly, we divided it into several modules:

The Server module is started at a computer that has Internet access. This module controls the execution of all tasks.

UserGate administration is performed with the help of a special module: UserGate Administrator, which handles all server settings.

UserGate Authentication Client is a client application installed on each user’s computer. This module monitors and controls user authorization to the UserGate server, if you choose an authorization independent of IP or IP+MAC.

Security and Permissions

UserGate Proxy Server locks out unauthorized access. Each user can be authorized automatically by their IP address alone or by a correct combination of IP and hardware (MAC) address. Each user can be assigned specific permissions

To make it easy to add users and to quickly assign the same permissions to a group of similar users a separate page is provided for the managing of users and groups. Groups make it easy to manage users that should have common settings, including network access and rates. You can create as many groups as you need. Groups are usually created based on company structure and hierarchy.

Each group can be given its own rate that is used to manage Internet access expenses. A default rate can be set or left empty, in which case the connections of all users in a group are not paid unless a different rate is set in a user’s own properties.

There are a number of default NAT rules provided in the program. These are access rules through Telnet, POP3, SMTP, HTTP, ICQ and other protocols. While setting group properties you can identify which rules will be applied to the group and its users.

A dial on demand option can be used when an Internet connection is through a modem. In this case the modem dials up the connection only when it is requested. Dial on demand can also be used with ADSL, if in order to get connected to the Internet provider it is necessary to dial up a VPN connection. In this case the VPN connection can be set as dial on demand.

If a computer with UserGate is in an Active Directory domain, users can be imported to it and then divided into groups that need similar access rights: authorization type, rate, NAT rules (if group rules do not fully meet the user’s needs).

Authorization Types and Rules

UserGate Proxy Server supports several authorization types, including authorization through Active Directory and Windows Login, which allows integrating UserGate into existing network infrastructures.

UserGate uses its own client authentication module for some types of authorization. Depending on the type of authorization you choose it is necessary to indicate, in user options, either the user’s IP address (or IP address range), assign a login (username and password) or assign just a username. If you want to send to a user, reports of their Internet traffic use you can enter the user’s e-mail here.

UserGate rules can be more flexibly configured than RRAS Remote Access Policy. Using rules you can lock access to specific URLs, limit traffic on certain protocols, set time limits, set a maximum file size that a user can download, etc. Windows does not provide the functionality needed to fulfill these tasks.

Rules can be created with the help of the wizard provided. Each rule has application conditions and an object it is executed when one or more conditions are met. For examples, close a connection, assign a rate or speed, etc. Conditions include protocols used, time of work, a user’s traffic limits (incoming and outgoing), money remaining on account, as well as, IP address list and URL list. Settings also allow the specifying of any file extensions that users cannot download.

In a number of organizations the use of instant messengers, such as ICQ, is prohibited. This is easy with UserGate. To prohibit ICQ you simply create a rule, locking out any connection with the host ‘*login.icq.com*’ and apply it to all users.

UserGate Proxy Server provides rules to allow varying rates for day or night time access, to local or common resources (if such variations are offered by your Internet provider). For instance, for switching between day and night rates two rules are created: one that performs the switching at a fixed time from day to night rate and the other that switches back to the day rate.

DNS and NAT Settings

DNS (Domain Name System) is what is used on the Internet so you don’t have to remember a site’s numbers (its real Internet address), such as 53.128.182.67), but instead you can just remember its name, such as www.famatech.com. One of the controlling parts of the Internet’s DNS is the DNS server, which is a computer (there are many DNS servers) on the Internet that translates the names of sites to their numbers, so when your browser goes to www.famatech.com, the DNS server knows the correct IP number to send the browser request to.

The DNS setting in UserGate Proxy Server is simply the locations (IP addresses) of one or two of these DNS servers (the closer the DNS server is to your ISP’s physical location, generally the better), where each client’s DNS requests will be forwarded to. It is necessary to indicate the IP address in your network interface of UserGate Proxy Server as the gateway and DNS in the TCP/IP properties of each user’s network connection on their local computer.

There is another way to set the DNS. You can add a new NAT rule, in which the IP receiver (the internal interface) and the IP sender (the external interface) are set to port 53 and the protocol to UDP. If you use this method, this rule must be applied to all users. In connection settings of each local computer, the IP address of the ISP’s DNS servers must be set as the DNS and the IP address of UserGate Proxy Server set as the gateway on each local computer.

Mail clients can be set either through port mapping or through NAT. If instant messengers are allowed to be used in the organization, the network settings must be changed for them: both user firewall and proxy, the IP address of the internal network interface of UserGate Proxy Server must be indicated, and the protocol HTTPS or SOCKS needs be selected. If you use Yahoo Messenger, you should keep in mind that when you work through a proxy server, Yahoo’s chat rooms and video chats are unavailable.

Statistics for each user are recorded in a log. These include data on the time each connection started, its duration, total cost, the URLs and IPs visited, the number of bytes received and bytes sent. It is impossible to cancel or falsify the recording of any of this information about user connections in UserGate Proxy Server’s statistics file. The statistics can be viewed either from the Server Administrator or from a special module Statistics. Statistics data can be filtered by user, protocol and time period; and these stats can be exported to Microsoft Excel for further processing.

The early versions of UserGate Proxy Server cached only HTTP (web) pages. The latest version introduced new components designed to guarantee information security. Now UserGate users can take advantage of the built-in firewall and Kaspersky Antivirus modules. The firewall can control (permit or block) specific TCP ports and can also publish a company’s resources on the Internet. UserGate Proxy Server processes all packets received from the network. Every port that is open in the program, for example HTTP, SOCKS and others, are either selected by the administrator or can be opened in the firewall automatically. You can see which ports are open in the auto rules table on the Firewall Rules page.

Future development plans for UserGate Proxy Server include creation of its own VPN server—so you have an alternative VPN solution to that offered by Windows—an introduction of a mail server that has its own antispam support and the development of an intelligent firewall at the application level.

ed a simple way to change proxy server settings? A proxy switcher will just do the trick. It is a simple application capable of changing the proxy server settings with much ease. A proxy server is basically another server which acts as an interceptor for the purposes of security and performance. There are a lot of available proxy switchers. Some have better features than others. But they all work the same way, i.e. change proxy server configurations. Some offer free versions. Others provide trial and paid versions. The advantages of the paid versions are the technical support and help that are available. There is the Elite Proxy Switcher from My-Proxy, which comes in free and professional versions. One of its added features is the ability to check the proxy details. Another proxy switcher, that is totally free, comes from OnyxBox. Still, there are others, like IE7Pro by Innoshock, and SwitchProxy Tool from Mozilla. The list of proxy switcher creators continues to grow as more and more people are using the Internet network to communicate and do business. As the size of the network increases, so is the need for better security and performance. To illustrate how a proxy switcher works, let us describe the manual process of changing or defining proxies, which the proxy switcher automates. For our discussion, we will use the Internet Explorer browser. In the browser, select the Tools from the menu, and then select Internet Options. This will open the Internet Options dialog window. Go to the Connections tab. At the lower portion of this tab, you will see the Local Area Network (LAN) settings. Click the LAN settings button. That will open the Local Area Network Settings dialog window. The lower portion of the dialog window defines the Proxy Server details. If you haven’t used a proxy switcher or defined a proxy server before, you will not see any details nor any checked boxes. Let’s say we are going to use an existing proxy server, defined by the address, myCompany.com, at port 8083. Now, check the box that says Use a proxy server for your LAN. That will enable the Address and Port fields. Enter the proxy server details into those fields and click OK. And you’re done with using a proxy server. This set of steps will become cumbersome if you use different proxies for work, school or home. You will also have to remember a lot of addresses and ports. With proxy switchers, these cumbersome steps are eliminated. Most proxy switchers offer a nice interface which allows the users to manage the addresses and ports. There is no need to remember a lot of details since the proxy switchers store them for you. All you have to do is do a couple of clicks and you’re already done switching proxies. So if you need help in changing proxy servers, just get a copy of any proxy switchers out there. Changing proxies will then just be a few clicks away.

Each and every pace thousands of people blessing these proxies and unknowing to them all their **** is owing to intercepted and read. go underground a server configured to cache form and enabling software these internet pirates blame index substance … your usernames, account logins again passwords, your credit find details, social pipe dream number, you present it and they be credulous your information. So they not only consign you what you think will protect you, but they are providing themselves with a way to steal full-dress your information in the name of anonymity!

There are thousands if not millions of kinsfolk who cupidity to use proxies due to being banned from websites but the number unrivaled reason I believe proxies are used is because many schools hitch websites but with a proxy you’d act as able to advance gadget. Schools **** proxies but it’s slaphappy to block or ban every proxy which is why they are so popular. Many proxies bring off banned from lists or they shutdown also forasmuch as a new proxy comes along that is just as relevant and onus instance the same service.

To find apparent which proxy servers you can boon to prejudice websites you should consult the help of a proxy list which lists numerous of the top proxy websites online. These lists typically need to develop very often because proxies are changing replete the time, it’s hard to aliment up with what proxies are working and what ones aren’t, but since bury a proxy list you can pride the updated proxies to godsend at all times whenever you need to know.

A proxy list is very valuable to people considering minus them you wouldn’t recognize which proxies were open further which were shut left. Proxies change weekly and some shut overnight seemly to unexplainable reasons which is why free proxy lists fondness to be updated so often and why they are accordingly important to us proxy surfers.

Often people will want to know and will ask me, what would be the best free anonymous proxy to use?  Honestly there is no clear cut answer to that question.  Proxies that appear to be good may disappear from use on the internet within an hour.  So even if I was to recommend a very good fast proxy that would keep you safe online, by the time you got to the end of reading this article it could be gone and no longer be usable.  There is a simple reason that proxies like these never stay live on the internet for any length of time.

First off the cost of bandwidth, that alone can add up to be a large sum of money monthly.  Then taking into consideration the thousands of people wanting to surf the internet using your anonymous proxies, your bandwidth bill is only going to grow and bandwidth is only one part of the costs involved to running a proxy server, there are several other components.  You are probably wondering why if it costs so much, what is the purpose of someone making available free anonymous proxies for the general public to use?

There are two main reasons that free anonymous proxies are set up:

The first is that the owner of the proxy server is not even aware that their proxies are being used by someone else.  This can easily happen by accident when a server is not configured properly, leaving a port open, which then allows all kinds of anonymous connections to the server, instead of only being used for specific users.   Many times the only way a datacenter administrator will know that something is not right is by either the large bandwidth bill, looking at the usage graphs or seeing a massive performance decrease in the server.  Unless you are an experienced tech, this is a mistake that can happen easily.

Now for the real reason and one that should be a major concern for anyone who uses or is considering using a proxy on the internet is … Crime .. Identity Theft.  To these internet pirates everyone’s personal information is very valuable.  Everything from your bank account numbers, credit card numbers, your address, social security number and all your personal account and logins.  And the list goes on.  These thieves will stop at nothing to get your personal information; they seek out servers, usually from large companies and compromise them.  Then they take these proxies they have just stole and list them on websites for people to find and use and then steal all the data passing through that proxy.

Due to the danger of using these proxies the risk is far too great and out weighs all  the benefits.  Remember never use any of your personal or confidential information if you choose to use free proxies.  If your privacy and safety is much more important to you, but you are not able to pay for a secure professional service, then it may be worthwhile looking into TOR.  Although the connection may be much slower than what you are used to, it provides some anonymity although there are still many security issue so it would be best not to use it for secure requirements like online banking and stock trading etc.

Using a proxy has its advantages as and in this article we are going to talk about how to use proxies, how they work, the best ones to use, and their disadvantages.

Proxies have been around for as long as the Internet. A proxy is best defined as a middle man that handles data and communications for another entity on their behalf. The most common type of proxy is in the form of an Internet website. You simply visit the website, enter your web address that you want to go to and you are away. Proxies work by acting as a middle man and handling data on your behalf, thus eliminating threats like viruses and Trojans. Not only this, but it also hides your identity from the outside world.

Every website you visit collects certain information about you. The information that is collected and how it is used varies. The most common information collected is your IP address, geographical location, Internet browser you are using, and you ISP. These are the basics of what is collected. With advancing technologies giving rise to ever more sophisticated way of collecting data about you, you will be surprised about what a simple visit to a website reveals.

So are these proxies safe you may ask? Which are the best ones to use?

The majority of proxies are safe. However, you should be aware that some people that run these sites act with malicious intent. They do not care about your privacy and are more concerned about disrupting it and your computer system. Always check forums, newsgroups etc and try to find out as much information about a proxy before using it.

There will be people that have used it who will have had either a positive or negative experience. You can use this to help reach a decision. You can also check the hosting provider of the proxy. If the hosting provider is reputable then the chances are that websites are safe and secure and pose no threat to you. If you do have a negative experience, contact the hosting provider and put in a complaint and they will take action.

Proxies exist all over the world and location, location, location is a key factor here. Firstly, you want to look at where the proxy is being hosted. Avoid places like North Korea, Iran for obvious reasons. Secondly, look at how much the country of where the website is being hosted respects your privacy.

If your proxy is hosted in the United States, for example, this may be a poor choice. Ideally, you want jurisdictions that have tight privacy laws in place to maximise protection on all fronts. Probably the best two in the world are Panama and Guatemala. Both countries have tight privacy and secrecy laws and make attractive options above the US, Canada and EU countries. Also, like I have said before, avoid places like North Korea, Iran and Nigeria.

If you surf behind a proxy that is hosted in these countries then you are asking for trouble and are likely to run into problems.

As an Internet user you face many dangers online ranging from cyber criminals trying to steal your identity to marketing companies and ISPs tracking and logging your IP address. As a lot of web surfers know, one of the best ways for protecting personal information and maintaining Internet privacy is to use a proxy server. While many useful proxy servers can be found on the Internet simply by searching "proxy" on Google, the age old question that many Internet users have difficulty answering is: What is better to use, anonymous surfing software or free web-based anonymous proxies?

A software-based proxy will run with your current browser and allow you to surf freely without having to go back to a homepage to enter a new URL every time you want to visit a different website. This type of proxy does require the user to download and install the program, but after installation it should only require 1-click to run the program and surf anonymously. A good software proxy will cost you a few dollars a month, which is a downside compared to the free web proxies. There is usually a fee associated because you are getting what you pay for. Software proxies, much like their web-based counterparts, offer anonymous surfing, but also encrypt the data being transmitted. This means that in addition to your IP address being masked, your data and the transmission between networks is also secure, unlike a web proxy. Another positive aspect of software proxies is that your origin is also hidden. A website will see your origin as the last website you visited before coming to them, which can tell them a lot about you if they are tracking your surfing habits. Software proxies also allow you to surf through various domains so that if an IT department does try to spy on you they will only see the fake web URL that the proxy gives them. The proxy will show them you are surfing on officetrainingtips.com, while you are really checking your personal e-mail.

Web-based proxy servers are quite easy to use and require nothing on your part besides an active Internet connection and a web browser. These web anonymizers require you only to enter the URL of the site you wish to visit and give it a click. Your IP address is hidden and replaced with the IP address of the site’s server. This is a great example of proxy avoidance and will get you onto a blocked website, but only offers minimal, if any, data protection and encryption services. The main purpose of the web-based anonymous proxy is to get on websites such as MySpace, Facebook, or any other site that that would normally be blocked by a school or company’s IT Department. Another downside is that this type of proxy is unable gain access to sites that use Secure Socket Layer or Secure Shell encryption, such as banking sites.

Ultimately, both methods of protecting your IP address and maintaining Internet privacy have their pros and cons. At the end of the day if you only need a quick fix to get onto a blocked website that requires no personal information, such as account numbers or passwords, then a web proxy will work for you. Using a software proxy whenever you surf, even if only for a few minutes, would be highly recommended. It is still easy to use and offers much more protection and freedom to surf without the worry of just how protected you are. Since both will hide your IP address it is more important to focus on the advanced protection a software-based proxy can offer you. This factor alone makes software-based proxies, such as Private Proxy, your best bet.

Using a secure proxy server is one vital step in protecting yoruself online.  Unfortunately if you pick an insecure one, you’ll be doing more harm than good.  The world is full of idenity thieves, huge criminal gangs with plenty of resources have realised the huge gains and limited risks of electronic fraud and theft.   The risks are minimal compared to the conventional crime and even less when you can set yourself up in a distant country with lax information laws and ineffective police.   Electronic crime and identity theft offer these huge rewards, those rewards keep growing as a the communication revolution of the internet continues.

One of the main issues is fundamental to your browsing and that is that most of it happens in clear ascii text.  So that’s everything that leaves your computer and travels across the web is instantly readable by anyone who happens to intercept it.   Where can it be intercepted, well the most obvious is the ISP logs which contains a complete log of everything you do online.  There are lots of other places of course but a favourite trick is the free anonymous proxy.  It’s quite simple and very clever simply buy, rent or hack into a server, install some proxy server and them advertise it on the net as a free secure proxy server.  It doesn’t take long before thousands of people flock to use the server and you have lots of clear data flowing through the server.  Swicth it to caching mode or enable some logging software and you can record everything - user accounts, login details, passwords you name it.

A quick and simple way not only to steal personal data but to actually have people send it directly to you in the name of anonymity !

Remember always the adage - ‘you get what you pay for’ - proxy servers cost a lot of money to supply.   A free anonymous proxy quickly gets very expensive, so why would someone pay a fortune to allow everybody to use a free anonymous proxy.   Well the simple answer is they usually do it by mistake and accidentally leave the proxy open, or they do it on purpose and steal your details in payment.

Be very careful that the secure proxy server you choose to protect your browsing is a proper secure professional server not a free one run by a bunch of eastern european hackers.

People are more and more concerned nowadays for their privacy. Internet is one of the greatest inventions that makes our lives a lot easier and provides us with useful information just by clicking.

However, there are some problems that we have to face when surfing the net. Our location, address and name can be traced every time we visit a web site. Furthermore, we can become victims of hackers and advertising agencies and this is not very pleasant.

However, we can end this now simply by using a free anonymous proxy. This is very simple to use, it can give you that privacy that you were looking for and it is also free. The free anonymous proxy is the wall that stand between you and the common information that is requested by web sites.

When using a free anonymous proxy, your IP address and other information that are requested are simply hidden. Instead of your own data, the free anonymous proxy give it’ s information, thus your privacy is secure.

It is very easy and at hand to use a free anonymous proxy and the offer is also extremely large. You can choose from a big variety of free anonymous proxy sites the wan that you want to use. You only have to visit that site and just enter the URL of the page that you would like to visit. Then just click the button that says surf anonymously and you are safe. No one can see what web sites you are visiting, your personal information is concealed and you have nothing to worry about. Free anonymous proxy is a must nowadays.

The only thing that you is not quite as you would like when using free anonymous proxy sites is the speed. There is the risk that the speed is slower than normal. There can also be another problem or more an inconvenience when using free anonymous proxy sites. Ads just at the top of the browser may badder you a little. Besides that, free anonymous proxy is the best choice if you care about your privacy.

There are many free anonymous proxy sites today, but there is the possibility that not all of them give you the results that you were looking for. In light of this fact, the best way to choose a free anonymous proxy is to look for two things: the rate of the free anonymous proxy and the privacy policy. You should choose the most highly rated free anonymous proxy site and make sure that the privacy policy that they have is very clear.

So, after you made sure that the free anonymous proxy that you are using rises up to your standards all you have to do is surf away, because free anonymous proxy guarantees you the privacy that you need.

For more resources about Free Anonymous Proxy please review this website http://www.17proxy.com

If you **** having your computer privacy compromised because of programs that your business or school have that monitor your online activity what can you do? You might have heard about proxies that are available that will finally give you the online privacy you want. These web proxy sites or services can be very expensive to buy and need to download them and they also have many other inconveniences if you want to use them. An alternative exist that you can get that has the same performance as other pay systems but is free and does not have the same problems that the other sites have.

There are many places that use many kinds of software that they can find for free that monitor the websites that you look at. If you do not want to have all your online browsing monitored by someone else then you should get a proxy. Web proxies block these third parties from knowing what sites you looked at. No one wants to have there privacy taken away for any reason and there is no reason to have your online privacy taken away from you its just as important as any other form of privacy and can be just as embarrassing to lose.

Now that you have decided to use a web proxy is what you need to do so that you can keep your privacy safe from prying eyes and let you be the only person who knows where you have been online. Using an online proxy is going to be the thing to do to keep your privacy intact. The costs of these proxies unfortunately are very expensive and why would you want to spend so much money in getting something that you should not even have to pay for in the first place?

The very high price that is associated with getting yourself such proxies is a big problem but that is not the only problem that you will face not using a web proxy. A big problem besides of the very prohibitive cost for such services is that to get it you have to download and install a program or file on the computer and that takes time to download, and then once that is done it will take up space on your computers hard drive which is another problem. One final problem you will face if you want to use such a service at a library, school, or business is that they will not allow you to install a program on the computer.

If you want to surf the web with total and complete privacy there is only one web proxy that you should use and that is online-proxy.net. The benefit of this site over other proxies is that is does everything else the other ones do but without any of the cons. You do not have to pay for it, there is no download, and you can use it on any computer that is connected to the Internet. It is a better option in terms of performance and at a price that you really cannot beat.

Basically, proxies are proxy servers, and a proxy server acts as a buffer between a computer and the things on the Internet which that computer accesses, such as web pages and FTP archives. When the computer makes a request for data or information from the Internet, that information goes first to the proxy server and from there to the computer.

They can thus be used to make sure that an individual’s computer does not receive any corrupt or harmful data from the internet. Like its very name suggests, it means that computers are basically using the Internet “by proxy” - that is, through something else entirely.

There are four main types of proxy servers, each of which serves its own specific function. HTTP proxy servers are the most widely used because every browser is capable of using this proxy server. SOCKS proxies are designed to work with almost any type of data on the web (TCP/IP protocol). However, a computer must be able to work with a SOCKS proxy server. When a computer or program can work with a SOCKS proxy, it must be classified as either SOCKS 4 or SOCKS 5. The third type of proxy servers are CGI proxies, which are also known as anonymizers. It can only be accessed through a browser and, as such, it is one of the simplest proxy servers to use. The last kind of proxy server is the FTP proxy, which is an extremely specific and specialized proxy, which will only work with FTP servers. FTP proxies can be used with file managers, download managers, and with browsers.