Anonymizers and personal proxies allow users to hide their IP address and surf the Internet anonymously. Currently, anonymous use of the Internet is justified for the following reasons:
- With an open access to the network, the user leaves "digital traces" by which you can find out the country and city of his residence, data about his device and even the location of the device, up to the postal code, and other information.
- With the development of technology, hackers have become more active, who are constantly developing new ways to access confidential information and steal it.
- Sometimes web resources are inaccessible to specific IPs (if for some reason they got into a resource ban or their access was locally restricted, for example, the employer closed access to social networks from work PCs) or to all IPs from a certain region / country.
Anonymizers and personal proxies hide the real IP address of the user and ensure his anonymity. However, despite the fact that they perform the same task, there are significant differences between them.
What is an anonymizer
Anonymizer is a website, application or browser extension for anonymous access to the Internet and circumvention of restrictions. Anonymizers can be found for both PC and mobile devices. The general principle of operation is as follows:
- The user enters the web address of the page he wants to visit in the anonymizer's search bar.
- The anonymizer processes the user's request, looks for a mirror (that is, a copy created to bypass locks) of the requested page, and outputs a response to the device.
However, when working with the anonymizer, you may encounter the following problems:
- the risk of infecting the device with viruses, especially if the anonymizer is downloaded from an unreliable resource;
- no guarantee of data confidentiality (some services transfer user data to third parties, for example, advertisers; in addition, anonymizers are poorly protected from hacker attacks, therefore, data can be stolen);
- low speed of work due to the fact that anonymizers are free and public, that is, an unlimited number of people can use them at the same time;
- the need to select a reliable and at the same time suitable anonymizer for different types of resources, as a result, a lot of time is spent (in addition, there is a possibility that some resources do not have a mirror for anonymous visits, and time will be wasted).
The work of the proxy is built differently, so the occurrence of such problems is excluded.
What is a personal proxy
A proxy (proxy server) is an intermediary computer between the user's device and the resource to which he wants to get. When requesting this resource, the proxy replaces the user's IP address with its own IP, which provides anonymity and the ability to bypass restrictions. Like anonymizers, proxies can be free and public, but they have all the same disadvantages (low speed, lack of protection, etc.). Therefore, preference is given to personal proxies.
An individual or personal proxy server is a proxy that is issued strictly in one hand. When buying it, the user receives a set of data - the proxy server IP address, port number, login and password for connection, which are available only to him. At the same time, a personal proxy can include one IP or a packet of several addresses, which expands the possibilities of use (if for some reason one of the IPs is blocked, there will be reserve addresses). Compared to anonymizers, individual proxies have obvious advantages:
- there is no risk of infecting the device with viruses, since the user does not download anything;
- protection of data confidentiality, since proxy providers do not collect information about the user and do not know what actions he performs (in addition, proxies usually have additional protection against viruses and theft of confidential information);
- high speed of work, as the user receives a dedicated server, which no one else comes to;
- versatility of proxies (they can work with both PCs and mobile devices, so you don’t need to choose a new proxy every time; moreover, some programs provide for connecting a proxy server inside the software, which allows you to use a proxy for specific work purposes).
Conclusion
Anonymizers are easy to find on the Internet and start using them right away, since they are free. However, the general availability and freeness of such services does not cover possible risks, especially if, when working with them, the user enters private information (logins and passwords, payment information of bank cards or electronic wallets, phone numbers, etc.).
Private proxies are much more reliable and stable than anonymizers. To bypass blocking and anonymous access to the Internet, it is better to use a paid proxy server than free services: this way you can maintain the confidentiality of your data, save time and nerves, and possibly money that would have to be spent on restoring the device after being infected with viruses. However, it is also important to be careful when buying a proxy: some service providers may be unscrupulous and sell you a non-working proxy server. Our site contains a rating of sellers with detailed reviews of their services, the pros and cons of the proxies they offer.
