i will like to hide my ip address and will like to know if there is a
way to hide my ip address from being detected.I am using a service
that detects my ip address and i will like my ip to be undetectable so
as to keep my privacy.

Hi badddj-ga,

Someone's IP address will always be ?detectable?, however, there are a
number of commercial programs, and free ?techniques? that you can use
to anonymize your internet connection.

The basic method of ?hiding? the IP address is by using something
known as a Proxy. Depending on how good the service is (or, how
complete it is), it may or may not also block advertising tracking
cookies. In addition to using a proxy to surf with, I would also
highly recommend you use a program like Ad-Aware (free version
available) that will remove spyware, adware and malware from your
computer. Some spyware, adware and malware can defeat your attempts at
being truly anonymous. You can obtain Ad-Aware from:
http://www.lavasoftusa.com/software/adaware/

You'll notice that the VPN type anonymizers offer the best/widest
protection, but, they are more expensive vs. the typical web proxy.
Depending on what you want to do, you may not need to spend the extra
money on the VPN connections--rather, stick with something like
'Anonymizer' instead.

I?ll start with a few commercial/shareware applications that provide
the functionality you need to surf privately.

***

Anonymizer: http://www.anonymizer.com/anonymizer2004/1.0/

?How Does It Work??

?Each Internet user broadcasts an IP address, or "Internet Address"
and can be used to trace your location and personal information.?

?Unscrupulous marketers and spammers who know your IP address can send
you unwanted targeted ads and SPAM. Even worse, malicious hackers and
snoops can track your surfing habits and make you a victim of identity
theft!?

?With Anonymizer 2004, your IP address is hidden and your surfing is
encrypted with Surfing Security?, preventing online marketers and
snoops from tracking you.?

?What Is Surfing Security???

?The power behind Anonymizer 2004's Surfing Security?, always-on SSL
(Secure Socket Layer) encryption. SSL is a method in which all
information sent between you and a web site is encrypted. This means
that only your computer can view any data being sent to or from it,
thus preventing outside eyes from seeing your personal information.?

?Anonymizer 2004 uses 128-bit SSL technology, the most secure form of
SSL available, to ensure the highest level of protection and
anonymity.?

Essentially, Anonymizer will allow you to surf anonymously ? even from
a location that already uses a Proxy server to ?watch? where you surf.
It is $29.99 for a 1 year subscription to the service.

***

FindNot.com: http://www.findnot.com/

FindNot.com is another service which is similar to Anonymizer.
However, findnot.com uses a VPN (Virtual Private Network) to
?privatize? your surfing. VPN?s are often used by businesses who wish
to have their employees access network resources from outside the
network (like, at an airport). VPN?s create the equivalent of a
dial-up connection via. the Internet into another private area. Using
a VPN based anonymizer will allow all your connections to be private.
All connections including P2P, IRC, games, web, etc. will go through
the VPN and hence become ?anonymous?.

Findnot.com also states that they do not keep any log files whatsoever.

?How it works?

?This is a more technical explanation for those of you that are so
inclined. If you do not understand everything on this page, relax the
system is extremely user friendly and you need not understand all the
details to remain anonymous on the internet in all of your
activities.?

?What we have is a VPN, Virtual Private Network and a SOCKS 5 Proxy
service. Upon joining the service you will be given a user name and
password to our VPN and proxy services. Once connected your entire
internet traffic will flow through our secure servers making you
anonymous. We never pass on your true IP address. We do not keep logs
period.?

?In the past some of you may have used anonymous proxy servers. As
time goes on things become abused more and more on the internet. In
recent years there has been a rash of ?phony? anonymous proxies that
are set up by malicious people who use the proxy to capture user
names, passwords, credit card info, etc which they use for personal
gain at your expense. Additionally who is to say they are not keeping
log files and what might they do or not do with these log files. With
our service you run no such risks.?

?When our service is turned on all internet traffic goes through us,
you do not have to remember to route everything through a proxy.?

?You can use the service with a firewall. ?

?If you need to connect to a service that will only let you in based
on your true static IP address then you can turn off our service and
enter into that network using your registered IP address.?

?You can use the service from multiple computers but only one computer
can be used by an account at one time, in other words we do not allow
multiple log ins simultaneously.?
http://www.findnot.com/howitworks.html?

The cost for this service is $19.95 per month, $49.95 for 6 months or
$89.95 for 1 year.

***

As I mentioned, there are also shareware programs that you install on
your computer that perform a similar function to the services listed
above. One such program is called Anonymity 4 Proxy (A4Proxy). You can
find it here:
http://www.inetprivacy.com/a4proxy/

The software is $35 to purchase (one time fee which includes free
updates for life).

?Anonymity 4 Proxy (A4Proxy) is a personal anonymous proxy server and
anonymizing software. Once you install on your own computer, it will
allow you to surf the Web with privacy. This local proxy server
includes a database with hundreds of anonymous public proxy servers
located all over the world. The program is essential for those who
value their privacy and who want to surf the web anonymously. With
A4Proxy, you can scan each server, check its response time, confirm
its anonymity, and test its speed in connection with the website or
ftp-server that interests you (HTTP, HTTPS (Secure HTTP) and FTP are
supported). You can choose the best candidate as your default proxy,
or select the option to use a different proxy for each request.
Advanced features allow you to actively hide yourself while surfing:
A4Proxy can generate a fake IP address for each request, selectively
modify HTTP variables, block cookies, and more. The program also helps
to avoid network congestions and can be used by webmasters and network
administrators to test their servers.?

***

If you would like to just access a few pages over a proxy, and do so
infrequently, you can try a (free) service called ?Proxify?. It is
located here:
http://proxify.com/

Type in a web address, and it will load it for you anonymously.

?Proxify is a web-based anonymous proxy service which allows anyone to
surf the Web privately and securely. Unlike other proxies, there is no
software to install or complicated instructions to follow. Just enter
a URL (website address) in the form above. Through Proxify, you can
use websites but they cannot uniquely identify or track you. Proxify
hides your IP address and our encrypted connection prevents monitoring
of your network traffic. Once using Proxify, you can surf normally and
forget that it is there, protecting you.?

***

If you simply want to have a proxy connection to the web, with no cost
to you, then free proxy lists are your friend.

You can find these lists all over, but, a few to get your started are at:
http://www.proxy4free.com/page1.html
http://tools.rosinstrument.com/proxy/
http://www.publicproxyservers.com/page1.html
http://www.freeproxy.ru/download/lists/goodproxy.txt
http://www.freeproxy.ru/en/links.htm

Also, I found another site that has a large list of software programs
that will do a variety of tasks surrounding proxies. The website is
called, ?Free Proxy Servers? and is located here:
http://www.freeproxy.ru/

It also has a tutorial on configuring your web browser to work with
the free proxies. The tutorial can be found here:
http://www.freeproxy.ru/en/free_proxy/howuse.htm

The site also has a very good FAQ that explains, in detail, how proxies work:
http://www.freeproxy.ru/en/free_proxy/faq/index.htm

You should know however, that free proxy servers can have some serious
issues as far as security goes. There is no guarantee that a free
proxy will not keep detailed logs and records of every site you
visited, and each and every item you submitted to the remote site
(including credit card information, usernames, passwords, etc). There
is a detailed page that explains the risks here:
http://www.freeproxy.ru/en/free_proxy/faq/anti-proxy.htm



I hope this has given you the information you need. I have provided
three different ways to surf anonymously: subscription based services,
software, and manually choosing a proxy. Should any part of this
answer be unclear, please ask for clarification prior to rating, and
thus closing the question.

Thanks!

Legolas-ga

Searches used (Google):

Free proxy
anonymizer software
ssl proxy anonymizer
surf privately

---

Request for Answer Clarification by babddj-ga on 05 Sep 2004 09:49 PDT

Hello,
I actually will like to hide my ip address from the websites i visit
and i will like you to kindly get back to me with an effective
solution

---

Clarification of Answer by legolas-ga on 05 Sep 2004 10:25 PDT

All of the above will do what you desire. I would probably go with
Anonymizer, simply because it is realtively cheap, and works very
well. It will hide your IP from all sites you visit.

All of the information above WILL "hide" your IP address by
substituting it for some other IP address that is not related to your
own.

Please take a look at Anonymizer--it is relatively inexpensive, and it
will do exactly what you want. Also, it is VERY easy to use.

Legolas-ga

There are free sites out there somewhere (the one I used to know
doesn't exist) which keep lists of IPs which are in effect proxies,
and some of these can be very anonymous indeed. I once used them to
get to a board in Japan that seemed to be having trouble dealing with
European connections in to it - by using a Japanese anonymous proxy I
seemed to make it think I was coming at it from Japan and got in (it
was about battleships if anyone is wondering). the second time I had
cause to use this kind of thing I was banned from a political
discussion board for not having the 'right' set of beliefs; in banning
me the owner blocked my IP address. By continuing using anonymous
proxies to connect I was able to continue the debate for another day
or so, even though the owner would then ban my new apparent IP
address.

As far as I understood it, these 'in effect' proxies are network
servers for companies or universities which are configured to strip
out individual PC IP addresses and replace them with that of the
server. I don't really understand this, but an article I read said
that they do the job TOO well and strip out ALL identifying
information. Thus, if you switcb through this connection (and the
proxy connection page in Internet Explorer handles this) then you
replace all your details with the details of the company or university
you just told your computer to connect via.

wolvies

It is not clear to me that the answer distinguished between hiding
your IP address from websites that you visit and hiding your IP
address from the ISP you are using to access the internet (i.e. hiding
from your service what you are downloading). It seemed clear to me
that the questioner wanted to do the latter. This is a pretty
important distinction.

Any "real" proxy service, like Anonymizer, will communicate to the
proxy server over a secure channel both ways. Anonymizer will hide the
information from BOTH the ISP and from the website you ultimately go
to.

Legolas-ga