Ways to Hide IP Addresses for Anonymous Web Surfing :Readers Respond

Do you use an anonymizing proxy and/or utility program to hide your IP? Which one(s)?

What Method Do You Use?

Numerous Internet proxy servers offer anonymous Web browsing capability. Accessing Web sites via these proxies hides your public IP address from Web servers, helping to protect your identity online. Anonymizing proxies often work as designed, but the approach suffers from some inherent technical limitations. As an alternative, some people install special programs on their computers that also can hide their IP address (and other identifying information) through the local software instead of relying on an external server.

Use a free VPN service

A VPN (Virtual Private Network) seems to offer a higher level of anonymity and encryption than a proxy which is Web-based. Also, a VPN works with all your PCs internet traffic. This may include messaging and FTP traffic.

—Guest VeePeeN

What anonymity service do you use?

I query hidemyass.com to find free proxies which I test them to be sure they are good. However, keep in mind not to exchange sensitive information through such free proxies as they can store your data. Not even a paid service is "safe" because of anti-terrorism laws which force any ISP and Web service provider to store a large amount of data and to retrieve this data at request along with any cryptology used, if your traffic is not monitored at real-time.... Simply said, ANY anonymity fails when we talk about the U.S. Government, regardless the means.

—Guest Tinel Barb

Never use Hidemyip

I am working for a digital marketing company. I purchased 4 hidemyip addresses. After completion of 1 year, they all expired. Then i renewed these hidemyip. The hidemyip people charged $20 for renewing the services, but none of my hidemyips is working. I tried to contact Hidemyip customer service through given email address (staff@hide-my-ip.com), but I didn't get any response. I also tried the toll free number given on their website (866 343-6722) But this is a wrong number. Now it looks like i am cheated by Hidemyip. I suggest all for not using Hidemyip services. My Order ID: 0ab8e1-1392722119-008811 bhupesh.creativelipi@gmail.com

—Guest Bhupesh

Don't use IP hiders = danger!

IP Hiders are dangerous because the people that supply the software and the server you connect to sending info can steal your info - mainly bank details. As you type them in your browser and hit login, they receive the info! Its a pretty tard move to use a IP Hider without knowing the consequences.

—Guest Anonymous

TOR browser

TOR browser is the best proxy chaining service... with multiple servers, and encryption.

—Guest Ahmed

VPN

A VPN will replace your source IP with the IP assigned by the gateway; either dynamically or statically... however, if you're looking to hide your IP address because you're up to no good, you can still easily be traced through interrogating the VPN server activity log.

—Guest Telco Architect

MAC spoof + VPN via web proxy

The only real way to stay hidden from anyone that wants to find you is to first use a program to spoof a MAC address and IP for you, then use the already fake information to create new fake info through another client such as a web proxy. Of course it isn't fool proof, but I doub't you're worth the time to crack it... ;p

—Guest Hidden

Hide ALL IP have a French server

@Lamine - you can use Hide ALL IP (hideallip.com) in France. It is good hide ip software based on my testing.

—Guest Amns

A good VPN service

I use and recommend Witopia. Many gateways, good speed, reliable, fairly inexpensive.

—Guest Roamer

Tried http://hidemyipaddress.org/ but..

Tested in google.ru, but somehow it recognized me as a Swede (which I am). So is hidemyipaddress.org trustable? Hmmm.. Would be nice to hear what you others here think.

—Guest funky

IP Hider in Africa

Being from a North African country, most of the content online is restricted, so for a secure and anonymous browsing I usually use ipaddresshq.com.

—Guest mehdi2409

Hide My IP

I use Hide My IP 5.3 software to hide my IP address... . It does not affect my Internet speed.. that's the main reason I like it very much.

—janiman

Read reviews before buying

I use Hide My Ass, but it's always best to read reviews first... .

—Guest belle

Who can you trust?

You can never be totally anonymous online. If an infringement gets reported, the owners of the proxy will (by law) have to provide the original IP address at the time of the infringement. The website which act as a proxy also do as they say, but you'll find a lot of sites ban them access due to abuse. Also you never know who's running public proxies, software or website versions. Is it agencies collecting usage data? There's also VPN's which encrypt your traffic (as well as hide your ip) - meaning your ISP can't determine what it is you're downloading. It's good way of bypassing P2P throttling, etc and at the same time accessing things outside your country (BBC iPlayer/Hulu/Netflix etc) at nice speeds - which you definitely won't get with a public or web proxy. will have to comply with the law regardless of their views on it. They know better than to mess with the government.

—Guest various

Ghosting

I use Cyber Ghost VPN PPTP... . I have access to four servers in four countries including the U.S. It hides my IP and anonymizes all traffic. I only use it for torrents or to access banned content. I also use it via public Wi-Fi for added anonymity.

—Guest what

Source : compnetworking