Free Proxies servers for anonymous surfing with Web proxy websites for internet security.

I’m a victim of that myself. Because of that, I’ve compiled a list of some of the best online gaming sites across the Web where I waste the time away. I’m sure many of you know others–this isn’t an exhaustive list–so feel free to share them with us. You never know when your favorite site will bite the dust.

Addicting Games

Say what you will about Flash-based games, but Addicting Games is one of the best places on the Web to find the latest and greatest games. Though I’m a huge fan of Max Dirt Bike, the site’s second-most popular title of all-time, it offers a slew of other titles in every genre.

Are you looking for something quick that doesn’t take itself too seriously? Check out Bowman 2. Want something extremely involved that’s worth investing your time in? Elite Forces: Clone Wars might be a good place to start. And just in case you’re looking for a 30-second break, The Helicopter Game will hit the spot.

Addicting Games currently offers hundreds of titles that offer anything you might be looking for. And although some of the games are a bit dull and still others don’t load, the vast majority are well worth taking a looking at.

Big Fish Games

Big Fish Games lets visitors play hundreds of titles from dozens of developers across a wide array of genres. The service lets users play online against other users or download them to their computers for offline gameplay. As of this writing, over 360,000 Big Fish players are currently online playing games.

Unlike Addicting Games, which offers a slew of “simple” (also known as “casual”) titles, Big Fish games provides visitors with in-depth titles that show off just how far online games have come graphically. Nancy Drew Dossier: Lights, Camera, Curses, is the current top title on the site and it’s trailed by a slew of well-known titles like Poker Superstars and Agatha Christie’s Death of the Nile.

Big Fish isn’t the kind of site you’ll visit for just a few minutes before getting back to work. Instead, it offers more sophisticated titles, which require more time investment. That may be fine for some, but those who want a quick fix probably won’t find it here. That doesn’t mean it’s not addictive though–I spent two hours on the site earlier today wondering where the day had gone.

PlaySega.com

Although it’s relatively new–the site launched last week–PlaySega.com has already become one of my favorite online gaming destinations. Unlike Big Fish and others, which provide titles from a slew of developers, PlaySega.com comes from Sega Games, a highly-respected developer in console gaming. Each game is developed by Sega and requires registration to play.

PlaySega.com sports the basics–puzzle games, arcade games, and quiz games–but it also offers Sonic at the Olympics and The Official Mini Game of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games. That may entice some to sign up for the service, but you should be aware that only a few of the 30 titles offered provide the kind of fun factor found on competing services. But if you’re looking to invest more time in an online game and Sega still holds a special place in your heart, you might find something to like in Hot Air 2 or Space Hopper–two titles that offer an outstanding experience.

Pogo.com

Another developer, Electronic Arts, is behind Pogo.com. The site attracts millions of visitors every day and offers dozens of free titles. Games range from basic card games to casino, puzzle, and arcade titles that offer a little something for anyone. Scores on each game are then translated into tokens, which can be used to purchases tickets for cash or prizes.

While it doesn’t offer the quick fix found on Addictinggames.com, there’s no debating the success of Pogo. The site’s main attractions–Scrabble and Word Whomp–have tens of thousands of players online at any time. That doesn’t mean Pogo is without simple games, though. Solitaire and a few other card games shouldn’t take too long to complete.

Yahoo Games

I would be remiss without mentioning Yahoo Games. Unlike the other services across the Web, Yahoo really doesn’t play any role in online gaming, other than finding titles on the Internet and keeping them on its own site. It has done a fine job so far, offering close to 800 titles in a wide array of genres from arcade and card games to board and puzzle games.

Much like Addicting Games, Yahoo Games’ top titles are simple ones that satisfy your addiction for a few minutes. Right now, Farm Mania and Pool hold the top two spots on the site, respectively, and they’re followed by a host of titles that offer simple, yet fun gameplay at no expense.

In terms of sheer quantity and quality, Yahoo Games is easily one of the best online gaming services on the Web. It doesn’t worry about exclusive memberships or trying to do too much. Instead, it offers solid titles to users who want them as quickly as possible. That may sound simple, but it works.

From:Donreisinger

Top 10 Most Blocked Web Sites:

1. myspace.com
2. facebook.com
3. youtube.com
4. ebay.com
5. mail.yahoo.com
6. friendster.com
7. meebo.com
8. playboy.com
9. hotmail.com
10. bebo.com

Top 10 Most Blocked Web Site Categories:

1. Phishing
2. Adult
3. Gambling
4. Social Networking
5. Hate/Discrimination
6. Dating
7. Alcohol
8. Weapons
9. Games
10. Video sharing

Go to unblockbess.com, UnblockBess is what’s known as a CGI Proxy service, that is, I run a website based proxy on my server, and you connect to it to retrieve websites.

There are a few ways to bypass the MySpace or block sites domain block filter and get the access to the site, depending on how system administrator configured the network routers or system to block and restrict access to MySpace.

Try alternative browser such as Mozilla Firefox and Opera.

The easiest way to try if it’s possible bypass blocking of MySpace is to use an alternative web browser such as Mozilla Firefox and Opera. This hack will work if system administrators apply the contents URL filtering and blocking via Internet Explorer settings of Group Policy, which works only on Internet Explorer browsers. Thus, Firefox and Opera are not affected by the restrictions that applied via Group Policy and the access to MySpace or other blocked sites are granted.

Other bypassing MySpace blocking methods involve using a proxy or proxy server or anonymiser or Internet privacy tool or private web-surfing server, which has all the while popular in bypassing censorship and other content filtering and blocking by firewall or routers, while protecting the privacy of online browsing by eliminating the trace. When you’re using a proxy server, the computer establishes the connection to the proxy instead of destination website, and thus filtering or blocking firewall or router will only see the connection from and to proxy. The proxy server, anonymous or transparent, then connect to the destination website such as Myspace or Hotmail, Friendster, Hi5, etc and retrieve the requested page, which will then redirect and send the data back to you. The proxy can be used on various network services such as FTP, HTTPS, SOCKS and etc, but for anti blocking of MySpace proxy, HTTP proxy service is good to fool the packet filtering device or blocking system.

Online Web-based Proxies (Anonymous Proxy Server)

Web-based proxy server allows user to just type in an URL (such as www.myspace.com) on a web page and all connections and traffic to and from the destination URL will be redirected via the proxy, making as it the traffic is originating from the proxy itself, thus circumventing the domain based URL filtering blocking system. The list of such web based proxy servers include:

http://www.lvyo.net
http://www.atomicproxy.com/nph-proxy.pl
http://www.proxyvan.com
http://unblockmyspace.com/
http://www.unblockmyspace.org/
http://unblockmyspace.us/
http://www.fsurf.com/
http://www.blockfilter.com/
https://proxify.com/
https://proxify.us/
https://proxify.biz/
http://www.guardster.com/
http://www.ibypass.org/
http://www.ipzap.com/
http://kproxy.com/index.jsp
https://kproxy.com/index.jsp
http://www.attackcensorship.com/attack-censorship.html
http://mrnewguy.com/
http://www.unblockwebsites.com/

Most of the web based myspace proxy is free, although some proxy server has fee-based features that need to pay to gain access to those features. Some proxy has been blocked too, but keep trying for the one that works. By using the web proxy or anonymizer, MySpace users can browse the MySpace website, profiles, login to MySpace, posting comments and blogs and other activities. One thing of note is that there are PHP and CGI-based proxy, and to be able to login properly to MySpace or Gmail or other services, you may need to use CGI proxy.

Note: Sometimes, use the IP address of the proxy (i.e. http://188.77.77.88, can be retrieved by ping the URL from command prompt or ping from third-party websites such as DNSStuff) will work instead of using the domain name.

Download the proxy.php.txt

Usage:-

http://yourserver.com/proxy.php?url=<url_encoded_desitnation_url>[&mimeType=<mimeType>]

Examples:-

To load XML/Text:
http://yourserver.com/proxy.php?url=http%3A//abdulqabiz.com/blog/index.xml

To load a SWF (binary-data):
http://yourserver.com/proxy.php?url=http%3A//abdulqabiz.com/files/some.swf&mimeType=application/x-shockwave-flash.

Written by http://www.abdulqabiz.com/blog/archives/general/php_proxy_script_for.php.

1.First you will need a proxy server account

There are two different types of proxy accounts that work with these configurations in Internet Explorer. You can choose from USA only proxy servers or USA + Off shore access. At this time, the USA option gives you access to over 300 broadband proxy servers and the off shore gives you access to over 600.

2.Select which proxy you would like to use

Before we get started you will need to select which proxy server from our list that you would like to use. All that you will need to start is to go to the members area and bring up the HTTP proxy list. Each proxy server has an IP address and HTTP port listed next to it. There are different types of names to choose from, such as: DNS Spoofed (example: billy.microsoft.com), Vanity (example: bet.u.cant.find.me.cause.im.on.my. proxymachine.com) and normal looking ISP (example: anderson.city.park.united-wireless.net) It does not matter which you choose, it is the users personal preference on how they want to show up on the net.

Write down the IP and port for the proxy that you would like to start with.

Example: IP: 28.96.193.162 Port: 38030

3.Start up Internet Explorer

Configure Internet Explorer to use the proxy server by opening your browser.
Click on “Tools” and select “Internet Options”.

4.Click on “Connections” and then the “LAN Settings” button;

IMPORTANT: If you have a dialup or VPN listed in the example above, you will also need to click on each adapter listed and then click on the Settings button. If you are using the adapter to connect to the net, enter in the proxy information.

5.

a:Put a check in the box for Automatically detect settings.
b:Put a check in the box for Use a proxy server.
c:Type in the proxy ip address and port that you wrote down. from the http list in step #
d:Click on the Advanced button.
6.Make sure that there is a check in the box for Use the same proxy server for all protocols.
Now you are done. Click on the OK button several times until you are back at the main IE window.

7.Type in the user name and password that you selected when you signed up for the proxy service.

If you want IE to remember your login be sure to check the box.

NOTE: Internet Explorer will only remember the login for each proxy that you use. If you change the proxy server, you will need to enter your user name and password again and save it. Each proxy ip address and port are saved separately.

We are all familiar with the typical comparison between gateways and the layers of the OSI model. We know that bridges and switches correspond to the data-link layer, and that routers correspond to the network layer. Above layer 3, proxy servers are used as gateways.

Nowadays, proxy servers are most commonly used to connect corporate networks to the Internet. They allow internal clients to securely access the Internet using common applications such as Web browsers and FTP clients. Proxy servers are powerful enough to allow clients to reach the Internet regardless of whether or not they even have legitimate Internet IP addresses, because a proxy server uses only a single IP address for all outbound connections.

This chapter begins with explaining what proxies should be used for and the different methods of proxying. Then the details of Microsoft Proxy Server are explained, followed by Netscape, WinGate, and a few other specific product details.

REVIEWING PROXY BACKGROUND
Proxies connect networks in ways that hubs, bridges, and routers cannot. Proxies connect clients and servers with the intelligence at and above the transport layer of the OSI model. They are capable of looking into the packet at what routers and switches consider merely payload, analyzing it, and taking different actions depending on what is contained in the data.

At the transport layer of the OSI model, circuit-level proxies handle connections based on TCP or UDP port number. Jumping to the highest layer of the OSI model, application-layer proxies transfer data between clients and servers, processing the information with knowledge of application-specific commands. Please keep in mind that the Department of Defense model does not correspond directly to the OSI model; in the former, there are no distinctions between the transport, session, and presentation layers, so the term is the same for all three. The other layers of the OSI model and the term used for gateways at that level are shown in Table 18-1.

Understanding What Proxies Are Good For
Proxies are useful for many purposes. The number-one use of proxy servers is for connectivity. In this respect, proxy servers serve a similar function to routers. However, proxy servers offer many other features, including security, caching, logging, and IP address translation, that are not available to devices that are only capable of analyzing traffic at the OSI network layer.

This section will discuss each of these uses and give you background into why you might need them. Later in this chapter, I will discuss specific products that may be able to fulfill these needs. As you read this section, consider how your organization will make use of each of the different features. Knowing what you want and need will help you choose a proxy server later.

Proxy Servers Instead of Network–Layer Routers
If the primary purpose of a proxy server is connectivity, why not just use a router? The fact is, proxy servers are not nearly as good at connecting networks as routers are. Proxy servers are slower, are more expensive, and require much more administration time. If all you need to do is connect two public or private networks, there’s no need for a proxy server.

Proxy servers are only useful because they provide features above and beyond what traditional routers can provide. It is all the other features detailed in this section that give proxy servers their value. Nonetheless, know that proxy servers do provide connectivity and, in most cases, provide all the functionality of the standard router.

Conserving the Public IP Address Space
RFC 1918 (Address Allocation for Private Internet) recommends using private IP addresses for local area networks. This helps to conserve the constantly shrinking pool of public IP addresses. Instead of assigning every node on a network a public IP address, an organization receives only enough public addresses to assign to those systems that will be accessible from the public Internet.

This recommendation has been difficult to implement, because the systems on the local area network will still require access to the Internet. For example, though a user with a desktop machine may receive a private IP address, that user will still want to be able to surf the Net. This is where a proxy comes in handy. The proxy is capable of receiving requests from private IP addresses on a private LAN, retrieving the requested information from the public Internet, and returning it to the original user. An example of a network configured this way is shown in Figure 18-2.

This is also a useful technique for security reasons. Because the IP addresses on the LAN are not publicly accessible, no one on the LAN is capable of bypassing the proxy server. Likewise, it is impossible for a hacker to work around a proxy server that is acting as a firewall and access the systems on your LAN directly. Because the InterNIC has not assigned IP addresses to your network, routes to it do not exist in the Internet’s routers.

Hiding Internal Addresses
As discussed earlier, the InterNIC assigns all IP addresses that may be used on the public Internet. If an organization wishes to build an IP-based network, it must use private IP addresses as described in RFC 1918 or be assigned a block of addresses by the InterNIC. The Internet is a chaotic being though, and many organizations have built IP networks without following these rules. In some cases, the administrator has assigned IP addresses to networks based on random information, such as a spouse’s birthday.

Everything works just great, until the administrator needs to connect to the public Internet. Then he will discover that someone else has probably already claimed those IP addresses. This is an administrator’s nightmare, because there are three possible solutions, and they are all bad:

* Renumber all nodes on the network with publicly assigned IP addresses.
* Configure a proxy server to translate the illegal IP addresses to legal IP addresses.
* Don’t connect to the Internet.

The first solution, renumbering each node, is a project that can take months of man-hours. The last solution, not connecting to the Internet, is not much of an answer in today’s business world. The only other alternative is to configure a proxy server that will translate traffic coming from the existing, illegal IP addresses into valid Internet requests. In this case, the network configuration will look like that shown in Figure 18-3.

For Caching
As traffic on the Internet continues to increase, bandwidth becomes more and more valuable. For organizations that offer an Internet connection to their users, the traffic they create can become very expensive if their ISP bills based on usage. One way to reduce this traffic is to configure a proxy server local to the LAN and enable caching. Caching is a feature available only in application-layer proxy servers.

Businesses with Internet connections are not the only ones trying to reduce the amount of traffic they generate. In fact, ISPs themselves are extremely concerned about the amount of traffic that comes from, and is sent to, their parts of the Internet. It is in the ISP’s best interests to reduce this traffic in any way possible, because it will reduce charges from upstream ISPs and reduce the load on the network infrastructure. For these reasons, many ISPs are now offering proxy servers to customers who connect to the Internet through their offices, as illustrated in Figure 18-4.

When considering different proxy servers in terms of their ability to cache data, you should take several different factors into account. Caching is a complex act, and no two proxy servers do it the same way. The sections that follow describe different features that may be available in a particular proxy server.

CACHING DIFFERENT PROTOCOLS
As discussed earlier, the most common type of application-layer proxy is the HTTP proxy. Because of this, most application-layer proxy servers (in fact, all of the products discussed in this chapter) support HTTP caching. However, support for other protocols varies.

FTP is a very cachable protocol, but support is limited. Microsoft Proxy Server only began supporting FTP caching in version 2.0. Netscape Proxy Server now supports it and has supported it since version 2.5. WinGate only began supporting FTP caching in its most recent revision.

When choosing a proxy server, consider which protocols you would like to cache. For most organizations, only HTTP caching is necessary.

PROACTIVE CACHING
Passive or on-demand caching is the mechanism proxy servers use to store remote Web pages so that they may be served directly from the cache, speeding response time. This cache eventually ages and expires. Once Web pages have expired, they must be redownloaded from the Internet before being returned to a client. Waiting for a client to request a Web page before reading it into the cache makes the most efficient use of network bandwidth possible but increases latency by forcing the end user to wait while the page is retrieved.

Proactive caching helps to reduce the time people spend waiting on pages to be refreshed after expiring. The proxy server will watch the files in its cache and, when a file begins to approach its expiration date, will requery the Internet Web server for a newer version of the file. In this way, the cache may receive an updated version of the file without ever making a user wait for the file to be updated. Because the proxy server is capable of timing these proactive updates during nonpeak hours, the total time users spend waiting for a page is reduced. However, the total amount of network traffic generated is actually increased: Because the proxy server is requesting pages without waiting for a user to request them, it may waste time and bandwidth looking for pages that are never again required.

Proactive caching may also be more deliberate. Some proxy servers will allow the administrator to specify Web pages to be updated on a regular basis. They may also support batch updates, wherein specific Web pages are downloaded during off-peak hours and retained in the cache during the normal working day.

Overall, proactive caching is only a useful feature for networks that wish to reduce the amount of time it takes to return Web pages. Organizations that are more concerned about reducing their bandwidth usage will not make use of this feature. However, proactive caching can be used to reduce bandwidth during peak times by moving the task of retrieving Web pages to off-peak hours.

SECURITY
Most application-layer proxy servers will not cache documents that require any form of authentication. For example, if a user must enter a username and password to retrieve a page, the proxy server will notice the header fields in the HTTP communications and make a point of not caching those pages. While this will slow future requests for the same page, it increases the level of security for those pages.

The reason the proxy server cannot cache these pages is that it has no way of determining which users may have access to a particular page. This makes a lot of sense, but many proxy servers will cache secure pages anyway. Because of this, subsequent requests for the same page may be served directly from the cache, bypassing the standard authentication mechanisms.

HIERARCHICAL AND DISTRIBUTED CACHING
In enterprise environments where multiple proxy servers are used, it makes sense that the proxy servers cache pages at many different levels. It also makes sense that each proxy server on the network store only a single copy of any particular file on the Internet. This level of intelligence is included in both Microsoft Proxy Server and Netscape Proxy Server, but not WinGate.

Hierarchical and distributed caching features are important for scalability. Conversely, they are not important for small and medium-sized networks that would not have enough traffic to make the features worthwhile. Hierarchical caching divides proxy servers into multiple levels, where “first-level” proxy servers query the Internet directly and “second-level” proxy servers query the first-level proxy servers. Rarely should more than two levels of proxy servers be implemented in a network.

Distributed caching combines multiple proxy servers into one functional array. This is similar in function to a disk array; the servers share a large load and divide it as evenly as possible between them. The concepts of distributed and hierarchical caching are illustrated in Figure 18-5.

ICP (INTERNET CACHE PROTOCOL) Proxy server caching, in its simplest form, does not scale past a single system. Proxy servers, without additional features, have no way of communicating with other proxy servers to determine whether or not they are storing duplicate information. Indeed, two proxy servers on the same network, which are used by the same groups within an organization, may have as much as 80 percent intersection between their caches. This adds up to a great deal of wasted disk space. Additionally, each proxy server would need to make each original request to the public Internet, not taking advantage of files that may be stored in a neighboring proxy server’s cache.

In order to allow more efficient use of a hierarchy of proxy servers, Internet Cache Protocol (ICP) may be used. This protocol allows a group of proxy servers to share cached documents between each other and specifies a “pecking order” for requested documents that are not within the cache of a set of neighbors. ICP was developed in 1995 to help proxy servers scale beyond a single system.

For example, an organization has implemented a hierarchical caching system. Within each building of the campus networks, three level-two proxy servers act as the first line of defense against Internet requests. Between these proxy servers and the public Internet, an array of five level-one proxy servers receive requests from the level-two proxy servers. This architecture allows for caching for each building (reducing the amount of traffic within the campus network) and caching within the campus (reducing the amount of traffic on WAN links). The Internet Cache Protocol is what makes it all work.

Author: Tony Northrup
Published: July 1998
Copyright: 1998
Publisher: IDG Books