The Proxy Server is a piece of software that sits between your web browser and your server. It intercepts all your requests to the server to see if it can fulfill the requests itself. If not, it forwards the request to the server. Its main purpose is to control user access to specific websites. AnalogX, Squid, PHP Proxy and CGI Proxy are some of the services available for downloading a proxy server to your computer system.

Setting Up Proxy Server on Internet Explorer

Internet Explorer 6.0

  1. On the Tools menu in Internet Explorer, click Internet Options, click the Connections tab, and then click LAN Settings.

  2. Under Proxy server, select Use a proxy server for your LAN check box.

  3. In the Address box, type the IP address of the proxy server.

  4. In the Port box, type the port number that is used by the proxy server for client connections (by default, 8080).

  5. You can click to select the Bypass proxy server for local addresses check box if you do not want the proxy server computer to be used when you connect to a computer on the local network.

  6. Click OK to close the LAN Settings dialog box.

  7. Click OK again to close the Internet Options dialog box.

Internet Explorer 5

  1. Click Start, go to Settings, click Control Panel, and then double-click Internet.

  2. Click the Connections tab, click LAN Settings, and then click to select the Use Proxy Server check box.

  3. In the Address box, type the appropriate proxy server information, starting with http://

  4. Click Advanced, and then type the appropriate proxy settings in the Servers area. Use the following syntax for the proxy settings: http://

  5. For example http://proxyserver.com:80.

  6. If you do not know the Web address or port number of the proxy server, contact your network administrator.

  7. If there are any Web servers on the local network for which you want to bypass the proxy, type the appropriate host names in the Don’t Use Proxy for These Addresses box.

Internet Explorer 4.0, 4.01 for Windows 95 and Windows NT

  1. Click Start, go to Settings, click Control Panel, and then double-click Internet.

  2. Click the Connection tab, and then click to select the Access the Internet using a Proxy Server check box.

  3. Click Advanced, and then type the appropriate proxy settings in the Servers area. Use the following syntax for the proxy settings: http://

  4. If you do not know the Web address or port number of the proxy server, contact your network administrator.

  5. If there are any Web servers on the local network for which you want to bypass the proxy, type the appropriate host names in the Don’t Use Proxy for These Addresses box.


Using Web Based Proxy Sites

If you don’t have your own proxy server, you can easily connect to a web proxy to browse the web. There are thousands of existing proxy sites which you can use at no cost.