By using a secure proxy, you have the opportunity to increase both your privacy and security when you are online. Don’t assume the Internet is an anonymous place because it isn’t. Everything you do online leaves a digital footprint. Not only are logs kept of your activities, there are viruses, adware, spyware, and all kinds of nasty bugs that could harm your Internet connection and/or your computer.

Before browsing the Internet, make sure you have the proper antivirus protection installed. Also make sure your firewall is enabled. Once you’ve done both, you can start browsing behind a proxy site. This will give you a higher degree of anonymity and allow you to be more secure and protected. Free proxy servers are available on the Internet, so it shouldn’t be difficult to find one. If you have some extra cash, you might want to think about spending some money on using a paid service. Ok, this can be expensive, but it should improve your browsing experience even more. Using a paid service often allows you to take the level of protection to a higher level; encryption

Encryption allows data sent and received between two devices to remain mixed. This means that if someone were to intercept the data, all they would get back would be gibberish, not the actual data being transmitted. Encryption programs use algorithms to determine how data is transmitted. The algorithms may also change from time to time, further increasing your privacy.

A paid option is probably a more reliable option, but don’t always assume that just because it’s a paid service, it’s necessarily better. So how to find a secure proxy? How do you know that the proxy can offer maximum protection? Well, there are a couple of basic things you can do to make sure a proxy is healthy. If you can make sure that the proxy has been around for a while, that can definitely boost your credibility. Proxies that just show up one day and disappear the next are cause for concern. Also, try to find out where the proxy is hosted. If you are staying in places like Panama, for example, this is a big plus for you. Panama has strict data protection laws and does not pass any information to foreign governments or agencies without a court order from a Panamanian judge.

Your IP address is protected when you use a proxy. Your IP address is your unique identifier and every computer connected to the Internet has one provided by your Internet Service Provider. Browsing behind the proxy allows anonymous browsing as only the proxy details are recorded, not yours! This guarantees 100% privacy and the only way someone could find out your IP address would be by asking the owner of the proxy site. This would be difficult if the proxy was located abroad and even more difficult if it was located in a country with strict privacy laws.