To understand what a web proxy server is and determine if you need one, you need to understand a little bit about how the internet works.

Basically, the internet is just one giant computer network; millions of computers all connected and talking to each other. When you are surfing the internet, you're really sending out requests to these computers (known as web servers, because they 'serve' up web pages) asking for the pages they contain. After they receive your request, they send the contents of the web page (the text, pictures, etc) back over to your computer (known as the client). Under normal circumstances the connection between you and the remote server is direct and transparent. That is, the web page request comes from your computer, goes straight to the remote server, and the server sends the requested page right back to you. Sometimes however a company (like the one you may work for) or a school may want to restrict you from visiting certain websites. These schools and companies want to make sure that you are only visiting the places on the internet that they authorize. They can do this with something called a 'content filter'.

A content filter is really just another computer that sits between you and the web server that has the pages you want to view. When your computer sends out a request for a web page, instead of going straight to the server, it goes to the content filter first. The content filter looks at your request to determine what server you are trying to connect to. If the content filter sees that the server you are trying to access is on a list of restricted servers, it won't allow the request to go any further. You've been blocked from viewing the site!

So how do you get around the block?

It's really very simple! The web content filter is blocking you from accessing specific servers, so you need to trick it by routing your request to a different, allowed server. That way, the content filter thinks that you are requesting web pages from an allowed site (technically, you are). The allowed server that you are requesting pages from actually goes out and gets the web page for you. It sends the page back to you for viewing, just as if you had surfed directly to the blocked web site.

If it sounds complicated, don't worry! Using a web proxy server is really as simple as going to the proxy web site, typing in the page you want to visit, and clicking go. The web proxy does all the work behind the scenes, and you can browse to any site you want as easily as if you were on your computer at home.

The people that make the content filters know all about proxy sites, and they do their best to block them. When a proxy becomes very popular there's a good chance that it will be added to the content filter's list of restricted sites and you will no longer be able to access it. When this happens it's time to find a new proxy that hasn't been blocked yet. That's where a list of active proxies like the one here at Proxyhunt comes into play.

Proxyhunt.info maintains a list of the most current and reliable proxy sites. We have about 1065 sites listed, and more are being added every day. Unlike other proxy list sites that have only a small percentage of active proxies, Proxyhunt offers a user rating system and instant dead link reporting to keep our proxy list fresh. Our proxy list is updated every 24 hours to insure we list only the best web proxy sites on the web.

Happy surfing!