If your workplace or school's extra-restrictive internet filter has you pulling your hair out during the occasional browsing break, there's hope! Here's a quick look at how to get around heavy-handed browser restrictions with the open-source PHProxy.
Before we jump into the real playground, lets do A quick crash course on proxy servers: Let's say your dastardly workplace blocks you from reading HackingArticles. Many web filters block web sites based on URLs, so if HackingArticles were blocked, the filter would recognize the URLhackingarticles4all.blogspot.com and automatically block any connection. A proxy acts as a go-between for your browser and the web site you want to access, and as far as the web filter can tell, the proxy-employing user isn't visiting HackingArticles she's visiting whatever the URL is for the proxy. And since we're setting PHProxy on your home computer, chances are slim that the web filter will block your home IP address (or URL, which we'll talk about more below).
Before we jump into the real playground, lets do A quick crash course on proxy servers: Let's say your dastardly workplace blocks you from reading HackingArticles. Many web filters block web sites based on URLs, so if HackingArticles were blocked, the filter would recognize the URLhackingarticles4all.blogspot.com and automatically block any connection. A proxy acts as a go-between for your browser and the web site you want to access, and as far as the web filter can tell, the proxy-employing user isn't visiting HackingArticles she's visiting whatever the URL is for the proxy. And since we're setting PHProxy on your home computer, chances are slim that the web filter will block your home IP address (or URL, which we'll talk about more below).
