The server hosting the destination address can see your IP address whenever you browse the Internet. Most of the time, that is not a huge deal, but if you think about it, it does raise some privacy and security questions.
A proxy server is one of the best ways you can cope with that issue. It is convenient to navigate your internet traffic through a proxy IP address.
Another essential network tool used by more than 2 billion people is the Google Chrome browser. If you’re looking for more privacy, want to engage in a web scraping job, or trying to boost SEO rankings, you can get a proxy server for the popular browser. Then, you can easily install it in Chrome proxy settings and start your hidden IP adventure.
Proxy for Chrome
In normal web browsing, you send the data package to the wanted address on the Internet and receive packages to your client’s device. As a result, your IP address is visible, revealing your location and leaving you open for malicious exploits.
With a proxy server, your package goes to an intermediary that masks your IP address, and you communicate with the Internet as your incognito representative.
A proxy for Chrome has the same properties as the regular proxy server you install on your operating system. Because Chrome is such a powerful tool, you won’t lose any functionalities using proxies within the Chrome browser.
Setting up a proxy with Chrome
To manage Chrome proxy settings on a Windows computer, go to the three-dots menu in the upper-right corner of Chrome.
Choose settings and click on Advanced. Then, in system options, go to Open your computer’s proxy settings.
In a Manual proxy setup, you can turn the proxy on and off and enter the proxy IP address and port.
Now you are ready to unleash the full potential of the most popular browser combined with a quality proxy server.
Most common use cases for proxy servers
It would be best if you chose quality paid proxies to get the best out of the proxy server. On the other hand, a free proxy solution, in most cases, can bring more harm than benefits. Because of the lack of resources, the service might be slow, unreliable, with already blocked IPs, and such sites are often overloaded with ads and even malware.
If you have a quality proxy for Chrome, there are a few most common use cases for those tools.
Web scraping
Web scraping is one of the most used options with proxies. Scraping is a rudimentary data collection from websites, and proxy servers are crucial for this operation. While scraping, you can use multiple IPs so that the destination server sees you as a regular visitor. Otherwise, you are in danger of being blocked, and it would be almost impossible to web scrape without a proxy. Multiple industries use web scraping for SEO tracking, marketing research, price comparisons, and ad verification purposes.
More security
There is no absolute safety online, but you can go the extra mile and increase your security. One of the best ways is to hide your IP address, and proxy servers are ideal for that purpose. Third parties won’t know your IP or location, and it will be harder for malicious users to hack your system, which doesn’t exclude you from using other security measures on top of proxy servers.
The proxy can speed up browsing
If you have experience with free proxies, it will be hard to believe that proxy servers can improve speed. However, proxies can have a cache of frequently visited pages, and you can get more speed the next time you visit.
Stream everything
Streaming services are among the most popular entertainment available. However, they often come with geographical limitations. You can use a proxy server to change your location to go around geolocation bans.
Is a VPN better than a Proxy?
VPN and proxy servers share some similarities. The common denominator is they both use proxies to hide IP addresses. However, with a VPN, you have fewer options to choose IP addresses or specific servers.
VPN encrypts the traffic, and a proxy can mask the IPS for unique requests like HTTPS or SOCKS internet protocols.
Proxies are a far better solution than free VPN services and compared to paid solutions, premium proxy is more affordable than comparable VPNs.
Main proxy types
Professional proxy servers come in a few varieties, each with a unique purpose you should consider when buying. Residential proxies, or residential IPs, are located and assigned to local ISPs with genuine IP addresses. You can explore the Internet with local IPs with a residential proxy.
Data center solutions are ideal for web scraping. These proxies are not connected to Internet Service Providers but usually come in bulk and have interchangeable IPs when conducting search queries or scraping.
Dedicated proxies are the most expensive solutions because only the customer that bought them can use its IPs and all resources. However, you can also hire a semi-dedicated proxy server where more users utilize the same IPs, which can restrict functionalities.