Hide your IP

Every now and then I come across people who want to change there IP address but don’t know how. In this post I will try to give you every possible information to hide the IP address. If you seriously want to hide your IP address then this post is for you!

The only solution to hide your IP address is by using a Proxy Server. But the story doesn’t end here. Even though proxy servers are the only way to hide your IP address, there are several ways of connecting your PC to the proxy server. Before setting up the connection with the proxy servers you must know some information about different types of proxy servers and their uses.

Transparent Proxy Server

This type of proxy server identifies itself as a proxy server and also makes the original IP address available through the http headers. These are generally used to speedup the web browsing since thay have a very good ability to cache websites. But they do not conceal the IP of it’s users. It is widely known as transparent proxy because it will expose your real IP address to the web. This type of proxy server does not hide your IP address.

Anonymous Proxy Server

This type of proxy server identifies itself as a proxy server, but does not make the original IP address available. This type of proxy server is detectable, but provides reasonable anonymity for most users. This type of proxy server will hide your IP address.

Distorting Proxy Server

This type of proxy server identifies itself as a proxy server, but make an incorrect original IP address available through the http headers. This type of proxy server will hide your IP address.

High Anonymity Proxy Server (Elite Proxy)
This type of proxy server does not identify itself as a proxy server and does not make available the original IP address. This type of proxy server will hide your IP address.So this is the best way to mask your IP.

Which Proxy Server is the best to Hide My IP ?

Obviously High Anonymity Proxy or Elite Proxy is the best to hide your IP. But it’s not easy to get a list of working elite proxies. If you search the Google, you will definitely get tons of proxy list. You’ll get a list of proxies in the following format

IP:Port Number

For example, 221.90.45.67:8080 (221.90.45.67 is the IP of the proxy server and 8080 is the port number)
But most of them don’t work. Here are some of the problems/risks associated with using free proxies that are available on the internet.

Most of them do not work since the proxy servers frequently changes it’s IP/Port number.
Even if you find a working proxy server it may be too slow.
Your privacy is not guaranteed since all your traffic is routed through the proxy server.
The administrators of the proxy servers may steal your valuable information such as passwords, SSN (Social security number), Credit Card details etc.

So with all these being the risks then how to find a working, fast ,highly anonymous and secured Proxy servers?

Now I will give a list of softwares that will really hide your IP address. I have tried many such softwares and have found only few of them working perfectly. Here is a list of working IP Hiding softwares that you can try. I have listed them in the order of their popularity

Hide the IP

Let’s you choose the country, type and speed of the proxy. Not so popular but personally I recommend this to the users.

Hide My IP

Hide IP NG

You can get more informations about these products on their respective homepages.

How to ensure that the IP is hidden ?

Before you hide your IP you can check your real IP by visiting the following site.

What is my IP address

Once you get your real IP, switch on your IP hiding software. Now once again visit the above site and check your IP address. If you see a new IP then this means that your software is doing the right job. Also the above site(whatismyipaddress.com) is capable of detecting many proxies. If you see the words such as “suspected proxy server or network sharing device” or similar words then it means that the proxy you are using is not an Elite Proxy.

One Final Word before you leave! Even though Elite proxies are almost undetectable this doesn’t mean that you can escape from online crimes by hiding your IP. There are many proxy detecting services available which detect almost any proxy. So if you involve in any cyber crimes then you will definitely be behind the bars. Using proxy will not help you in this case.

Last but not least, bear in mind that it is unsafe to use proxy during e-commerce transactions such as Online banking, Online Credit Card payment etc. So please avoid proxies during these circumstances.