surfing the internet hidden?

i have heard that there are programs that help you surf the internet unseen, where can i get freeware programs like this?



if its possible without confussing a simplle pc newbie like me, how exactly does programs like this work?

 

You need a proxy.

There are web proxies out there, that don't require you to run a program.

Google them. In addtion, you have a PM.

 

Am I being simple? (I won't lie - its entirely possible...)

So you want to surf the net unseen/hidden/cloaked/behind a proxy... whatever. So you connect to the net via the proxy and then to any site you go to beyond the proxy its like the requests are coming from the proxy instead of your machine....
But correct me if I'm wrong, this isn't stopping the traffic going from the proxy to you, which is still to your own IP address, via your ISP... meaning that if you go via a proxy to look at (heaven forbid) porn, the images that make their way to your computer are still done so via the proxy along with anything else you do*

Given that most ISPs in the western world log the traffic they manage as a legal requirement for up to a year (or at a minimum the requested sites/sites visited by each customer) then what is the point of the proxy for general day to day web usage???

I'm curious, and possibly unimaginitive...

*I'm assuming that there are no SSH/equivalent tunnels involved.

 

if a site you are visiting doesnt know you are viisiting it, wuold you get any voruses that that site may carry?


im still a little un for sure how this all works

 

If you are downloading stuff, it doesn't matter how many proxies the software travels through. If there's a virus in the software it still hits you when you run it. If your only concern is virus prevention, there's a huge selection of free anti-virus programs that you can download from this site. Are you wanting to surf hidden for any particular reason?

 

Hmmm theres an interesting point... Do sites dish out viruses? Typically the virus is transmitted via a file infected on a server or just an infected file anyway... You download it to your machine and execute it and then you're infected...
Malware? Spyware? I don't know enough about how these things get on your machine in the first place to know whether a proxy would help - like I said if you're using a proxy to surf the web at least a sub set of the data that goes between the target-site and the proxy will also get forwarded to your machine - if the malware/spyware/nasties also get forwarded then you're still infected... Maybe... again... I don't know for sure and Im curious... so thats why I bring it up

 

I'm not the brightest either, but yeah, i think that's how it works. Unless the proxy site has monstrous packet sniffers, they will just pass on the malicious code to him. Most people just use proxies to get back into chat rooms or websites they've been kicked out of. My advice is get a good firewall, antivirus, and spyware protection. Again, this site has free versions of each for your downloading pleasure. trust me, brahman, you'll thank yourself later. Good luck, and respect cows dude!