What is a proxy and what is it for – in simple words

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What is a proxy and what is it for – in simple words

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Very often in the modern world we hear about Proxies, which will help us with something on the Internet, but if you specifically have no idea how useful proxy servers are, then welcome to the simple analysis below.

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What is a proxy?

A proxy or proxy server is a third-party device, a computer in simple terms. When you access the Internet with a proxy, you do not immediately connect to the network, but first connect to this computer, which subsequently connects to the Internet itself. Thus, it turns out that this proxy server acts as an intermediary, disguising all your requests as its own. Therefore, other network participants think that it is the proxy that sends all requests and connects to the sites. You can study the operation of a proxy in more detail on the website of those organizations that provide such services, for example, at https://you-proxy.com/. Now you have learned what a proxy is, but there is one more question – what is it used for?

Proxy benefits

Like any developments in IT technologies, proxy servers were created for good purposes, such as:

  • File caching – this is done on the condition that all computers are connected to the same resources, so it is easier to cache the data right away than to waste power on loading it every time.
  • Providing access to a network of computers, it can be a kind of local network, to the Internet. This usually allows you to organize the work of a small office, whose employees will be able to work even on weak computers, because the server will take over all the connection load.
  • Data compression during transmission. There is a channel between the computer and the proxy server in which data received from the Internet by the server or sent to it is automatically encrypted and requires less effort to transfer.
  • Protecting computers on the Internet. Proxies allow you to configure settings in such a way that you can hide computers connected to the proxy server for external network participants – only the server itself will be visible. This significantly increases the protection against external network attacks as one computer connected to the proxy, and the whole local network.

Subsequently, the capabilities of proxy servers began to be used to bypass various locks.