what is a poxie and how do they work?Proxy?Yes Proxy...sorry...should have checked my spellinglana......  Proxy .....

A gateway that relays one Internet session to another.

Anonymous Proxy Servers  
 
Anonymous proxy servers hide your IP address and thereby prevent unauthorized access to your computer through the Internet. They do not provide anyone with your IP address and effectively hide any information about you and your reading interests.
 

A proxy server is a computer that offers a computer network service to allow clients to make indirect network connections to other network services. A client connects to the proxy server, then requests a connection, file, or other resource available on a different server. The proxy provides the resource either by connecting to the specified server or by serving it from a cache. In some cases, the proxy may alter the client's request or the server's response for various purposes.

[highlight]These results were returned in seconds simply by opening Google and typing proxy.[/highlight]

dl65  Ok, THANK you for the info...but can you tell me if that means if you live in say...Iowa and you visit a site that records your IP...if you have a proxy will it say that your IP is coming from ...say...CALIFORNIA so that no one will know where you are really located? Can you pick the place you want it to say you are from? and will it say that your emails are going through a server that is only located in california if you are indeed in Iowa?

I hope that all made sense! Lana......
[highlight]Anonymous proxy servers hide your IP address and thereby prevent unauthorized access to your computer through the Internet. They do not provide anyone with your IP address and effectively hide any information about you and your reading interests.  [/highlight]
I dont believe you can choose what you want the proxy to show...it would depend on where they are ....... a bit of testing would show that .......
check this page out .... http://computer.howstuffworks.com/search.php



I won't even ask you why it's necessary for you to hide your location .

dl65  Thanks for explaining that.
I don't need to hide my IP. I know some people that are being harrassed on the web sites they own. They track the IP's of visitors that leave messages. Someone that is saying bad things is claiming to be someone else but the IP is registering a different state then the person he's claiming to be lives in and the one that is leaving the bad messages is claiming its because they are using a proxy so thats why it says they are somewhere else.
So we just thought maybe we should find out just what a proxy is and how it WORKS. lana....  ok , I should mention that when you track a ip address , it will only lead you as far as the ISP's city........which is not necessarily where the person your trying to track actually lives. In order TOP go any further , you must have the cooperation of that service provider or be a law enforcement agency or some other agency which may have the right to demand such information ......


dl65  
ok...so could it be a few states away?Lana ..... Possibly , but more than likely no ...... because , usually if say you lived in say Las Vegas , and you had a dsl connection ...... the odds are that you would use a local phone company or the same provider that provides the phone service. If it was cable hi speed , again you would probably use the local cable company assuming they offered cable internet service .
The thing to do is if you have the name of the service provider, see if they offer service in other areas other than the city the show as being located in .
[highlight]The other thing that can be done , if the ISSUE is a serious one , report it to the abuse centre at that service provider ...... and if it borders on being unlawful, contact the local police and they will be able to go right to the person thats doing it .[/highlight]
dl65  
Edit...... note the highlited areaok Thank you for all your help......have a great night!if im not too late, here is a website with a list of anonymuous proxies *Blocked Russian URL*/proxy/[/url]. the list on the right is where the proxy is located. (aka if you live in florida and you use an argentina proxy, your location will appear to be argentina.)  Thank you Homer! That helped me alot! Thats what I needed to know for sure! and thanks for the link!your welcome.