Among our most helpful and popular posts on OTT is one of our articles, How to Track the Original Location of an Email via its IP Address. However, there is a flip side to that also. What if you want to hide your IP address in order to browse the web more anonymously? In today’s post, we will review how you can mask your IP address the easy way.
One of the more popular methods for browsing the web anonymously is to simply use proxy servers. For more on proxies, check out our guide to web proxy servers and websites. Proxy servers are free to use.
The Windows based program Real Hide IP offers a simple solution for hiding your IP address. To get started, jump to this page on Cnet and download the latest version.
Upon successful download, proceed to install Real Hide IP just as you would any other Windows program.
This software does prompt you to install some additional apps. When you reach the following screen, uncheck both of the options for the Ask.com software and click the Next button.
Once installation is finished, proceed to launch Real Hide IP by navigating the path Start > All Programs > Real Hide IP > Real Hide IP. This software is about as basic as it gets. Click the Hide IP button to begin hiding your IP address.
From there, the software will display your actual IP address and the fake IP address, or proxy.
That’s basically all there is to it. This is a very simple software to use and configure. To test your fake IP, you can simply type the following search term into a Google search what is my ip. From there, even Google should detect the fake IP rather than the actual IP.
The program also has a dynamic feature which allows you to automatically switch IP addresses every X# of minutes.
The program Real Hide IP is available as a trial download, but to continue using the software you will be prompted to purchase it, currently priced at $29.95. For many, this may be a good purchase, as this IP address program is quite fast, simple and effective. Try out the app for the remainder of the trial to determine if this is a software that you would find useful. The paid version of the software also allows you to use other fake locations worldwide, where the trial is limited to United States fake locations.
Thank you for stopping by the website for today’s post. If anyone knows of any freeware software that is fast, simple to use, and does the same thing as Real Hide IP, please leave a link in the comments section below.
06.16.12
Don Gilcrease
For total obscurity, use Ultrasurf, ultrasurf.us. Norton Antivirus, and perhaps others, will tell you it is a malware site, but it is not. Ultrasurf must be used with Internet Explorer as the browser to work properly. When running Ultrasurf, all surfing goes through the Ultrasurf servers in the U.S., and so, that will be the I.P address all sites see. You will appear to all sites to be surfing from the U.S. All data streams – both ways – between your system and the Ultrasurf servers is encrypted.
This provides total anonymity as to your location, sites and data being accessed. If you are in a restrictive country, you can surf anonymously and securely. The government will be unable to find out what you are doing on line. Ultrasurf is a portable app, so it does not install, and may be kept on a pen drive, so it isn’t on your system.
It leaves no traces of having been used on your system, save what may be in your paging file. I would recommend turning off the paging file if your security situation is critical. I.e., your system may be confiscated for forensic investigation. Use portable Truecrypt to encrypt anything on your system you want to be absolutely inaccessible by others. The U.S. government, and almost certainly anyone else, can not crack Truecrypt.