When a program uses a proxy, it sends each request to the proxy first. The proxy opens the connection to the website, fetches the answer and hands it back. To the website, the visitor is the proxy: its IP address, its country, its network.
People use proxies to see a site as a visitor in another country would, to spread many requests over many IP addresses, and to keep separate accounts on separate addresses. A proxy is set up with four values: a host, a port, a username and a password. On BooProxies a full line looks like resi.proxies.boo:8080:USERNAME:PASSWORD.
Questions about proxy server
Is using a proxy legal?
In most countries, yes. What matters is what you do through it: the law, and the terms of the sites you visit, apply exactly as they do without one.
Does a proxy hide everything about me?
No. It changes the IP address a website sees. Cookies, logins and the browser's fingerprint still identify you, so a site you are signed in to knows who you are whatever address you arrive from.
Related terms
- Residential proxy
- A residential proxy sends your traffic through an IP address that belongs to a home internet connection, so websites see an ordinary household visitor.
- Datacenter proxy
- A datacenter proxy uses an IP address that belongs to a hosting company. It is fast and cheap, and the easiest kind for a website to recognise.
- Mobile proxy
- A mobile proxy sends your traffic through an IP address of a phone carrier, on a real 4G or 5G connection. Sites are slowest to block these.
- Proxy and VPN
- A VPN sends all of a device's traffic through one encrypted tunnel. A proxy is set per program and can use a different IP for each request.
- Anonymous proxy
- An anonymous proxy hides your IP address from the website. An elite proxy also hides the fact that a proxy is being used at all.
- Forward and reverse proxy
- A forward proxy stands in front of visitors and hides them from websites. A reverse proxy stands in front of a website and hides its servers.