Access Blocked Websites

Need to access a site that's been blocked by school, work, or your parents? While blocking software has become more and more powerful, there are still ways that you can access restricted sites. The most reliable ways involve using proxies, which are servers that you connect to first before accessing a blocked site. Information is sent to the proxy server, which then sends the data to you, circumventing the block. You can use pre-made proxies or even create your own at home.

Steps

Web-Based Proxy

1. Find a list of web-based proxy sites. A "proxy" is a server that you route your Internet traffic through. This typically requires configuring your browser, which may not be possible on the computer you're using. A web-based proxy is a website that runs on a proxy server. You connect to the website, and then the website connects to the site that is normally blocked from you. It then shows you the blocked site as it work as third person between you and website..
   • There are countless sites with lists of web proxies. They are available with a quick search ("web proxy list") using your favorite search engine. Note that many of these list sites are also blocked, so you may need to dig deep or access the lists on another computer.
2. Connect to the proxy site. Select one of the sites on the list and open it in your browser. If it's a popular site, there's a chance that it will be blocked too. If that's the case, you'll need to try another site on the list.
   • Web proxy sites are updated constantly, so you should eventually be able to find one that hasn't been blocked yet.
3. Enter in the address for the blocked site you want to access. Nearly all web proxy sites have a field where you can enter in the URL (address) of the site you want to visit. For example, if you are trying to visit YouTube, you would enter www.youtube.com.
4. Wait for the site to load. Connecting to a blocked site through a web proxy will be slower than if you were visiting the site directly. This is because the web proxy has to download the blocked website and then transfer it to you. There may be errors in the page for parts that didn't transfer correctly.
   • It is highly recommended that you don't use a web proxy for any websites that you need to log into, as you never know who might be seeing the information between you and the proxy. If you need to connect to a secure site, see the Enter-a-Blocked-Website section below.

Google Translate

1. Go to Google Translate.
2. In the first text box, type the address of the website.
3. Above the first text box, select any language other than the language that the website is in.
4. In the second text box, make sure the "translation" is a link (text underlined and in blue).
5. Above the second text box, select the language that the website is actually in.
6. Click the Translate button.
7. If you receive a message saying This page was not retrieved from its original location over a secure connection and you can see the indicated Google Translate bar, that means that the connection to the website is not completely encrypted and that hackers may be able to intercept sensitive information such as passwords. If this is the case, refrain from doing things that involve submitting sensitive information to a website.
8. If the page loads without the Google Translate bar and you do not receive a warning, it means that the page is secure and it is safe to do things like banking and checking email (although it is not advised to do that anyway).
9. To navigate using the Google Translate bar, type the url of the website that you want to navigate to in the search bar.

Portable Browser

1. Download a portable browser. A portable web browser is installed on a USB drive. This drive can then be inserted into any computer, and the browser can be run from the drive, without having to install it on the computer you are using. A portable browser is handy because you can change the proxy connection settings, which are usually disabled on school or work computers.
   • The most popular portable browser is Firefox. you will need to download the portable version from PortableApps.com.
2. Install the portable browser onto your USB drive. Insert a USB drive with at least 100 MB of free space into your computer. Run the Firefox portable installation file that you downloaded, and set the installation location to the USB drive you inserted. Installation should only take a few moments.
3. Find a proxy to connect to. In order to use the portable browser to bypass a block on a website, you will need a proxy server to connect to. Much like the web-based proxy in the previous section, a proxy server retrieves the blocked site for you and then transfers the data to your portable browser. Instead of doing this through a website interface, you will be changing the address that your browser connects to, affecting your entire browsing session.
   • There are hundreds of lists online of proxy servers that you can connect to. You will need to look these up on a computer that doesn't block these sites.
   • Copy down the hostname or IP address of the proxy, along with the port.
   • If you create your own proxy at home, you can use your portable browser to connect to it. This is the most secure option, but also the most time-intensive. See the next section for details on creating your own proxy at home.
4. Change the proxy settings of your portable browser. Launch the portable Firefox and click the Menu (☰) button. Select "Options", and then click the Network tab.
   • Click Settings... in the Connection section of the Network tab.
   • Select "Manual proxy configuration"
   • Enter the proxy hostname or IP address into the "HTTP Proxy" field.
   • Enter the port into the "Port" field.
   • Click OK to save your settings.
5. Take the portable browser with you. Next time you are using a computer that blocks the website you want to access, pop your portable browser into the USB drive of the computer and start up portable Firefox. You should then be able to connect to the blocked website.
   • If you are using a proxy obtained from a list on the internet, it will likely go offline soon. Free proxies online never last, and your portable browser will need to be updated often.
   • It is highly recommended that you don't use any proxy you find online for any websites that you need to log into, as you never know who might be seeing the information between you and the proxy. If you need to connect to a secure site, see the Enter-a-Blocked-Website section below.

Personal Proxy

1. Download and install a web server. The most secure and foolproof way to bypass any web restriction is to install a proxy on your own web server. You can actually install a web server on your home computer, and then connect to that from anywhere as long as the computer is on. Installing your own web server is actually quite straightforward. Install-WAMP is the easiest solution for Windows users, while Mac users can use MAMP.
   • Once you install WAMPServer, you will see its icon in your System Tray.
   • Right-click on the icon and select "Put Online". This will turn your server on.
   • Right-click the icon again and select "Localhost". If the WAMPServer configuration page appears, then the server was installed correctly.
2. Download and install PHProxy. This is an open-source proxy server program that is free to download and use. You can download PHProxy from SourceForge. Ensure that you download from SourceForge, otherwise you may get a modified version.
   • Extract the folder from the .ZIP file that you download.
   • Copy the folder to the WAMP (or MAMP) root directory. The default locations of this directory are:
     • Windows - C:\wamp\www\
     • OS X - Applications/MAMP/htdocs/
3. Test out the proxy. PHProxy is installed simply by copying the folder to the right location. Open a web browser on your computer and navigate to http://localhost/phproxy/ to test the proxy. If the PHProxy page appears, then everything was installed correctly.
4. Find your computer's IP address. In order to access the server from anywhere in the world, you are going to have to direct incoming traffic to the server on your home network. To do this, you will first need to find the private IP address of the computer running the server software.
   • Open the Command Prompt and type ipconfig. Your private IP address will be listed in the section for your current connection. See for more details on finding your private IP address.
   • Note the IP address, you will need it on the next step.
5. Forward port 80 on your router. When you connect to your server from another location, you will be attempting to connect through port 80 on your home network's router. Ports control the flow of data into and out of your network. In order to connect to your server, you'll need to open port 80 to allow incoming connections.
   • Open your router's configuration page. You can do this using a web browser on your local network. Enter the router's address in the browser's address bar. See this guide for detailed instructions on accessing your router.
   • Open the Port Forwarding section. This may be labeled a little differently depending on your router manufacturer. Create a new rule for your server's private IP address. Make sure the range of ports is set to just port 80, and that both TCP and UDP traffic are enabled. See this guide for more detailed instructions on forwarding ports.
6. Find your public IP. Now that port forwarding is all set up, your web server is complete and ready to use. All you'll need to connect to it from anywhere is your network's public IP address. THis is the address that designates your network on the greater internet.
   • You can quickly find your public IP address by opening Google on the web server computer and typing my ip. Your public IP address will be displayed at the top of the results list.
7. Connect to your proxy server. Now that you know the address, you can connect to your proxy server from anywhere. Your home proxy server will load the page that you request, and then transfer the data to you.
   • To connect to PHProxy and use the web interface, simply enter Template:Var/phproxy/. For example, if your network's public IP is 10.10.10.15, you can access PHProxy from anywhere by entering 10.10.10.15/phproxy/ into a browser's address bar.
   • To connect to your proxy server using a portable browser, configure the browser's connection settings to use your proxy's public IP address and port 80.

Tips

• If you want to use a portable browser but don't want to go through the hassle of finding a proxy, you can use the Tor Browser Bundle. It is pre-configured to work with the Tor network, which will not only let you access blocked websites, but anonymize your connection as well.

Warnings

• If you get caught bypassing blocked websites, you will likely be punished. This could result in suspension/expulsion from school or termination of your job.

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Sources and Citations

See also

• Configure Different Firewalls to Work With Your Internet Based Application
• Protect Your Computer With a Firewall
• Prevent Hacking
• Secure Your PC
• Close Port 21
• Protect Your Email Account from Hackers
• Know if You've Been Hacked
• Hack a Computer
• Recognize an Online Predator
• Filter Porn Web Sites on Your Computer

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