Spending eight hours in school or at work can be boring. Sometimes, we all feel the need to do something different and kill some time. With smart phones, laptops, mini laptops, Internet at work and school, this is pretty easy. However, bosses and teachers have different ideas of what we should be doing on company/school time, and firewalls are put in place to block these sites. The same rules apply to areas of the world that block social networking or political sites in the name of "protecting the country's best interests" – ie China, Vietnam, Iran, Egypt, and more.
Did you know that there is software to unblock sites?
If you're talking specifically about SOFTWARE to unblock sites, there are software based proxies out there. However, I would suggest two other options before you go looking into that.
More common that software based proxies are actually web based proxy. A web based proxy can be used to unblock sites at work, school, or at home. These require no installation and therefore can't really be called "software". Web based proxies have been used from a very long time and the main purpose they serve is to protect the privacy of the user or bypass firewalls. People who don’t want others or a third party to find out their IP address or their location or browsing history through packet sniffing or tracking cookies often make use of proxies to protect their IP information. Web based proxies also work to bypass firewalls put in place by your ISP.
Web based proxies are sites which have been created to function as unique web browsers. Instead of using the school or work server, any person can simply use a proxy server and access cached information of blocked sites such as Facebook, YouTube, Vimeo, and Gmail. Proxies can also provide you with fresh data by replacing your IP with its own and making site requests on your behalf. Open proxies are open to the public, and are widely available. Though it sounds like a great idea, open proxies can be home to spam, malware, and other unscrupulous individual if you get connected to the wrong kind of server.
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Proxy services are a more effective way to unblock sites but they do require a monthly fee. One of the best proxy services to unblock sites that I know of is SecuriTales. Fast connection speed, support, servers in The US and The UK, and a free trial are just some of the perks of SecuriTales service. SecuriTales of course does not require installation so connection is instant. This also means you'll be able to use it on work/school/public computers that you can't install private software to unblock sites on.
Have you got your heart set on software to unblock sites
Before you start searching for software based proxies as I mentioned above, there's yet another option. Virtual private networks can't really be considered software, they work much to the same effect, and actually provide better anonymous surfing results than many softwares on the market. Tunneling and encryption are the main players here, which mean that the anonymous IP assigned to you by the proxy server will be secure, reliable, and protect you from IP tracking tactics.
VPN also allow for server choice and switching, which means you can surf as an American, a Canadian, a German, a Brit, or many more. Connecting to a VPN also means that other programs and applications running on your phone/computer will use the anonymous IP address, and you'll be able to unblock more sites than with a proxy. Most of the time, the end-site will be unaware that you're hiding your real IP address.
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Hide My Ass provides the most comprehensive VPN package on the Internet, which is why they're one of the most popular VPN services out there. 18,000+ IP addresses, 160+ VPN servers, and 32 countries. PPTP, L2TP, OpenVPN. 30 Day money back guarantee, unlimited bandwidth, a free web based proxy and other free anonymous surfing tools. This is just part of what they offer, so you have to take a look at their site.
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PureVPN offers a few things that Hide My Ass doesn't. For one, it's blocked in fewer locations. While Hide My Ass is blocked in China, Oman, UAE, and a few other places, PureVPN is not. PureVPN also offers custom VPN settings for users in China, SSTP VPN for Vista and Win 7 users, and static IP addresses for users who want to surf anonymously but don't want to frequently change IP. The 30 GB bandwidth limitation will only affect P2P users, and there are unlimited bandwidth options as well.
http://purevpn.com
These days, controlled access and Internet filtering is the new trend. More and more schools and organizations are implementing filters in their computer systems so that students and employees do not get access to certain sites. In countries like China, most social networking and blogging sites are blocked. There are many reasons governments and Internet Service Providers block certain websites in their countries and there are equal.gif)
Lets start with something easy – web based proxies. This is a great way to access blocked websites because it's quick and simple. These can be paid or free, and are just a web page with a place to type your blocked URL. The proxy takes off your IP data and makes the site request for you, so any firewall that's blocking you from the site will think it's the proxy's IP making the request, not you. A simple case of hidden identity..jpg)
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You can sign up for a virtual private network service over the Internet, and though you might have to install some software, there's not hardware, and you can get started almost instantly. VPNs do a better job of hiding your real IP and replacing it with a virtual IP..png)
Hide My Ass
12VPN
StrongVPN
VPNs with Main Domain Blocked
Setup of PandaPow is super simple. I wouldn’t say it’s “one click” setup like in their advert, but setup is limited to clicking a few buttons. There’s no unzipping of files, no moving of this or that. Just find the “OK” button and it’s pretty much automatic from there. Simplicity seems to be part of their niche, and their site is easy to navigate, and doesn’t confuse you with bits about 128 bit encryption SSTP vs OpenVPN and all that other internet stuff no one understands anyway.
The Problem
Web Based Proxies
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VPN for YouTube in China
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Virtual Private Networks.png)
When you connect to a VPN, your data is first encrypted and tunneled to the VPN server. The VPN server then acts as a middle man, erasing any traces of your IP address from the request, assigning you a new IP address (from the region of the VPN server), and then connecting you to the site. It's like sending an anonymous package to someone. Instead of your address on the box, its the address of the delivery company. No one knows who you really are. You are essentially "going around" the firewall.
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More importantly through, these things make 12VPN BETTER
Easy installation (under two minutes) and a friendly support team make 12VPN a great choice for newbies. High-tech badass encryption and fast connection speeds make it suitable for an anonymous surfer on a mission. It might not seem like much, but I think the thing that seals the deal for me with 12VPN is the attitude of the support team. No matter what service you choose, you're likely to run into some sort of issue, and will need to contact the support team. A friendly and "ready to help" attitude makes a world of difference when you're frustrated and ready to throw your computer out the window. Everyone likes to write "quick and friendly support team" on their site, and hope people just believe it. 12VPN actually puts it into practice.
For instance, the internet censorship in China has created so many limits and restrictions to the websites that are supposed to be providing these proxies, it's hard to find where to connect to them. But considering China with the highest number of internet users in the world, it's very likely (and common) that there are still quite a few ways to get a hold of a Facebook proxy server that works in China. Free proxies were popular back in the day, but too much traffic got them blocked – or that's my theory on it anyway..png)
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One is that it’s a bit more difficult to install 
But they’ve only got 5 sever locations, which when compared to services like Hide My Ass and 12VPN which have upwards of 10 or 20 locations, 5 is a pretty small number. HOWEVER, most of the time this doesn’t matter for users in China. We’re trying to get OUT OF CHINA, not get into anywhere else. 1 VPN server is enough to do that, so what do you need 20 for? Do you really need to browse the Internet from a server in Siberia? No.
The biggest deciding point for most people is the cost. Their cost plan is pretty straightforward, especially for users in China. Because PPTP and L2TP are blocked in most places, that means that there’s only the monthly SSL/OpenVPN plan available. At 20 dollars a month, it’s a bit more expensive than others, not by much, but it is. For any decent VPN service you can expect to pay 10 to 20 dollars a month, but 20 is pretty much the top of the scale..png)
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