What is HTTP Proxy: How it Works and Getting Started with Browser Settings

What is an HTTP proxy anyway?

For example, when you buy online, the courier can't deliver the goods directly to your door, then you need the help of the bird station to transfer the HTTP proxy is like a relay station, specializing in helping you "run errands" for network requests. When you enter the URL in the browser, the request will be sent to the proxy server, and then by it to the target site to get the data, the whole process is like a set of armor - the site sees the proxy's IP address, do not know your real identity.

Now a lot of friends do e-commerce friends use this trick to check the price of peers, engaged in crawling brother also rely on it to avoid being blocked. But pay attention to ah, the quality of the proxy server directly affects the speed of the network, just like the courier transfer station is too far away will delay the receipt of goods time. This time you have to pick reliable service providers, such asipipgoThis is a resourceful and stable line.

Hands-on Browser Proxy Setup

Take Chrome as an example (don't worry, other browsers operate pretty much the same):

1. Click the three dots in the upper right corner → Settings.
2. Select "System" in the left menu → Open Computer Proxy Settings.
3. Check "Use Proxy Server" in the pop-up window.
4. Enter the proxy IP and port number (e.g. 123.123.123.123:8888).
5. Click Save and restart the browser

Here's a pitfall to watch out for:Never use free proxies!I've seen too many people trying to be cheap and end up with stolen accounts and compromised data. Legitimate service providers like ipipgo have encrypted transmissions, and you can choose IP pools for different countries, so it's much more reassuring to use.

How do you pick the right type of agent?

Recently a customer doing cross-border e-commerce complained to me that he used the wrong type of agent causing his store to be blocked. Then he switched to ipipgoTK LineThe IP is stable not to mention that the access speed is three times faster. That's why choosing the right type can really save your life!

API extraction that even a beginner can play with

Fear of trouble directly with ipipgo's client, but the technical party can try the API call. Here is a Python example:

import requests

def get_proxy(): api_url =
    api_url = "https://api.ipipgo.com/getproxy"
    params = {
        "key": "Your API key",
        "type": "http", "count": 10
        "count": 10 Fetch 10 IPs at a time
    }
    response = requests.get(api_url, params=params)
    return response.json()['proxies']

This code automatically gets a list of available proxy IPs, which is especially handy when doing crawler projects. The responsiveness of their APIBasically within 200ms, much faster than many of his peers.

QA Time: Mine clearance of frequently asked questions

Q: Do I have to be tech savvy to use an agent?
A: No need at all! ipipgo has a ready-made Windows/Mac client, just install it and click the connect button.

Q: Does proxy IP affect internet speed?
A: mainly depends on the service provider line quality. Like we have a customer originally used a certain agent to load the web page to 8 seconds, change to ipipgocross-border rail lineAfter that it drops straight down to within 2 seconds.

Q: What is the difference between static and dynamic IP?
A: Simply put, static IP is like a fixed parking space and dynamic IP is like a shared parking space. If you need to log in steadily for a long time, you should choose static IP, and if you need to change IP frequently for data collection, you should choose dynamic IP.

Guide to choosing packages and avoiding pitfalls

Advice for newbies based on three years of industry observation:

1. Buy the smallest package first to test the waters: ipipgo's Dynamic Residential Standard Edition starts at $7.67/GB, which is enough to measure the effect of proxies
2. Business users go straight to customization: Their 1v1 solution solves special needs, such as the need for 500 IPs from different countries at the same time.
3. Pay attention to how the flow is calculatedSome services are actually more cost-effective with static IPs, such as monitoring a website for a long period of time.

Finally, a nagging word: proxy IP is a godsend if you use it well, but if you don't use it well, it's a minefield. The key is to find the right service provider, don't be greedy for small gains. Once to help customers troubleshooting problems, found that they use the pheasant agent actually take the user data to sell, scared him overnight to change the ipipgo professional version of the package.