Setup Proxy Servers
Proxy servers enable you to present a different IP address to the website that you are visiting. You can see your current IP by going to whatsmyipaddress.com, and you may even see a map with a frighteningly close indication of where you are (click to enlarge image).
IP addresses are routinely logged by websites. With todays computing power, it is relatively easy to run a database query and identify patterns in activity from a particular IP address. For instance, how many different usernames have logged in from a particular IP address and which sites do these usernames link to.
Sophistication will only increase and as sites share more and more data, your internet marketing (and other) activity will become increasingly transparent. If you would like to preserve some of your anonymity then you should consider using a proxy server.
There are free anonymous proxy servers and the simplest approach is to use Tor in conjunction with the Firefox add-on Torbutton. However, Tor can be painfully slow to use because many people are using the free proxy servers. You can be lucky and find a fast connection but in my experience it is extremely frustrating and time-consuming; even trying to load Google would take 10 seconds plus. Furthermore, free proxy servers come and go - they will literally disappear. This means that you can waste a lot of time trying to find decent proxy servers. If you go down the DIY route, you should be comfortable filling in the boxes in the image on the right (click to enlarge).
Alternatively, and for a faster trouble-free connection, I am recommending that you consider two products, both of which offer 128-bit SSL encryption, the same technology major banks use for online banking. My choice is driven primarily by speed, security and ease of use. These are simple to install and use - no need to reconfigure browsers.
Anonymizer
Anonymizer provides you with a different IP address each day. It is exceptionally easy to use and my personal experience is that the servers are fast (you will always notice a performance hit using a proxy server).
There is a free trial download so you can test the speed and ease of use of the service.
Hide-My-IP
The main difference between Anonymizer and Hide-My-IP is that Hide-My-IP allows you to change your IP address during a single day - Anonymizer gives you a different IP address daily. In addition, Hide-My-IP has an additional service that allows you to select fast proxies in particular countries - eg Germany, USA, Canada or the UK. This would be useful if you wanted to reinforce that you are living in, for example, the USA.
My experience is that the additional service is a requirement. The proxies in the standard service are not as fast as the premium proxies.
