Setup a Free Proxy Server

We explain how to install and set up Naviscope 8.70, a free proxy server for Windows 95/98/NT.

A proxy server is implemented on a network to share an Internet connection and optimize bandwidth usage. It’s set up on a machine that sits between your network and the Internet, and intercepts all requests to the Internet for Web pages. It caches first-time requests, so that if it’s asked for again, it fulfills the request locally instead of going to the Internet again. There are a lot of proxy servers, varying in complexity and price. Choosing one, therefore, depends on your organization’s need.

Here, as an example, we’ll tell you how to install and set up Naviscope 8.70 for Windows 95/98/NT. This is a simple and free proxy server that can be downloaded from.

Naviscope is easy to install and thanks to its built-in wizard, you can have it up and running in minutes. Before you start, make sure that you have TCP/IP installed and an Internet connection ready. Installation is easy and wizard driven. Once you complete it, it sits as a toolbar on your desktop. You can configure its options from the Naviscope setup options. To start the setup dialog box, you can either click on the set up button on the toolbar or right-click on the NaviScope systray icon and click on the Setup Menu item.

Next, enter the IP address and port number of your proxy server, if this machine is sitting behind another proxy. The remaining options can also be configured from its main interface. For example, you can block pop-up windows, block cookies, JavaScript, etc in websites, monitor the traffic on your network.

The proxy server also supports pre-fetching, a feature that scans and fetches all the Web pages that match the keyword or the phase entered by you, while a page is loading. That’s it. Your proxy server is up and

running.

Configuring clients is also pretty easy. All you have to do is go to Tools>Internet Options>Connections>LAN Settings and specify the IP address and port number of your NaviScope machine

here.