_______________________________________________________________________________ Speedy Proxies.....perhaps Posted by Cloister on March 15, 1999 : In my own opinion I have found that the best way to find proxies that suit your needs (i.e. SPEEDY due to cache or proximity or little use or ANONYMOUS or realiably so in either or both categories)is to choose one from this site and try it out. If it is to slow or is not anonymous pick another. The top ten is really well maintained & accurate. : For those that want to use Proxy Hunter and do not want to randomly scan (because of limited time or fear of trouble from their ISP) than I suggest the following technique. There are many lists of purported proxy IP#s to be found all over the Web. For example: http://members.xoom.com/3128/ : Take the IP proxies from those lists and cut & paste them into a *.txt file (this is the only type of file extension Proxy Hunter recognizes). Hopefully the list from which you have cut the IPs will be in the format recognized by Proxy Hunter (i.e. IP# than a colon than Port# (ex. 204.173.35.25:8080) or IP# than a colon than Port# than "@HTTP" (ex. 204.173.35.25:8080@HTTP) [for internet]. Make sure that there are no other remarks or text in the file that you create. Each (IP#):(Port#) string should be on its own single spaced line. Save the text file for easy retrieval. : Then open Proxy Hunter. You will be using the Verify All function. Make sure that the bottom list box is clear (i.e no results or previously scanned Proxies are left over from previous scans) If it is not clear choose the "Clear" button (if you do not want to save). Choose the "Load" button. This opens the common explorer style file window. The cursor will be in the "File name" text box. Either type in the file name of the text file you created to store the above Proxy List or browse for it & select. Then choose "Open" from the explorer style window. This will download your proxy list into the bottom List Box of Proxy Hunter. **Note you can not cut & paste your list into this box. You are only permitted to Load the text from a text file (i.e. Notepad). : If an error box pops up it will be for the reason that one or more of the IP lines in the text file was in an invalid format. Usually you will find that the error was due to the Port # being left off. **Note that Proxy Hunter will only download the list up until it encounters the error. So if your list is 100 IPs long and the error is w/ line 32, then only the first 31 lines will be Loaded. You can fix the error in the text file, "Clear" the bottom list box in Proxy Hunter and Reload your corrected text file. You may need to go through this procedure more than once. A message box will pop up verifying your success in loading w/ a "Found x# results, Imported x# new results!" message. Choose "OK". : : Now you are ready to verify the IPs. If this is your first time than do not change the default Settings. Choose "Verify All" and Proxy Hunter will attempt to connect w/ each in the list and verify each. I expect that you will receive a mix of Free (n)s (the n = time in seconds), Not Proxy, Time Out, NoKey or Chinese Characters. If the IP comes up 'Not Proxy' than delete it by highlighting it and choosing "Delete". Do not choose "Delete Waste". Everything else, even though not Free may be acceptable. : If your initial list is longer than 10 IP numbers than you will notice that the Free (n)s tend to increase the farther down the list you scroll. This does not mean that those Proxies are slower. In fact if you highlight an IP lower on the list w/ a high Free (n)s, perhaps Free23s as an example, then highlight it, and choose "Verify". Proxy Hunter will scan that IP alone and likely return a lower Free (n)s number. : I have found that the default settings may be too quick and may time out a few good proxies. To change the Settings, Choose Settings, On the SearchVerify settings Tab increase both the Connect TimeOut and the Verify TimeOut Boxes. I often use 30 and 40 respectively but only after my initial run has identified those that were not Proxies via the quicker default Settings. : Go Back and choose "Verify All" for a second time. Wait until Proxy Hunter is finished Connecting & Verifiying (remember this will take longer than before). Now you will have a fairly accurate list of working Proxies. Again do not rely on Free (n)s at this point to identify those Speedy Proxies. Instead highlight the higher number Free (n)s individually found lower on the list and choose "Verify". A lower number will likely appear. Also repeat this procedure for those IPs that returned Chinese Characters (error in translation) and even NoKey. Do not waste your time on those that timed out under these generous Settings. : Once you are finished, choose "DelWaste" to eliminate all the IPs that did not return a Free (n)s. You are left with a list of good Proxies. If a higher number Free (n) returns a high number after a few tries. Then it likely will not be a Speedy Proxy. : A Speedy Proxy is one that consistantly returns Free (n)s under 5, rarely 7, with many test readings returning 2 or 3. Now you can choose "Save". A message box will pop up. Make sure that the "Also save results' type" box is checked. Also check the "All Results" under the Results Range and choose "OK" and name your file. It is suggested that you name this text file something to indicate the scan date and the fact that these results are scanned for speed but have yet to be checked for anonymity. : As an example, the results of taking the IP list of Proxies identified by AnonyMouse and using the above process has yielded the following results all with Free (n)s under 10 on repeated attempts. : Free (n)s by themselves do not indicate a Proxies consistant Speed. Trial & error is the only method of making this determination. Also what is speedy in one location utilizing a particular ISP connection and what is Speedy elsewhere utilizing another ISP will vary. The time of day when you are on line will be important. For instance I am usually on line late at night and so I often choose smaller servers which have almost no night time use, however bigger servers with caches may give you enhanced performance relative to your connection even though they are used 24 hours a day. Thus trial and error is necessary. : Finally don't forget to come to this site to use the Tools to check to see if the Proxy is anonymous. : As a final Note, the downloadable help file for Proxy Hunter is written in Chinese and since I am only fluent in Antartican it was of little help to me. Perhaps all those forward thinking multilingual Americans who learned Chinese might be able to translate it. : Keep in mind that the IPs below were scanned late at night. Many will fail the business day test. _______________________________________________________________________________