Proxifier

Every now and then, a Net user wants extra privacy online, or to use a piece of software that's being blocked by a firewall. Proxifier helps with both of these tasks. In our tests, we successfully used a mail client behind a firewall that had Port 110--the conduit for the mail program's data -closed. The program also can unblock other applications, such as a browser, a P2P client, an FTP utility, or instant-messenging software. It can hide a Net user's IP address while she's surfing, and operate through a chain of SOCKS proxy servers for added privacy. The software also provides a good tool for monitoring bandwidth usage and network connections. Though it should be simple to configure for advanced users, it may be daunting to users who aren't familiar with the idea of proxy IP addresses and port numbers. It doesn't provide an automatically updated list of proxy servers to use on the Net, a feature we would expect in a program that costs this much. Nor can it automatically switch among proxies to find the fastest one available. Overall, Proxifier can be a valuable privacy tool, but it's not user-friendly enough to be recommended for most mainstream computer users.