Requirements


Before you get started make sure you have the following with you.
  1. A web server which supports PHP scripts and has a PHP add on called MCrypt
  2. The web server must be outside the firewall that you are trying to bypass and must be a trusted server
  3. Basic knowledge of how to use FTP
  4. The internet connection which you are trying to maintain anonymity on should allow you to connect to this trusted server where you are installing the PHP scripts
  5. Basic working knowledge of the type of connection you are currently using, like the address of the proxy server (if there is one), and any authentication if any

 

Problems

Another thing you need to know before going through the setup process. Fear Proxy v0.1alpha does have some serious problems. The biggest one being that it only works well with Opera for some strange reason beyond my understanding. I have spent over 20 hours trying to fix this problem alone and have unable to do so.

 

Ok, now that you have been warned... Lets go...

Step 1: Download the right package

You need to make sure you have the right package. There are all these packages with all these confusing names. Most of these are relevant only if you are a developer and want the source code.

  1. On the files page of Sourceforge.net, go to the section named 'fear-proxy - v0.1 alpha'
  2. There download the release named 'FearProxy-EndUser.zip'
  3. Download and unzip the files in this package anywhere on your hard disk


Step 2: Create new users

Once you have unzipped all the files you should see the following folder structure.

Go to the folder Server > Users

Each user will be represented by a file without any extention Therefore this server has a single user with the username 'p'

The data in the file is the password in plain text. Open this file in notepad and change the password. Since this is just the initial version I did not want to complicate things by encrypting password. Once bigger problems are solved, I'll work on smaller ones like this one.

You can also create new users by just creating new files in this folder with the passwords typed out in notepad.

Step 3: Upload the server

This is generally done based on the web server you have. The best method to do this is via FTP. Once again there are a lot of FTP programs and setting out there which is beyond this guide. I will just tell you what need to be done via FTP. The rest is up to you how to do it.

  1. Upload the contents of the 'Server' folder to your web server
  2. Chmod the 'temp' folder to 777
  3. If you are a savvy web admin, block public access to the 'temp' and 'users' folders

Step 4: Run the proxy

  1. Execute Proxy > FearProxy.exe on the computer which is behind the firewall
  2. Enter the user name and password that you created in Step 2
  3. If you want to save this user name and password, check the appropriate check boxes
  4. Now enter your Proxy details if you have any. This is one more thing that I cannot help you out with unfortunately. You need to know your own proxy server settings before getting the software running
  5. Click the button 'I am a geek'
  6. In the 'Login URL' and 'Core URL' text boxes change the 'vmimages.org/pinky' to the path to your PHP server
  7. Select the 'POST method' radio button
  8. Now click the 'OK' button

The other settings should not matter in most cases

If everything went well. You should see the following.

One more simple step and you are all set

Step 5: Configure your browser

As I said previously Fear Proxy currently works well only with Opera for some ^STRANGE^ reason. Anyways, until that problem is solved, I'll show you how to configure Fear Proxy with Opera.

  1. Start Opera
  2. Go to Tools (In the menu) > Preferences (In the sub menu) > Advanced (The tab) > Network (In the menu to the left) > Proxy Servers (Button)
  3. Enter the following settings

    and click 'OK'



YOU ARE ALL DONE!!!!



Ok Ok, So how do I know I am secure?

Open a browser which was not configured to work with Fear Proxy. Lets say IE.

Go to http://ip-to-country.webhosting.info/
That site has a nice little feature of showing your IP address and the country where the IP address belongs to.

BEFORE:

The site shows my original IP address and country.

AFTER:

The site shows the IP address of the PHP server that I used in Step 3, thus hiding my actual IP address. Hmm.. Nice isn't it.


HELP!!!

I have a lot of very very cool features planned out for fear proxy. But first I want some of the bigger issues sorted out. If you or someone you know can help me with the problem mentioned earlier, please let me know so we can take this project forward.