Setting up a Web Based Proxy with PHProxy

Why would I want to use a proxy?
Ever wanted to browse a website away from home, and found that the domain was blocked? This can be made possible with a web proxy. A web proxy is a script on a server that allows you to redirect queries for a particular website through the server. In simple terms, it sends the data through the server instead of your computer.

Why not use existing proxies?
Many firewalls block the most popular proxies, and new ones are constantly being added. By hosting a proxy for yourself, you ensure it will not be blocked. Sites used by only one or two people tend to load faster too.

Requirements:

• Web host supporting PHP with safe_mode turned on. (Contact your host for more information.)
• PHProxy
• A way to upload files to your site.
• Five minutes or less.

To achieve our goal, we will be using the popular proxy script, PHProxy.
Here is a short synopsis of what PHProxy does as quoted from its website:

"PHProxy is a Web HTTP proxy programmed in PHP to bypass firewalls and other proxy restrictions through a Web interface very similar to the popular CGIProxy. School/country/company blocked your favorite Website? Look no further!"

We will be using the latest release which can be downloaded from its SourceForge page:
http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=110693

Extract the files index.php, index.inc.php and style.css to the location of your choice, and open up notepad. To improve the chances of hiding the proxy's presence from firewalls, rename all references of the words "PHProxy" and "Proxy" in index.inc.php to some other phrase. This will prevent the words from being detected by firewalls.

Lastly, browse to the folder you created earlier and verify the proxy is in working condition.