How to bypass your school's proxy server
Lots of people have been creating proxy sites allowing you to bypass your school's filtering techniques. These proxies work sometimes, but in any school with a decent security system, they won't. Also, they're targeted at preteen girls trying to get onto chatrooms. You don't want to be lumped in with them, do you? The only issue with my method is that it can be slow (although I've found its not too bad), and you don't get any graphics. If you want graphics for some reason, you've found the wrong guy to help you. To use my method, you need a *nix system that you have complete control over. Most other OSes will work, but setting them up is up to you; I only really support Linux. I can almost guarantee that Windows won't, especially if you want security. First things first. Make sure that you have a secure shell daemon. Most every Linux distro on the planet has one, including most diskette distributions and one I tried that fit into 210Kb. Once working, make sure you have some sort of text-based web-browser. I prefer lynx, but elinks and links will both work fine. Without a browser, you can't do much that you couldn't without hacking about. Now, a step-by-step:
- Edit /etc/sshd/sshd_config. Change the listening port from 22 to 443. This is important because most schools block port 22, but no one can block 443. This is because 443 is the secure HTTP port, and without it no banking or email programs would work. And then what would your computer teacher do during the day?
- If you have Apache, edit /etc/httpd/conf.d/ssl.conf. Change the listening port from 443 to something different. If you need Apache running on that port, you need to find another machine. Sorry.
- If necessary, restart Apache with /etc/init.d/httpd restart. In any case, restart SSH with /etc/init.d/sshd restart.
- Now that the ports are working on the server, time to set stuff up at school. Download Putty, a free SSH client for Windows that Google will find you in no time. If you can save stuff, then keep it. Otherwise, you can redownload it to a temp directory each day.
- Open it up and type everything in. Your host name is the IP address of the server, and the port is 443. On the left, under 'Connection', click 'Proxy'.
- For most schools, the proxy type is HTTP. Figure out your school's proxy server address; the easiest way is to go into C:\Windows\regedit.exe (for some reason schools like to disable Start->Run) and search for proxy. In most cases you can leave the proxy as 'proxy', but you need to make sure you've got the right port. My proxy port is 8080.
- Return to 'Session' on the left and click connect. Ignore the "identity cannot be confirmed" warning by clicking yes, and wait. If you get a 'login' prompt, you've succeeded.
- Log in the way that you would normally onto your computer, and then run 'lynx' or whatever your browser is called. You'll now be able to go to all the sites your school has banned, and since the pipe is encrypted, they can't do jack about it. Have fun!
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