X-Proxy 5 Review – Surf Anonymously and Prevent Identity Theft

good
key review info
application features
  • Select an anonymous IP address for online browsing
  • (6 more, see all...)

X-Proxy is a free software application that facilitates Internet anonymity by disguising the IP address into a fake one. This brings many benefits to the table. For example, it can prevent hackers from hijacking the PC owner's identity and making it their own, and even bypass security controls or country restrictions imposed by certain websites.

Setting up the program is a reasonably fast and easy task. The application files are obtained via a web installer, so user assistance is minimal; X-Proxy is automatically launched afterward, offers to enable the Hosts Shield in case of hacker intrusion, reveals the real IP address, and verifies whether the browser home page has been hijacked or not. The supported web browsers are Internet Explorer, Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox.

The interface consists of a regular window divided into three primary areas, dedicated to proxies, VPN and privacy. Plus, X-Proxy sometimes pops up some notifications from the lower right corner of the screen to show information like the real IP address or browser hijacking status mentioned earlier.

Showing X-Proxy at startup
The interface at startup The tool creates an icon in the system tray area at startup and gets sent there when minimized, becoming quiet and without interrupting normal user activity on the computer. By opening the right-click menu of the tray icon, it is possible to immediately hide the IP address or restore the real one with one click. Unfortunately, the app does not integrate options for setting up global hotkeys to make this happen faster.
Showing the proxy list in X-Proxy
Examine the proxy list The first step is populating the main frame with a list of available proxies to choose from; it may take a while, depending on the proxy availability. Users may examine information concerning the IP address, host name, country name, anonymity status, response time and protocol for each entry, along with the number of total alive, checked and not working proxies.
Showing an anonymous proxy in X-Proxy
Preserve your anonymity by selecting a proxy Switching to a proxy from the list is easily done by just double-clicking an entry, after which the tool pops up a notification with the new settings and loads a map in Google Earth with the new location. Meanwhile, the real and fake IP addresses along with the anonymity status can be monitored on the upper part of the main frame.
Showing the available IP tools in X-Proxy
Use handy IP tools Furthermore, X-Proxy integrates tools for locating a particular country by specifying an IP address, finding an IP address by domain name, pinging an IP or host name, viewing detailed IP information, as well as for performing an Internet speed test. The tool can be set to run at every system startup until further notice.
Showing the options for clearing browsing data in X-Proxy
Clear browsing data in IE, Chrome and Firefox Apart from enabling and disabling the Hosts shield and the homepage scan (for hijackers), it is possible to clean browsing data in Internet Explorer (e.g. temporary Internet files, cookies, history, form data, passwords), Google Chrome (cache, cookies, history) and Mozilla Firefox (cache, cookies, history, form data). It goes without saying that the real IP address is restored when exiting the utility.


The Good

X-Proxy supports 32-bit and 64-bit Windows XP, Vista, 7 and 8/8.1, multiple languages and plenty of skins for the interface. Help documentation is included for less experienced users.

It loads the list with available proxies in reasonable time. CPU and RAM consumption was minimal during our evaluation, while the tool ran smoothly, without triggering connectivity or Windows stability issues.

The Bad

It requires third-party components to be installed in order to run (in this case, .NET Framework and Microsoft Windows Installer).

Most features presented in the interface are only available in the "Donor User" edition of X-Proxy (which is basically a subtle form of "purchased"), although this is not indicated anywhere. In other words, the program is not entirely freeware. On top of that, it brings up the web browser with the developer's website at each attempt to trigger a locked option, for donation purposes.

The app did not identify Chrome and Firefox installed on 64-bit Windows 8.1 Pro when we attempted to clear browsing data (it worked well on 64-bit Windows 7 Professional).

Although we restored the real IP address in Windows 7, there were some issues with loading webpage content (it usually took at least one refresh to properly display all content).

The Truth

All in all, X-Proxy is a pretty decent application for using proxies when navigating the Internet. Although the feature-set included in the freeware form is likely not enough to please advanced users, it is very simple to figure out by novices.

user interface 3
features 3
ease of use 4
pricing / value 5


final rating 3
Editor's review
good
 
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