paint-brush
How Proxies & Browsers Are Meant to Work Togetherby@astroproxy
373 reads
373 reads

How Proxies & Browsers Are Meant to Work Together

by AstroProxyJuly 24th, 2022
Read on Terminal Reader
Read this story w/o Javascript
tldt arrow

Too Long; Didn't Read

The only way to hide identity from the all-seeing eye of the Web is using special software called an anti-detect browser. Even the most secure browser with all the bells and whistles is nothing without a reliable proxy server. Proxies do well hiding and changing your IP address, but other personal data is still in plain view on the Web. Digital fingerprint is the set of unique characteristics identifying all devices using an Internet connection. It’s necessary to make every effort to change a virtual Web fingerprint.

Companies Mentioned

Mention Thumbnail
Mention Thumbnail
featured image - How Proxies & Browsers Are Meant to Work Together
AstroProxy HackerNoon profile picture

Proxies do well hiding and changing your IP address. But other personal data is still in plain view on the Web. All because of the so-called digital fingerprint that you leave on all the resources you visit.

The only way to hide identity from the all-seeing eye of the Web is
using special software. It is called an antidetect browser. And vice versa,
even the most secure browser with all the bells and whistles is nothing without a reliable proxy server from
a trusted proxy provider.


Common users and pros use the Internet. That’s the only thing they have in common. Parsing web data differs a lot from scrolling the news or Insta photos.

The main difference is the number of requests sent through. Any professional activity soon hits the ceiling set by websites. I mean the restrictions set on the number of accounts run simultaneously or Cloudflare shutting suspicious HTTP requests down. 

We are facing limits on social networks or search engines all the time. No matter if you are in traffic arbitrage, do SEO or SMM research, or transfer traffic as an arbitrage master.

All we need is some safe workspace! I mean, we want our job done without any bans or limitations. So the first step is to buy residential and mobile proxies, whatever you need for your tasks.

That’s how we mask our digital identity, and keep IPs and accounts from getting flagged or banned. Changing a fingerprint is not a simple task.

Proxies can be used for an IP covering, but other distinguishing features need something more. And all this because of a digital fingerprint revealing us as impostors.


Digital fingerprint

A digital fingerprint, simply put, is the set of unique characteristics identifying all devices using an Internet connection. All applications and websites collect personal data besides cookies and should inform users by laws such as GDPR and CCPA. This personal information consists of:

  • IP address 
  • OS type 
  • system language 
  • system time
  • type of device
  • browser type and version
  • screen resolution
  • fonts and emoji styles. 

Websites get most of this info from browsers via cache, cookies, and plugins. The channels for routing data are HTML, DNS, WebRTC, User Agent, Canvas, and WebGL. All these characteristics combined form a unique digital fingerprint for every visitor. 

Web security systems act like a face control agent at the nightclub's entrance. And as experienced detectives, they can see any discrepancy in the digital fingerprint. For e.g. the IP doesn’t match the system time, while DNS and WebRTC disagree with the screen resolution or device type.

It’s a probable reason to freeze the account, flag it as suspicious with further banning access to the page. More than that, Google Ads doesn’t hesitate to assign hardware IDs to the devices and use them for releasing banhammer then. As you see, it’s necessary to make every effort to change a virtual Web fingerprint.

Antidetect browser

Antidetect browser is software based on popular browser engines such as Chromium or Gecko. But it can create multiple independent profiles, each carrying its own digital fingerprint.

And like Tanos in Multiverse, you can create and shut down half of the profiles (or all of them) with a snap of fingers.

Webpages treat each profile as a separate user, that’s more important. Connect them to separate proxy IP addresses, and the credibility of your browser will fly up to the sky.

Until and if you reveal yourself by reckless web surfing, or mixing settings in scraper. 


Main features of antidetect browsers

Every ambitious antidetect browser adjusts the parts of the digital fingerprint mentioned earlier. There are options to set every detail manually or set it at random which can be handy in the automated creation of hundreds of profiles.

It means that Internet pages see every profile not only as an average user but as a particular device with its unique stats. Things I like most are setting OSs as iOS or Android on the PC run by Windows. But it is not recommended by developers as regarded as unsafe.

Otherwise, antidetect browsers can vary the characteristics of RAM modules or processor cores. If you use dynamic proxies, better look for an option to adapt the time of a browser to a proxy address.

It’s necessary to personalize every digital fingerprint using a distortion added to Canvas. All web graphics get a special “noise” that enhances a fingerprint. 

Another useful feature is bots known as “Cookie Collectors”. All you need is to give a list of resources to collect cookies from. The browser visits them one by one creating a reliable cookie profile to present later during your work. 

Pros who use proxies with antidetect browsers

Ok, running an antidetect browser is a way to join the Web via multiple isolated sub-browsers with no need to use virtual machines. Who’s going to shoot a silver bullet? 

  • Account managers make packs of user profiles on Facebook, Shopify, Amazon, wherever-it-needs.
  • SMM-masters running multiple communities on social networks at the same time or commenting and adding subscribers at once.
  • Software developers test app usability on different OSs and platforms.
  • Traffic distributors sending data during web arbitrage from one area to another are willing to reduce the risk of IP flagging.
  • Web scrapers and parsers control bots remotely via antidetect browsers in conjunction with residential proxies.
  • Marketing departments look for the target audiences, compare prices, place ads, and control campaigns.
  • Web designers and UX/UI experts apply interfaces created or check software compatibility.

Proxies’ requirements

Before you buy datacenter, residential and mobile proxies from AstroProxy, be sure to check them. Ask for a free test or trial period to learn: 

  • connection speed
  • ping
  • uptime
  • bandwidth’s capability
  • proxy pool size.

Geolocation matters, so the more distributed the network is the better. 100+ countries available to choose from is OK. The ability to choose a city, or ISP is superb. A feature to make up your mind for setting not only the proxy origin but even ISP type is awesome.

So a trusted proxy provider needs to operate IPs it got from domestic ISPs for residential proxies and IPs from actual mobile carriers for mobile proxies. They suit different tasks due to GCNAT technology.

It covers dozens of devices with a single external IP so search engines and online markets don’t ban such IPs fearing to send many users offline. 

With an antidetect browser, you have your back covered with a unique digital fingerprint, but a reliable proxy is a base. It has to be dynamic in most cases, except for working with the same accounts used for web communities' management.

Otherwise, a possibility to change IP at intervals, with every new connection or upon request is necessary. Every new IP should belong to the same area as the previous one so as not to raise suspicions.

Some proxy providers allow setting a timer for IP change to zero. It’s a way to prevent IP from rotating and turn dynamic proxies into dedicated ones. 

And last but not least, make sure that your proxies support different web protocols. While HTTP is a common standard used almost everywhere, it’s nice to have an ace in the hole. I mean SOCKS5-compatible proxies.

You better ask your proxy supplier for it. Some trusted proxy websites such as AstroProxy offer simultaneous access to both protocols via one host with different ports.

So choose proxies wisely, buy only proven mobile and residential proxies, and use them with reliable antidetect browsers. Have a nice day and ask for a free proxy test on AstroProxy.com.