help on picking a good VPN or IP masking software (1 Viewer)

[vba_php]

I hope this is not too controversial, but unfortunately I've made a few people angry with my "insightful" feedback on the wordpress.org forum, and thus got a few of my usernames and accounts disabled. There are ways to get around it of course, and I've verified this by using the TOR browser and navigating carefully. However, what I would like to do is create another account on a temp basis because I've got one more issue that is pretty involved and I know the people who help others on that forum will have the answer. So what I'm looking for is a VPN or some IP masking software that will show my IP address as a different one than what it really is through my ISP.

I don't want to look like a spammer by using TOR and showing my IP address constantly changing, which is what I'm guessing the forum admins are looking at when they throw errors that say things like "we have detected that you are sending automated queries". That's a common error when using TOR and being careless with button clicking. So I'm looking for a more playful/lighter piece of software that will simply tell the PHP language (or whatever language their website is running on) when it records my registration IP, that I'm coming from "xxx.xx.xx.xxx" when I'm really at "yy.yyy.yyy.yy". Can anyone suggest some software for this? I've already looked it up and tried some of them, but based on the tests I ran on my own domain using PHP's superglobal variables to capture the IP address, no masking is taking place. I don't know the difference between "masking" and "spoofing", but I don't want to be a spoofer. thanks.

 

[Jon]

Doesn't Google Chrome have an anonymous mode?

 

[vba_php]

Doesn't Google Chrome have an anonymous mode?

they have what is called an "incogneto" concept, which I believe is just a cookie and adware stopper, not an IP masking resource. but I'm not sure. I'll try it and run on a test with PHP and see. I'll get back to ya. thanks Jon.

 

[vba_php]

Jon, this shows that it probably won't work for what I need, but I'll try it none-the-less:

 

[Jon]

Try a whatsmyip checker.

 

[vba_php]

well Jon, your page: https://www.whatsmyip.org/ shows the right IP for me and the right ISP for me, in human readable form, but googling "whatsmyip" gives me this: [/code]2604:2d80:c004:0:71f3:8f95:9b8b:3953[/code]and if I look that up with a converter, I get some pretty revealing stuff about my ISP's HQ in NYC:

https://www.abuseipdb.com/whois/xxxx:2d80:c004:0:71f3:8f95:9b8b:xxxx

but server-side superglobals don't capture that. they capture this instead (at least PHP does): 173-44-333-222.client.mchsi.com

what's actually interesting about this whole thing is that if I look up PHP's capture or the hexi garbage on a lookup site, it tells me exactly where I'm at:

https://whatismyipaddress.com/ip/xxxx:2d80:c004::71f3:8f95:9b8b:xxx
https://whatismyipaddress.com/ip/173.44.333.222

but if I refer to the "report abuse" site, it only mentions NYC. You would think it would be the other way around....(I'll test chrome's incog window here shortly).

 

[vba_php]

ok Jon, to confirm, google's incogneto window does nothing. =( oh well, I'll find another way!

 

[Jon]

There must be another solution. Google free VPN?

 

[vba_php]

I know that. I've tried 3 free VPNs so far, and none of them have masked it. are they spose to? I thought that was the definition of ''vpn''!

 

[jocph]

I sometimes use Psiphon (https://s3.amazonaws.com/psiphon/web/mjr4-p23r-puwl/en/download.html#direct) which has a free version. Maybe you could give it a try.

 

[vba_php]

thanks I will! never heard of it. but when I get time I will take a look. cheers!

 

[AccessBlaster]

Use a Linux OS device with TOR and Firefox in conjunction with Duckduck go. Otherwise spend hundreds of dollars on a commercial VPN.

 

[vba_php]

Use a Linux OS device with TOR and Firefox in conjunction with Duckduck go. Otherwise spend hundreds of dollars on a commercial VPN.

wouldn't they still throw a "too many automated queries" error doing it your way, AB? duck duck go has nothing to do with registering an account. those are 2 different domains and webpages. the error I'm talking about above happens WHEN using TOR.

 

[AccessBlaster]

None of them alone will hide your IP address, but using certain software combinations can cloud your existence. It should be noted that using VPN or other masking solutions will degrade your internet experience.

 

[vba_php]

what do you mean *degrade*?

 

[AccessBlaster]

VPNs will route your IP address through different countries or software in order to hide or mask your IP address. If they route you through Bulgaria and Bulgaria's servers are full with traffic they will route you elsewhere. Its simple really the more time it takes to hide your IP address, the less time you will have surfing the web.

 

[vba_php]

well I don't need a lot of time, AB. I just need enough to create an account, post a question and then get out of there. but of course, whenever I return after someone answers the question, I'll have to use it again, but it doesn't take by 5 minutes to read the answer and run a test. so the routing probably wouldn't hinder me I wouldn't think.

 

[AccessBlaster]

I am speaking I general terms, you have specific needs so it might not fit.

 

[vba_php]

I'll get to it later. I don't need to ask this specific question for a while yet, as the app isn't fully developed as of now. when I look this stuff up though, I'll get back to you guys here if need be. thanks.

 

[AccessBlaster]

I want to say Microsoft offers a VPN or a virtual session, I am not sure if it's only for their enterprise clients or for anyone. You could look into that.