It works together with DynaWeb, a P2P-like proxy network system.

FreeGate’s anti-censorship capability is further enhanced by a new, unique encryption and compression algorithm in the version of 6.33 and above.

It is a Windows application that runs on most Windows platforms from Windows 98 to Vista, as well as on Linux and MAC through http://www.winehq.org/.

How to install and get it work

You can download FreeGate freely from here. In order to start hiding your IP address just run the .exe file.
If you are browsing using Internet Explorer you don’t have to set up anything, you can start browsing anonymously. But, if you are using other browsers you have to manually set the internet connection settings to the following proxy 127.0.0.1:8580. If you don’t know how to do it you should read the following posts:

• Firefox – How To Hide Your IP While Browsing Using Firefox
• Google Chrome – How To Hide Your IP While Browsing Using Google Chrome
• Safari – How To Manually Mask Your IP Using Safari

Pros and Cons of using FreeGate

Pros

• It’s FREE!
• It hides your IP address
• It provides fast proxies
• There are more proxies/servers available than UltraSurf
• It requires no installation
• Single executable file
• Uses a unique encryption and compression algorithm to increase privacy
• Supports SOCKS
• Can be set up to delete browser history when existing (for Internet Explorer)
• The user interface is available in English, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, Farsi/Persian, Spanish.

Cons

• It does not have a Hide/Show IP button. While FreeGate is running your IP is hidden. In order to show your real IP, you have to exit the program.
• The proxies are from the US only (you can not change the country or the proxy location)
• It does not automatically configure other browsers than Internet Explorer. But, for Firefox it provides an add-on.

To sum up, FreeGate is a great hide IP software that can be used to browse anonymously and unblock sites. The only significant drawback of using it is that does not provide proxies from other countries than the US.

FreeGate Not Working Starting From 1/1/2009

In a comment to a post on FreeGate, Danov signals that FreeGate it does not work starting from 1st of January 2009.

starting from 1/1/2009 freegate only open free for China , but the rest of the world is NOT !!!! i tried to use it today and its only open there official site & google ONLY !! i think this is BAD.

I have tried to use FreeGate and indeed it is not working.

FreeGate not working anymore

Here is the error I get:

———————————————————–

ERROR

The requested URL could not be retrieved while trying to

retrieve the URL: dit-inc.us/swprompt.php
The following error was encountered:

• Connection to 38.101.236.62 Failed

The system returned:

(111) Connection refused

The remote host or network may be down. Please try the request again.

Update: FreeGate Is Not Free Anymore

FreeGate was, in the last years, one of the leading anti-censorship services worldwide. Starting from 1st of January 2009, FreeGate is not free anymore for users outside China. The main reason is the huge number of users and the lack of human, hardware and bandwidth resources.

Dynamic Internet Technology, the creator, and sustainer of FreeGate motivates the decision:

Our service was originally targeted to users from China, a regime with the
most advanced Internet censorship that affect most people. However, users
from other censorship countries, including Iran, Vietnam and Saudi Arab, have
found our service extremely useful to them too. Moreover, many web surfers
from non-censorship countries, such as the U.S., are using our service to
stay anonymous online. This leads to an explosive growth of the user
population.

And they ask for financial support

We need your help. We hope to help global users to surf the net safely and
securely, without the fear of being monitored or traced. To achieve this
with an ever-growing user base, we need to seek additional funding. If you
find our service useful, please think if you can find any funding sources
for us, such as a non-profit organization, a corporation, or a
foundation.

From 1st of January, users outside China will have to pay for being able to use FreeGate. At least, for now, I could not find how it works: it is a monthly/annual subscription, one-time fee, etc. Probably in the next days, we will find out more information.

Are you using FreeGate? Post a comment and let us know what you think about it!

Happy surfing!

P.S. If FreeGate does not work for you, then check a VPN service like ExpressVPN, NordVPN, HideMyAss VPN, ibVPN,  and PureVPN.

———————

I’m glad to be the first blogger that writes about a new tool that can be used to browse anonymously by hiding your public IP address. NotMyIP is a new hide IP tool, and the best thing is that it’s FREE!

Privacy-Gateway.com has released, NotMyIP, a new and free tool that can be used to hide your IP address and browse anonymously. The product is straightforward, similar to other free tools like UltraSurf or GPass.

From the press release:

The simpler it is – the better it is! Internet users do not have to spend time learning complex strategies to achieve their purpose. They only want to hide IP. Is this too much they’re asking? “Not at all!” thought Privacy-Gateway when started developing NotMyIP. Only press one button and the real IP is hidden. A new (fake) IP will guarantee users anonymous web surfing while hiding IP. What can be easier that this? And to make it even better, it uses an exclusive list of premium proxies in order to provide a new IP.

Getting started

First, you have to download it. The installation is straightforward, follow the instructions. After the installation is completed you will see the following screen:

To hide your IP, the only thing you have to do press the Change IP button. To check your new IP address visit XMyIP.com site. That’s it! It automatically configures all browsers, including Firefox, Internet Explorer, Chrome, Opera, and Safari. No need to worry about this anymore.

When you what to browse with your real IP address click Restore IP button.

NotMyIP Pros and Cons

Here is the list of pros and cons I have come up with:

Pros:

• It is FREE!
• It hides your IP address and allows you to surf anonymously.
• Very simple and smooth UI. Suitable for beginners. No user guide needed.
• It provides fast, premium, quality HTTP proxies.
• It works with all browsers tested: Firefox, Internet Explorer, Opera, Chrome, and Safari. No need for manual configuration.
• It does not need any add-ons to run with Firefox.
• It overcomes censorship.

Cons:

• The proxies are from the US only.
• There are only three proxies available. More in the commercial version, called Anonymity Gateway.
• Only English user interface is available.
• Not suitable for P2P applications. If you are interested in anonymous torrenting, you should check some P2P VPN providers.

To sum up: It’s great to have another excellent hide IP software on the market. Let’s hope more proxies will be available in the next versions and they will continue to be fast.

Ultrasurf vs. NotMyIP

Ultrasurf and NotMyIP are two very similar tools to hide/change your IP address. Because Ultrasurf is very well known and consequently blocked by many security products and filter, NotMyIP has gained a lot of popularity lately.

On Privacy-Gateway.com, the home of NotMyIP, I have found an interesting comparison between the two free hide IP products. From the very beginning, Privacy-Gateway team declares that NotMyIP was not built to replace Ultrasurf but more as an alternative when Ultrasurf is blocked.

Further, here is the comparison as found on Privacy-Gateway.com:

NotMyIP vs. Anonymity Gateway

Both applications are practical tools for hiding your IP address. The functioning principle is the same: they use proxies to protect your real IP address. These proxies drive your traffic, and you are not identified correctly by the sites you visit. It’s that simple!

Let’s see how several features that may help you compare NotMyIP and Anonymity Gateway:

What do you think about NotMyIP?

To sum up, is NotMyIP useful? Is it working for you? What features do you think should be added?

Let us know in the comments below.