How to Bypass a School Filter

Ever surfing the net and your favourite page comes up blocked by that annoying filter? Here's how to get past it.

Steps

1. Find a proxy site. Just do a search for "free online proxies". this will provide you with a number of proxies to bypass filters.
2. Some schools' filters block most proxy sites, so you have to find one that works.
3. When you find a proxy site, type the name of the site you want to access into the box. Most sites have a checkbox that says "block scripts". It is better to uncheck this
4. Some schools use proxy services (such as Bess) to do the filtering. It may be possible to disable it by going into Internet Explorer and choosing Tools>Internet Options>Conections Tab>Lan Settings... and unchecking the "Use a proxy server for your LAN". It can be reenabled prior to leaving. In the likely event that this ability is disabled, one can use a registry editor to change the value of "HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings\ProxyEnable" to 0.
5. Hit the go button and you will get to your favourite site!
6. Pr0xy DragonProxy and that type of thing. If you can, locate a system is that the same location as you. If not, a proxy works very slowly!
7. If none of these work, download and install Firefox and manually change the proxy seetings by going to Tools > Options > Connection Settings > And change the Proxy Settings to a proxy. Go to ask.com and search proxy lists.
8. Some web filters only block the domain name for restricted websites. Therefore, if you you try to browse to the IP address of the website, it may work.
9. If the web filter blocked even the IP address of the site, you can take each number in the IP and convert it to a Hexadecimal format. Then in the browser enter http:// 0x(hex1).0x(hex2).0x(hex3).0x(hex4). There is a script at http://helpfulhacks.com/blocked/ that will do this for you.
10. Another easy way is to download a program such as OperaTor. It automatically connects to servers and there is almost no setup. This can be slow though.

Tips

• Use a number of different proxy sites so you are less likely to have one blocked.
• When you go to Google to search for proxies, use Quotations and reword some words like web with say, network.
• Ask your friends or other resources for sites.
• The best idea to stay out of trouble at school is to not go to blocked and or banned websites at school.
• Another piece of software you can use is called Pingfu, which can be found at http://www.artofping.com.
• Some filters dont block https:// sites, it may be possible to access a cgi proxy through a site such as https://www.junkblender.com
• If your school blocks a certain proxy sometimes you can google it then click on "cahched" which will display the page and be able to use the proxy. Adaptive firewalls will catch this and permanently block the site. Also putting spaces in words like p r o x y . a b c 1 2 3 . c o m is a way to search the proxy without the filter catching it.

Warnings

• Don't be stupid. This basically means that you don't just use your proxy to look up inappropriate material. If you do that, you deserve to be caught—not to mention that a lot of schools can track that anyway, even if you did delete the history.
• Don't assume your schools IT Administrator is dumb. He/She would have studied pretty hard to get to where they're at. So if you think you are automatically smarter than them, don't even think about trying this. However, if you know you are smarter than them, feel free to do this.
• The school will still keep track of your history, so don't go looking up things you shouldn't.
• The school may block certain MIME types e.g. mp3 files. A proxy will not let you download these.
• Don't do this if your school uses SonicWALL Content Filter Service, you'll get in trouble.
• CIPAFilter will analyze each page for context-sensitive words. Certain schools will log if you go to a an already banned site, be warned.
• Don't use Firefox 1 or Opera. It will also get you into trouble. If you want to get past the school filter try Firefox 2 which you can get from download.com . It's great and it has no censors, so nobody knows you're using it or downloaded and deleted it.
• Don't tell other students your proxy! Nothing is more annoying than the rat who ruins your Internet access. Of course this ruins the 3rd tip.
• Some schools employ a remote desktop administration system, allowing them to actually monitor your computer's screen from the IT Office, as well as the option of controlling your computer remotely with their mouse and keyboard.. If this is the case, they will see you visiting a proxy website, and you will be found out.