Good morning, FoxyProxy fans! It’s Friday. Or as well call it, “FoxyFriday”, because we like occasional alliteration and also because we’re going to start making a Friday blog post a regular thing.

To celebrate our inaugural FoxyFriday, we’re holding a little contest to give away a free one month subscription for any country. To enter, just comment below or on social media and give us your best idea for a server name.

Our server names must be eight letters long, so you have to be creative. As much as they amuse us, no profanity or anything too offensive, please. We’ll choose whichever one we like best using very unscientific methods.

So, what do you do with a proxy or VPN, anyway?

We’re so glad you asked.

We all know some basic reasons to use a proxy or VPN.  One of the most popular uses is bypassing content restriction to watch TV and other kinds of entertainment from other countries. Maybe you’re an expat, maybe you love the BBC, or maybe you just really like that Norwegian show where they live stream wild birds in a teeny cafe for hours at a time.

Aside from watching awesome shows, proxies and VPN service can be really useful for other things.

1. Getting Better Prices Many companies, such as airlines, change prices according to location. Meaning that you could get a different price for that ticket to Norway to watch Piip Show in person depending on where you’re browsing from.
2. Dodging Censorship A lot of our subscribers live in places where government censorship of the internet is the norm. A VPN or Proxy can help them connect to the world at large. On a less grand scale, using a VPN or Proxy can help you get around restricted access in places like school or work. Not that you would be procrastinating at work, we’re sure.
3. Beefing Up Security Routing your computer’s traffic through a VPN is a good idea to keep prying eyes away from your data when you’re on a network with questionable security standards. Fire up a VPN when using airport, coffee shop, or any public wifi to ensure no one is snooping on your connection.

If you’re a subscriber to our paid services, you know that usernames seem a little random, and occasionally weird. You’re entirely right. The usernames are randomly generated, the product of two words from our database being mashed together with all the finesse of Shakespeare’s chimps.

This can sometimes lead to awkward situations and uncomfortable silences.

Our favorite so far has been sodomyqueen, which prompted a quick complaint from the account holder. Don’t worry, we’ve since removed “sodomy” from the list of words, though I’m sure if you ask nicely, “sodomy” can be added to your account name.

Some other great examples include:

prickrally   A new kind of Formula 1 racing, maybe

banalcoitus   The most boring kind of coitus

drownsam   Unfortunately assigned to someone with a son named Sam

racialgnu   Nope

tendergourd    For a connoisseur of fruit

tattoofreak   Which is kind of judgmental, honestly

voyeuremcee   A very specific subset of hiphop

gravyswim   Ideal for someone in the American South

Have you gotten a bizarre account name? Share it with us either here or on social media, and our favorite will get a free month of service!

Hi! We’re FoxyProxy. Nice to meet you. Welcome to The Fox Den, our brand spanking new blog feature. We’ll be bringing you news from around the internet, facts, occasional bad jokes, and product news.

A little bit about us, first. FoxyProxy was founded in 2006 by Eric, a computer scientist who successfully navigated the early frontier of The Internet and saw the need for a reliable Proxy/VPN service, so he set about starting his own company to provide it.

We’ve got long established roots, so you know we’re no fly by night start-up. We’re privately owned, so that means there is no Board of Directors sitting in the shadows, interested only in shareholder profit. We provide services for both individuals and corporations because we get that proxy and VPN services have real business value.

Free speech, free press, and transparency are near and dear to our hearts, which is why we donate money and resources to advocacy groups aligned with our principles.

Get to know us!

So, what is the difference between a proxy and VPN, anyway?

While they serve a similar function, they work differently. A proxy is a bit like a filter for your web browser, routing web traffic through the proxy server but not affecting things like apps or other programs on your computer, tablet, or phone which may connect to the internet.

A VPN routes all of your traffic through the VPN server, including all programs and apps which aren’t browser dependent.

Which would work better for you? Here’s a handy chart to break things down further for you. The good news is, both services are included with a paid subscription!

Head over HERE for access to our free downloads, or to purchase a subscription.

Each technology has advantages and disadvantages:

Feature		VPN		HTTP(s) proxy
Encryption		all data is encrypted end-to-end.		SSL connections: all data is encrypted end-to-end. Non-SSL connections: No data is encrypted.
Flexibility		You can not select which applications go through the VPN. All data sent/received by your computer passes through the VPN.		You can decide which applications go through the proxy and which applications use your direct internet connection.
Compatibility		If content (such as video) does not work with HTTP(s) proxies, it will definitely work with the VPN since the VPN is invisible to content/applications.		Some websites use special protocols that can not be properly handled by HTTP(s) proxies.
Restrictions		None!		None!
Support		OS/X, iOS, Windows, Android, any other appliances like the XBox, PS4, and even many network routers.		While all web browsers like Chrome, Firefox, Opera, Safari and IE support HTTP(s) proxies, other applications on your computer might not work with them.
Speed		VPN connections can be 1-3% slower than your regular connection because transmissions pass through an additional network hop.		Due to the use of server-side caching, your connection through the HTTP(s) proxy can sometimes be even faster than your direct connection.