A VPN (virtual private networking) proxy, sometimes also called VPN tunnel, provides you with anonymity when using the internet. It gives anonymity by hiding your real IP address and masking it with the IP address of the VPN server when you access the internet through it. Before you can use VPN proxy to hide your online identity, you have to configure your Windows PC to use it. There are two general ways to configure VPN proxy in Windows – through the PPTP/L2TP settings or by installing the software provided by the VPN proxy company itself. For example, TunnelBear and CyberGhost both provide their own software packages that can be used to configure VPN tunnel settings in Windows. These software packages usually install third-party virtual drivers from OpenVPN to make everything work.
But what if you do not want to install all these drivers and software packages just to use a VPN proxy? In that case, you can use Psiphon – a portable and small VPN proxy software for Windows. In case of Psiphon, you do not really have to install anything on your PC. All you have to do is just launch the downloaded psiphon3.exe file and it takes care of everything. When you are done using the proxy, you can close the Psiphon tool and your system will come back to no-proxy state instantly.
Psiphon works in two modes – simple proxy mode and the VPN tunnel mode. In the simple proxy mode, it just configures Internet Explorer proxy settings (which are also system proxy settings) to direct all the traffic to Psiphon application which fetches or sends the requested content to and from the internet. You may have to configure various web browsers and other apps to use system proxy settings.
You can choose these Psiphon modes from the settings. You can also choose a particular VPN server from the Psiphon settings. By default, it selects the VPN server that gives the best performance for your location and is usually the nearest to you. There is an option to choose the local proxy ports, but it is better to leave the decision to Psiphon.
In the VPN tunnel mode, it tunnels all the traffic between your PC and the internet through it. For this it automatically configures the PPTP/L2TP settings. In this case, you do not have to configure each and every program for using the proxy.
You can download Psiphon VPN proxy for Windows from https://www.psiphon3.com/.