CCProxy is a free and easy-to-use proxy server for Windows that lets you efficiently share your internet connection over the Local Area Network. CCProxy can work with DSL, dial-up, optical fiber, satellite, ISDN, and DDN connections. It features an account management system that lets you create accounts and groups for different users on your LAN.
Free Proxy Server software for Windows
The free version of CProxy offers a maximum of three users, which in my opinion, is good enough for a normal home network. If you have more users, you will have to buy it.
CCProxy supports the following proxy services:
- DNS
- Web Cached
- Remote Dialup
- Auto Start-up
- Auto Hide
- Port Map
As already mentioned, CCProxy features an account management system, under which you can create maximum of three accounts, and then you can choose their authentication type, you can use any of the following as an authentication type:
- IP Address
- MAC Address
- User/Password
- User/Password + IP
- User/Password + Mac
- IP + Mac
You can control your internet connection by making rules accordingly for that user or a group of users. You can limit the bandwidth, control internet access, filter websites and do even more. You can create a forbidding web filter or an allowing web filter in which you can accordingly add websites that are to be blocked or allowed. The limited bandwidth feature limits a user to a particular bandwidth so that a user cannot use the internet after a certain limit of data. The auto-scan feature automatically scans and reports the devices in the LAN so that you don’t have to add them manually.
The web caching function of web proxy servers can even increase the Internet surfing speed. Moreover, CCProxy lets you monitor the users by access logging and online access monitoring.
CCProxy appears to be among the best Proxy software for Windows. You can use it at your home to prevent your kids from watching inappropriate content, or you can use it at your office to make your employees more concentrated at work rather than on their social profiles. If you are running an institution, you can use this tool to limit the bandwidth of student users and accordingly create rules. The user management system is really a very useful system. You can create different rules for an entire group, or you can create different rules for a particular user. The variety in authentication mode enhances the security; you can choose the most secure authentication mode from the given options. The monitoring features are good too.
CCProxy download
Click here to download CCProxy Free. It is a useful tool for creating a home proxy server. CCProxy provides a 3-user free version of the proxy server. Personal users and family users can build their own free proxy server to enjoy sharing an Internet connection with family members.
You might want to have a look at these Free SSH Client software for Windows too.
The thing that most impressed me with CCProxy is how utterly simple it is. You download a small executable from their site, install it in about 20 seconds or less on an internet facing Windows OS, and you have the framework in place. That’s it. Depending on how strict your monitoring/user based access/web filtering needs are and how familiar you are with the product you are seriously just a few minutes to a couple of hours from download to a fully functional, in use proxy service.
Compare that to TMG 2010 or ISA 2004. Those products take hours to get set up and running to be a proxy server, and that’s if you know what you are doing. The difference really being that the Microsoft proxy products include a huge mountain of more advanced features beyond just proxy web servicing. If you need your proxy server to also be a firewall, router, malware detector, traffic inspector/snooper then they have their place. But for basic proxy web service they are overkill.
CCproxy has everything most places would need in a proxy. User/group based access with a windows domain can be configured. Traffic types allowed and ports are customizable. Live monitoring of web use and which IPs using it. Text file based, customizable, long term logging that is simple, clean and efficient. It can use the openDNS platform for intelligent web filtering. Text file based white and black list ability. Time restricted access. Mail proxy for SMTP and POP3 ability. Web page Caching. Using another proxy server for the internet access (they call that Cascading proxy).
Anyhow, I haven’t used it for long. But I was able to figure it all out to get it running exactly how I wanted it within about 2 hours and I’ve been greatly impressed. The licensing prices aren’t bad either. As of this writing it was around between 4-7 dollars per client that connects to it (depending on how many you buy, it gets cheaper per seat).
Here is the link to the Youngzsoft site: http://www.youngzsoft.net/ccproxy/