Internet, proxy question

[Ballatician]

Hi all,

This is probably a lame question but I've never had any reason to use a proxy until now.

To access full-text papers through the library there are some directions to add a proxy server in firefox or chrome. I also use zotero (a citation manager and browser extension) that can route through a proxy to get full-text papers.

If I add a proxy to one of my browsers, does that mean all my browsing is done through there? It is nice when using google scholar that the school links to full-text pdf's come right up but it seems unnecessary and possibly something that would slow-down day to day browsing or tv watching....

TIA

 

[beginner99]

Your question is not completely clear but I think you mean this:

At school/university/work you can view full-pdf publication because they are paying for the access (this is in general based on IP-Address ranges).

At home you can't because you don't pay but you would like to have that feature. Then it depends if your "school/work" has such a proxy that you can use from home. Will most certainly require a login. If such a service is available it would work.

And yes if you set a proxy, all access will go through it expect the pages you tell not to (firefox). You would like the oppsite: don't use proxy expect for certain sites. for that you will need an add-on like FoxyProxy.

Will a proxy slow-down your connection? Depends on the load on the proxy. Certainly possible but you will have to try.

 

[Ballatician]

That's correct. The school does have that feature and I can log in and it works.

Also correct that I only want my literature searches to go through the proxy because that seems like it would make sense.

 

[seepy83]

I would just enable the proxy settings when you need to do your research, and disable it when you are doing other browsing.