DEV Community: PamelaeWallaceu

Paid Proxies vs. Free Proxies

PamelaeWallaceu — Sat, 08 May 2021 09:46:57 +0000

Many times people new to the use of proxies will always ask questions about the difference between free and paid proxies. The answer is very simple. When you use free things, you will surely face some challenges but when you pay for them, the reverse is the case. This article will compare the differences between both paid and free proxies.

About the question of which is the better between paid proxies and free proxies, it is very important to look at both proxies critically before making your judgment. In the world we are, there is a popular saying which says that “good things always come with a price.” Whatever comes with a price will always have higher and better benefits.

For beginners of proxies, it is good to understand that proxies make your protocol hidden from any form of attack from spyware and malware that can be installed by hackers to track your personal data. Based on the type of proxies you use, some features will work according to their power and strength. Everyone will think that paid proxies are better and free proxies, but it all depends on the type of factors on the ground that needs to be considered.

Free Proxies

These proxies are numerously available for users. Their servers and software are very much available for use by anybody without needing to pay a dime for the proxy service provider. They all vary in function and usage with strength and flaws based on different factors. Before you can use a free proxy, it is important to make your research about using different factors like anonymity, available geolocation, etc.

When you already know how proxies work, it will be easier for you to be able to understand the technicalities around the types of proxies. Free proxies are provided freely by a host who is very willing to rent out its IP address without any price. It is important to be very careful as to the kind of host that issues out its IP address for use because the admin maybe a fraudster whose major aim is to use the proxies as a means of installing malware and viruses that monitors and captures the security and business details of a user.

Free proxies are kind of risky depending on the kind of work you need them for. If it is a work that relies on high-quality security and intelligence, then using free proxies may be disastrous. They are no better or at par with paid and dedicated proxies. They don’t have a limited number of users because they are open for people to use. They can be slow – very slow. Most times, free proxies only provide you with basic services like protecting your identity by making you anonymous and also hide your IP address.

You can only access free proxies using two ways: first, is a free proxy website and the second is by searching for a host IP address. To use the free proxy website, you have to first open it and enter the URL of the desired website in its search bar. Then you will be given the IP address of a secure location assigned by the host. With that, you will be able to browse the internet perfectly.

The limitation that comes with this method is that each time you want to visit a new website or open a new tab; you will have to enter the address in the search bar of the proxy website. The method is very monotonous and boring because of its slow process. The second method which is the search for a host IP address will provide you with free proxy lists where you will be able to find free proxy hosting addresses.

The major problem which is a very big concern is that when malware infects your system, there is no mechanism for feedback, or is there any system of support for a good user experience.

Paid Proxies

With the internet dominating the world now, every user is trying to protect their identity from cybercrimes and theft. Investing in paid proxies has made it better and easier to do since the extra and better features that come with them have made people resolved into paid proxies. When you release some little bucks of yours into proxies, it is very certain that you will get more than your money’s worth, and other benefits will be added to it.

This is not so with free proxies because since it’s free, thousands of people have access to it and there are little or no benefits attached to them. With paid proxies, there is better compatibility between the servers that help to prevent constant disconnection each time your proxy server is trying to connect with your internet service provider. Also, with paid proxies, such as Bright Data, Smartproxy, Shifter, you will be able to enjoy the consistency of the connection between your internet provider’s server and your proxy server.

You will also have the luxury of choosing different countries when you want to be really anonymous so that you can have security protocols to connect to. These protocols are compatible with your browser and software, making it easier for you to browse without any hitch. It will be advisable to invest in paid proxies for the peace of mind and assurance that you will get a good service without any issue at all.

With paid proxies, you have no worries about when your servers will die or when they will become slow because of the stability and authenticity. There is a higher browsing speed because the traffic is not like that of free proxies.

Conclusion

Both proxies have been compared. It is now expected of you to understand the technicalities around them so that you will be able to choose wisely. This article is a good explanation of how to make use of them. For someone who is willing to do anything that guarantees peace of mind, it will be important to invest in proxies that will give you an efficient browsing experience.

Residential Proxies vs. Datacenter Proxies

PamelaeWallaceu — Fri, 07 May 2021 09:50:42 +0000

Getting Familiar with Proxies

Have you ever tried to enter a place through its back door when the front door was either crowded or inaccessible to you? The same concept holds true for the proxies when it comes to the use of internet anonymously.

Proxies are somewhat analogous to the back doors which allow you to access certain content anonymously or allow you to use some features which are not accessible in your region or you’re not allowed to access them.

Proxies allow you to manipulate your local IP address and assign you with a new one so that you can easily gain access to the restricted content over the internet or use internet-related features of a different region such as posting Ads in that region, etc. Broadly speaking, proxies are of two types: Datacenter proxies and residential proxies.

Residential Proxies vs. Datacenter Proxies: Things That Set Them Apart

Residential proxies:

In the simplest terms, An IP address assigned to you by an ISP (Internet Service Provider) for the use of the internet at your residential place comprises of residential proxy. Some of the globally famous ISP’s include AT&T, Verizon, Spectrum, etc.

Residential proxies have an edge over the datacenter proxies when it comes to security and reliability. It is due to the fact that the websites treat residential IP owners as genuine users and allow them to do the tasks they want without the risk of getting banned.

Datacenter Proxies:

On the contrary, Datacenter proxies aren’t owned by ISP’s. These IP proxies are owned by companies like Amazon web services, Azure, etc which are professional web service providers. Datacenter proxies are essentially utilized for website hosting and other similar purposes such as setting up a cloud server, VPS’s, etc.

Unlike, Residential proxies, these IP proxies aren’t an ideal choice when it comes to internet surfing and other human activities. In this case, a giant company such as Amazon owns a humongous server that can store huge batches of datacenter IP proxies and sell them to people for individual purposes. They are IP addresses owned by a tech firm and now by a residential owner.

Pros and Cons of Residential Proxies and Datacenter Proxies

The pros and cons of each type of proxies depend upon the purpose for which you need an IP proxy. Residential proxies aren’t known for their speed. They tend to be slower than datacenter proxies but it doesn’t matter when residential IP proxy is the only thing that will work for you. Many well-known websites have strict user access policies and wouldn’t even let you touch their websites if you’re used a Datacenter IP proxy. On the other hand, residential IP proxy can effortlessly sneak through a website's security and allow you to access its data.

However, when you’re in need of a batch of IP proxies that will allow you to set up cloud-based web services secretly and securely, Datacenter IP proxies are what you’re looking for. Datacenter proxies are readily available at cheaper prices, unlike residential proxies which make them a preferred choice for consistent work over the air.

How to Avoid Getting Your Proxies Blacklisted Frequently:

Although Datacenter proxies come with more risk of getting banned, both types of proxies are more or less vulnerable to getting flagged by a high-profile website. However, there are some evident actions that act as complete turn-offs on the internet and get your IP proxies flagged. You can avoid getting flagged more often by following the steps provided below:

Never make use of a single IP proxy in accomplishing multiple tasks from a location you’re not supposed to. Be as sneaky as possible.
Avoid making redundant queries from a single IP proxy simultaneously.
Always try to use different web browsers for completing different tasks.
Whenever you’re accessing the internet from a proxy IP, make sure that your IP doesn’t show its original location as any high-risk country. For example, Middle East countries like Iraq, Iran, etc.
Make sure that each of your proxy IPs is assigned with a unique user agent. User-agent data such as Operating systems, Browser details and time zone details, etc can also act counter profitable sometimes.
You need to make sure that you are able to camouflage the human browsing speed when making use of proxies. Most of the time that an IP proxy gets blocked is of its non-human way of accessing the web like doing multiple logins simultaneously.

The Final Snap: Which Type of Proxy Is Best Suited for You

As mentioned earlier, Residential proxies are assigned by ISP’s whereas datacenter proxies are sold by a third-party corporation. A residential proxy feeds a server with the location of your IP proxy and the name of your Internet Service provider such as Verizon, etc. In the case of Datacenter proxies, they aren’t associated with any ISP and hence there is no location to feed the server.

Therefore, Datacenter proxies cannot be put to use for regular browsing purposes like residential proxies. If you are intending to make use of a proxy for buying some high-profile goods in bulk such as limited edition Nike sneakers, residential proxies are your thing. If you did otherwise, i.e. make use of datacenter proxy, the server will recognize an unfamiliar IP proxy and add it to the blacklist before you can buy something.

The things that make Datacenter proxies more usable and reliable are their cost-effectiveness, naive nature, and availability in bulk. Unlike a residential proxy, Datacenter proxy doesn’t have an actual owner other than you and the corporation. So, there is no risk of someone else manipulating your queries.

Since residential proxies have to be gathered from actual people, it makes them very rare to find and you’ve to be sure that you’re buying from a genuine corporation. You can buy Datacenter anytime in bulk quantities at affordable prices thus never rendering you useless.

Thus, we can safely conclude that both types of proxies are equally important and usable depending upon the nature of the task that you are willing to accomplish.

Why Residential Proxies Are Necessary To Vote on Strawpoll Voting Bot?

PamelaeWallaceu — Wed, 05 May 2021 09:55:24 +0000

Do you want to manipulate a Strawpoll poll using an automated means? Then come in now to discover what is available to you – you will be learning about polling bots and proxies.

Polls are an interesting way of getting people's opinions about something, and Strawpoll provides us with a platform to create them. However, the effectiveness of polls online can be questioned as they are constantly being influenced by automation whereby one person can sit behind a computer to vote countless times using a mix of bots, proxies, and browser cookie tweaking. If you have an interest in such acts, this article has been written specifically for that.

Before I continue, it is important I stress here that you are completely responsible for your actions. This article was not written to aid any malicious behavior. We share our knowledge with readers and expect them to use it for a just course.

It is also to show you the capabilities of proxy technology and why you shouldn’t trust online polls as most of them are automated and botted to the extent that the decision of real voters is upturned.

What is Strawpoll Bot for Voting Automation?

Strawpoll Bot is the act of using computer programs known as voting automation tools to vote a Strawpoll poll in other to influence the result. Usually, those using a Strawpoll bot do not vote ones. With a bot, one can vote unlimitedly.

While Strawpoll is on the lookout for botting behaviors to ban them, it has not succeeded in stopping it – and I doubt if it will. This is because automation experts can develop bots that are indistinguishable from browsers. In as much as browsers can be used for voting, bots too will have their way.

When it comes to the number of Strawpoll in the market, I must say the situation is discouraging. There are no credible voting bots in the market that supports Strawpoll.

Free Strawpoll Bot - Voting bot for Straw poll

Don’t get me wrong; I am not saying that there are no bots for that. Look around on the web, and you will see some services that claim to provide that. There are some scripts on GitHub for that,

But as far as we are concerned on this site, there are no bots we can vouch for, and as such, we cannot provide you recommendations as we always do.

Many people engage in this but do not make their bot public – they develop it and use it for their private use only. If you know how to write computer programs, you can learn more about web automation to know how to tailor your programming skills into developing a Strawpoll bot.

There are many programming languages you can use to develop a Strawpoll bot. I will advise you to use Python because of the modules that come with it that make it easy to develop web bots. I also suggest Python because those without computer programming skills can learn it quickly and get a bot developed.

Why Proxies Are Necessary for Strawpoll Voting Bot?

It might interest you to know that you cannot vote more than ones using the same IP Address on Strawpoll. This is because Strawpoll keeps a record of IP Addresses that have voted in a particular pool and prevents such IPs from voting again.

For your automation bot to be able to vote more than ones, you must make use of proxies and do not vote more than ones with the same IP Address. Even without using a bot, you can still vote more than ones using a browser provided you are using proxies and clear your browser cache and cookies after every successful voting on strawpoll.me.

Residential Proxies for Strawpoll Bot

Try visiting the Strawpoll website, and you will see that they claim to detect VPN – which means, they detect proxies too. This means that not all proxies will work for you if you are trying to vote on Strawpoll. You have to go for proxies that are highly anonymous and can evade detection.

When it comes to that type of proxies, you have to give it up to residential IP proxy. Also, when choosing a proxy provider to use, make sure that they provide rotating proxies that change IP Address after every request. Below are some of the rotating proxy providers in the residential proxy provider category.

Luminati

IP Pool Size: Over 40 million
Locations: All countries in the world
Concurrency Allowed: Unlimited
Bandwidth Allowed: Starts at 40GB
Cost: Starts at $500 monthly for 40GB

Luminati is arguably the best proxy provider in the market. It is also the largest proxy network, with over 40 million residential proxies. It also has proxies in the datacenter and mobile proxy categories.

What makes Luminati a good candidate for voting is that it has high rotating proxies, which will reassign you a different IP Address after every web request. This means that for every voting attempt, a new session is created, and Strawpoll is deceived. Luminati proxies are priced based on metered bandwidth, and the pricing is considered expensive.

Smartproxy

IP Pool Size: Over 10 million
Locations: 195 locations across the globe
Concurrency Allowed: Unlimited
Bandwidth Allowed: Starts at 5GB
Cost: Starts at $75 monthly for 5GB

Except you need proxies for something else or you’re going into the voting on a large scale, you won’t want to pay for the smallest amount allowed on Luminati because it is a lot of money for many people.

If you are on a low budget, I will advise you to stick to Smartproxy instead of Luminati. This is because Smartproxy is as reliable as Luminati. It is also fast, secure, and has proxies in almost all countries in the world and in a few major cities. With $75, you can start using their high rotating proxies to influence any vote on Strawpoll automation tools.

GeoSurf

IP Pool Size: Over 2.5 million
Locations: 130 countries
Concurrency Allowed: Unlimited
Bandwidth Allowed: Starts at 38GB
Cost: Starts at $450 monthly for 38GB

GeoSurf is another proxy provider that can provide you high rotating proxies you can use for voting on Strawpoll. Aside from having high rotating proxies, GeoSurf also have proxies that maintain a session for a period of time before creating a new session and reassigning you a different IP Address.

GeoSurf has got excellent targeting options ranging from countries to cities. It currently has proxies in over 1200 cities around the world. In terms of pricing, it is the same as Luminati.

Conclusion

Looking at the above, you can see that Strawpoll polls can be manipulated using automation tools known as Strawpoll voting bots. However, you have to develop one or get someone to develop for you as there are no credible ones in the market.

Proxies remain the backbone of automated polling as they hide your IP Address and provide you as much IP Address as you require to vote. The proxies discussed above are some of the best for that.

What is Data Parsing and Parsing Techniques involved?

PamelaeWallaceu — Tue, 27 Apr 2021 09:10:03 +0000

Planning on extracting data from websites? Then you need to do data parsing as the data you require will mostly be combined with other unwanted data. Click through now to learn about data parsing.

When people hear about the word web scraping, their minds go to pulling data off webpages. What these people do not know is that the bulk of the work is not actually downloading a webpage but pulling out the specific data you need, and this is done through data parsing. This is because for you to download a webpage, all you need is just to send an HTTP GET request, and the whole page will be scraped for you. However, depending on the specific data you require, pulling the data out can become a difficult task in cases where the webpage is unstructured.

Even for structured pages, data not embedded in its own HTML tag but combined together with other large chunks of text can be difficult to extract. Think of texts such as phone numbers, emails, and home addresses of people. How do you parse such data from online forums where the data aren’t located in specific tags and areas you can easily pick out with the help of CSS selectors? If you have a little bit of information about web scraping, you will know that this is one of the most difficult tasks in the process.

However, that it is difficult does not mean it can’t be done, and this is why this article has been written.

What is Data Parsing?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V6LiAtG_0QI The term data parsing has got a lot of areas it can be applied even in computer sciences. This means that when different people with different backgrounds and specializations sees it, they look at it differently.

For those engaged in web scraping and screen scraping, data parsing is the process of pulling out the required data from a large string of text, which could be a webpage, a PDF or any text file, or even a map.

Data Parsing Techniques

Now that you know what data parsing is, what are the techniques involved?

There’s one inherent problem with this question that makes it difficult to get a single answer. The file formats are numerous – this means that you cannot get a single parser that will work for you in all cases. Programming languages also varies, which makes different tools available to different programming languages. Let take a look at some of the popular file formats and how to extract data from them.

Parsing HTML Documents

The most popularly parsed document are webpages. While in the past, webpages exist in other formats, the trend now lies in HTML. Most people that engage in web scraping have to deal with parsing HTML files to get the data they require. If you intend to pass HTML or XML documents, there are two options available to you – these include using a library or regex expression. The one you choose depends on the data to be scraped.

Using a Parsing Library

The easiest way to parse data from an HTML document is to use a library. While you can actually do without a library, you will waste a lot of time and energy trying to do that – and you might end up making mistakes. Why not use third-party libraries available to you.

Parsing libraries process the document into a DOM structure so that you can access data through their tags, class, and ID, among other CSS selectors. Most of these libraries are free to use even for commercial usage. The library you use depends on the programming language of your choice.

Take, for instance; Python programmers can make use of BeautifulSoup to parse HTML documents – BeautifulSoup is purely a parsing library. BeautifulSoup is the easiest option available to Python programmers. They can use it to access any data in an HTML or XML document.

Scrapy is another tool used by python programmers, but unlike BeautifulSoup, it is not a parsing library but a web scraping framework that incorporates data parsing.

For Javascript, you do not really need any third-party parser as you can manipulate it using the language. However, some users still make use of parsers such as Cheerio. Java developers can make use of JSoup while C# developers can utilize AngleSharp.

Using Regular Expression

The regular expression(regex) library is a tool used for extracting data by matching patterns in text. While using libraries such as the ones discussed above can work for structured content in an HTML document, there are no libraries that can ease your work when you need to match patterns in other to extract data from a large chunk of text. It might interest you to know that some of the libraries mentioned above actually make use of regex. When you need to pull out data such as emails, phone numbers, and even home addresses from unstructured text, regex is the way to go. This is because the libraries won’t be able to pick out just these. Most languages support regex, and the patterns are also the same. To learn more about regex for your specific language, visit the regex website.

Parsing PDF Document

A lot of businesses have some data they would want to extra from PDF documents. When you are in such a condition, you have to make use of a PDF library for you to be able to parse the required data. For Python developers, they can make use of tools such as asPyPDF2 and PDFQuery. Other programming languages have their own specific tools you can use.

Parsing Text File.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bCCypX3KdTE When I say text file here, what I mean is a file with .txt file extension. This can also be other text formats that its content does not have any form of structure. When you are faced with the problem of extracting data from text files that are unstructured, you have to make use of Regular Expression. Up above, I stated that you could use it to define text patterns and extract texts that meet those patterns.

DEV Community: PamelaeWallaceu

Paid Proxies vs. Free Proxies

Free Proxies

Paid Proxies

Conclusion

Residential Proxies vs. Datacenter Proxies

Why Residential Proxies Are Necessary To Vote on Strawpoll Voting Bot?

What is Strawpoll Bot for Voting Automation?

Free Strawpoll Bot - Voting bot for Straw poll

Why Proxies Are Necessary for Strawpoll Voting Bot?

Residential Proxies for Strawpoll Bot

Luminati

Smartproxy

GeoSurf

Conclusion

What is Data Parsing and Parsing Techniques involved?

What is Data Parsing?

Data Parsing Techniques

Parsing HTML Documents

Using a Parsing Library

Using Regular Expression

Parsing PDF Document

Parsing Text File.

Other Document Formats