How Do You Hide Your IP Address Online?
When you do anything online, your address is visible to anyone who might want to access it. Your Internet protocol address is a number that works like an online home address and can be used to locate you. This can be concerning if you want to keep your personal information private. Fortunately, there are ways to hide your IP address so that people can’t find out what it is from you.
Change Your DNS
A DNS (Domain Name System) server translates human-readable URLs into the address needed by computers. When you go to a website, your computer sends a request to the DNS server — which is run by your internet service provider (ISP) — to find the address of the website you want to visit.
If you choose to use a DNS server operated by a different entity, you run the risk of keeping the same address. Your address will only disappear if you select a DNS server that is different than your ISP’s DNS server. To change your DNS server settings, log in to your router and look for a DNS server setting. You can also select a third-party DNS service to make sure that your address stays hidden.
Use a VPN
VPNs (virtual private networks) are services that allow you to connect to an “offline” server from a remote location and pretend that you are there. Once you are connected, all your internet traffic will be routed through the VPN server. You can then log into the server from anywhere and access the internet as if you were sitting at that physical location.
This means that anyone monitoring your IP address will see the address of the VPN server. VPN providers typically have several servers in different locations, which allows you to choose which address to show whenever you want to connect to the internet. You can also switch to different servers as needed, depending on your situation.
Install Or Update Browser Extensions
Lastly, browser extensions are pieces of software that can be added to your browser to give you additional functionality or help you perform tasks faster. Several extensions can help you change your address to protect your privacy online.
One example is the extension designed to keep you anonymous online. It routes your internet traffic through different servers and uses end-to-end encryption to keep your data secure. With many browsers, you can select a server location to route your traffic through and choose whether you want to use it on-demand or as a default setting.