Log in to Facebook From Anywhere

Here's the scenario, you're at work or school and you're taking a break. "Now's a good chance to log in to Facebook and check up on my social life" you think to yourself. So you find the nearest computer, open the web browser, and type in http://www.facebook.com and hit go, however, the computer does not take you to your beloved Facebook login page. In fact, you have no idea where the screen in front of you came from, it's just some screen that says that Facebook is either unavailable, blocked, banned, etc.

So what's going on? No, the computer gods don't hate you, it's the IT administrator keeping you from being able to log in to Facebook with a firewall. It is very common practice in the professional world to install a block list into a professional network in order to make sure that students/employees are focusing on working instead of doing fun personal stuff (such as log in to Facebook). Most of the time, this process works by the IT Administrator logging into the firewall preferences and telling it to not allow sites by their URL or site name. So they'll literally go down the list and block off http://www.facebook.com, http://www.youtube.com etc. Stinks doesn't it? But never fear, there is a back door you can use to get to that beloved Facebook page, and that door is called a Proxy Server!

"But wait! You said we didn't have to be technically gifted, and I don't even know what a proxy server is!" Don't worry, I assure you that no technical knowledge is needed to know how to use a proxy server. In fact, proxy servers aren't something that you'll set up, it's something that's already there for you to use. As far as technical knowledge is concerned, if you know how to log in to Facebook from home, you possess the technical skills to get to Facebook using a proxy.

Very simply put, a proxy server grabs a webpage, and brings it to you to look at. Here's how it works:

- You go to your favorite proxy server website, I use http://www.freefacebookproxyserver.com OR http://freesurf.from-mi.com. You can also do a Google search for "Free proxy server" or "Facebook Proxy" etc, and you'll find hundreds of results.

- On the proxy server website, there will be something that looks like a search bar. All you have to do is type in the URL you want to visit (IE http://www.facebook.com) and press go!

That's it! See how easy it can be? After you complete those two steps, the proxy server goes to the website (Facebook in this case), grabs it, and brings it back to you through the proxy server site. So as far as the firewall is concerned, you're not going to the website http://www.facebook.com, you're going to http://freesurf.from-mi.com, and Free Surf isn't on the block list!

Now that you know what to do, go ahead and try it out: Log In To Facebook.

First and foremost, always remember that using a proxy server comes at your own risk. While you're not breaking any laws, if your employer/school finds out that you're going around their firewall to log in to Facebook, they might not be too pleased and you could be subject to disciplinary action. Most of the time if an IT Administrator finds out that a site is indeed a proxy site, they will just add it to the block list, but I cannot speak as to what course of action they might take.

Secondly, most of the proxy servers you find on the web are free, which means that they make money by placing advertisements on their website. If you're using someone else's proxy to log in to Facebook (or any other site), it's usually a good idea to show them some love and check out their site's sponsors. It's like a whole big circle of life!

Happy Surfing!