A4Proxy Question

[lcc]

Before using A4Proxy I used to manually enter proxy addresses into the connection tab in IE5, then checked each proxy for anonymity.

With A4Proxy I can now check a hundred or more proxies at a time, but I have some concerns.

Using the old way I used netstat -a to check open connections when surfing and always saw only the proxy address listed.

Now using A4 and checking netstat-a ,I notice not only the proxy connected on port 80, but also my ISP connected on port 80 too.
Why do they seem to be connected on 80 with A4Proxy, but not when I manually enter the proxy in to the connections tab? and what information can they be getting.

Also, with A4, Blackice reports lots of port probes and "suspicious url's' apparently coming from my ISP. Why are they doing this, and how anonymous can I be if my ISP is connected with my proxy on 80 thru A4?

Any light you can shed on the issue would help. Thanks in advance!

BYe

[Blacksheep]

I'm not familiar with netstat -a. Cannot even find much info on it.

However, by necessity, all your Internet traffic flows through your ISP. You cannot bypass your ISP with a proxy. Therefore, your ISP can sniff all your traffic, on any port, proxy or no proxy. If you are getting hits from ISP netblock could be hacker, worm, a trojan in your machine, etc.

You might want to use a firewall instead of, or in addition to, BlackIce (intrusion detection system) like ZoneAlarm which will block outbound connect attempts from internal trojans: http://www.zonelabs.com/

Also, if you really want to know what's going in and out of your machine and where it's going, a packet sniffer is indispensable: http://www.tamos.com/products/commview/