Table of contents
To install the Switchy Omega extension:
How to Set Up HTTP/HTTPS Proxy in Switchy Omega
Step 1: Choose the Proxy Protocol
Open the extension, and select either HTTP or HTTPS under "Proxy Protocol".
Step 2: Fill in the Proxy Information
Enter the proxy information, such as proxy server, proxy port, proxy account, and proxy password.
Proxy Server (Proxy Host): This depends on the proxy service you purchased. For more details, you can consult your proxy service provider. Examples include 113.205.65.119, pr.oxylabs.io, proxyabcd.com.
Proxy Port: Examples are 1234, 3302, etc. It is a string of numbers less than 65535, without any English characters.
Username: Typically, the proxy username here does not refer to your proxy service dashboard account, but the account for each proxy server. This information is provided by the proxy service provider. It is usually a string of random characters, such as sshen3142, juyt73n.
Password: Like Username, it is usually provided by the proxy service provider.
After filling in the username and password, remember to "Save changes".
TIPS
Proxy servers usually have two types of authentication methods, password authentication and IP authentication.
Password Authentication: When filling in the proxy information, you must fill in the "Proxy Account" and "Proxy Password" to connect to the proxy server.
IP Authentication: For proxy servers used through IP authentication, there is no need to fill in the "Proxy Account" and "Proxy Password". You only need to fill in the "Proxy Server" and "Proxy Port" to connect.
Finally, click on Apply changes.
Step 3: Apply the Proxy and Access the Website
You can pin the Switchy Omega to the top of the browser for easy access in the following operations.
Select the proxy configuration "proxy" that we just created, and the icon of the plugin will change to the corresponding blue color.
Visit BrowserScan，check the proxy IP address, and confirm whether the proxy is successful.
How to set up a SOCKS5 proxy in Switchy Omega
The steps are exactly the same as for HTTP/HTTPS, you need to change the proxy protocol to SOCKS5.
Difference Between Chrome and Firefox
When you set up a SOCKS5 proxy with Switchy Omega, the Chrome does not support SOCKS5 proxies with "password authentication", it only supports SOCKS5 proxies with "IP authentication". However, the Firefox browser supports both types of SOCKS5 proxies.
You can do a test:
Set up a SOCKS5 proxy in the Switchy Omega plugin in both the Chrome and the Firefox
Choose the SOCKS5 proxy protocol and fill in the proxy server, proxy port, proxy username, and proxy password
Select the "proxy" configuration, and then visit BrowserScan again.
Result: Chrome browser cannot access BrowserScan, while Firefox browser can access and display the proxy IP address.
Chrome
Firefox
⚠️Risk Warning
If you have read our article about IP time and system time before, when using a proxy server to access websites, it's possible to leak your system time. This can be used by websites as a basis for flagging your account as suspicious.
For example, when a user in Singapore uses a US proxy server to access a website, they may be flagged as suspicious due to the time inconsistency. If you are currently using a VPN or proxy server, you might want to click to check it.
Although not every website has severe penalties for users who use VPNs or proxy servers, you still need to be vigilant about this, just in case.