Check if a program runs through a proxy?

[SkyDX]

Hey Neowin,

I just wondered if there's a way to see if a program connects through a proxy/another server to the internet or directly, google didn't help much :(

Thanks for help in advance!^^

[Detection]

TCP View

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb897437

[SkyDX]

TCP View

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb897437

Woha thanks! If I get that right, if it connects through a proxy the address IP will be different?

[Detection]

It will show you the IP that each process is connected to, check the list until you find the program in question, copy the IP and run a Who Is trace on it, see who the company is.

[SkyDX]

Okay alright, I should be able to figure this out then, thanks again :)

[Detection]

No probs, what makes you think a program is using a proxy? Which program is it ?

[SkyDX]

No probs, what makes you think a program is using a proxy? Which program is it ?

Oh it's nothing malware or virus related if you think that, it's just for a friends laptop. Due to new security measure at his school everyone is required to connect through a proxy and they changed the default IE proxy settings on his laptop. Now since he is too lazy to always switch it off when he's at home I set up a proxy program to force things like ICQ to direct connect since I'm not sure if it relies on the default internet settings or not and I just wanted to see if it works^^

[s0nic69]

Yea TCP View should work.

You just got me thinking right now, a long time ago i needed a program that would let me choose if i wanted a program like icq to run off my wired, wireless or proxy connection. Has anyone seen anything like this?

To me it seems impossible to develop a program like that. But it doesnt hurt to ask....

[SkyDX]

Yea TCP View should work.

You just got me thinking right now, a long time ago i needed a program that would let me choose if i wanted a program like icq to run off my wired, wireless or proxy connection. Has anyone seen anything like this?

To me it seems impossible to develop a program like that. But it doesnt hurt to ask....

Thanks to you too! And hmm I never heard of such a program, sorry :( But it's definitely not impossible, the program just has to look at the available LAN/WLAN connections and ask you accordingly.

[Detection]

I used to use a program called Proxifier to send programs through a proxy that did not look at IE settings - that used to work pretty well, but I am not sure which has priority, IE or a proxy program

[SkyDX]

I used to use a program called Proxifier to send programs through a proxy that did not look at IE settings - that used to work pretty well, but I am not sure which has priority, IE or a proxy program

Yeah that's exactly why I wanted to check, I use the 30day trial of ProxyCap for now. Oh well I will see tomorrow^^

[Detection]

Just reading about proxifier and it states the following.

------

Process All except the following + manually proxified:

Proxifier will Process ALL connections EXCEPT the ones that match the rules AND all manually proxified applications will be proxified.

The mode is useful when you plan to use Proxifier in almost all of your network activities.

For the connections that should not go through proxy server ? please create corresponding rules.

Process Only the following + manually proxified:

Proxifier will tunnel ONLY the connections that match the rules AND all manually proxified applications will be proxified.

The mode is useful when the most of your connections should be established directly; however some connections should go through a proxy server. All you need is to create the rules for these connections.

------

So if you setup the program to send certain programs through it and not others, you should be able to gain the desired rules your looking for.

It might be easier to set it up the other way around though, using the proxy program for his schools rule, telling IE to go through that. And leave the rest of the machine set to connect without a proxy, as I would imagine there will be more programs and browsers etc being used at home that need to bypass the proxy, and generally only IE will be used at school ? Just guessing but thats how I would do it.

[SkyDX]

Just reading about proxifier and it states the following.

------

Process All except the following + manually proxified:

Proxifier will Process ALL connections EXCEPT the ones that match the rules AND all manually proxified applications will be proxified.

The mode is useful when you plan to use Proxifier in almost all of your network activities.

For the connections that should not go through proxy server ? please create corresponding rules.

Process Only the following + manually proxified:

Proxifier will tunnel ONLY the connections that match the rules AND all manually proxified applications will be proxified.

The mode is useful when the most of your connections should be established directly; however some connections should go through a proxy server. All you need is to create the rules for these connections.

------

So if you setup the program to send certain programs through it and not others, you should be able to gain the desired rules your looking for.

It might be easier to set it up the other way around though, using the proxy program for his schools rule, telling IE to go through that. And leave the rest of the machine set to connect without a proxy, as I would imagine there will be more programs and browsers etc being used at home that need to bypass the proxy, and generally only IE will be used at school ? Just guessing but thats how I would do it.

Thanks for that Detection! You are totally right, I made it harder for myself and him than I should have :pinch: Yeah the only programs that run through it are IE and some custom school software thingy so I suppose I will just route these two through a proxy app and leave the rest of the system alone, he uses Firefox normally anyway so that's fine with IE.

Thanks again! :)

[articuno1au]

For future reference for anyone reading this thread: Windows Vista and 7 have Resource Monitor with TCP connection monitoring.

Simply type "resource monitor" into the search box in your start bar, then click the network tab, and vwalla! (or however you spell it :p)

[Detection]

Ah good stuff, yea that will be easier then - although if he started using FF at school rather than IE, he could, or you could rather, set FF's own connection settings to go through the proxy - but that would only work if the school software has its own option to set a proxy in too, and does not rely on IE settings.

If it does, and you did it that way, you wouldnt need any proxy software installed. But it would mean him having to use a different browser at home, which for most is not an option. I know FF is my favourite browser and would rather completely recode Windows than change browsers lol

[SkyDX]

Ah good stuff, yea that will be easier then - although if he started using FF at school rather than IE, he could, or you could rather, set FF's own connection settings to go through the proxy - but that would only work if the school software has its own option to set a proxy in and not relying on IE settings.

If it does, and you did it that way, you wouldnt need any proxy software installed. But it would mean him having to use a different browser at home, which for most is not an option. I know FF is my favourite browser and would rather completely recode Windows than change browsers lol

No no you misunderstood me, he uses Firefox by default at home, I taught him to stay away from IE back during the IE6 age and he got used to FF :p But he has no trouble using IE10 for school so all is fine :) And I haven't even seen the school software yet we only talked about it on the phone^^

And whoa thanks articuno I didn't know, it seems to be as good as TCP Viewer, Windows sure has some handy stuff under the surface and it's fun to learn new things about it even after 10 years :p

[Detection]

Yea thats what I mean, sorry maybe did not explain it properly.

If you could get him to use FF at school and say Chrome at home, then you could get away with not using the proxy software as FF has its own connection manager you can set proxies in.

But like I say, that would be pointless if 1. He cant be without FF at home, and 2. The school software relies on IEs proxy settings.

I think I am just confusing things a bit, but it would be very possible to do this without the need for any 3rd party proxy programs.

[SkyDX]

Yea thats what I mean, sorry maybe did not explain it properly.

If you could get him to use FF at school and say Chrome at home, then you could get away with not using the proxy software as FF has its own connection manager you can set proxies in.

But like I say, that would be pointless if 1. He cant be without FF at home, and 2. The school software relies on IEs proxy settings.

I think I am just confusing things a bit, but it would be very possible to do this without the need for any 3rd party proxy programs.

Ahh okay I understand now what you mean, sorry for the confusion too. It's always good to have alternatives so I will tell him your method with Chrome and Firefox too, come to think of it doesn't even need to be a different browser I could just set up a second Firefox profile and set Firefox to ask on startup :) Then I just have to check out this school software and all is good to go^^

[Detection]

Even better :)

Keep thinking of different ways and pretty soon he won't need a proxy at all lol

[SkyDX]

Even better :)

Keep thinking of different ways and pretty soon he won't need a proxy at all lol

Yeah! :p I will just reconfigure his school network :whistle: :shiftyninja: