Getting Started

When you launch NetShade the first time, you'll be asked to authenticate. Provide your login and password here. This is a one-time authentication. It is needed to grant NetShade permission to update your network settings. When the application launches, you'll see the NetShade Console window.



This is NetShade's main window. It shows you the status of your current connection settings in a graphical format. The blue sphere represents the Internet, the computer icon is your computer. If you click the Direct Connect button, the arrow will go directly between the Internet and your computer, indicating that you're not using a proxy. If you click the Proxy button, your connection will be routed through a proxy. If you have the "Cycle" button enabled, your proxy server will be randomly changed after a certain time interval. The default is 10 secounds. This can be changed in Preferences.

The current proxy server is represented by the flag of the country where the proxy is located. Summary info is also shown for the proxy, including:
Loc:The country where the proxy server is located
IP:The proxy server's IP address
Port:The TCP port that the proxy server uses
Ping Time:The most recent ping time for this server. Note that "ping time" does not refer to a standard ICMP ping, but rather to a round-trip HTTP request to the proxy. This provides a much more accurate indication of the server's speed. The ping times are calculated by the NetShade server located in Florida, not by your computer.
Security:The level of security that the proxy provides. See Proxy Servers for more info about security types.

To verify that your proxy setup is working, you can choose Show my IP in Web Browser from the View menu. This will open a webpage which reports your IP address. It should be the address of the proxy you're using.

When you quit NetShade, your Proxy settings will be cleared and your Internet connection will be open again.