ZenScrape is a web scraping API that enables users to gather data from any website they want. It is easy and simple to use as it will handle all of the web scraping problems for the user like proxies or browsers. ZenScrape is a premium web scraper but users can do a free trial for a bit to see if they like it or not.
Most websites have strict restrictions against the use of bots and if they detect that you’re using ZenScrape, or any other web scraping automation tool, to extract data from their website, your account will be immediately banned and your IP address will be quickly blacklisted.
A ZenScrape proxy will help you avoid getting detected and subsequently banned by the website. It will handle all of your web requests for you so any website you visit will only be able to see the IP address of the proxy server and not your own. By continuously rotating proxies, ZenScrape would have a different IP address each time it sends a request so websites will think that those requests come from multiple users and not just from a single location.
Let’s set up a ZenScrape proxy server.
For Windows:
To set up proxies in Windows, simply search for “Proxy Settings” in your windows search bar and open the search result.
You are then given two options to choose from: Automatic proxy setup or Manual proxy setup. If you want windows to automatically detect your proxy settings, choose the first option. Choose the second option if you want to utilize a specific ip address and port number.
If you chose the first option, then:
- Turn on Automatically detect Settings
- Turn on Use setup script
- Enter the script address
- Click Save
If you chose the second option, then:
- Turn on Use a proxy server
- Input both server address and port number
- If you have any addresses you would like to visit without a proxy, enter them here
- Turn on Don’t use the proxy server for local addresses check box if you want to access a local server without a proxy
- Click Save
Image Alt Text: Windows Automatic Proxy Setup
For Mac:
To start configuring your proxy settings in MacOS, simply:
Step 1. Click on the Apple Icon.
Step 2. On the drop down menu, click on “System Preferences”.
Step 3. Click on “Network”
Step 4. Click on “Advanced”
Note: Make sure to connect to your wi-fi first.
Step 5. Click on “Proxies”
This should then redirect you to MacOS proxy settings. MacOS is more straightforward compared to windows. You only have one option which is to manually configure your proxy server.
Here are the steps to follow:
- Select which proxy IP protocol you want to configure. This depends on which protocols your proxy service provider offers.
- Turn on Secure Web Proxy
- Input the Proxy Server Address and Port Number
- Click OK to save the configurations
Note: You may be prompted for your Mac user password to save your settings.
Image Alt Text: Configuring MacOS Proxy Settings
Congratulations! You have now finished configuring a ZenScrape proxy server.
