As you surf the internet you leave footprints on the sites you visit. It may be that a cookie from the websites you visit was put in your temporary internet files. It could be that Google made a note of an advertisement you clicked on, or it could be that your IP address was recorded. Your IP address is a telltale point to finding out who you are and creating an online user profile of you. If privacy online is important to you, then change IP address online.

For privacy reasons, I can only recommend a VPN, or virtual private network. This is a secure network of servers in a location outside your own network, but shielded from the larger internet. Rerouting your browsing, streaming, and downloading traffic through these servers means that they keep your original IP secret, and give you 'decoy' credentials with which to surf the internet. This decoy, virtual, fake, or anonymous IP address is key to privacy online.

The reason I recommend VPNs for privacy online is that they are an all encompassing answer to any problems you may have regarding eavesdropping, identity theft, and cyber crime. For example, the encryption of IPSec, SSH, or SSL VPNs use different types of certificates or keys to authenticate you as a user, and prevent outsiders from viewing or even actively hacking your data. On top of this, many standard VPN services offer a combination of this data encryption and VPN tunneling protocols, like L2TP/IPSec and OpenVPN/SSL.

Aside form all that technical jargon - it just plain works, and it works for everything. A VPN creates a virtual tunnel for your whole computer or phone, which means that all applications and programs running will also use the virtual IP address assigned to you. Those who have been thinking, "what about proxies?" this whole time, now you have your answer. Proxies only protect your browsing, while VPNs do it all - Games, Chat, Webmail, Torrents, and more.

With most VPN services you'll also be able to CHOOSE your IP address. You don't actually have to type in a string of number for your IP, but you do get to choose to which country or city you would like your data rerouted to. You could live outside The USA, but use a US VPN server and get a US IP address. This would get you access to US sites. Depending on where you are and what country/city you want to use an IP from, you'll have to shop around for VPN services with VPN servers there. As a rule of thumb, a VPN server closer to you will provide faster connection speeds, so this could influence your choice.

Maybe the most practical reason I suggest a VPN service to change IP address online is that to get a decent proxy, you're going to have to pay a premium anyway. A lot of times that price is only a dollar or two less than that of a great VPN service that can provide better customer support, better encryption, more features, and more choice.