Normally, for instance, the websites you visit will at the very least have access to your IP address, so they'll know where in the world you are. SafeIP, though, can allocate you another IP address in the US, UK, Poland or Germany. All you have to do is double-click on your country of choice, and your address will be allocated and displayed immediately.
Apart from enhancing your privacy, this may also allow you access to some sites you wouldn't normally be able to reach. If you've ever tried to view content and got a "not available in your country" message, for instance, that's probably down to your IP address, and getting another may help.
Click the "Settings" button and you'll find SafeIP has many more options. It can also remove your browser's user agent header, for instance. And there are options to block cookies, or website referrers.
The program can even try to block ads and prevent you from accessing malicious websites, although this doesn't exactly appear to be as sophisticated as you might hope. When we checked the relevant boxes, SafeIP simply displayed an error message complaining that "there was a problem adding updates to your HOSTS file".
There's clearly some work to do on these more advanced functions, then, but don't let that necessarily put you off. SafeIP's core function of changing your IP address appears to work very well, and that's more than enough to justify its installation.
