i am using firefox 1.5 and USE a proxy typed in the connection settings and not any program,but when i use the proxy i see that a page takes more time to load than in dirrect connection,why is this and is there a way to overcome this problem

my second problem is that i cant view my mails in gmail using a proxy,is there any other e mail service which i can use to view my mails using the proxy?
thanksThere are a few possible reasons for PROXIES causing a slow-down, but here are the main two:

1. Bottlenecks

Your connection to any point on the internet is only as fast as the slowest segment of the connection. Slowness can be for all sorts of reasons - overloaded routers, routers that "shape" traffic, i.e. only allow certain traffic through at a certain pace. The proxy itself may allocate limited bandwidth to each connection - or the proxy may be overloaded, which would be very likely if it's a public anonymous proxy.

2. Processing

Anonymous proxies (as opposed to CACHING proxies) usually do a bit of processing, stripping out certain BITS of data, inserting custom headers, footers, advertising, etc. Processing takes time, and slows down the experience for the end user.

As to your Gmail problem - it may be blocked by the proxy. Or the communication may be too complicated for the proxy to HANDLE. Either use a different proxy, or no proxy.thanks