2 Privoxy Frequently Asked Questions
6 $Id: faq.sgml,v 1.30 2002/03/25 16:39:22 hal9 Exp $
8 The FAQ document gives users and developers alike answers to
9 frequently asked questions about Privoxy. Privoxy is a web proxy with
10 advanced filtering capabilities for protecting privacy, filtering web
11 page content, managing cookies, controlling access, and removing ads,
12 banners, pop-ups and other obnoxious Internet Junk. Privoxy has a very
13 flexible configuration and can be customized to suit individual needs
14 and tastes. Privoxy has application for both stand-alone systems and
17 You can find the latest version of the document at
18 [1]http://www.privoxy.org/faq/. Please see the Contact section in the
19 [2]user-manual if you want to contact the developers.
20 _________________________________________________________________
23 1. [3]Frequently Asked Questions
25 1.1. [4]General Information
27 1.1.1. [5]What is this new version of Privoxy?
28 1.1.2. [6]Why "Privoxy"? Why a name change at all?
29 1.1.3. [7]How does it differ from the old Junkbuster?
30 1.1.4. [8]What are some of the new features?
31 1.1.5. [9]What is a "proxy"? How does Privoxy work?
32 1.1.6. [10]My browser does the same things as Privoxy. Why
33 should I use Privoxy at all?
35 1.1.7. [11]Is there is a license or fee? What about a
36 warranty? Registration?
38 1.1.8. [12]I would like to help you, what do I do?
42 1.2.1. [14]Which browsers are supported by Privoxy?
43 1.2.2. [15]Which operating systems are supported?
44 1.2.3. [16]Can I install Privoxy over Junkbuster?
45 1.2.4. [17]I just installed Privoxy. Is there anything
46 special I have to do now?
48 1.2.5. [18]What is the proxy address of Privoxy?
49 1.2.6. [19]I just installed Privoxy, and nothing is
50 happening. All the ads are there. What's wrong?
52 1.3. [20]Configuration
54 1.3.1. [21]Can I use my old config files?
55 1.3.2. [22]What is an "actions" file?
56 1.3.3. [23]The "actions"concept confuses me. Please list
57 some of these "actions".
59 1.3.4. [24]How are actions files configured? What is the
60 easiest way to do this?
62 1.3.5. [25]What are the differences between
63 intermediate.action, basic.action, etc.?
65 1.3.6. [26]Why can I change the configuration with a
66 browser? Does that not raise security issues?
68 1.3.7. [27]What is a "default.filter"?
69 1.3.8. [28]How can I set up Privoxy to act as a proxy for
72 1.3.9. [29]Instead of ads, now I get a checkerboard
73 pattern. I don't want to see anything.
75 1.3.10. [30]Why would anybody want to see a checkerboard
78 1.3.11. [31]I see large red banners on some pages that say
79 "Blocked". How do I get rid of this?
81 1.3.12. [32]How can I make Privoxy work with other proxies
84 1.4. [33]Miscellaneous
86 1.4.1. [34]How much does Privoxy slow my browsing down?
87 This has to add extra time to browsing.
89 1.4.2. [35]I noticed considerable delays in page requests
90 compared to the old Junkbuster. What's wrong?
92 1.4.3. [36]What is the "http://p.p/"?
93 1.4.4. [37]Do you still maintain the blocklists?
94 1.4.5. [38]How can I submit new ads?
95 1.4.6. [39]How can I hide my IP address?
96 1.4.7. [40]Can Privoxy guarantee I am anonymous?
97 1.4.8. [41]Might some things break because header
98 information is being altered?
100 1.4.9. [42]Can Privoxy act as a "caching" proxy to speed up
103 1.4.10. [43]What about as a firewall? Can Privoxy protect
106 1.4.11. [44]The Privoxy logo that replaces ads is very
107 blocky and ugly looking. Can't a better font be
110 1.4.12. [45]I have large empty spaces now where ads used to
111 be. Why does Privoxy leave these large gaps?
113 1.4.13. [46]How can Privoxy filter Secure (HTTPS) URLs?
114 1.4.14. [47]Privoxy runs as a "server". How secure is it?
115 Do I need to take any special precautions?
117 1.4.15. [48]How can I temporarily disable Privoxy?
119 1.5. [49]Troubleshooting
121 1.5.1. [50]I just upgraded and am getting "connection
122 refused" with every web page?
124 1.5.2. [51]I just added a new rule, but the steenkin ad is
125 still getting through. How?
127 1.5.3. [52]One of my favorite sites does not work with
128 Privoxy. What can I do?
130 1.5.4. [53]What time is it?
132 2. [54]Copyright and History
135 1. Frequently Asked Questions
137 1.1. General Information
139 1.1.1. What is this new version of Privoxy?
141 The original Internet Junkbuster (tm) is a copyrighted product of
142 [56]Junkbusters Corporation. Development of this effort stopped some
143 time ago as of version 2.0.2. Stefan Waldherr started the ijbswa
144 project on [57]Sourceforge to rekindle development. Other developers
145 subsequently joined with Stefan, and have since added many new
146 features, refinements and enhancements.
148 The new Privoxy started with the same Junkbuster code base, but has
149 changed significantly at this point.
150 _________________________________________________________________
152 1.1.2. Why "Privoxy"? Why a name change at all?
154 Privoxy is for "Privacy Enhancing Proxy". There are possible legal
155 complications from the continued use of the Junkbuster name, which is
156 a trademark of [58]Junkbusters Corporation. (There are no objections
157 from Junkbusters Corporation to the Privoxy project itself though, and
158 they in fact still share our ideals and goals.)
160 The developers also believed that there so many changes from the
161 original code, that it was time to make a clean break from the past
162 and make a name in their own right, especially now with the pending
163 release of version 3.0.
164 _________________________________________________________________
166 1.1.3. How does it differ from the old Junkbuster?
168 All the old features remain. The new Privoxy still blocks ads and
169 banners, still manages cookies, and still helps protect your privacy.
170 But, these are all enhanced, and many new features have been added,
171 all in the same vein.
173 The configuration has changed significantly as well. This is something
174 that users will notice right off the bat. The "blocklist" file does
175 not exist any more. This is replaced by "actions" files, such as
176 default.actions. This is where most of the per site configuration is
178 _________________________________________________________________
180 1.1.4. What are some of the new features?
182 * Integrated browser based configuration and control utility
183 ([59]http://p.p). Browser-based tracing of rule and filter
185 * Blocking of annoying pop-up browser windows.
186 * HTTP/1.1 compliant (most, but not all 1.1 features are supported).
187 * Support for Perl Compatible Regular Expressions in the
188 configuration files, and generally a more sophisticated and
189 flexible configuration syntax over previous versions.
191 * Web page content filtering (removes banners based on size,
192 invisible "web-bugs", JavaScript, pop-ups, status bar abuse, etc.)
193 * Bypass many click-tracking scripts (avoids script redirection).
194 * Multi-threaded (POSIX and native threads).
195 * Auto-detection and re-reading of config file changes.
196 * User-customizable HTML templates (e.g. 404 error page).
197 * Improved cookie management features (e.g. session based cookies).
198 * Builds from source on most UNIX-like systems. Packages available
199 for: Linux (RedHat, SuSE, or Debian), Windows, Sun Solaris, Mac
200 OSX, OS/2, HP-UX 11 and AmigaOS.
201 * In addition, the configuration is much more powerful and versatile
203 _________________________________________________________________
205 1.1.5. What is a "proxy"? How does Privoxy work?
207 When you connect to a web site with Privoxy, you are really connecting
208 to your locally running version of Privoxy. Privoxy intercepts your
209 requests for the web page, and relays that to the "real" web site. The
210 web site sends the HTTP data stream back to Privoxy, where Privoxy can
211 work its magic before it relays this data back to your web browser.
213 Since Privoxy sits between you and the WWW, it is in a position to
214 intercept and completely manage all web traffic and HTTP content
215 before it gets to your browser. Privoxy uses various programming
216 methods to do this, all of which is under your control via the various
217 configuration files and options.
219 There are many kinds of proxies. Privoxy best fits the "filtering
221 _________________________________________________________________
223 1.1.6. My browser does the same things as Privoxy. Why should I use Privoxy
226 Modern browsers do indeed have some of the same functionality as
227 Privoxy. Maybe this is adequate for you. But Privoxy is much more
228 versatile and powerful, and can do a number of things that browsers
231 In addition, a proxy is good choice if you use multiple browsers, or
232 have a LAN with multiple computers. This way all the configuration is
233 in one place, and you don't have to maintain a similar configuration
234 for possibly many browsers.
235 _________________________________________________________________
237 1.1.7. Is there is a license or fee? What about a warranty? Registration?
239 Privoxy is licensed under the GNU General Public License (GPL). It is
240 free to use, copy, modify or distribute as you wish under the terms of
241 this license. See [60]http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html for
244 There is no warranty of any kind, expressed, implied or otherwise.
245 That is something that would cost real money ;-) There is no
246 registration either. Privoxy really is free in every respect!
247 _________________________________________________________________
249 1.1.8. I would like to help you, what do I do?
251 1.1.8.1. Money Money Money
253 We, of course, welcome donations and use the money for domain
254 registering, regular world-wide get-togethers (hahaha). Anyway, we'll
255 soon describe the process how to donate money to the team.
256 _________________________________________________________________
258 1.1.8.2. You want to work with us?
260 Well, helping the team is always a good idea. We welcome new
261 developers, RPM gurus or documentation makers. Simply get an account
262 on sourceforge.net and mail your id to the developer mailing list.
263 Then read the section Quickstart in the developers manual.
265 Once we have added you to the team, you'll have write access to the
266 CVS repository, and together we'll find a suitable task for you.
267 _________________________________________________________________
271 1.2.1. Which browsers are supported by Privoxy?
273 Any browser that can be configured to use a "proxy", which is probably
274 almost all browsers. Direct browser support is not necessary since
275 Privoxy runs as a separate application and just exchanges standard
276 HTML data with your browser.
277 _________________________________________________________________
279 1.2.2. Which operating systems are supported?
281 Right now Win32, Mac OSX, OS/2, AmigaOS, Linux, and many flavors of
284 Source code is available, so porting to other operating systems, is
285 always a possibility.
286 _________________________________________________________________
288 1.2.3. Can I install Privoxy over Junkbuster?
290 We recommend you uninstall Junkbuster first to minimize conflicts and
291 confusion. You may want to save your old configuration files for
292 future reference. The configuration is substantially changed.
294 See the [61]user-manual for platform specific installation
295 instructions. [FIXME: This is meant for after the name change for
297 _________________________________________________________________
299 1.2.4. I just installed Privoxy. Is there anything special I have to do now?
301 All browsers must be told to use Privoxy as a proxy by specifying the
302 correct proxy address and port number in the appropriate configuration
303 area for the browser. See below.
304 _________________________________________________________________
306 1.2.5. What is the proxy address of Privoxy?
308 If you set up the Privoxy to run on the computer you browse from
309 (rather than your ISP's server or some networked computer on a LAN),
310 the proxy will be on "localhost" (which is the special name used by
311 every computer on the Internet to refer to itself) and the port will
312 be 8118 (unless you have Privoxy to run on a different port with the
313 listen-address config option).
315 When configuring your browser's proxy settings you typically enter the
316 word "localhost" in the boxes next to "HTTP" and "Secure" (HTTPS) and
317 then the number "8118" for "port". This tells your browser to send all
318 web requests to Privoxy instead of directly to the Internet.
320 Privoxy can also be used to proxy for a Local Area Network. In this
321 case, your would enter either the IP address of the LAN host where
322 Privoxy is running, or the equivalent hostname. Port assignment would
325 Privoxy does not currently handle protocols such as FTP, SMTP, IM,
326 IRC, ICQ, or other Internet protocols.
327 _________________________________________________________________
329 1.2.6. I just installed Privoxy, and nothing is happening. All the ads are
332 Did you configure your browser to use Privoxy as a proxy? It does not
333 sound like it. See above. You might also try flushing the browser's
334 caches to force a full re-reading of pages. You can verify that
335 Privoxy is running, and your browser is correctly configured by
336 entering the special URL: [62]http://p.p/. This should give you a
337 banner that says "This is Privoxy" and access to Privoxy's internal
338 configuration. If you see this, then you are good to go. If not, the
339 browser or Privoxy are not set up correctly.
340 _________________________________________________________________
344 1.3.1. Can I use my old config files?
346 There are major changes to Junkbuster configuration from version 2.0.x
347 to 2.9.x and later. The older files will not work at all. If this is
348 the case, you will need to re-enter your old data into the new
349 configuration structure. This is probably also a good recommendation
350 even if upgrading from 2.9.x to 3.x since there were many minor
351 changes along the way.
352 _________________________________________________________________
354 1.3.2. What is an "actions" file?
356 "actions" files are where various actions that Privoxy might take, are
357 configured. Typically, you would define a set of default actions that
358 apply to all URLs, then add exceptions to these defaults.
360 Actions can be defined on a per site basis, or for groups of sites.
361 Actions can also be grouped together and then applied to one or more
362 sites. There are many possible actions that might apply to any given
363 site. As an example, if we are blocking cookies as one of our default
364 actions, but need to accept cookies from a given site, we would define
365 this in our "actions" file.
367 Privoxy comes with several default actions files, with varying degrees
368 of filtering and blocking, as starting points for your own
369 configuration (see below).
370 _________________________________________________________________
372 1.3.3. The "actions"concept confuses me. Please list some of these
375 These are all explained in the [63]user-manual. Please refer to that.
376 _________________________________________________________________
378 1.3.4. How are actions files configured? What is the easiest way to do this?
380 The easiest way to do this, is to access Privoxy with your web browser
381 at [64]http://p.p/, and then select "[65]Edit the actions list" from
382 the selection list. You can also do this by editing the appropriate
383 file with a text editor.
385 Please see the [66]user-manual for a detailed explanation of these and
386 other configuration files, and their various options and syntax.
387 _________________________________________________________________
389 1.3.5. What are the differences between intermediate.action, basic.action,
392 Configuring Privoxy is not easy. To help you get started, we provide
393 you with three different default configurations. The following table
394 shows you, which features are enabled in each configuration.
396 Table 1. Default Configurations
397 Feature default.action basic.action intermediate.action
401 de-animate GIFs ? x x x
402 referer forging ? x x x
403 jon's +no-cookies-keep (i.e. session cookies only) ? x x x
404 no-popup windows ? x x
408 content-modification ? x
412 _________________________________________________________________
414 1.3.6. Why can I change the configuration with a browser? Does that not
415 raise security issues?
417 What I don't understand, is how I can browser edit the config file as
418 a regular user, while the whole /etc/privoxy hierarchy belongs to the
419 user "privoxy", with only 644 perms.
421 When you use the browser-based editor, Privoxy itself is writing to
422 the config files. Because Privoxy is running as the user "privoxy", it
423 can update the config files.
425 If you don't like this, setting "enable-edit-actions 0" in the config
426 file will disable the browser-based editor. If you're that paranoid,
427 you should also consider setting "enable-remote-toggle 0" to prevent
428 browser-based enabling/disabling of Privoxy.
430 Note that normally only local users can connect to Privoxy, so this is
431 not (normally) a security problem.
432 _________________________________________________________________
434 1.3.7. What is a "default.filter"?
436 The "default.filter" file is used to "filter" any web page content. By
437 "filtering" we mean it can modify, remove, or change anything on the
438 page, including HTML tags, and JavaScript. Regular expressions are
439 used to accomplish this, and operate on a line by line basis. This is
440 potentially a very powerful feature, but requires some expertise.
442 If you are familiar with regular expressions, and HTML, you can look
443 at the provided default.filter with a text editor and see some of
444 things it can be used for.
446 Presently, there is no GUI editor option for this part of the
447 configuration, but you can disable/enable various sections of the
448 included default file with the "Actions List Editor" from your
450 _________________________________________________________________
452 1.3.8. How can I set up Privoxy to act as a proxy for my LAN?
454 By default, Privoxy only responds to requests from localhost. To have
455 it act as a server for a network, this needs to be changed in the main
456 config file where the Privoxy configuration is located. In that file
457 is a "listen-address" option. It may be commented out with a "#"
458 symbol. Make sure it is uncommented, and assign it the address of the
459 LAN gateway interface, and port number to use:
461 listen-address 192.168.1.1:8118
463 Save the file, and restart Privoxy. Configure all browsers on the
464 network then to use this address and port number.
465 _________________________________________________________________
467 1.3.9. Instead of ads, now I get a checkerboard pattern. I don't want to see
470 This is a configuration option for images that Privoxy is stopping.
471 You have the choice a checkerboard pattern, a transparent 1x1 GIF
472 image (aka "blank"), or a custom URL or your choice.
474 If you want to see nothing, then change the "+image-blocker" action to
475 "+image-blocker{blank}". This can be done from the "Edit Actions List"
476 selection at [67]http://p.p/. Or by hand editing the appropriate
477 actions file. This will only effect what is defined as "images"
479 _________________________________________________________________
481 1.3.10. Why would anybody want to see a checkerboard pattern?
483 This can be helpful for troubleshooting problems. It might also be
484 good for anyone new to Privoxy so that they can see if their favorite
485 pages are displaying correctly, and Privoxy is not inadvertently
486 removing something important.
487 _________________________________________________________________
489 1.3.11. I see large red banners on some pages that say "Blocked". How do I
492 These are URLs that match something in one of Privoxy's block actions
493 (+block). It is meant to be a warning so that you know something has
494 been blocked and an easy way for you to see why. These are handled
495 differently than what has been defined as "images" (e.g. ad banners).
496 If you want them to be treated as if they were images, so that they
497 can be made invisible, then move the offending URL from the "+block"
498 section to the "+imageblock" section of your actions file.
499 Alternately, you could modify the "block" HTML template that is used
500 by Privoxy to display this, and make it something more to your liking.
501 _________________________________________________________________
503 1.3.12. How can I make Privoxy work with other proxies like Squid?
505 This can be done. See the [68]user manual, which describes how to do
507 _________________________________________________________________
511 1.4.1. How much does Privoxy slow my browsing down? This has to add extra
514 It should not slow you down any in real terms, and may actually help
515 speed things up since ads, banners and other junk are not being
516 displayed. The actual processing time required by Privoxy itself for
517 each page, is relatively small in the overall scheme of things, and
518 happens very quickly. This is typically more than offset by time saved
519 not downloading and rendering ad images.
521 "Filtering" via the filterfile mechanism may cause a perceived
522 slowdown, since the entire page is buffered before displaying. See
524 _________________________________________________________________
526 1.4.2. I noticed considerable delays in page requests compared to the old
527 Junkbuster. What's wrong?
529 Using the default filtering configuration, I noticed considerable
530 delays in page requests compared to the old Junkbuster. Loading pages
531 with large contents seemed to take forever, then suddenly delivering
532 all the content at once.
534 The whole content must be loaded in order to filter, and nothing is is
535 sent to the browser during this time. The loading time does not really
536 change in real numbers, but the feeling is different, because most
537 browsers are able to start rendering incomplete content, giving the
538 user a feeling of "it works".
540 To modify the content of a page (i.e. make frames resizeable again,
541 etc.) and not just replace ads, Privoxy needs to download the entire
542 page first, do its content magic and then send the page to the
544 _________________________________________________________________
546 1.4.3. What is the "http://p.p/"?
548 Since Privoxy sits between your web browser and the Internet, it can
549 be programmed to handle certain pages specially.
551 With recent versions of Privoxy (version 2.9.x), you can get some
552 information about Privoxy and change some settings by going to
553 http://p.p/ or, equivalently, http://www.privoxy.org/config/ (Note
554 that p.p is far easier to type but may not work in some
557 These pages are *not* forwarded to a server on the Internet - instead
558 they are handled by a special web server which is built in to Privoxy.
560 If you are not running Privoxy, then http://p.p/ will fail, and
561 http://www.privoxy.org/config/ will return a web page telling you
562 you're not running Privoxy.
564 If you have version 2.0.2, then the equivalent is
565 http://example.com/show-proxy-args (but you get far less information,
566 and you should really consider upgrading to 2.9.x).
567 _________________________________________________________________
569 1.4.4. Do you still maintain the blocklists?
571 No. The format of the blocklists has changed significantly in the
572 versions 2.9.x. Once we have released the new version, there will
573 again be blocklists that you can update automatically.
574 _________________________________________________________________
576 1.4.5. How can I submit new ads?
578 As of now, please discontinue to submit new ad blocking infos. Once we
579 have released the new version, there will again be a form on the
580 website, which you can use to contribute new ads.
581 _________________________________________________________________
583 1.4.6. How can I hide my IP address?
585 You cannot hide your IP address with Privoxy or any other software,
586 since the server needs to know your IP address to send the answer to
589 Fortunately there are many publicly usable anonymous proxies out
590 there, which solve the problem by providing a further level of
591 indirection between you and the web server, shared by many people and
592 thus letting your requests "drown" in white noise of unrelated
593 requests as far as user tracking is concerned.
595 Most of them will, however, log your IP address and make it available
596 to the authorities in case you abuse that anonymity for criminal
597 purposes. In fact you can't even rule out that some of them only exist
598 to *collect* information on (those suspicious) people with a more than
599 average preference for privacy.
601 You can find a list of anonymous public proxies at [69]multiproxy.org
602 and many more through Google.
603 _________________________________________________________________
605 1.4.7. Can Privoxy guarantee I am anonymous?
607 No. Your chances of remaining anonymous are greatly improved, but
608 unless you are an expert on Internet security it would be safest to
609 assume that everything you do on the Web can be traced back to you.
611 Privoxy can remove various information about you, and allows you more
612 freedom to decide which sites you can trust. But it's still possible
613 that web sites can find out who you are. Here's one way this can
616 A few browsers disclose the user's email address in certain
617 situations, such as when transferring a file by FTP. Privoxy does not
618 filter FTP. If you need this feature, or are concerned about the mail
619 handler of your browser disclosing your email address, you might
620 consider products such as NSClean.
622 Browsers available only as binaries could use non-standard headers to
623 give out any information they can have access to: see the
624 manufacturer's license agreement. It's impossible to anticipate and
625 prevent every breach of privacy that might occur. The professionally
626 paranoid prefer browsers available as source code, because
627 anticipating their behavior is easier. Trust the source, Luke!
628 _________________________________________________________________
630 1.4.8. Might some things break because header information is being altered?
632 Definitely. More and more sites use HTTP header content to decide what
633 to display and how to display it. There is many ways that this can be
634 handled, so having hard and fast rules, is tricky.
636 "USER AGENT" in particular is often used in this way to identify the
637 browser, and adjust content accordingly. Changing this now is not
638 recommended, since so many sites do look for this. You may get
639 undesirable results by changing this.
641 For instance, different browsers use different encodings of Russian
642 and Czech characters, certain web servers convert pages on-the-fly
643 according to the User Agent header. Giving a "User Agent" with the
644 wrong operating system or browser manufacturer causes some sites in
645 these languages to be garbled; Surfers to Eastern European sites
646 should change it to something closer. And then some page access
647 counters work by looking at the "REFERER" header; they may fail or
648 break if unavailable. The weather maps of Intellicast have been
649 blocked by their server when no "REFERER" or cookie is provided, is
650 another example. There are many, many other ways things can go wrong
651 when trying to fool a web server.
653 If you have problems with a site, you will have to adjust your
654 configuration accordingly. Cookies are probably the most likely
655 adjustment that may be required, but by no means the only one.
656 _________________________________________________________________
658 1.4.9. Can Privoxy act as a "caching" proxy to speed up web browsing?
660 No, it does not have this ability at all. You want something like
661 [70]Squid for this. And, yes, before you ask, Privoxy can co-exist
662 with other kinds of proxies like "Squid".
663 _________________________________________________________________
665 1.4.10. What about as a firewall? Can Privoxy protect me?
667 Not in the way you mean, or in the way a true firewall can, or a proxy
668 that has this specific capability. Privoxy can help protect your
669 privacy, but not really protect you from intrusion attempts.
670 _________________________________________________________________
672 1.4.11. The Privoxy logo that replaces ads is very blocky and ugly looking.
673 Can't a better font be used?
675 This is not a font problem. The logo is an image that is created by
676 Privoxy on the fly. So as to not waste memory, the image is rather
677 small. The blockiness comes when the image is scaled to fill a largish
678 area. There is not much to be done about this, other than to use one
679 of the other "imageblock" directives: pattern, blank, or a URL of your
682 Given the above problem, we have decided to remove the logo option
683 entirely [as of v2.9.13].
684 _________________________________________________________________
686 1.4.12. I have large empty spaces now where ads used to be. Why does Privoxy
687 leave these large gaps?
689 It would be easy enough to just eliminate this space altogether,
690 rather than fill it with blank space. But, this would create problems
691 with many pages that use the overall size of the ad to help organize
692 the page layout and position the various components of the page where
693 they were intended to be. It is best left this way.
694 _________________________________________________________________
696 1.4.13. How can Privoxy filter Secure (HTTPS) URLs?
698 This is a limitation since HTTPS transactions are encrypted SSL
699 sessions between your browser and the secure site, and are meant to be
700 reliably secure and private. This means that all cookies and HTTP
701 header information are also encrypted from the time they leave your
702 browser, to the site, and vice versa. Privoxy does not try to
703 unencrypt this information, so it just passes through as is. Privoxy
704 can still catch images and ads that are embedded in the SSL stream
706 _________________________________________________________________
708 1.4.14. Privoxy runs as a "server". How secure is it? Do I need to take any
711 There are no known exploits that might effect Privoxy. On Unix-like
712 systems, Privoxy can run as a non-privileged user, which is how we
713 recommend it be run. Also, by default Privoxy only listens to requests
714 from "localhost". It is not itself directly exposed to the Internet in
715 this configuration. If you want to have Privoxy serve as a LAN proxy,
716 this will have to be opened up to allow for LAN requests. In this
717 case, we'd recommend you specify only the LAN gateway address, e.g.
718 192.168.1.1 in the main Privoxy config file. All LAN hosts can then
719 use this as their proxy address in the browser proxy configuration. In
720 this way, Privoxy will not listen on any external ports. Of course, a
721 firewall is always good too. Better safe than sorry.
722 _________________________________________________________________
724 1.4.15. How can I temporarily disable Privoxy?
726 The easiest way is to access Privoxy with your browser by using the
727 special URL: [71]http://p.p/ and select "Toggle Privoxy on or off"
729 _________________________________________________________________
733 1.5.1. I just upgraded and am getting "connection refused" with every web
736 Either Privoxy is not running, or your browser is configured for a
737 different port than what Privoxy is using.
739 The old Privoxy (and also Junkbuster) used port 8000 by default. This
740 has been changed to port 8118 now, due to a conflict with NAS (Network
741 Audio Service), which uses port 8000. If you haven't, you need to
742 change your browser to the new port number, or alternately change
743 Privoxy's "listen-address" setting in the config file used to start
745 _________________________________________________________________
747 1.5.2. I just added a new rule, but the steenkin ad is still getting
750 If the ad had been displayed before you added its URL, it will
751 probably be held in the browser's cache for some time, so it will be
752 displayed without the need for any request to the server, and Privoxy
753 will not be in the picture. The best thing to do is try flushing the
754 browser's caches. And then try again.
756 If this doesn't help, you probably have an error in the rule you
757 applied. Try pasting the full URL of the offending ad into
758 [72]http://www.privoxy.org/config/show-url-info and see if any actions
760 _________________________________________________________________
762 1.5.3. One of my favorite sites does not work with Privoxy. What can I do?
764 First verify that it is indeed a Privoxy problem, by disabling Privoxy
765 filtering and blocking. Go to [73]http://p.p/ and click on "Toggle
766 Privoxy On or Off", then disable it. Now try that page again.
768 If still a problem, go to "Show which actions apply to a URL and why"
769 from [74]http://p.p/ and paste the full URL of the page in question
770 into the prompt. See which actions are being applied to the URL. Now,
771 armed with this information, go to "Edit the actions list". Here you
772 should see various sections that have various Privoxy features
773 disabled for specific sites. Disabled "actions" will have a "-" (minus
774 sign) in front of them. Add your problem page URL to one of these
775 sections that looks like it is disabling the feature that is causing
776 the problem. Re-try the page. There might be some trial and error
777 involved. This is discussed in a little more detail in the
778 [75]user-manual appendix.
780 Alternately, if you are comfortable with a text editor, you can
781 accomplish the same thing by editing the appropriate "actions" file.
782 _________________________________________________________________
784 1.5.4. What time is it?
787 _________________________________________________________________
789 2. Copyright and History
791 Please see the user manual for information on Copyright and History.
792 _________________________________________________________________
796 Please see the user manual for information on references.
800 1. http://www.privoxy.org/faq/
801 2. http://www.privoxy.org/user-manual/contact.html
802 3. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#QUESTIONS
803 4. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#GENERAL
804 5. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#NEWJB
805 6. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#AEN32
806 7. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#DIFFERS
807 8. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#FEATURES
808 9. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#PROXYMORON
809 10. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#BROWSERS2
810 11. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#LICENSE
811 12. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#JOINTEAM
812 13. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#INSTALLATION
813 14. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#WHICHBROWSERS
814 15. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#WHICHOS
815 16. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#NEWINSTALL
816 17. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#AEN146
817 18. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#LOCALHOST
818 19. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#AEN171
819 20. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#CONFIGURATION
820 21. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#NEWCONFIG
821 22. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#AEN187
822 23. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#ACTIONSS
823 24. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#AEN205
824 25. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#CONFIGFILES
825 26. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#BROWSECONFIG
826 27. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#AEN322
827 28. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#AEN334
828 29. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#AEN346
829 30. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#AEN357
830 31. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#AEN362
831 32. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#OTHERPROXY
832 33. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#MISC
833 34. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#AEN381
834 35. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#LOADINGTIMES
835 36. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#CONFIGURL
836 37. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#BLOCKLIST
837 38. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#NEWADS
838 39. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#IP
839 40. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#AEN422
840 41. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#AEN433
841 42. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#AEN443
842 43. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#AEN451
843 44. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#AEN456
844 45. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#AEN465
845 46. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#AEN469
846 47. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#AEN476
847 48. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#TURNOFF
848 49. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#AEN494
849 50. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#AEN496
850 51. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#AEN509
851 52. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#AEN515
852 53. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#AEN533
853 54. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#COPYRIGHT
854 55. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#SEEALSO
855 56. http://www.junkbusters.com/
856 57. http://ijbswa.sourceforge.net/
857 58. http://junkbusters.com/
859 60. http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html
860 61. http://www.privoxy.org/user-manual/
862 63. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/user-manual/configuration.html#ACTIONSFILE
864 65. http://www.privoxy.org/config/edit-actions
865 66. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/user-manual/configuration.html#ACTIONSFILE
867 68. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/user-manual/configuration.html#FORWARDING
868 69. http://www.multiproxy.org/anon_list.htm
869 70. http://www.squid-cache.org/
871 72. http://www.privoxy.org/config/show-url-info
874 75. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/user-manual/appendix.html#ACTIONSANAT