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7 <!entity contacting SYSTEM "contacting.sgml">
8 <!entity history SYSTEM "history.sgml">
9 <!entity copyright SYSTEM "copyright.sgml">
10 <!entity license SYSTEM "license.sgml">
11 <!entity p-version "2.9.18">
12 <!entity p-status "beta">
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18 <!entity my-copy "©"> <!-- kludge for docbook2man -->
21 File : $Source: /cvsroot/ijbswa/current/doc/source/faq.sgml,v $
24 This file belongs into
25 ijbswa.sourceforge.net:/home/groups/i/ij/ijbswa/htdocs/
27 $Id: faq.sgml,v 1.61.2.13 2002/08/06 11:55:32 oes Exp $
29 Copyright (C) 2001, 2002 Privoxy Developers <developers@privoxy.org>
32 Based partially on the Internet Junkbuster FAQ originally written by and
33 Copyright (C) 1997 Anonymous Coders and Junkbusters Corporation.
34 http://www.junkbusters.com/
36 <Qandaset defaultlabel='qanda'>
51 ========================================================================
52 NOTE: Please read developer-manual/documentation.html before touching
53 anything in this, or other Privoxy documentation. You have been warned!
54 Failure to abide by this rule will result in the revocation of your license
55 to live a peaceful existence!
56 ========================================================================
62 <article id="index" class="faq">
64 <title>Privoxy Frequently Asked Questions</title>
68 <!-- Completely the wrong markup, but very little is allowed -->
69 <!-- in this part of an article. FIXME -->
70 <link linkend="copyright">Copyright</link> &my-copy; 2001, 2002 by
71 <ulink url="http://www.privoxy.org">Privoxy Developers</ulink>
75 <pubdate>$Id: faq.sgml,v 1.61.2.13 2002/08/06 11:55:32 oes Exp $</pubdate>
79 Note: this should generate a separate page, and a live link to it.
80 But it doesn't for some mysterious reason. Please leave commented
81 unless it can be fixed proper. For the time being, the copyright
82 statement will be in copyright.smgl.
86 <legalnotice id="legalnotice">
88 text goes here ........
98 <orgname>By: Privoxy Developers</orgname>
107 This is here to keep vim syntax file from breaking :/
108 If I knew enough to fix it, I would.
109 PLEASE DO NOT REMOVE! HB: hal@foobox.net
114 This FAQ gives quick answers to frequently asked questions about
115 <ulink url="http://www.privoxy.org/">Privoxy</ulink>
116 <![%p-stable;[ v.&p-version]]>. It can't and doesn't replace the
117 <ulink url="../user-manual/index.html"><citetitle>User Manual</citetitle></ulink>.
120 <!-- Include privoxy.sgml boilerplate: -->
122 <!-- end boilerplate -->
125 You can find the latest version of the document at <ulink
126 url="http://www.privoxy.org/faq/">http://www.privoxy.org/faq/</ulink>.
127 Please see the <link linkend="contact">Contact section</link> if you want to
128 contact the developers.
132 <!-- Feel free to send a note to the developers at <email>ijbswa-developers@lists.sourceforge.net</email>. -->
138 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
140 <sect1 id="general"><title>General Information</title>
142 <sect2 renderas="sect3" id="newjb"><title>What is this new version of <application>Privoxy</application>?</title>
144 <!-- Include history.sgml -->
151 <sect2 renderas="sect3">
152 <title id="whyprivoxy">Why <quote>Privoxy</quote>? Why a name change at all?</title>
154 <application>Privoxy</application> is the
155 <quote><emphasis>Privacy Enhancing Proxy</emphasis></quote>. Also, its content
156 modification and junk suppression allow you to browse your
157 <quote><emphasis>private</emphasis> edition</quote> of the web.
160 <ulink url="http://junkbusters.com/">Junkbusters Corporation</ulink>
161 continues to offer their original version of the <application>Internet
162 Junkbuster</application>, so publishing our
163 <application> Junkbuster</application>-derived software under the same name
167 There are also potential legal complications from the continued use of the
168 <application>Junkbuster</application> name, which is a registered trademark of
169 <ulink url="http://junkbusters.com/">Junkbusters Corporation</ulink>.
170 There are, however, no objections from Junkbusters Corporation to the
171 <application>Privoxy</application> project itself, and they, in fact, still
172 share our ideals and goals.
175 The developers also believed that there are so many changes from the original
176 code, that it was time to make a clean break from the past and make
177 a name in their own right<![%p-not-stable;[, especially now with the pending
178 release of version 3.0]]>.
183 <sect2 renderas="sect3" id="differs"><title>How does <application>Privoxy</application> differ
184 from the old <application>Junkbuster?</application></title>
186 <application>Privoxy</application> picks up where
187 <application>Junkbuster</application> left off. All the old features remain.
188 The new <application>Privoxy</application> still blocks ads and banners,
189 still manages cookies, and still helps protect your privacy. But, these are
190 all enhanced, and many new features have been added, all in the same vein.
193 The configuration has changed significantly as well. This is something that
194 users will notice right off the bat if upgrading from
195 <application>Junkbuster</application> 2.0.x. The <quote>blocklist</quote>
196 <quote>cookielist</quote>, <quote>imagelist</quote> and much more has been
197 combined into the <quote>actions</quote> files, with a completely different
198 syntax. See the <ulink url="../user-manual/upgradersnote.html">note to
199 upgraders</ulink> for details.
202 <application>Privoxy</application>'s new features include:
205 <!-- Include newfeatures.sgml: -->
211 <sect2 renderas="sect3" id="proxymoron"><title>What is a <quote>proxy</quote>? How does
212 <application>Privoxy</application> work? </title>
214 A web proxy is a service, based on a software such as <application>Privoxy</application>,
215 that clients (i.e. browsers) can use instead of connecting directly to the web
216 servers on the Internet. The clients then ask the proxy to fetch the objects
217 they need (web pages, images, movies etc) on their behalf, and when the proxy
218 has done so, it hands the results back to the client.
221 There are many reasons to use web proxies, such as security (firewalling),
222 efficiency (caching) and others, and there are just as many different proxies
223 to accommodate those needs.
226 <application>Privoxy</application> is a proxy that is solely focused on privacy
227 protection and junk elimination. Sitting between your browser(s) and the Internet,
228 it is in a perfect position to filter outbound personal information that your
229 browser is leaking, as well as inbound junk. It uses a variety of techniques to do
230 this, all of which are under your control via the various configuration
236 <sect2 renderas="sect3" id="whatsanad">
237 <title id="knows">How does <application>Privoxy</application> know what is
238 an ad, and what is not?</title>
240 <application>Privoxy</application>'s approach to blocking ads is twofold:
243 First, there are certain patterns in the <emphasis>locations</emphasis> (URLs)
244 of banner images. This applies to both the path (you wouldn't guess how many
245 web sites serve their banners from a directory called <quote>banners</quote>!)
246 and the host (blocking the big banner hosting services like doublecklick.net
247 already helps a lot). <application>Privoxy</application> takes advantage of this
248 fact by using <ulink url="../user-manual/actions-file.html#AF-PATTERNS">URL
249 patterns</ulink> to sort out and block the requests for banners.
252 Second, banners tend to come in certain <emphasis>sizes</emphasis>. But you
253 can't tell the size of an image by its URL without downloading it, and if you
254 do, it's too late to save bandwidth. Therefore, <application>Privoxy</application>
255 also inspects the HTML sources of web pages while they are loaded, and replaces
256 references to images with standard banner sizes by dummy references, so that
257 your browser doesn't request them anymore in the first place.
260 Both of this involves a certain amount of guesswork and is, of course, freely
265 <sect2 renderas="sect3">
266 <title id="mistakes">Can <application>Privoxy</application> make mistakes?
267 This does not sound very scientific.</title>
269 Actually, it's a black art ;-) And yes, it is always possible to have a broad
270 rule accidentally block or change something by mistake. There is a good chance
271 you may run into such a situation at some point. It is tricky writing rules to
272 cover every conceivable possibility, and not occasionally get false positives.
276 But this should not be a big concern since the
277 <application>Privoxy</application> configuration is very flexible, and
278 includes tools to help identify these types of situations so they can be
279 addressed as needed, allowing you to customize your installation.
280 (<link linkend="badsite">See the Troubleshooting section below</link>.)
286 <sect2 renderas="sect3" id="browsers2"><title>My browser does the same things as
287 <application>Privoxy</application>. Why should I use
288 <application>Privoxy</application> at all?</title>
290 Modern browsers do indeed have <emphasis>some</emphasis> of the same
291 functionality as <application>Privoxy</application>. Maybe this is
292 adequate for you. But <application>Privoxy</application> is much more
293 versatile and powerful, and can do a number of things that browsers just can't.
296 In addition, a proxy is good choice if you use multiple browsers, or
297 have a LAN with multiple computers. This way all the configuration
298 is in one place, and you don't have to maintain a similar configuration
299 for possibly many browsers.
305 <sect2 renderas="sect3" id="license"><title>Is there is a license or fee? What about a
306 warranty? Registration?</title>
308 <application>Privoxy</application> is licensed under the <ulink
309 url="http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html">GNU General Public License (GPL)</ulink>.
310 It is free to use, copy, modify or distribute as you wish under the terms of this
311 license. Please see the <link linkend="copyright">Copyright</link> section for more
312 information on the license and copyright. Or the <filename>LICENSE</filename> file
313 that should be included.
316 There is <emphasis>no warranty</emphasis> of any kind, expressed, implied or otherwise.
317 That is something that would cost real money ;-) There is no registration either.
318 <application>Privoxy</application> really is <emphasis>free</emphasis>
324 <sect2 renderas="sect3" id="jointeam"><title>I would like to help you, what do I do?</title>
326 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="jointeam-money"><title>Money Money Money</title>
328 We, of course, welcome donations and could use money for domain registering,
329 buying software to test <application>Privoxy</application> with, and, of course,
330 for regular world-wide get-togethers (hahaha). If you enjoy the software and feel
331 like helping us with a donation, just <ulink
332 url="mailto:developers@privoxy.org">drop us a note</ulink>.
336 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="jointeam-software"><title>Software</title>
338 If you are a vendor of a web-related software like a browser, web server
339 or proxy, and would like us to ensure that <application>Privoxy</application>
340 runs smoothly with your product, you might consider supplying us with a
341 copy or license. We can't, however, guarantee that we will fix all potential
342 compatibility issues as a result.
346 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="jointeam-work"><title>You want to work with us?</title>
348 Well, helping the team is always a good idea. We welcome new developers,
349 packaging gurus or documentation writers. Simply <ulink
350 url="https://sourceforge.net/account/register.php">get an account on SourceForge.net</ulink>
351 and mail your id to the <ulink url="mailto:developers@privoxy.org">developers
352 mailing list</ulink>. Then read the <ulink
353 url="../developer-manual/index.html">Developer's Manual</ulink>.
356 Once we have added you to the team, you'll have write access to the <ulink
357 url="http://sourceforge.net/cvs/?group_id=11118">CVS repository</ulink>, and
358 together we'll find a suitable task for you.
367 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
369 <sect1 id="installation"><title>Installation</title>
371 <sect2 renderas="sect3" id="whichbrowsers">
372 <title>Which browsers are supported by <application>Privoxy</application>?</title>
374 Any browser that can be configured to use a proxy, which
375 should be virtually all browsers. Direct browser support is not necessary
376 since <application>Privoxy</application> runs as a separate application and
377 talks to the browser in the standardized HTTP protocol, just like a web server
382 <sect2 renderas="sect3" id="whichos">
383 <title>Which operating systems are supported?</title>
385 Include supported.sgml here:
390 <sect2 renderas="sect3" id="newinstall"><title>Can I install
391 <application>Privoxy</application> over <application>Junkbuster</application>?</title>
393 We recommend you un-install <application>Junkbuster</application>
394 first to minimize conflicts and confusion. You may want to
395 save your old configuration files for future reference. The configuration
396 files and syntax have substantially changed, so you will need to manually
397 port your old patterns. See the <ulink url="../user-manual/upgradersnote.html">note
398 to upgraders</ulink> and <ulink url="../user-manual/installation.html">installation
399 chapter</ulink> in the <ulink url="../user-manual/index.html">user manual</ulink>
403 Note: Some installers may automatically un-install
404 <application>Junkbuster</application>, if present!
409 <sect2 renderas="sect3">
410 <title id="firststep">I just installed <application>Privoxy</application>. Is there anything
411 special I have to do now?</title>
414 All browsers must be told to use <application>Privoxy</application>
415 as a proxy by specifying the correct proxy address and port number
416 in the appropriate configuration area for the browser. See below.
417 You should also flush your browser's memory and disk cache to get rid of any
425 <sect2 renderas="sect3" id="localhost"><title>What is the proxy address of <application>Privoxy</application>?</title>
427 If you set up the <application>Privoxy</application> to run on
428 the computer you browse from (rather than your ISP's server or some
429 networked computer on a LAN), the proxy will be on <literal>127.0.0.1</literal>
430 (sometimes referred to as <quote>localhost</quote>,
431 which is the special name used by every computer on the Internet to refer
432 to itself) and the port will be 8118 (unless you have <application>Privoxy</application>
433 to run on a different port with the <ulink
434 url="../user-manual/config.html#LISTEN-ADDRESS">listen-address</ulink> config option).
437 When configuring your browser's proxy settings you typically enter
438 the word <quote>localhost</quote> or the IP address <quote>127.0.0.1</quote>
439 in the boxes next to <quote>HTTP</quote> and <quote>Secure</quote> (HTTPS) and
440 then the number <quote>8118</quote> for <quote>port</quote>.
441 This tells your browser to send all web requests to <application>Privoxy</application>
442 instead of directly to the Internet.
445 <application>Privoxy</application> can also be used to proxy for
446 a Local Area Network. In this case, your would enter either the IP
447 address of the LAN host where <application>Privoxy</application>
448 is running, or the equivalent hostname. Port assignment would be
449 same as above. Note that <application>Privoxy</application> doesn't
450 listen on any LAN interfaces by default.
453 <application>Privoxy</application> does not currently handle
454 protocols such as FTP, SMTP, IM, IRC, ICQ, or other Internet
459 <sect2 renderas="sect3" id="nothing">
460 <title>I just installed <application>Privoxy</application>, and nothing is happening.
461 All the ads are there. What's wrong?</title>
464 Did you configure your browser to use <application>Privoxy</application>
465 as a proxy? It does not sound like it. See above. You might also try flushing
466 the browser's caches to force a full re-reading of pages. You can verify
467 that <application>Privoxy</application> is running, and your browser
468 is correctly configured by entering the special URL:
469 <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/">http://config.privoxy.org/</ulink>.
470 This should take you to a page titled <quote>This is Privoxy..</quote> with
471 access to <application>Privoxy's</application> internal configuration.
472 If you see this, then you are good to go. If you receive a page saying
473 <quote>Privoxy is not running</quote>, then the browser is not set up to use
474 your <application>Privoxy</application> installation.
475 If you receive anything else (probably nothing at all), it could either
476 be that the browser is not set up correctly, or that
477 <application>Privoxy</application> is not running at all. Check the <ulink
478 url="../user-manual/config.html#LOGFILE">log file</ulink>.
486 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
488 <sect1 id="configuration"><title>Configuration</title>
490 <sect2 renderas="sect3" id="getupdates"><title>Where can I get updated Actions Files?</title>
492 Based on your feedback and the continuing development, updated actions files will be
493 made available on the <ulink
494 url="http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=11118">files section</ulink> of
495 our <ulink url="http://sf.net/projects/ijbswa/">project page</ulink>.
499 If you wish to receive an email notification whenever we release updates of
500 <application>Privoxy</application> or the actions file, <ulink
501 url="http://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/ijbswa-announce/">subscribe
502 to our announce mailing list</ulink>, ijbswa-announce@lists.sourceforge.net.
507 <sect2 renderas="sect3" id="newconfig"><title>Can I use my old config files?</title>
509 The syntax, number, and purpose of configuration files has substantially
510 changed from <application>Junkbuster</application> and earlier versions
511 of <application>Privoxy</application>. The old files, like <filename>blocklist</filename>
512 will not work at all. If you are upgrading from a 2.0.x version, you will
513 need to port your configuration data to the new format. Note that even the
514 pattern syntax has changed! Even configuration files from the 2.9.x versions
515 will need to be adapted, as configuration syntax has been very much in flow
520 <sect2 renderas="sect3">
521 <title id="actionsfile">What is an <quote>actions</quote> file?</title>
524 <ulink url="../user-manual/actions-file.html">Actions files</ulink>
525 are where various <ulink url="../user-manual/actions-file.html#ACTIONS">actions</ulink>
526 that <application>Privoxy</application> might take while processing a certain
527 request, are configured. Typically, you would define a set of default actions
528 that apply to all URLs, then add exceptions to these defaults where needed.
532 Actions can be defined on a <ulink
533 url="../user-manual/actions-file.html#AF-PATTERNS">URL pattern</ulink> basis, i.e.
534 for single URLs, whole web sites, groups or parts thereof etc. Actions can also be
535 grouped together and then applied to requests matching one or more patterns.
536 There are many possible actions that might apply to any given site. As an example,
537 if you are blocking cookies as one of your default actions, but need to accept
538 cookies from a given site, you would need to define an exception for this
539 site in one of your actions files, preferably in <filename>user.action</filename>
544 <sect2 renderas="sect3" id="actionss">
545 <title>The <quote>actions</quote> concept confuses me. Please list
546 some of these <quote>actions</quote>.</title>
548 For a comprehensive discussion of the actions concept, please refer
549 to the <ulink url="../user-manual/actions-file.html">actions file
550 chapter</ulink> in the <ulink url="../user-manual/index.html">user
551 manual</ulink>. It includes a <ulink
552 url="../user-manual/actions-file.html#ACTIONS">list of all actions</ulink>
553 and an <ulink url="../user-manual/actions-file.html#ACT-EXAMPLES">actions
554 file tutorial</ulink> to get you started.
559 <sect2 renderas="sect3">
560 <title id="actconfig">How are actions files configured? What is the easiest
561 way to do this?</title>
564 Actions files are just text files in a special syntax and can be edited
565 with a text editor. The probably easiest way is to access
566 <application>Privoxy</application>'s user interface with your web browser
567 at <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/">http://config.privoxy.org/</ulink>
568 (Shortcut: <ulink url="http://p.p/">http://p.p/</ulink>) and then select
569 <quote><ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status">View &
570 change the current configuration</ulink></quote> from the menu.
575 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
576 <sect2 renderas="sect3">
577 <title>There are several different <quote>actions</quote> files. What are
578 the differences?</title>
580 As of <application>Privoxy</application> v2.9.15, three actions files
581 are being included, to be used for
582 different purposes: These are
583 <filename>default.action</filename>, the <quote>main</quote> actions file
584 which is actively maintained by the <application>Privoxy</application>
585 developers, <filename>user.action</filename>, where users are encouraged
586 to make their private customizations, and <filename>standard.action</filename>,
587 which is for internal <application>Privoxy</application> use only.
588 Please see <ulink url="../user-manual/actions-file.html">the actions chapter</ulink>
589 in the <ulink url="../user-manual/index.html">user manual</ulink> for a more
590 detailed explanation.
594 Earlier versions included three different versions of the
595 <filename>default.action</filename> file. The new scheme allows for
596 greater flexibility of local configuration, and for browser based
597 selection of pre-defined <quote>aggressiveness</quote> levels.
602 <sect2 renderas="sect3" id="yahoo"><title>How can I make my Yahoo/Hotmail/GMX account work?</title>
604 The default configuration shouldn't impact the usability of any of these services.
605 It will, however, make all cookies temporary, so that your browser will forget your
606 login credentials in between browser sessions. If you would like not to have to log
607 in manually each time you access those websites, simply turn off all cookie handling
608 for them in the <filename>user.action</filename> file. An example for yahoo might
612 <screen># Allow all cookies for Yahoo login:
614 { -<ulink url="../user-manual/actions-file.html#CRUNCH-INCOMING-COOKIES">crunch-incoming-cookies</ulink> -<ulink url="../user-manual/actions-file.html#CRUNCH-OUTGOING-COOKIES">crunch-outgoing-cookies</ulink> -<ulink url="../user-manual/actions-file.html#SESSION-COOKIES-ONLY">session-cookies-only</ulink> }
615 .login.yahoo.com</screen>
620 <sect2 renderas="sect3" id="configfiles"> <title>What's the difference between the
621 <quote>Cautious</quote>, <quote>Medium</quote> and <quote>Advanced</quote> defaults?</title>
623 Configuring <application>Privoxy</application> is not entirely trivial. To help you get
624 started, we provide you with three different default action <quote>packages</quote> in
625 the web based actions file editor at <ulink
626 url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status">http://config.privoxy.org/show-status</ulink>.
627 The following table shows you, which of the most important features are enabled in each
631 <table frame=all><title>Default Configurations</title>
632 <tgroup cols=4 align=left colsep=1 rowsep=1>
639 <entry>Feature</entry>
640 <entry>Cautious</entry>
641 <entry>Intermadiate</entry>
642 <entry>Advanced</entry>
647 <!-- <entry>f1</entry> -->
648 <!-- <entry>f2</entry> -->
649 <!-- <entry>f3</entry> -->
650 <!-- <entry>f4</entry> -->
656 <entry>Ad-blocking by URL</entry>
663 <entry>Ad-filtering by size</entry>
670 <entry>GIF de-animation</entry>
677 <entry>Referer forging</entry>
684 <entry>Cookie handling</entry>
686 <entry>session-only</entry>
691 <entry>Pop-up killing</entry>
698 <entry>Fast redirects</entry>
705 <entry>HTML taming</entry>
712 <entry>JavaScript taming</entry>
719 <entry>Web-bug killing</entry>
726 <entry>Fun text replacements</entry>
733 <entry>Image tag reordering</entry>
740 <entry>Ad-filtering by link</entry>
752 Where the defaults are likely to break some sites, exceptions for
753 known popular <quote>problem</quote> sites are included, but in
754 general, the more aggressive your default settings are, the more
755 exceptions you will have to make later. See the <ulink
756 url="../user-manual/index.html">user manual</ulink> for a more
762 <sect2 renderas="sect3" id="browseconfig"> <title>Why can I change the configuration
763 with a browser? Does that not raise security issues?</title>
765 It may seem strange that regular users can edit the config files with their
766 browsers, although the whole <filename>/etc/privoxy</filename> hierarchy
767 belongs to the user <quote>privoxy</quote>, with only 644 permissions.
770 When you use the browser-based editor, <application>Privoxy</application>
771 itself is writing to the config files. Because
772 <application>Privoxy</application> is running as the user <quote>privoxy</quote>,
773 it can update the config files.
776 If you run <application>Privoxy</application> for multiple untrusted users (e.g. in
777 a LAN), you will probably want to turn the web-based editor and remote toggle
778 features off by setting <quote><literal><ulink
779 url="../user-manual/config.html#ENABLE-EDIT-ACTIONS">enable-edit-actions</ulink>
780 0</literal></quote> and <quote><literal><ulink
781 url="../user-manual/config.html#ENABLE-REMOTE-TOGGLE">enable-remote-toggle</ulink>
782 0</literal></quote> in the <ulink url="../user-manual/config.html">main configuration file</ulink>.
785 Note that in the default configuration, only local users (i.e. those on
786 <quote>localhost</quote>) can connect to <application>Privoxy</application>,
787 so this is not (normally) a security problem.
792 <sect2 renderas="sect3">
793 <title id="filterfile">What is the <filename>default.filter</filename> file? What is a <quote>filter</quote>?</title>
795 The <ulink url="../user-manual/filter-file.html"><filename>default.filter</filename></ulink>
796 file is where <emphasis>filters</emphasis> are defined, which can be used to modify or
797 remove, web page content on the fly. Filters apply to <emphasis>anything</emphasis>
798 in the page source, including HTML tags, and JavaScript. Regular expressions are used
799 to accomplish this. There are a number of pre-defined filters to deal with common
800 annoyances. The filters are only defined here, to invoke them, you need to use the
802 url="../user-manual/actions-file.html#FILTER"><literal>filter</literal>
803 action</ulink> in one of the actions files. Filtering is automatically
804 disabled for inappropriate MIME types.
808 If you are familiar with regular expressions, and HTML, you can look at
809 the provided <filename>default.filter</filename> with a text editor and define
810 your own filters. This is potentially a very powerful feature, but
811 requires some expertise in both regular expressions and HTML/HTTP.
815 Presently, there is no GUI editor option for this part of the configuration,
816 but you can disable/enable the various pre-defined filters of the included
817 <filename>default.filter</filename> file with the <ulink
818 url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status">web-based actions file editor</ulink>.
823 <sect2 renderas="sect3">
824 <title id="lanconfig">How can I set up <application>Privoxy</application> to act as a proxy for my
827 By default, <application>Privoxy</application> only responds to requests
828 from <literal>127.0.0.1</literal> (localhost). To have it act as a server for
829 a network, this needs to be changed in the <ulink
830 url="../user-manual/config.html">main configuration file</ulink>. Look for
832 url="../user-manual/config.html#LISTEN-ADDRESS">listen-address</ulink></literal>
833 option, which may be commented out with a <quote>#</quote> symbol. Make sure
834 it is uncommented, and assign it the address of the LAN gateway interface,
835 and port number to use. Assuming your LAN address is 192.168.1.1 and you
836 wish to run <application>Privoxy</application> on port 8118, this line
842 listen-address 192.168.1.1:8118</screen>
846 Save the file, and restart <application>Privoxy</application>. Configure
847 all browsers on the network then to use this address and port number.
851 If you run <application>Privoxy</application> on a LAN with untrusted users,
852 we recommend that you double-check the <ulink
853 url="../user-manual/config.html#ACCESS-CONTROL">access control and security</ulink>
860 <sect2 renderas="sect3">
861 <title id="noseeum">Instead of ads, now I get a checkerboard pattern. I don't want to see anything.</title>
863 The replacement for blocked images can be controlled with the <ulink
864 url="../user-manual/actions-file.html#SET-IMAGE-BLOCKER"><literal>set-image-blocker</literal>
865 action</ulink>. You have the choice of a checkerboard pattern, a transparent 1x1 GIF
866 image (aka <quote>blank</quote>), or a redirect to a custom image of your choice.
867 Note that this choice only has effect for images which are blocked as images, i.e.
868 whose URLs match both a <literal><ulink
869 url="../user-manual/actions-file.html#HANDLE-AS-IMAGE">handle-as-image</ulink></literal>
870 <emphasis>and</emphasis> <literal><ulink
871 url="../user-manual/actions-file.html#BLOCK">block</ulink></literal> action.
874 If you want to see nothing, then change the <ulink
875 url="../user-manual/actions-file.html#SET-IMAGE-BLOCKER"><literal>set-image-blocker</literal>
876 action</ulink> to <quote>blank</quote>. This can be done by editing the
877 <filename>default.action</filename> file, or trough the <ulink
878 url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status">web-based actions file editor</ulink>.
883 <sect2 renderas="sect3">
884 <title id="whyseeum">Why would anybody want to see a checkerboard pattern?</title>
886 Remember that <link linkend="whatsanad">telling which image is an ad and which
887 isn't</link>, is mostly guesswork. While we hope that the standard configuration
888 is rather smart, it can and will make errors. The checkerboard image is visually
889 decent, but it shows you that and where images were blocked, which can be very
890 helpful in case some navigation aid or otherwise innocent image was
891 erraneously blocked. Some people might also enjoy seeing how many banners
892 they <emphasis>don't</emphasis> have to see..
897 <!-- This has changed with the adaptive "blocked" page
899 <sect2 renderas="sect3">
900 <title id="blockedisugly">I see large red banners on some pages that say
901 <quote>Blocked</quote>. Why and how do I get rid of this?</title>
903 These are URLs that match something in one of
904 <application>Privoxy's</application> block actions
906 url="../user-manual/actions-file.html#BLOCK"><quote>+block</quote></ulink>).
907 It is meant to be a warning so that you know something has been blocked and
908 an easy way for you to see why. These are handled differently than what has
909 been defined explicitly as <quote>images</quote> (e.g. ads that are GIF image
910 files). Depending on the URL itself, it is sometimes hard for
911 <application>Privoxy</application> to really know whether there is indeed an
912 ad image there or not. And there are limitations as to what
913 <application>Privoxy</application> can do to <quote>fool</quote> the
918 For instance, if the ad is in a frame, then it is embedded in the separate
919 HTML page used for the frame. In this case, you cannot just substitute an
920 aribitrary image (like we would for a <quote>blank</quote> image), for an HTML
921 page. The browser is expecting an HTML page, and that is what it must have
922 for frames. Such situations can be a little trickier to deal with, and
923 <application>Privoxy</application> may show the <quote>Blocked</quote> page,
924 despite your best efforts.
928 If you want these to be treated as if they were images, so that they can be
929 made invisible, you can try moving the offending URL from the
930 <quote>+block</quote> section to the <quote>+imageblock</quote> section of
931 your actions file. Just be forewarned, if any URL is made
932 <quote>invisible</quote>, you may not have any inkling that something has
933 been removed from that page, or why. If this approach does not work, then you are
934 probably dealing with a frame (or <quote>ilayer</quote>), and the only thing
935 that can go there is an HTML page of some sort.
938 To deal with this situation, you could modify the
939 <quote><filename>block</filename></quote> HTML template that is used by
940 <application>Privoxy</application> to display this, and make it something
941 more to your liking. Currently, there is no configuration option for this.
942 You will have to modify, or create your own page, and use this to replace
943 <filename>templates/blocked</filename>, which is what
944 <application>Privoxy</application> uses to display the <quote>Blocked</quote>
948 Another way to deal with this is find why and where
949 <application>Privoxy</application> is blocking the frame, and
950 diable this. Then let the <quote>+set-image-blocker</quote> action
951 handle the ad that is embedded in the frame's HTML page.
956 <sect2 renderas="sect3" id="alliseeisred">
957 <title>I cannot see all of the <quote>Blocked</quote> page banner. Help.</title>
959 There is not enough available space to fit the entire Blocked page. Try right
960 clicking on the visible portion, and select <quote>Show Frame</quote>,
961 or equivalent. This will usually allow you to see the entire Privoxy
962 <quote>Blocked</quote> page, and from there you can see just what is being
966 As of Privoxy 2.9.14, the Blocked banner page is re-sizeable, and tries
967 to adjust to the allotted space. There may be occassions where there
968 just isn't enough room to display much of anything useful though.
975 <sect2 renderas="sect3">
976 <title id="blockedbytext">I see some images being replaced by a text
977 instead of the checkerboard image. Why and how do I get rid of this?</title>
979 This happens when the banners are not embedded in the HTML code of the
980 page itself, but in separate HTML (sub)documents that are loaded into (i)frames
981 or (i)layers, and these external HTML documents are blocked. Being non-images
982 they get replaced by a substitute HTML page rather than a substitute image,
983 which wouldn't work out technically, since the browser expects and accepts
984 only HTML when it has requested an HTML document.
987 The substitute page adapts to the available space and shows itself as a
988 miniature two-liner if loaded into small frames, or full-blown with a
989 large red "BLOCKED" banner if space allows.
992 If you prefer the banners to be blocked by images, you must see to it that
993 the HTML documents in which they are embedded are not blocked. Clicking
994 the <quote>See why</quote> link offered in the substitute page will show
995 you which rule blocked the page. After changing the rule and un-blocking
996 the HTML documents, the browser will try to load the actual banner images
997 and the usual image blocking will (hopefully!) kick in.
1002 <sect2 renderas="sect3" id="srvany">
1003 <title>Can <application>Privoxy</application> run as a service
1004 on Win2K/NT?</title>
1006 Yes, it can run as a system service using <command>srvany.exe</command>.
1007 The only catch is that this will effectively disable the
1008 <application>Privoxy</application> icon (and its menu!) in the taskbar. You can have
1009 one or the other, but not both at this time :(
1012 There is a pending feature request for this functionality. See the discussion
1014 url="http://sourceforge.net/tracker/?func=detail&atid=361118&aid=485617&group_id=11118">http://sourceforge.net/tracker/?func=detail&atid=361118&aid=485617&group_id=11118</ulink>,
1015 for details, and a sample configuration.
1021 <sect2 renderas="sect3" id="otherproxy">
1022 <title>How can I make <application>Privoxy</application> work with other
1023 proxies like <application>Squid</application>?</title>
1025 This can be done and is often useful to combine the benefits of
1026 <application>Privoxy</application> with those of a caching proxy.
1028 url="../user-manual/config.html#FORWARDING">forwarding chapter</ulink>
1029 in the <ulink url="../user-manual/index.html">user manual</ulink> which
1030 describes how to do this.
1034 <sect2 renderas="sect3" id="transparent">
1035 <title>Can <application>Privoxy</application> run as a <quote>transparent
1036 </quote> proxy?</title>
1038 No, <application>Privoxy</application> currently does not have this ability,
1039 though it is planned for a future release. Transparent proxies require
1040 special handling of the request headers beyond what
1041 <application>Privoxy</application> is now capable of.
1045 Chaining <application>Privoxy</application> behind another proxy that has
1046 this ability should work though.
1048 url="../user-manual/config.html#FORWARDING">forwarding chapter</ulink>
1049 in the <ulink url="../user-manual/index.html">user manual</ulink>. As
1050 a transparent proxy to be used for chaining we recommend Transproxy
1051 (<ulink url="http://www.transproxy.nlc.net.au/">http://www.transproxy.nlc.net.au/</ulink>).
1058 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
1061 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1063 <sect1 id="misc"><title>Miscellaneous</title>
1065 <sect2 renderas="sect3">
1066 <title id="slowsme">How much does <application>Privoxy</application> slow my browsing down? This
1067 has to add extra time to browsing.</title>
1069 It should not slow you down any in real terms, and may actually help
1070 speed things up since ads, banners and other junk are not being displayed.
1071 The actual processing time required by <application>Privoxy</application>
1072 itself for each page, is relatively small in the overall scheme of things,
1073 and happens very quickly. This is typically more than offset by time saved
1074 not downloading and rendering ad images.
1078 <quote>Filtering</quote> content via the <literal><ulink
1079 url="../user-manual/actions-file.html#FILTER">filter</ulink></literal> or
1081 url="../user-manual/actions-file.html#DEANIMATE-GIFS">deanimate-gifs</ulink></literal>
1082 actions may cause a perceived slowdown, since the entire document needs to be buffered
1083 before displaying. See below.
1089 <sect2 renderas="sect3" id="loadingtimes"><title>I noticed considerable
1090 delays in page requests compared to the old Junkbuster. What's wrong?</title>
1092 If you use any <literal><ulink
1093 url="../user-manual/actions-file.html#FILTER">filter</ulink></literal> action,
1094 such as filtering banners by size, web-bugs etc, or the <literal><ulink
1095 url="../user-manual/actions-file.html#DEANIMATE-GIFS">deanimate-gifs</ulink></literal>
1096 action, the entire document must be loaded into memory in order for the filtering
1097 mechanism to work, and nothing is sent to the browser during this time.
1100 The loading time does not really change in real numbers, but the feeling is
1101 different, because most browsers are able to start rendering incomplete
1102 content, giving the user a feeling of "it works". This effect is especially
1103 noticeable on slow dialup connections.
1106 Filtering is automatically disabled for inappropriate MIME types.
1112 <sect2 renderas="sect3" id="configurl"><title>What are "http://config.privoxy.org/" and
1113 "http://p.p/"?</title>
1115 <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/">http://config.privoxy.org/</ulink> is the
1116 address of <application>Privoxy</application>'s built-in user interface, and
1117 <ulink url="http://p.p/">http://p.p/</ulink> is a shortcut for it.
1120 Since <application>Privoxy</application> sits between your web browser and the Internet,
1121 it can simply intercept requests for these addresses and answer them with its built-in
1122 <quote>web server</quote>.
1125 This also makes for a good test for your browser configuration: If entering the
1126 URL <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/">http://config.privoxy.org/</ulink>
1127 takes you to a page saying <quote>This is Privoxy..</quote>, everything is OK.
1128 If you get a page saying <quote>Privoxy is not working</quote> instead, then
1129 your browser didn't use <application>Privoxy</application> for the request,
1130 hence it could not be intercepted, and you have accessed the <emphasis>real</emphasis>
1131 web site at config.privoxy.org.
1134 With recent versions of <application>Privoxy</application> (version 2.9.x and
1135 later), the user interface features information on the run time status, the
1136 configuration, and even a built-in editor for the <ulink
1137 url="../user-manual/actions-file.html">actions files</ulink>.
1141 Note that the built-in URLs from earlier versions of <application>Junkbuster</application>
1142 / <application>Privoxy</application>, http://example.com/show-proxy-args and http://i.j.b/,
1143 are no longer supported. If you still use such an old version, you should really consider
1144 upgrading to &p-version;.
1149 FIXME: commented out until we have data. HB 03/18/02.
1151 <sect2 renderas="sect3" id="badfiledesc"><title>I get the message 'Bad File Descriptor', why?</title>
1159 <sect2 renderas="sect3" id="blocklist"><title>Do you still maintain the blocklists?</title>
1161 No. The patterns for blocking now reside (among other things) in the <ulink
1162 url="../user-manual/actions-file.html">actions files</ulink>, which are
1163 actively maintained instead. See next question ...
1167 <sect2 renderas="sect3" id="newads"><title>How can I submit new ads?</title>
1169 Yes, absolutely! Please see the <link linkend="contact">Contact section</link> for
1170 how to do that. Please note that you (technically) need the latest
1171 <application>Privoxy</application> version for this to work.
1176 <sect2 renderas="sect3" id="ip"><title>How can I hide my IP address?</title>
1178 If you run both the browser and the proxy locally, you cannot hide your IP
1179 address with <application>Privoxy</application> or any other software. The
1180 server needs to know your IP address to send the answers back to you.
1183 Fortunately there are many publicly usable anonymous proxies out there, which
1184 solve the problem by providing a further level of indirection between you and
1185 the web server, shared by many people, and thus letting your requests "drown"
1186 in white noise of unrelated requests as far as user tracking is concerned.
1189 Most of them will, however, log your IP address and make it available to the
1190 authorities in case you abuse that anonymity for criminal purposes. In fact
1191 you can't even rule out that some of them only exist to *collect* information
1192 on (those suspicious) people with a more than average preference for privacy.
1195 You can find a list of anonymous public proxies at <ulink
1196 url="http://www.multiproxy.org/anon_list.htm">multiproxy.org</ulink> and many
1197 more through Google. A particularly interesting project is the JAP service
1198 offered by the Technical University of Dresden (<ulink
1199 url="http://anon.inf.tu-dresden.de/index_en.html">http://anon.inf.tu-dresden.de/index_en.html</ulink>.
1202 There is, however, even in the single-machine case the possibility to make the
1203 server believe that your machine is in fact a shared proxy serving a whole big
1204 LAN, and we are looking into that.
1208 <sect2 renderas="sect3">
1209 <title id="anonforsure">Can <application>Privoxy</application> guarantee I am anonymous?</title>
1211 No. Your chances of remaining anonymous are greatly improved, but unless you
1212 are an expert on Internet security it would be safest to assume that
1213 everything you do on the Web can be traced back to you.
1216 <application>Privoxy</application> can remove various information about you,
1217 and allows <emphasis>you</emphasis> more freedom to decide which sites
1218 you can trust, and what details you want to reveal. But it's still possible
1219 that web sites can find out who you are. Here's one way this can happen.
1222 A few browsers disclose the user's email address in certain situations, such
1223 as when transferring a file by FTP. <application>Privoxy</application>
1224 does not filter FTP. If you need this feature, or are concerned about the
1225 mail handler of your browser disclosing your email address, you might
1226 consider products such as <application>NSClean</application>.
1229 Browsers available only as binaries could use non-standard headers to give
1230 out any information they can have access to: see the manufacturer's license
1231 agreement. It's impossible to anticipate and prevent every breach of privacy
1232 that might occur. The professionally paranoid prefer browsers available as
1233 source code, because anticipating their behavior is easier. Trust the source,
1239 <sect2 renderas="sect3">
1240 <title id="sitebreak">Might some things break because header information or
1241 content is being altered?</title>
1244 Definitely. More and more sites use HTTP header content to decide what to
1245 display and how to display it. There is many ways that this can be handled,
1246 so having hard and fast rules, is tricky.
1250 <quote>User-Agent</quote> in particular is often used in this way to identify
1251 the browser, and adjust content accordingly. Changing this now (at least not
1252 further than removing the OS information) is not recommended, since so many
1253 sites do look for it. You may get undesirable results by changing this.
1257 For instance, different browsers use different encodings of Russian and Czech
1258 characters, certain web servers convert pages on-the-fly according to the
1259 User Agent header. Giving a <quote>User Agent</quote> with the wrong
1260 operating system or browser manufacturer causes some sites in these languages
1261 to be garbled; Surfers to Eastern European sites should change it to
1262 something closer. And then some page access counters work by looking at the
1263 <quote>Referer</quote> header; they may fail or break if unavailable. The
1264 weather maps of Intellicast have been blocked by their server when no
1265 <quote>Referer</quote> or cookie is provided, is another example. (But you
1266 can forge both headers without giving information away). There are
1267 many other ways things can go wrong when trying to fool a web server.
1271 Similar thoughts apply to modifying JavaScript, and, to a lesser degree,
1276 If you have problems with a site, you will have to adjust your configuration
1277 accordingly. Cookies are probably the most likely adjustment that may
1278 be required, but by no means the only one.
1284 <sect2 renderas="sect3">
1285 <title id="caching">Can <application>Privoxy</application> act as a <quote>caching</quote> proxy to
1286 speed up web browsing?</title>
1288 No, it does not have this ability at all. You want something like
1289 <ulink url="http://www.squid-cache.org/">Squid</ulink> for this. And, yes,
1290 before you ask, <application>Privoxy</application> can co-exist
1291 with other kinds of proxies like <application>Squid</application>.
1292 See the <ulink url="../user-manual/config.html#FORWARDING">forwarding
1293 chapter</ulink> in the <ulink url="../user-manual/index.html">user
1294 manual</ulink> for details.
1298 <sect2 renderas="sect3">
1299 <title id="firewall">What about as a firewall? Can <application>Privoxy</application> protect me?</title>
1301 Not in the way you mean, or in the way a true firewall can.
1302 <application>Privoxy</application> can help protect your privacy, but not
1303 protect you from intrusion attempts. It is, of course, perfectly possible
1304 and recommended to use <emphasis>both</emphasis>.
1308 <!-- No longer needed
1309 <sect2 renderas="sect3">
1310 <title id="logo">The <application>Privoxy</application> logo that replaces ads is very blocky
1311 and ugly looking. Can't a better font be used?</title>
1314 This is not a font problem. The logo is an image that is created by
1315 <application>Privoxy</application> on the fly. So as to not waste
1316 memory, the image is rather small. The blockiness comes when the
1317 image is scaled to fill a largish area. There is not much to be done
1318 about this, other than to use one of the other
1319 <quote>imageblock</quote> directives: <emphasis>pattern</emphasis>,
1320 <emphasis>blank</emphasis>, or a URL of your choosing.
1323 Given the above problem, we have decided to remove the logo option entirely
1329 <sect2 renderas="sect3">
1330 <title id="wasted">I have large empty spaces / a checkerboard pattern now where
1331 ads used to be. Why?</title>
1333 It would be technically possible eliminate the banners in a way that frees
1334 their screen estate in many cases, by doing all banner blocking with filters,
1335 i.e. eliminating the whole image references from the HTML pages instead
1336 of letting them stay in, and blocking the resulting requests for the
1340 But this would consume considerable CPU resources, would likely destroy
1341 the layout of many web pages which rely on the banners consuming a certain
1342 amount of screen space, and would fail in other cases, where the screen space
1343 is reserved e.g. by tables anyway. Also, making the banners disappear without
1344 a visual trace complicates troubleshooting.
1347 So we won't support this in the default configuration, but you can of course
1348 define appropriate filters yourself.
1352 <sect2 renderas="sect3">
1353 <title id="ssl">How can <application>Privoxy</application> filter Secure (HTTPS) URLs?</title>
1355 Since secure HTTP connections are encrypted SSL sessions between your browser
1356 and the secure site, and are meant to be reliably <emphasis>secure</emphasis>,
1357 there is little that <application>Privoxy</application> can do but hand the raw
1358 gibberish data though from one end to the other unprocessed.
1361 The only exception to this is blocking by host patterns, as the client needs
1362 to tell <application>Privoxy</application> the name of the remote server,
1363 so that <application>Privoxy</application> can establish the connection.
1364 If that name matches a host-only pattern, the connection will be blocked.
1367 As far as ad blocking is concerned, this is less of a restriction than it may
1368 seem, since ad sources are often identifiable by the host name, and often
1369 the banners to be placed in an encrypted page come unencrypted nonetheless
1370 for efficiency reasons, which exposes them to the full power of
1371 <application>Privoxy</application>'s ad blocking.
1376 <sect2 renderas="sect3">
1377 <title id="secure"><application>Privoxy</application> runs as a <quote>server</quote>. How
1378 secure is it? Do I need to take any special precautions?</title>
1380 There are no known exploits that might affect
1381 <application>Privoxy</application>. On Unix-like systems,
1382 <application>Privoxy</application> can run as a non-privileged
1383 user, which is how we recommend it be run. Also, by default
1384 <application>Privoxy</application> only listens to requests
1385 from <quote>localhost</quote> only. The server aspect of
1386 <application>Privoxy</application> is not itself directly exposed to the
1387 Internet in this configuration. If you want to have
1388 <application>Privoxy</application> serve as a LAN proxy, this will have to
1389 be opened up to allow for LAN requests. In this case, we'd recommend
1390 you specify only the LAN gateway address, e.g. 192.168.1.1, in the main
1391 <application>Privoxy</application> configuration file and check all <ulink
1392 url="../user-manual/config.html#ACCESS-CONTROL">access control and security
1393 options</ulink>. All LAN hosts can then use this as their proxy address
1394 in the browser proxy configuration, but <application>Privoxy</application>
1395 will not listen on any external interfaces. ACLs can be defined in addition,
1396 and using a firewall is always good too. Better safe than sorry.
1401 <sect2 renderas="sect3" id="turnoff">
1402 <title>How can I temporarily disable <application>Privoxy</application>?</title>
1404 The easiest way is to access <application>Privoxy</application> with your
1405 browser by using the remote toggle URL: <ulink
1406 url="http://config.privoxy.org/toggle">http://config.privoxy.org/toggle</ulink>.
1407 See the <ulink url="../user-manual/appendix.html#BOOKMARKLETS">Bookmarklets section</ulink>
1408 of the <citetitle>User Manual</citetitle> for an easy way to access this
1413 <sect2 renderas="sect3" id="reallyoff">
1414 <title>When <quote>disabled</quote> is <application>Privoxy</application> totally
1415 out of the picture?</title>
1417 No, this just means all filtering and actions are disabled.
1418 <application>Privoxy</application> is still acting as a proxy, but just not
1419 doing any of the things that <application>Privoxy</application> would
1420 normally be expected to do. It is still a <quote>middle-man</quote> in
1421 the interaction between your browser and web sites.
1425 <sect2 renderas="sect3" id="seealso">
1426 <title>Where can I find more information about <application>Privoxy</application>
1427 and related issues?</title>
1428 <!-- Include seealso.sgml boilerplate: -->
1430 <!-- end boilerplate -->
1435 <ulink url="../user-manual/seealso.html">user-manual</ulink> for
1444 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1446 <sect1 id="trouble">
1447 <title>Troubleshooting</title>
1449 <sect2 renderas="sect3">
1450 <title id="refused">I just upgraded and am getting <quote>connection refused</quote>
1451 with every web page?</title>
1453 Either <application>Privoxy</application> is not running, or your
1454 browser is configured for a different port than what
1455 <application>Privoxy</application> is using.
1459 The old <application>Privoxy</application> (and also
1460 <application>Junkbuster</application>) used port 8000 by
1461 default. This has been changed to port 8118 now, due to a conflict
1462 with NAS (Network Audio Service), which uses port 8000. If you haven't,
1463 you need to change your browser to the new port number, or alternately
1465 url="../user-manual/config.html#LISTEN-ADDRESS"><literal>listen-address</literal>
1466 option</ulink> in <application>Privoxy's</application> <ulink
1467 url="../user-manual/config.html">main configuration file</ulink>.
1472 <sect2 renderas="sect3">
1473 <title id="flushit">I just added a new rule, but the steenkin ad is
1474 still getting through. How?</title>
1476 If the ad had been displayed before you added its URL, it will probably be
1477 held in the browser's cache for some time, so it will be displayed without
1478 the need for any request to the server, and <application>Privoxy</application>
1479 will not be in the picture. The best thing to do is try flushing the browser's
1480 caches. And then try again.
1484 If this doesn't help, you probably have an error in the rule you
1485 applied. Try pasting the full URL of the offending ad into <ulink
1486 url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info">http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info</ulink>
1487 and see if it really matches your new rule.
1492 <sect2 id="badsite" renderas="sect3">
1493 <title >One of my favorite sites does not work with <application>Privoxy</application>.
1494 What can I do?</title>
1497 First verify that it is indeed a <application>Privoxy</application> problem,
1498 by toggling off <application>Privoxy</application> through <ulink
1499 url="http://config.privoxy.org/toggle">http://config.privoxy.org/toggle</ulink>,
1500 and then shift-reloading the problem page (i.e. holding down the shift key
1501 while clicking reload. Alternatively, flush your browser's disk and memory
1506 If still a problem, go to <ulink
1507 url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info">http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info</ulink>
1508 and paste the full URL of the page in question into the prompt. See which actions
1509 are being applied to the URL, and which matches in which actions files are
1510 responsible for that. Now, armed with this information, go to <ulink
1511 url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status">http://config.privoxy.org/show-status</ulink>
1512 and select the appropriate actions files for editing.
1515 You can now either look for a section which disables the actions that
1516 you suspect to cause the problem and add a pattern for your site there,
1517 or make up a completely new section for your site. In any case, the recommended
1518 way is to disable only the prime suspect, reload the problem page, and only
1519 if the problem persists, disable more and more actions until you have
1520 identified the culprit. You may or may not want to turn the other actions
1521 on again. Remember to flush your browser's caches in between any such changes!
1524 Alternately, if you are comfortable with a text editor, you can accomplish
1525 the same thing by editing the appropriate actions file. Probably the easiest
1526 way to deal with such problems when editing by hand is to add your
1527 site to a <literal>{ fragile }</literal> section in <filename>user.action</filename>,
1528 which is an alias that turns off most <quote>dangerous</quote>
1529 actions, but is also likely to turn off more actions then needed, and thus lower
1530 your privacy and protection more than necessary,
1533 Troubleshooting actions is discussed in more detail in the <ulink
1534 url="../user-manual/appendix.html#ACTIONSANAT">user-manual appendix</ulink>.
1535 There is also an <ulink
1536 url="../user-manual/actions-file.html#ACT-EXAMPLES">actions tutorial</ulink>.
1542 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1543 <sect2 id="dun" renderas="sect3">
1544 <title>After installing <application>Privoxy</application>, I have to log in
1545 every time I start IE. What gives?</title>
1548 This is a quirk that effects the installation of
1549 <application>Privoxy</application>, in conjunction with Internet Explorer and
1550 Internet Connection Sharing on Windows 2000 and Windows XP. The symptoms may
1551 appear to be corrupted or invalid DUN settings, or passwords.
1555 When setting up an NT based Windows system with
1556 <application>Privoxy</application> you may find that things do not seem to be
1557 doing what you expect. When you set your system up you will probably have set
1558 up Internet Connection Sharing (ICS) with Dial up Networking (DUN) when
1559 logged in with administrator privileges. You will probably have made this DUN
1560 connection available to other accounts that you may have set-up on your
1561 system. E.g. Mum or Dad sets up the system and makes accounts suitably
1562 configured for the kids.
1566 When setting up <application>Privoxy</application> in this environment you
1567 will have to alter the proxy set-up of Internet Explorer (IE) for the
1568 specific DUN connection on which you wish to use
1569 <application>Privoxy</application>. When you do this the ICS DUN set-up
1570 becomes user specific. In this instance you will see no difference if you
1571 change the DUN connection under the account used to set-up the connection.
1572 However when you do this from another user you will notice that the DUN
1573 connection changes to make available to "Me only". You will also find that
1574 you have to store the password under each different user!
1578 The reason for this is that each user's set-up for IE is user specific. Each
1579 set-up DUN connection and each LAN connection in IE store the settings for
1580 each user individually. As such this enforces individual configurations
1581 rather than common ones. Hence the first time you use a DUN connection after
1582 re-booting your system it may not perform as you expect, and prompt you for
1583 the password. Just set and save the password again and all should be OK.
1587 [Thanks to Ray Griffith for this submission.]
1592 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1593 <sect2 id="ftp" renderas="sect3">
1594 <title>I cannot connect to any FTP sites. <application>Privoxy</application>
1595 seems to be blocking me.</title>
1597 <application>Privoxy</application> cannot act as a proxy for FTP traffic,
1598 so do not configure your browser to use <application>Privoxy</application>
1599 as an FTP proxy. The same is true for any protocol other than HTTP or HTTPS.
1603 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1604 <sect2 id="osxie" renderas="sect3">
1605 <title>In Mac OSX, I can't configure Microsoft Internet Explorer to use
1606 <application>Privoxy</application> as the HTTP proxy.</title>
1608 Microsoft Internet Explorer (in versions like 5.1) respects system-wide
1609 network settings. In order to change the HTTP proxy, open System
1610 Preferences, and click on the Network icon. In the settings pane that
1611 comes up, click on the Proxies tab. Ensure the "Web Proxy (HTTP)" checkbox
1612 is checked and enter <literal>127.0.0.1</literal> in the entry field.
1613 Enter <literal>8118</literal> in the Port field. The next time you start
1614 IE, it should reflect these values.
1618 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1619 <sect2 renderas="sect3" id="osxuninstall">
1620 <title>In Mac OSX, I dragged the Privoxy folder to the trash in order to
1621 uninstall it. Now the finder tells me I don't have sufficient privileges to
1622 empty the trash.</title>
1624 Just dragging the <application>Privoxy</application> folder to the trash is
1625 not enough to delete it. <application>Privoxy</application> supplies an
1626 <application>uninstall.command</application> file that takes care of
1627 these details. Open the trash, drag the <application>uninstall.command</application>
1628 file out of the trash and double-click on it. You will be prompted for
1629 confirmation and the administration password.
1632 The trash may still appear full after this command; emptying the trash
1633 from the desktop should make it appear empty again.
1643 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1645 FIXME: Commented out until we have something to put here. HB 03/18/02.
1646 <sect1 id="knownissues"><title>Known Issues</title>
1653 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1654 <sect1 id="contact"><title>Contacting the developers, Bug Reporting and Feature Requests</title>
1655 <!-- Include contacting.sgml -->
1657 <!-- end contacting -->
1660 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1661 <sect1 id="copyright"><title>Privoxy Copyright, License and History</title>
1663 <!-- Include copyright.sgml -->
1668 Portions of this document are <quote>borrowed</quote> from the original
1669 <application>Junkbuster</application> (tm) FAQ, and modified as
1670 appropriate for <application>Privoxy</application>.
1673 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1674 <sect2><title>License</title>
1675 <!-- Include copyright.sgml: -->
1677 <!-- end copyright -->
1679 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
1681 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1682 <sect2><title>History</title>
1683 <!-- Include history.sgml -->
1689 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
1692 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1694 <sect1 id="seealso"><title>See also</title>
1696 <!-- Include seealso.sgml -->
1707 Tue 09/11/01 06:38:14 PM EST: Test SGML doc by Hal Burgiss.
1709 Last modified: Mon Sep 10 19:22:09 CEST 2001
1711 This program is free software; you can redistribute it
1712 and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General
1713 Public License as published by the Free Software
1714 Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at
1715 your option) any later version.
1717 This program is distributed in the hope that it will
1718 be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the
1719 implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A
1720 PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public
1721 License for more details.
1723 The GNU General Public License should be included with
1724 this file. If not, you can view it at
1725 http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html
1726 or write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc., 59
1727 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307, USA.
1730 Revision 1.61.2.13 2002/08/06 11:55:32 oes
1731 Added missing close tag
1733 Revision 1.61.2.12 2002/08/06 11:43:46 david__schmidt
1734 Updated OSX uninstall FAQ... we have an uninstall script now.
1736 Revision 1.61.2.11 2002/08/06 08:54:03 oes
1737 Style police: Fixed formatting details
1739 Revision 1.61.2.10 2002/08/02 14:00:25 david__schmidt
1740 Made the OSX removal commands far less dangerous
1742 Revision 1.61.2.9 2002/08/02 13:14:45 oes
1743 Added warning about sudo rm -r for Mac OSX deinstallation; moved this item to install section
1745 Revision 1.61.2.8 2002/08/02 02:01:42 david__schmidt
1746 Add FAQ item for MSIE on OSX HTTP proxy confusion
1748 Revision 1.61.2.7 2002/08/02 01:46:01 david__schmidt
1749 Added FAQ item for Mac OSX uninstall woes
1751 Revision 1.61.2.6 2002/07/30 20:04:56 hal9
1752 Fix typo: 'schould'.
1754 Revision 1.61.2.5 2002/07/26 15:22:58 oes
1755 - Updated to reflect changes in standard.action
1756 - Added info on where to get updated actions files
1758 Revision 1.61.2.4 2002/07/25 21:42:29 hal9
1759 Add brief notes on not proxying non-HTTP protocols.
1761 Revision 1.61.2.3 2002/06/09 16:36:33 hal9
1762 Clarifications on filtering and MIME. Hardcode 'latest release' in index.html.
1764 Revision 1.61.2.2 2002/06/06 02:51:34 hal9
1765 Fix typo in URL http:/config.privoxy.org
1767 Revision 1.61.2.1 2002/06/05 23:10:43 hal9
1768 Add new FAQ re: DUN/IE. Change release date from May to June :)
1770 Revision 1.61 2002/05/25 12:37:25 hal9
1771 Various minor changes and edits.
1773 Revision 1.60 2002/05/22 17:17:48 oes
1774 Proofread & added more links into u-m
1776 Revision 1.59 2002/05/15 04:03:30 hal9
1777 Fix ulink -> link markup.
1779 Revision 1.58 2002/05/10 01:48:20 hal9
1780 This is mostly proposed copyright/licensing additions and changes. Docs
1781 are still GPL, but licensing and copyright are more visible. Also, copyright
1782 changed in doc header comments (eliminate references to JB except FAQ).
1784 Revision 1.57 2002/05/05 20:26:02 hal9
1785 Sorting out license vs copyright in these docs.
1787 Revision 1.56 2002/05/04 08:44:44 swa
1790 Revision 1.55 2002/05/04 00:41:56 hal9
1791 -Remove TOC/first page kludge in favor of proper handling via dsl file.
1793 Revision 1.54 2002/05/03 05:06:44 hal9
1794 Add brief Q/A on transparent proxies.
1796 Revision 1.53 2002/05/03 01:34:52 hal9
1797 Fix section numbering for new sections (due to TOC kludge).
1799 Revision 1.52 2002/04/29 03:08:43 hal9
1800 -Added new Q/A on new actions file set up (pointer to u-m)
1801 -Fixed a few broken links and converted old actions as a result of
1804 Revision 1.51 2002/04/26 17:24:31 swa
1805 bookmarks cleaned, changed structure of user manual, screen and programlisting cleanups, and numerous other changes that I forgot
1807 Revision 1.50 2002/04/26 05:25:23 hal9
1808 Mass commit to catch a few scattered fixes.
1810 Revision 1.49 2002/04/12 10:10:18 swa
1813 Revision 1.48 2002/04/10 18:45:15 swa
1816 Revision 1.47 2002/04/10 04:05:32 hal9
1819 Revision 1.45 2002/04/08 22:59:26 hal9
1820 Version update. Spell chkconfig correctly :)
1822 Revision 1.44 2002/04/07 21:24:29 hal9
1823 Touch up on name change.
1825 Revision 1.43 2002/04/04 21:59:53 hal9
1826 Added NT/W2K service/icon situation.
1828 Revision 1.42 2002/04/04 18:46:47 swa
1829 consistent look. reuse of copyright, history et. al.
1831 Revision 1.41 2002/04/04 06:48:37 hal9
1832 Structural changes to allow for conditional inclusion/exclusion of content
1833 based on entity toggles, e.g. 'entity % p-not-stable "INCLUDE"'. And
1834 definition of internal entities, e.g. 'entity p-version "2.9.13"' that will
1835 eventually be set by Makefile.
1836 More boilerplate text for use across multiple docs.
1838 Revision 1.40 2002/04/03 04:22:03 hal9
1839 Fixed several typos.
1841 Revision 1.39 2002/04/03 03:53:03 hal9
1842 Revert some changes, and then make some news, to layout, and appearance.
1844 Revision 1.38 2002/04/02 03:49:10 hal9
1845 Major changes to doc structure and layout. Sections are not automatically
1846 numbered now. TOC is on page by itself.
1848 Revision 1.37 2002/04/01 16:24:07 hal9
1849 -Rework of supported Q/A.
1850 -Set up entities to include boilerplate text.
1852 Revision 1.36 2002/03/31 23:18:47 hal9
1853 More on dealing with BLOCKED.
1855 Revision 1.35 2002/03/30 04:14:19 hal9
1856 Fix privoxy.org/config links.
1858 Revision 1.34 2002/03/29 04:35:56 hal9
1861 Revision 1.33 2002/03/29 01:31:48 hal9
1862 Several new Q/A's and other touch ups.
1864 Revision 1.32 2002/03/27 00:57:03 hal9
1865 Touch ups for name change.
1867 Revision 1.31 2002/03/26 22:29:55 swa
1868 we have a new homepage!
1870 Revision 1.30 2002/03/25 16:39:22 hal9
1871 A few new sections. Made all links relative to user-manual.
1873 Revision 1.29 2002/03/25 05:23:57 hal9
1874 Moved section, and touch ups.
1876 Revision 1.28 2002/03/25 04:27:33 hal9
1877 New section related to name change.
1879 Revision 1.25 2002/03/24 16:08:08 swa
1880 we are too lazy to make a block-built
1881 privoxy logo. hence removed the option.
1883 Revision 1.24 2002/03/24 15:46:20 swa
1884 name change related issue.
1886 Revision 1.23 2002/03/24 12:33:01 swa
1889 Revision 1.22 2002/03/24 11:51:00 swa
1890 name change. changed filenames.
1892 Revision 1.21 2002/03/24 11:01:06 swa
1895 Revision 1.20 2002/03/23 15:13:11 swa
1896 renamed every reference to the old name with foobar.
1897 fixed "application foobar application" tag, fixed
1898 "the foobar" with "foobar". left junkbustser in cvs
1899 comments and remarks to history untouched.
1901 Revision 1.19 2002/03/21 17:01:54 hal9
1904 Revision 1.18 2002/03/18 16:40:31 hal9
1907 Revision 1.17 2002/03/18 03:53:53 hal9
1910 Revision 1.16 2002/03/17 21:32:56 hal9
1911 A few more additions.
1913 Revision 1.15 2002/03/17 07:25:59 hal9
1914 Correcting some of my typos, and some additions.
1916 Revision 1.14 2002/03/17 02:39:13 hal9
1917 A little more added ...
1919 Revision 1.13 2002/03/17 00:22:20 hal9
1920 Adding new stuff, and trying to incorporate stuff from old faq.
1922 Revision 1.12 2002/03/11 20:13:21 swa
1925 Revision 1.11 2002/03/11 18:42:27 swa
1928 Revision 1.10 2002/03/11 13:13:27 swa
1929 correct feedback channels
1931 Revision 1.9 2002/03/10 23:34:04 swa
1932 more info on not hiding ip address
1934 Revision 1.8 2002/03/09 15:55:48 swa
1935 added default config section
1937 Revision 1.7 2002/03/07 18:16:55 swa
1940 Revision 1.6 2002/03/07 13:16:31 oes
1941 Committing changes by Stefan
1943 Revision 1.5 2002/03/02 15:50:04 swa
1944 2.9.11 version. more input for docs.
1946 Revision 1.4 2002/02/24 14:34:24 jongfoster
1947 Formatting changes. Now changing the doctype to DocBook XML 4.1
1948 will work - no other changes are needed.
1950 Revision 1.3 2001/09/23 10:13:48 swa
1951 upload process established. run make webserver and
1952 the documentation is moved to the webserver. documents
1953 are now linked correctly.
1955 Revision 1.2 2001/09/13 15:20:17 swa
1956 merged standards into developer manual
1958 Revision 1.1 2001/09/12 15:36:41 swa
1959 source files for junkbuster documentation
1961 Revision 1.3 2001/09/10 17:43:59 swa
1962 first proposal of a structure.
1964 Revision 1.2 2001/06/13 14:28:31 swa
1965 docs should have an author.
1967 Revision 1.1 2001/06/13 14:20:37 swa
1968 first import of project's documentation for the webserver.