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5 <!entity p-intro SYSTEM "privoxy.sgml">
6 <!entity seealso SYSTEM "seealso.sgml">
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 "2.9.20">
12 <!entity p-status "beta">
13 <!entity % p-not-stable "INCLUDE">
14 <!entity % p-stable "IGNORE">
15 <!entity % p-text "IGNORE"> <!-- define we are not a text only doc -->
16 <!entity % p-doc "INCLUDE"> <!-- and we are a formal doc -->
17 <!entity % p-supp-userman "INCLUDE"> <!-- Include all from supported.sgml -->
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 1.61.2.16 2002/08/13 00:10:38 hal9 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 1.61.2.16 2002/08/13 00:10:38 hal9 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 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 Please note that this document is constantly evolving. This copy represents
126 the state at the release of version &p-version;.
127 You can find the latest version of the document at <ulink
128 url="http://www.privoxy.org/faq/">http://www.privoxy.org/faq/</ulink>.
129 Please see the <link linkend="contact">Contact section</link> if you want to
130 contact the developers.
134 <!-- Feel free to send a note to the developers at <email>ijbswa-developers@lists.sourceforge.net</email>. -->
140 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
142 <sect1 id="general"><title>General Information</title>
144 <sect2 renderas="sect3" id="newjb"><title>What is this new version of <application>Privoxy</application>?</title>
146 <!-- Include history.sgml -->
153 <sect2 renderas="sect3">
154 <title id="whyprivoxy">Why <quote>Privoxy</quote>? Why a name change at all?</title>
156 <application>Privoxy</application> is the
157 <quote><emphasis>Privacy Enhancing Proxy</emphasis></quote>. Also, its content
158 modification and junk suppression allow you to browse your
159 <quote><emphasis>private</emphasis> edition</quote> of the web.
162 <ulink url="http://junkbusters.com/">Junkbusters Corporation</ulink>
163 continues to offer their original version of the <application>Internet
164 Junkbuster</application>, so publishing our
165 <application> Junkbuster</application>-derived software under the same name
169 There are also potential legal complications from the continued use of the
170 <application>Junkbuster</application> name, which is a registered trademark of
171 <ulink url="http://junkbusters.com/">Junkbusters Corporation</ulink>.
172 There are, however, no objections from Junkbusters Corporation to the
173 <application>Privoxy</application> project itself, and they, in fact, still
174 share our ideals and goals.
177 The developers also believed that there are so many changes from the original
178 code, that it was time to make a clean break from the past and make
179 a name in their own right<![%p-not-stable;[, especially now with the pending
180 release of version 3.0]]>.
185 <sect2 renderas="sect3" id="differs"><title>How does <application>Privoxy</application> differ
186 from the old <application>Junkbuster?</application></title>
188 <application>Privoxy</application> picks up where
189 <application>Junkbuster</application> left off. All the old features remain.
190 The new <application>Privoxy</application> still blocks ads and banners,
191 still manages cookies, and still helps protect your privacy. But, these are
192 all enhanced, and many new features have been added, all in the same vein.
195 The configuration has changed significantly as well. This is something that
196 users will notice right off the bat if upgrading from
197 <application>Junkbuster</application> 2.0.x. The <quote>blocklist</quote>
198 <quote>cookielist</quote>, <quote>imagelist</quote> and much more has been
199 combined into the <quote>actions</quote> files, with a completely different
200 syntax. See the <ulink url="../user-manual/upgradersnote.html">note to
201 upgraders</ulink> for details.
204 <application>Privoxy</application>'s new features include:
207 <!-- Include newfeatures.sgml: -->
213 <sect2 renderas="sect3" id="proxymoron"><title>What is a <quote>proxy</quote>? How does
214 <application>Privoxy</application> work? </title>
216 A web proxy is a service, based on a software such as <application>Privoxy</application>,
217 that clients (i.e. browsers) can use instead of connecting directly to the web
218 servers on the Internet. The clients then ask the proxy to fetch the objects
219 they need (web pages, images, movies etc) on their behalf, and when the proxy
220 has done so, it hands the results back to the client.
223 There are many reasons to use web proxies, such as security (firewalling),
224 efficiency (caching) and others, and there are just as many different proxies
225 to accommodate those needs.
228 <application>Privoxy</application> is a proxy that is solely focused on privacy
229 protection and junk elimination. Sitting between your browser(s) and the Internet,
230 it is in a perfect position to filter outbound personal information that your
231 browser is leaking, as well as inbound junk. It uses a variety of techniques to do
232 this, all of which are under your control via the various configuration
238 <sect2 renderas="sect3" id="whatsanad">
239 <title id="knows">How does <application>Privoxy</application> know what is
240 an ad, and what is not?</title>
242 <application>Privoxy</application>'s approach to blocking ads is twofold:
245 First, there are certain patterns in the <emphasis>locations</emphasis> (URLs)
246 of banner images. This applies to both the path (you wouldn't guess how many
247 web sites serve their banners from a directory called <quote>banners</quote>!)
248 and the host (blocking the big banner hosting services like doublecklick.net
249 already helps a lot). <application>Privoxy</application> takes advantage of this
250 fact by using <ulink url="../user-manual/actions-file.html#AF-PATTERNS">URL
251 patterns</ulink> to sort out and block the requests for banners.
254 Second, banners tend to come in certain <emphasis>sizes</emphasis>. But you
255 can't tell the size of an image by its URL without downloading it, and if you
256 do, it's too late to save bandwidth. Therefore, <application>Privoxy</application>
257 also inspects the HTML sources of web pages while they are loaded, and replaces
258 references to images with standard banner sizes by dummy references, so that
259 your browser doesn't request them anymore in the first place.
262 Both of this involves a certain amount of guesswork and is, of course, freely
267 <sect2 renderas="sect3">
268 <title id="mistakes">Can <application>Privoxy</application> make mistakes?
269 This does not sound very scientific.</title>
271 Actually, it's a black art ;-) And yes, it is always possible to have a broad
272 rule accidentally block or change something by mistake. There is a good chance
273 you may run into such a situation at some point. It is tricky writing rules to
274 cover every conceivable possibility, and not occasionally get false positives.
278 But this should not be a big concern since the
279 <application>Privoxy</application> configuration is very flexible, and
280 includes tools to help identify these types of situations so they can be
281 addressed as needed, allowing you to customize your installation.
282 (<link linkend="badsite">See the Troubleshooting section below</link>.)
288 <sect2 renderas="sect3" id="browsers2"><title>My browser does the same things as
289 <application>Privoxy</application>. Why should I use
290 <application>Privoxy</application> at all?</title>
292 Modern browsers do indeed have <emphasis>some</emphasis> of the same
293 functionality as <application>Privoxy</application>. Maybe this is
294 adequate for you. But <application>Privoxy</application> is much more
295 versatile and powerful, and can do a number of things that browsers just can't.
298 In addition, a proxy is good choice if you use multiple browsers, or
299 have a LAN with multiple computers. This way all the configuration
300 is in one place, and you don't have to maintain a similar configuration
301 for possibly many browsers.
307 <sect2 renderas="sect3" id="license"><title>Is there is a license or fee? What about a
308 warranty? Registration?</title>
310 <application>Privoxy</application> is licensed under the <ulink
311 url="http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html">GNU General Public License (GPL)</ulink>.
312 It is free to use, copy, modify or distribute as you wish under the terms of this
313 license. Please see the <link linkend="copyright">Copyright</link> section for more
314 information on the license and copyright. Or the <filename>LICENSE</filename> file
315 that should be included.
318 There is <emphasis>no warranty</emphasis> of any kind, expressed, implied or otherwise.
319 That is something that would cost real money ;-) There is no registration either.
320 <application>Privoxy</application> really is <emphasis>free</emphasis>
326 <sect2 renderas="sect3" id="jointeam"><title>I would like to help you, what do I do?</title>
328 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="jointeam-money"><title>Money Money Money</title>
330 We, of course, welcome donations and could use money for domain registering,
331 buying software to test <application>Privoxy</application> with, and, of course,
332 for regular world-wide get-togethers (hahaha). If you enjoy the software and feel
333 like helping us with a donation, just <ulink
334 url="mailto:developers@privoxy.org">drop us a note</ulink>.
338 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="jointeam-software"><title>Software</title>
340 If you are a vendor of a web-related software like a browser, web server
341 or proxy, and would like us to ensure that <application>Privoxy</application>
342 runs smoothly with your product, you might consider supplying us with a
343 copy or license. We can't, however, guarantee that we will fix all potential
344 compatibility issues as a result.
348 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="jointeam-work"><title>You want to work with us?</title>
350 Well, helping the team is always a good idea. We welcome new developers,
351 packaging gurus or documentation writers. Simply <ulink
352 url="https://sourceforge.net/account/register.php">get an account on SourceForge.net</ulink>
353 and mail your id to the <ulink url="mailto:developers@privoxy.org">developers
354 mailing list</ulink>. Then read the <ulink
355 url="../developer-manual/index.html">Developer's Manual</ulink>.
358 Once we have added you to the team, you'll have write access to the <ulink
359 url="http://sourceforge.net/cvs/?group_id=11118">CVS repository</ulink>, and
360 together we'll find a suitable task for you.
369 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
371 <sect1 id="installation"><title>Installation</title>
373 <sect2 renderas="sect3" id="whichbrowsers">
374 <title>Which browsers are supported by <application>Privoxy</application>?</title>
376 Any browser that can be configured to use a proxy, which
377 should be virtually all browsers. Direct browser support is not necessary
378 since <application>Privoxy</application> runs as a separate application and
379 talks to the browser in the standardized HTTP protocol, just like a web server
384 <sect2 renderas="sect3" id="whichos">
385 <title>Which operating systems are supported?</title>
387 Include supported.sgml here:
392 <sect2 renderas="sect3" id="newinstall"><title>Can I install
393 <application>Privoxy</application> over <application>Junkbuster</application>?</title>
395 We recommend you un-install <application>Junkbuster</application>
396 first to minimize conflicts and confusion. You may want to
397 save your old configuration files for future reference. The configuration
398 files and syntax have substantially changed, so you will need to manually
399 port your old patterns. See the <ulink url="../user-manual/upgradersnote.html">note
400 to upgraders</ulink> and <ulink url="../user-manual/installation.html">installation
401 chapter</ulink> in the <ulink url="../user-manual/index.html">user manual</ulink>
405 Note: Some installers may automatically un-install
406 <application>Junkbuster</application>, if present!
411 <sect2 renderas="sect3">
412 <title id="firststep">I just installed <application>Privoxy</application>. Is there anything
413 special I have to do now?</title>
416 All browsers must be told to use <application>Privoxy</application>
417 as a proxy by specifying the correct proxy address and port number
418 in the appropriate configuration area for the browser. See below.
419 You should also flush your browser's memory and disk cache to get rid of any
427 <sect2 renderas="sect3" id="localhost"><title>What is the proxy address of <application>Privoxy</application>?</title>
429 If you set up the <application>Privoxy</application> to run on
430 the computer you browse from (rather than your ISP's server or some
431 networked computer on a LAN), the proxy will be on <literal>127.0.0.1</literal>
432 (sometimes referred to as <quote>localhost</quote>,
433 which is the special name used by every computer on the Internet to refer
434 to itself) and the port will be 8118 (unless you have <application>Privoxy</application>
435 to run on a different port with the <ulink
436 url="../user-manual/config.html#LISTEN-ADDRESS">listen-address</ulink> config option).
439 When configuring your browser's proxy settings you typically enter
440 the word <quote>localhost</quote> or the IP address <quote>127.0.0.1</quote>
441 in the boxes next to <quote>HTTP</quote> and <quote>Secure</quote> (HTTPS) and
442 then the number <quote>8118</quote> for <quote>port</quote>.
443 This tells your browser to send all web requests to <application>Privoxy</application>
444 instead of directly to the Internet.
447 <application>Privoxy</application> can also be used to proxy for
448 a Local Area Network. In this case, your would enter either the IP
449 address of the LAN host where <application>Privoxy</application>
450 is running, or the equivalent hostname. Port assignment would be
451 same as above. Note that <application>Privoxy</application> doesn't
452 listen on any LAN interfaces by default.
455 <application>Privoxy</application> does not currently handle
456 protocols such as FTP, SMTP, IM, IRC, ICQ, or other Internet
461 <sect2 renderas="sect3" id="nothing">
462 <title>I just installed <application>Privoxy</application>, and nothing is happening.
463 All the ads are there. What's wrong?</title>
466 Did you configure your browser to use <application>Privoxy</application>
467 as a proxy? It does not sound like it. See above. You might also try flushing
468 the browser's caches to force a full re-reading of pages. You can verify
469 that <application>Privoxy</application> is running, and your browser
470 is correctly configured by entering the special URL:
471 <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/">http://config.privoxy.org/</ulink>.
472 This should take you to a page titled <quote>This is Privoxy..</quote> with
473 access to <application>Privoxy's</application> internal configuration.
474 If you see this, then you are good to go. If you receive a page saying
475 <quote>Privoxy is not running</quote>, then the browser is not set up to use
476 your <application>Privoxy</application> installation.
477 If you receive anything else (probably nothing at all), it could either
478 be that the browser is not set up correctly, or that
479 <application>Privoxy</application> is not running at all. Check the <ulink
480 url="../user-manual/config.html#LOGFILE">log file</ulink>.
488 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
490 <sect1 id="configuration"><title>Configuration</title>
492 <sect2 renderas="sect3" id="getupdates"><title>Where can I get updated Actions Files?</title>
494 Based on your feedback and the continuing development, updated actions files will be
495 made available on the <ulink
496 url="http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=11118">files section</ulink> of
497 our <ulink url="http://sf.net/projects/ijbswa/">project page</ulink>.
501 If you wish to receive an email notification whenever we release updates of
502 <application>Privoxy</application> or the actions file, <ulink
503 url="http://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/ijbswa-announce/">subscribe
504 to our announce mailing list</ulink>, ijbswa-announce@lists.sourceforge.net.
509 <sect2 renderas="sect3" id="newconfig"><title>Can I use my old config files?</title>
511 The syntax, number, and purpose of configuration files has substantially
512 changed from <application>Junkbuster</application> and earlier versions
513 of <application>Privoxy</application>. The old files, like <filename>blocklist</filename>
514 will not work at all. If you are upgrading from a 2.0.x version, you will
515 need to port your configuration data to the new format. Note that even the
516 pattern syntax has changed! Even configuration files from the 2.9.x versions
517 will need to be adapted, as configuration syntax has been very much in flow
522 <sect2 renderas="sect3">
523 <title id="actionsfile">What is an <quote>actions</quote> file?</title>
526 <ulink url="../user-manual/actions-file.html">Actions files</ulink>
527 are where various <ulink url="../user-manual/actions-file.html#ACTIONS">actions</ulink>
528 that <application>Privoxy</application> might take while processing a certain
529 request, are configured. Typically, you would define a set of default actions
530 that apply to all URLs, then add exceptions to these defaults where needed.
534 Actions can be defined on a <ulink
535 url="../user-manual/actions-file.html#AF-PATTERNS">URL pattern</ulink> basis, i.e.
536 for single URLs, whole web sites, groups or parts thereof etc. Actions can also be
537 grouped together and then applied to requests matching one or more patterns.
538 There are many possible actions that might apply to any given site. As an example,
539 if you are blocking cookies as one of your default actions, but need to accept
540 cookies from a given site, you would need to define an exception for this
541 site in one of your actions files, preferably in <filename>user.action</filename>
546 <sect2 renderas="sect3" id="actionss">
547 <title>The <quote>actions</quote> concept confuses me. Please list
548 some of these <quote>actions</quote>.</title>
550 For a comprehensive discussion of the actions concept, please refer
551 to the <ulink url="../user-manual/actions-file.html">actions file
552 chapter</ulink> in the <ulink url="../user-manual/index.html">user
553 manual</ulink>. It includes a <ulink
554 url="../user-manual/actions-file.html#ACTIONS">list of all actions</ulink>
555 and an <ulink url="../user-manual/actions-file.html#ACT-EXAMPLES">actions
556 file tutorial</ulink> to get you started.
561 <sect2 renderas="sect3">
562 <title id="actconfig">How are actions files configured? What is the easiest
563 way to do this?</title>
566 Actions files are just text files in a special syntax and can be edited
567 with a text editor. The probably easiest way is to access
568 <application>Privoxy</application>'s user interface with your web browser
569 at <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/">http://config.privoxy.org/</ulink>
570 (Shortcut: <ulink url="http://p.p/">http://p.p/</ulink>) and then select
571 <quote><ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status">View &
572 change the current configuration</ulink></quote> from the menu.
577 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
578 <sect2 renderas="sect3">
579 <title>There are several different <quote>actions</quote> files. What are
580 the differences?</title>
582 As of <application>Privoxy</application> v2.9.15, three actions files
583 are being included, to be used for
584 different purposes: These are
585 <filename>default.action</filename>, the <quote>main</quote> actions file
586 which is actively maintained by the <application>Privoxy</application>
587 developers, <filename>user.action</filename>, where users are encouraged
588 to make their private customizations, and <filename>standard.action</filename>,
589 which is for internal <application>Privoxy</application> use only.
590 Please see <ulink url="../user-manual/actions-file.html">the actions chapter</ulink>
591 in the <ulink url="../user-manual/index.html">user manual</ulink> for a more
592 detailed explanation.
596 Earlier versions included three different versions of the
597 <filename>default.action</filename> file. The new scheme allows for
598 greater flexibility of local configuration, and for browser based
599 selection of pre-defined <quote>aggressiveness</quote> levels.
604 <sect2 renderas="sect3" id="yahoo"><title>How can I make my Yahoo/Hotmail/GMX account work?</title>
606 The default configuration shouldn't impact the usability of any of these services.
607 It will, however, make all cookies temporary, so that your browser will forget your
608 login credentials in between browser sessions. If you would like not to have to log
609 in manually each time you access those websites, simply turn off all cookie handling
610 for them in the <filename>user.action</filename> file. An example for yahoo might
614 <screen># Allow all cookies for Yahoo login:
616 { -<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> }
617 .login.yahoo.com</screen>
622 <sect2 renderas="sect3" id="configfiles"> <title>What's the difference between the
623 <quote>Cautious</quote>, <quote>Medium</quote> and <quote>Advanced</quote> defaults?</title>
625 Configuring <application>Privoxy</application> is not entirely trivial. To help you get
626 started, we provide you with three different default action <quote>packages</quote> in
627 the web based actions file editor at <ulink
628 url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status">http://config.privoxy.org/show-status</ulink>.
629 The following table shows you, which of the most important features are enabled in each
633 <table frame=all><title>Default Configurations</title>
634 <tgroup cols=4 align=left colsep=1 rowsep=1>
641 <entry>Feature</entry>
642 <entry>Cautious</entry>
643 <entry>Intermadiate</entry>
644 <entry>Advanced</entry>
649 <!-- <entry>f1</entry> -->
650 <!-- <entry>f2</entry> -->
651 <!-- <entry>f3</entry> -->
652 <!-- <entry>f4</entry> -->
658 <entry>Ad-blocking by URL</entry>
665 <entry>Ad-filtering by size</entry>
672 <entry>GIF de-animation</entry>
679 <entry>Referer forging</entry>
686 <entry>Cookie handling</entry>
688 <entry>session-only</entry>
693 <entry>Pop-up killing</entry>
700 <entry>Fast redirects</entry>
707 <entry>HTML taming</entry>
714 <entry>JavaScript taming</entry>
721 <entry>Web-bug killing</entry>
728 <entry>Fun text replacements</entry>
735 <entry>Image tag reordering</entry>
742 <entry>Ad-filtering by link</entry>
754 Where the defaults are likely to break some sites, exceptions for
755 known popular <quote>problem</quote> sites are included, but in
756 general, the more aggressive your default settings are, the more
757 exceptions you will have to make later. See the <ulink
758 url="../user-manual/index.html">user manual</ulink> for a more
764 <sect2 renderas="sect3" id="browseconfig"> <title>Why can I change the configuration
765 with a browser? Does that not raise security issues?</title>
767 It may seem strange that regular users can edit the config files with their
768 browsers, although the whole <filename>/etc/privoxy</filename> hierarchy
769 belongs to the user <quote>privoxy</quote>, with only 644 permissions.
772 When you use the browser-based editor, <application>Privoxy</application>
773 itself is writing to the config files. Because
774 <application>Privoxy</application> is running as the user <quote>privoxy</quote>,
775 it can update the config files.
778 If you run <application>Privoxy</application> for multiple untrusted users (e.g. in
779 a LAN), you will probably want to turn the web-based editor and remote toggle
780 features off by setting <quote><literal><ulink
781 url="../user-manual/config.html#ENABLE-EDIT-ACTIONS">enable-edit-actions</ulink>
782 0</literal></quote> and <quote><literal><ulink
783 url="../user-manual/config.html#ENABLE-REMOTE-TOGGLE">enable-remote-toggle</ulink>
784 0</literal></quote> in the <ulink url="../user-manual/config.html">main configuration file</ulink>.
787 Note that in the default configuration, only local users (i.e. those on
788 <quote>localhost</quote>) can connect to <application>Privoxy</application>,
789 so this is not (normally) a security problem.
794 <sect2 renderas="sect3">
795 <title id="filterfile">What is the <filename>default.filter</filename> file? What is a <quote>filter</quote>?</title>
797 The <ulink url="../user-manual/filter-file.html"><filename>default.filter</filename></ulink>
798 file is where <emphasis>filters</emphasis> are defined, which can be used to modify or
799 remove, web page content on the fly. Filters apply to <emphasis>anything</emphasis>
800 in the page source, including HTML tags, and JavaScript. Regular expressions are used
801 to accomplish this. There are a number of pre-defined filters to deal with common
802 annoyances. The filters are only defined here, to invoke them, you need to use the
804 url="../user-manual/actions-file.html#FILTER"><literal>filter</literal>
805 action</ulink> in one of the actions files. Filtering is automatically
806 disabled for inappropriate MIME types.
810 If you are familiar with regular expressions, and HTML, you can look at
811 the provided <filename>default.filter</filename> with a text editor and define
812 your own filters. This is potentially a very powerful feature, but
813 requires some expertise in both regular expressions and HTML/HTTP.
817 Presently, there is no GUI editor option for this part of the configuration,
818 but you can disable/enable the various pre-defined filters of the included
819 <filename>default.filter</filename> file with the <ulink
820 url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status">web-based actions file editor</ulink>.
825 <sect2 renderas="sect3">
826 <title id="lanconfig">How can I set up <application>Privoxy</application> to act as a proxy for my
829 By default, <application>Privoxy</application> only responds to requests
830 from <literal>127.0.0.1</literal> (localhost). To have it act as a server for
831 a network, this needs to be changed in the <ulink
832 url="../user-manual/config.html">main configuration file</ulink>. Look for
834 url="../user-manual/config.html#LISTEN-ADDRESS">listen-address</ulink></literal>
835 option, which may be commented out with a <quote>#</quote> symbol. Make sure
836 it is uncommented, and assign it the address of the LAN gateway interface,
837 and port number to use. Assuming your LAN address is 192.168.1.1 and you
838 wish to run <application>Privoxy</application> on port 8118, this line
844 listen-address 192.168.1.1:8118</screen>
848 Save the file, and restart <application>Privoxy</application>. Configure
849 all browsers on the network then to use this address and port number.
853 If you run <application>Privoxy</application> on a LAN with untrusted users,
854 we recommend that you double-check the <ulink
855 url="../user-manual/config.html#ACCESS-CONTROL">access control and security</ulink>
862 <sect2 renderas="sect3">
863 <title id="noseeum">Instead of ads, now I get a checkerboard pattern. I don't want to see anything.</title>
865 The replacement for blocked images can be controlled with the <ulink
866 url="../user-manual/actions-file.html#SET-IMAGE-BLOCKER"><literal>set-image-blocker</literal>
867 action</ulink>. You have the choice of a checkerboard pattern, a transparent 1x1 GIF
868 image (aka <quote>blank</quote>), or a redirect to a custom image of your choice.
869 Note that this choice only has effect for images which are blocked as images, i.e.
870 whose URLs match both a <literal><ulink
871 url="../user-manual/actions-file.html#HANDLE-AS-IMAGE">handle-as-image</ulink></literal>
872 <emphasis>and</emphasis> <literal><ulink
873 url="../user-manual/actions-file.html#BLOCK">block</ulink></literal> action.
876 If you want to see nothing, then change the <ulink
877 url="../user-manual/actions-file.html#SET-IMAGE-BLOCKER"><literal>set-image-blocker</literal>
878 action</ulink> to <quote>blank</quote>. This can be done by editing the
879 <filename>default.action</filename> file, or trough the <ulink
880 url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status">web-based actions file editor</ulink>.
885 <sect2 renderas="sect3">
886 <title id="whyseeum">Why would anybody want to see a checkerboard pattern?</title>
888 Remember that <link linkend="whatsanad">telling which image is an ad and which
889 isn't</link>, is mostly guesswork. While we hope that the standard configuration
890 is rather smart, it can and will make errors. The checkerboard image is visually
891 decent, but it shows you that and where images were blocked, which can be very
892 helpful in case some navigation aid or otherwise innocent image was
893 erraneously blocked. Some people might also enjoy seeing how many banners
894 they <emphasis>don't</emphasis> have to see..
899 <!-- This has changed with the adaptive "blocked" page
901 <sect2 renderas="sect3">
902 <title id="blockedisugly">I see large red banners on some pages that say
903 <quote>Blocked</quote>. Why and how do I get rid of this?</title>
905 These are URLs that match something in one of
906 <application>Privoxy's</application> block actions
908 url="../user-manual/actions-file.html#BLOCK"><quote>+block</quote></ulink>).
909 It is meant to be a warning so that you know something has been blocked and
910 an easy way for you to see why. These are handled differently than what has
911 been defined explicitly as <quote>images</quote> (e.g. ads that are GIF image
912 files). Depending on the URL itself, it is sometimes hard for
913 <application>Privoxy</application> to really know whether there is indeed an
914 ad image there or not. And there are limitations as to what
915 <application>Privoxy</application> can do to <quote>fool</quote> the
920 For instance, if the ad is in a frame, then it is embedded in the separate
921 HTML page used for the frame. In this case, you cannot just substitute an
922 aribitrary image (like we would for a <quote>blank</quote> image), for an HTML
923 page. The browser is expecting an HTML page, and that is what it must have
924 for frames. Such situations can be a little trickier to deal with, and
925 <application>Privoxy</application> may show the <quote>Blocked</quote> page,
926 despite your best efforts.
930 If you want these to be treated as if they were images, so that they can be
931 made invisible, you can try moving the offending URL from the
932 <quote>+block</quote> section to the <quote>+imageblock</quote> section of
933 your actions file. Just be forewarned, if any URL is made
934 <quote>invisible</quote>, you may not have any inkling that something has
935 been removed from that page, or why. If this approach does not work, then you are
936 probably dealing with a frame (or <quote>ilayer</quote>), and the only thing
937 that can go there is an HTML page of some sort.
940 To deal with this situation, you could modify the
941 <quote><filename>block</filename></quote> HTML template that is used by
942 <application>Privoxy</application> to display this, and make it something
943 more to your liking. Currently, there is no configuration option for this.
944 You will have to modify, or create your own page, and use this to replace
945 <filename>templates/blocked</filename>, which is what
946 <application>Privoxy</application> uses to display the <quote>Blocked</quote>
950 Another way to deal with this is find why and where
951 <application>Privoxy</application> is blocking the frame, and
952 diable this. Then let the <quote>+set-image-blocker</quote> action
953 handle the ad that is embedded in the frame's HTML page.
958 <sect2 renderas="sect3" id="alliseeisred">
959 <title>I cannot see all of the <quote>Blocked</quote> page banner. Help.</title>
961 There is not enough available space to fit the entire Blocked page. Try right
962 clicking on the visible portion, and select <quote>Show Frame</quote>,
963 or equivalent. This will usually allow you to see the entire Privoxy
964 <quote>Blocked</quote> page, and from there you can see just what is being
968 As of Privoxy 2.9.14, the Blocked banner page is re-sizeable, and tries
969 to adjust to the allotted space. There may be occassions where there
970 just isn't enough room to display much of anything useful though.
977 <sect2 renderas="sect3">
978 <title id="blockedbytext">I see some images being replaced by a text
979 instead of the checkerboard image. Why and how do I get rid of this?</title>
981 This happens when the banners are not embedded in the HTML code of the
982 page itself, but in separate HTML (sub)documents that are loaded into (i)frames
983 or (i)layers, and these external HTML documents are blocked. Being non-images
984 they get replaced by a substitute HTML page rather than a substitute image,
985 which wouldn't work out technically, since the browser expects and accepts
986 only HTML when it has requested an HTML document.
989 The substitute page adapts to the available space and shows itself as a
990 miniature two-liner if loaded into small frames, or full-blown with a
991 large red "BLOCKED" banner if space allows.
994 If you prefer the banners to be blocked by images, you must see to it that
995 the HTML documents in which they are embedded are not blocked. Clicking
996 the <quote>See why</quote> link offered in the substitute page will show
997 you which rule blocked the page. After changing the rule and un-blocking
998 the HTML documents, the browser will try to load the actual banner images
999 and the usual image blocking will (hopefully!) kick in.
1004 <sect2 renderas="sect3" id="srvany">
1005 <title>Can <application>Privoxy</application> run as a service
1006 on Win2K/NT?</title>
1008 Yes, it can run as a system service using <command>srvany.exe</command>.
1009 The only catch is that this will effectively disable the
1010 <application>Privoxy</application> icon (and its menu!) in the taskbar. You can have
1011 one or the other, but not both at this time :(
1014 There is a pending feature request for this functionality. See the discussion
1016 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>,
1017 for details, and a sample configuration.
1023 <sect2 renderas="sect3" id="otherproxy">
1024 <title>How can I make <application>Privoxy</application> work with other
1025 proxies like <application>Squid</application>?</title>
1027 This can be done and is often useful to combine the benefits of
1028 <application>Privoxy</application> with those of a caching proxy.
1030 url="../user-manual/config.html#FORWARDING">forwarding chapter</ulink>
1031 in the <ulink url="../user-manual/index.html">user manual</ulink> which
1032 describes how to do this.
1036 <sect2 renderas="sect3" id="transparent">
1037 <title>Can <application>Privoxy</application> run as a <quote>transparent
1038 </quote> proxy?</title>
1040 No, <application>Privoxy</application> currently does not have this ability,
1041 though it is planned for a future release. Transparent proxies require
1042 special handling of the request headers beyond what
1043 <application>Privoxy</application> is now capable of.
1047 Chaining <application>Privoxy</application> behind another proxy that has
1048 this ability should work though.
1050 url="../user-manual/config.html#FORWARDING">forwarding chapter</ulink>
1051 in the <ulink url="../user-manual/index.html">user manual</ulink>. As
1052 a transparent proxy to be used for chaining we recommend Transproxy
1053 (<ulink url="http://www.transproxy.nlc.net.au/">http://www.transproxy.nlc.net.au/</ulink>).
1060 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
1063 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1065 <sect1 id="misc"><title>Miscellaneous</title>
1067 <sect2 renderas="sect3">
1068 <title id="slowsme">How much does <application>Privoxy</application> slow my browsing down? This
1069 has to add extra time to browsing.</title>
1071 It should not slow you down any in real terms, and may actually help
1072 speed things up since ads, banners and other junk are not being displayed.
1073 The actual processing time required by <application>Privoxy</application>
1074 itself for each page, is relatively small in the overall scheme of things,
1075 and happens very quickly. This is typically more than offset by time saved
1076 not downloading and rendering ad images.
1080 <quote>Filtering</quote> content via the <literal><ulink
1081 url="../user-manual/actions-file.html#FILTER">filter</ulink></literal> or
1083 url="../user-manual/actions-file.html#DEANIMATE-GIFS">deanimate-gifs</ulink></literal>
1084 actions may cause a perceived slowdown, since the entire document needs to be buffered
1085 before displaying. See below.
1091 <sect2 renderas="sect3" id="loadingtimes"><title>I noticed considerable
1092 delays in page requests compared to the old Junkbuster. What's wrong?</title>
1094 If you use any <literal><ulink
1095 url="../user-manual/actions-file.html#FILTER">filter</ulink></literal> action,
1096 such as filtering banners by size, web-bugs etc, or the <literal><ulink
1097 url="../user-manual/actions-file.html#DEANIMATE-GIFS">deanimate-gifs</ulink></literal>
1098 action, the entire document must be loaded into memory in order for the filtering
1099 mechanism to work, and nothing is sent to the browser during this time.
1102 The loading time does not really change in real numbers, but the feeling is
1103 different, because most browsers are able to start rendering incomplete
1104 content, giving the user a feeling of "it works". This effect is especially
1105 noticeable on slow dialup connections.
1108 Filtering is automatically disabled for inappropriate MIME types.
1114 <sect2 renderas="sect3" id="configurl"><title>What are "http://config.privoxy.org/" and
1115 "http://p.p/"?</title>
1117 <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/">http://config.privoxy.org/</ulink> is the
1118 address of <application>Privoxy</application>'s built-in user interface, and
1119 <ulink url="http://p.p/">http://p.p/</ulink> is a shortcut for it.
1122 Since <application>Privoxy</application> sits between your web browser and the Internet,
1123 it can simply intercept requests for these addresses and answer them with its built-in
1124 <quote>web server</quote>.
1127 This also makes for a good test for your browser configuration: If entering the
1128 URL <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/">http://config.privoxy.org/</ulink>
1129 takes you to a page saying <quote>This is Privoxy..</quote>, everything is OK.
1130 If you get a page saying <quote>Privoxy is not working</quote> instead, then
1131 your browser didn't use <application>Privoxy</application> for the request,
1132 hence it could not be intercepted, and you have accessed the <emphasis>real</emphasis>
1133 web site at config.privoxy.org.
1136 With recent versions of <application>Privoxy</application> (version 2.9.x and
1137 later), the user interface features information on the run time status, the
1138 configuration, and even a built-in editor for the <ulink
1139 url="../user-manual/actions-file.html">actions files</ulink>.
1143 Note that the built-in URLs from earlier versions of <application>Junkbuster</application>
1144 / <application>Privoxy</application>, http://example.com/show-proxy-args and http://i.j.b/,
1145 are no longer supported. If you still use such an old version, you should really consider
1146 upgrading to &p-version;.
1151 FIXME: commented out until we have data. HB 03/18/02.
1153 <sect2 renderas="sect3" id="badfiledesc"><title>I get the message 'Bad File Descriptor', why?</title>
1161 <sect2 renderas="sect3" id="blocklist"><title>Do you still maintain the blocklists?</title>
1163 No. The patterns for blocking now reside (among other things) in the <ulink
1164 url="../user-manual/actions-file.html">actions files</ulink>, which are
1165 actively maintained instead. See next question ...
1169 <sect2 renderas="sect3" id="newads"><title>How can I submit new ads?</title>
1171 Yes, absolutely! Please see the <link linkend="contact">Contact section</link> for
1172 how to do that. Please note that you (technically) need the latest
1173 <application>Privoxy</application> version for this to work.
1178 <sect2 renderas="sect3" id="ip"><title>How can I hide my IP address?</title>
1180 If you run both the browser and the proxy locally, you cannot hide your IP
1181 address with <application>Privoxy</application> or any other software. The
1182 server needs to know your IP address to send the answers back to you.
1185 Fortunately there are many publicly usable anonymous proxies out there, which
1186 solve the problem by providing a further level of indirection between you and
1187 the web server, shared by many people, and thus letting your requests "drown"
1188 in white noise of unrelated requests as far as user tracking is concerned.
1191 Most of them will, however, log your IP address and make it available to the
1192 authorities in case you abuse that anonymity for criminal purposes. In fact
1193 you can't even rule out that some of them only exist to *collect* information
1194 on (those suspicious) people with a more than average preference for privacy.
1197 You can find a list of anonymous public proxies at <ulink
1198 url="http://www.multiproxy.org/anon_list.htm">multiproxy.org</ulink> and many
1199 more through Google. A particularly interesting project is the JAP service
1200 offered by the Technical University of Dresden (<ulink
1201 url="http://anon.inf.tu-dresden.de/index_en.html">http://anon.inf.tu-dresden.de/index_en.html</ulink>.
1204 There is, however, even in the single-machine case the possibility to make the
1205 server believe that your machine is in fact a shared proxy serving a whole big
1206 LAN, and we are looking into that.
1210 <sect2 renderas="sect3">
1211 <title id="anonforsure">Can <application>Privoxy</application> guarantee I am anonymous?</title>
1213 No. Your chances of remaining anonymous are greatly improved, but unless you
1214 are an expert on Internet security it would be safest to assume that
1215 everything you do on the Web can be traced back to you.
1218 <application>Privoxy</application> can remove various information about you,
1219 and allows <emphasis>you</emphasis> more freedom to decide which sites
1220 you can trust, and what details you want to reveal. But it's still possible
1221 that web sites can find out who you are. Here's one way this can happen.
1224 A few browsers disclose the user's email address in certain situations, such
1225 as when transferring a file by FTP. <application>Privoxy</application>
1226 does not filter FTP. If you need this feature, or are concerned about the
1227 mail handler of your browser disclosing your email address, you might
1228 consider products such as <application>NSClean</application>.
1231 Browsers available only as binaries could use non-standard headers to give
1232 out any information they can have access to: see the manufacturer's license
1233 agreement. It's impossible to anticipate and prevent every breach of privacy
1234 that might occur. The professionally paranoid prefer browsers available as
1235 source code, because anticipating their behavior is easier. Trust the source,
1241 <sect2 renderas="sect3">
1242 <title id="sitebreak">Might some things break because header information or
1243 content is being altered?</title>
1246 Definitely. More and more sites use HTTP header content to decide what to
1247 display and how to display it. There is many ways that this can be handled,
1248 so having hard and fast rules, is tricky.
1252 <quote>User-Agent</quote> in particular is often used in this way to identify
1253 the browser, and adjust content accordingly. Changing this now (at least not
1254 further than removing the OS information) is not recommended, since so many
1255 sites do look for it. You may get undesirable results by changing this.
1259 For instance, different browsers use different encodings of Russian and Czech
1260 characters, certain web servers convert pages on-the-fly according to the
1261 User Agent header. Giving a <quote>User Agent</quote> with the wrong
1262 operating system or browser manufacturer causes some sites in these languages
1263 to be garbled; Surfers to Eastern European sites should change it to
1264 something closer. And then some page access counters work by looking at the
1265 <quote>Referer</quote> header; they may fail or break if unavailable. The
1266 weather maps of Intellicast have been blocked by their server when no
1267 <quote>Referer</quote> or cookie is provided, is another example. (But you
1268 can forge both headers without giving information away). There are
1269 many other ways things can go wrong when trying to fool a web server.
1273 Similar thoughts apply to modifying JavaScript, and, to a lesser degree,
1278 If you have problems with a site, you will have to adjust your configuration
1279 accordingly. Cookies are probably the most likely adjustment that may
1280 be required, but by no means the only one.
1286 <sect2 renderas="sect3">
1287 <title id="caching">Can <application>Privoxy</application> act as a <quote>caching</quote> proxy to
1288 speed up web browsing?</title>
1290 No, it does not have this ability at all. You want something like
1291 <ulink url="http://www.squid-cache.org/">Squid</ulink> for this. And, yes,
1292 before you ask, <application>Privoxy</application> can co-exist
1293 with other kinds of proxies like <application>Squid</application>.
1294 See the <ulink url="../user-manual/config.html#FORWARDING">forwarding
1295 chapter</ulink> in the <ulink url="../user-manual/index.html">user
1296 manual</ulink> for details.
1300 <sect2 renderas="sect3">
1301 <title id="firewall">What about as a firewall? Can <application>Privoxy</application> protect me?</title>
1303 Not in the way you mean, or in the way a true firewall can.
1304 <application>Privoxy</application> can help protect your privacy, but not
1305 protect you from intrusion attempts. It is, of course, perfectly possible
1306 and recommended to use <emphasis>both</emphasis>.
1310 <!-- No longer needed
1311 <sect2 renderas="sect3">
1312 <title id="logo">The <application>Privoxy</application> logo that replaces ads is very blocky
1313 and ugly looking. Can't a better font be used?</title>
1316 This is not a font problem. The logo is an image that is created by
1317 <application>Privoxy</application> on the fly. So as to not waste
1318 memory, the image is rather small. The blockiness comes when the
1319 image is scaled to fill a largish area. There is not much to be done
1320 about this, other than to use one of the other
1321 <quote>imageblock</quote> directives: <emphasis>pattern</emphasis>,
1322 <emphasis>blank</emphasis>, or a URL of your choosing.
1325 Given the above problem, we have decided to remove the logo option entirely
1331 <sect2 renderas="sect3">
1332 <title id="wasted">I have large empty spaces / a checkerboard pattern now where
1333 ads used to be. Why?</title>
1335 It would be technically possible eliminate the banners in a way that frees
1336 their screen estate in many cases, by doing all banner blocking with filters,
1337 i.e. eliminating the whole image references from the HTML pages instead
1338 of letting them stay in, and blocking the resulting requests for the
1342 But this would consume considerable CPU resources, would likely destroy
1343 the layout of many web pages which rely on the banners consuming a certain
1344 amount of screen space, and would fail in other cases, where the screen space
1345 is reserved e.g. by tables anyway. Also, making the banners disappear without
1346 a visual trace complicates troubleshooting.
1349 So we won't support this in the default configuration, but you can of course
1350 define appropriate filters yourself.
1354 <sect2 renderas="sect3">
1355 <title id="ssl">How can <application>Privoxy</application> filter Secure (HTTPS) URLs?</title>
1357 Since secure HTTP connections are encrypted SSL sessions between your browser
1358 and the secure site, and are meant to be reliably <emphasis>secure</emphasis>,
1359 there is little that <application>Privoxy</application> can do but hand the raw
1360 gibberish data though from one end to the other unprocessed.
1363 The only exception to this is blocking by host patterns, as the client needs
1364 to tell <application>Privoxy</application> the name of the remote server,
1365 so that <application>Privoxy</application> can establish the connection.
1366 If that name matches a host-only pattern, the connection will be blocked.
1369 As far as ad blocking is concerned, this is less of a restriction than it may
1370 seem, since ad sources are often identifiable by the host name, and often
1371 the banners to be placed in an encrypted page come unencrypted nonetheless
1372 for efficiency reasons, which exposes them to the full power of
1373 <application>Privoxy</application>'s ad blocking.
1378 <sect2 renderas="sect3">
1379 <title id="secure"><application>Privoxy</application> runs as a <quote>server</quote>. How
1380 secure is it? Do I need to take any special precautions?</title>
1382 There are no known exploits that might affect
1383 <application>Privoxy</application>. On Unix-like systems,
1384 <application>Privoxy</application> can run as a non-privileged
1385 user, which is how we recommend it be run. Also, by default
1386 <application>Privoxy</application> only listens to requests
1387 from <quote>localhost</quote> only. The server aspect of
1388 <application>Privoxy</application> is not itself directly exposed to the
1389 Internet in this configuration. If you want to have
1390 <application>Privoxy</application> serve as a LAN proxy, this will have to
1391 be opened up to allow for LAN requests. In this case, we'd recommend
1392 you specify only the LAN gateway address, e.g. 192.168.1.1, in the main
1393 <application>Privoxy</application> configuration file and check all <ulink
1394 url="../user-manual/config.html#ACCESS-CONTROL">access control and security
1395 options</ulink>. All LAN hosts can then use this as their proxy address
1396 in the browser proxy configuration, but <application>Privoxy</application>
1397 will not listen on any external interfaces. ACLs can be defined in addition,
1398 and using a firewall is always good too. Better safe than sorry.
1403 <sect2 renderas="sect3" id="turnoff">
1404 <title>How can I temporarily disable <application>Privoxy</application>?</title>
1406 The easiest way is to access <application>Privoxy</application> with your
1407 browser by using the remote toggle URL: <ulink
1408 url="http://config.privoxy.org/toggle">http://config.privoxy.org/toggle</ulink>.
1409 See the <ulink url="../user-manual/appendix.html#BOOKMARKLETS">Bookmarklets section</ulink>
1410 of the <citetitle>User Manual</citetitle> for an easy way to access this
1415 <sect2 renderas="sect3" id="reallyoff">
1416 <title>When <quote>disabled</quote> is <application>Privoxy</application> totally
1417 out of the picture?</title>
1419 No, this just means all filtering and actions are disabled.
1420 <application>Privoxy</application> is still acting as a proxy, but just not
1421 doing any of the things that <application>Privoxy</application> would
1422 normally be expected to do. It is still a <quote>middle-man</quote> in
1423 the interaction between your browser and web sites.
1427 <sect2 renderas="sect3" id="crunch">
1428 <title>My logs show <application>Privoxy</application> <quote>crunches</quote>
1429 ads, but also its own CGI pages. What is a <quote>crunch</quote>?</title>
1431 A <quote>crunch</quote> simply means <quote>Privoxy</quote> intercepted
1432 something, nothing more. Often this is indeed ads or banners, but
1433 <application>Privoxy</application> uses the same mechanism for trapping
1434 requests for its own internal pages. For instance, a request for
1435 <application>Privoxy's</application> configuration page at:
1436 <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org">http://config.privoxy.org</ulink>,
1437 is intercepted (i.e. it does not go out to the 'net), and the familiar
1438 CGI configuration is returned to the browser, and the log consequently will
1439 show a <quote>crunch</quote>.
1443 <sect2 renderas="sect3" id="seealso">
1444 <title>Where can I find more information about <application>Privoxy</application>
1445 and related issues?</title>
1446 <!-- Include seealso.sgml boilerplate: -->
1448 <!-- end boilerplate -->
1453 <ulink url="../user-manual/seealso.html">user-manual</ulink> for
1462 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1464 <sect1 id="trouble">
1465 <title>Troubleshooting</title>
1467 <sect2 renderas="sect3">
1468 <title id="refused">I just upgraded and am getting <quote>connection refused</quote>
1469 with every web page?</title>
1471 Either <application>Privoxy</application> is not running, or your
1472 browser is configured for a different port than what
1473 <application>Privoxy</application> is using.
1477 The old <application>Privoxy</application> (and also
1478 <application>Junkbuster</application>) used port 8000 by
1479 default. This has been changed to port 8118 now, due to a conflict
1480 with NAS (Network Audio Service), which uses port 8000. If you haven't,
1481 you need to change your browser to the new port number, or alternately
1483 url="../user-manual/config.html#LISTEN-ADDRESS"><literal>listen-address</literal>
1484 option</ulink> in <application>Privoxy's</application> <ulink
1485 url="../user-manual/config.html">main configuration file</ulink>.
1490 <sect2 renderas="sect3">
1491 <title id="flushit">I just added a new rule, but the steenkin ad is
1492 still getting through. How?</title>
1494 If the ad had been displayed before you added its URL, it will probably be
1495 held in the browser's cache for some time, so it will be displayed without
1496 the need for any request to the server, and <application>Privoxy</application>
1497 will not be in the picture. The best thing to do is try flushing the browser's
1498 caches. And then try again.
1502 If this doesn't help, you probably have an error in the rule you
1503 applied. Try pasting the full URL of the offending ad into <ulink
1504 url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info">http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info</ulink>
1505 and see if it really matches your new rule.
1510 <sect2 id="badsite" renderas="sect3">
1511 <title >One of my favorite sites does not work with <application>Privoxy</application>.
1512 What can I do?</title>
1515 First verify that it is indeed a <application>Privoxy</application> problem,
1516 by toggling off <application>Privoxy</application> through <ulink
1517 url="http://config.privoxy.org/toggle">http://config.privoxy.org/toggle</ulink>,
1518 and then shift-reloading the problem page (i.e. holding down the shift key
1519 while clicking reload. Alternatively, flush your browser's disk and memory
1524 If still a problem, go to <ulink
1525 url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info">http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info</ulink>
1526 and paste the full URL of the page in question into the prompt. See which actions
1527 are being applied to the URL, and which matches in which actions files are
1528 responsible for that. Now, armed with this information, go to <ulink
1529 url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status">http://config.privoxy.org/show-status</ulink>
1530 and select the appropriate actions files for editing.
1533 You can now either look for a section which disables the actions that
1534 you suspect to cause the problem and add a pattern for your site there,
1535 or make up a completely new section for your site. In any case, the recommended
1536 way is to disable only the prime suspect, reload the problem page, and only
1537 if the problem persists, disable more and more actions until you have
1538 identified the culprit. You may or may not want to turn the other actions
1539 on again. Remember to flush your browser's caches in between any such changes!
1542 Alternately, if you are comfortable with a text editor, you can accomplish
1543 the same thing by editing the appropriate actions file. Probably the easiest
1544 way to deal with such problems when editing by hand is to add your
1545 site to a <literal>{ fragile }</literal> section in <filename>user.action</filename>,
1546 which is an alias that turns off most <quote>dangerous</quote>
1547 actions, but is also likely to turn off more actions then needed, and thus lower
1548 your privacy and protection more than necessary,
1551 Troubleshooting actions is discussed in more detail in the <ulink
1552 url="../user-manual/appendix.html#ACTIONSANAT">user-manual appendix</ulink>.
1553 There is also an <ulink
1554 url="../user-manual/actions-file.html#ACT-EXAMPLES">actions tutorial</ulink>.
1560 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1561 <sect2 id="dun" renderas="sect3">
1562 <title>After installing <application>Privoxy</application>, I have to log in
1563 every time I start IE. What gives?</title>
1566 This is a quirk that effects the installation of
1567 <application>Privoxy</application>, in conjunction with Internet Explorer and
1568 Internet Connection Sharing on Windows 2000 and Windows XP. The symptoms may
1569 appear to be corrupted or invalid DUN settings, or passwords.
1573 When setting up an NT based Windows system with
1574 <application>Privoxy</application> you may find that things do not seem to be
1575 doing what you expect. When you set your system up you will probably have set
1576 up Internet Connection Sharing (ICS) with Dial up Networking (DUN) when
1577 logged in with administrator privileges. You will probably have made this DUN
1578 connection available to other accounts that you may have set-up on your
1579 system. E.g. Mum or Dad sets up the system and makes accounts suitably
1580 configured for the kids.
1584 When setting up <application>Privoxy</application> in this environment you
1585 will have to alter the proxy set-up of Internet Explorer (IE) for the
1586 specific DUN connection on which you wish to use
1587 <application>Privoxy</application>. When you do this the ICS DUN set-up
1588 becomes user specific. In this instance you will see no difference if you
1589 change the DUN connection under the account used to set-up the connection.
1590 However when you do this from another user you will notice that the DUN
1591 connection changes to make available to "Me only". You will also find that
1592 you have to store the password under each different user!
1596 The reason for this is that each user's set-up for IE is user specific. Each
1597 set-up DUN connection and each LAN connection in IE store the settings for
1598 each user individually. As such this enforces individual configurations
1599 rather than common ones. Hence the first time you use a DUN connection after
1600 re-booting your system it may not perform as you expect, and prompt you for
1601 the password. Just set and save the password again and all should be OK.
1605 [Thanks to Ray Griffith for this submission.]
1610 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1611 <sect2 id="ftp" renderas="sect3">
1612 <title>I cannot connect to any FTP sites. <application>Privoxy</application>
1613 seems to be blocking me.</title>
1615 <application>Privoxy</application> cannot act as a proxy for FTP traffic,
1616 so do not configure your browser to use <application>Privoxy</application>
1617 as an FTP proxy. The same is true for any protocol other than HTTP or HTTPS.
1621 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1622 <sect2 id="osxie" renderas="sect3">
1623 <title>In Mac OSX, I can't configure Microsoft Internet Explorer to use
1624 <application>Privoxy</application> as the HTTP proxy.</title>
1626 Microsoft Internet Explorer (in versions like 5.1) respects system-wide
1627 network settings. In order to change the HTTP proxy, open System
1628 Preferences, and click on the Network icon. In the settings pane that
1629 comes up, click on the Proxies tab. Ensure the "Web Proxy (HTTP)" checkbox
1630 is checked and enter <literal>127.0.0.1</literal> in the entry field.
1631 Enter <literal>8118</literal> in the Port field. The next time you start
1632 IE, it should reflect these values.
1636 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1637 <sect2 renderas="sect3" id="osxuninstall">
1638 <title>In Mac OSX, I dragged the Privoxy folder to the trash in order to
1639 uninstall it. Now the finder tells me I don't have sufficient privileges to
1640 empty the trash.</title>
1642 Just dragging the <application>Privoxy</application> folder to the trash is
1643 not enough to delete it. <application>Privoxy</application> supplies an
1644 <application>uninstall.command</application> file that takes care of
1645 these details. Open the trash, drag the <application>uninstall.command</application>
1646 file out of the trash and double-click on it. You will be prompted for
1647 confirmation and the administration password.
1650 The trash may still appear full after this command; emptying the trash
1651 from the desktop should make it appear empty again.
1656 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1657 <sect2 renderas="sect3" id="blankpage">
1658 <title>I get a completely blank page at one site. <quote>View Source</quote>
1659 shows only: <markup><![CDATA[<html><body></body></html>]]></markup>.</title>
1661 This is often the result of a webserver that mishandles the request
1662 <application>Privoxy</application> sends to not compress the content.
1665 In a default configuration, <application>Privoxy</application> requests all
1666 data be sent <quote>uncompressed</quote>. This is required for the page
1667 filtering and other magic to work. In some rare cases, the browser and
1668 webserver miscommunicate and the result is a totally blank page. The
1669 suggested work around is to selectively turn off this feature for sites
1670 that exhibit such behavior. Example section for <filename>user.action</filename>:
1673 # Make exceptions for ill-behaved sites:
1675 {-prevent-compression}
1676 .example.com</screen>
1685 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1687 FIXME: Commented out until we have something to put here. HB 03/18/02.
1688 <sect1 id="knownissues"><title>Known Issues</title>
1695 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1696 <sect1 id="contact"><title>Contacting the developers, Bug Reporting and Feature Requests</title>
1697 <!-- Include contacting.sgml -->
1699 <!-- end contacting -->
1702 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1703 <sect1 id="copyright"><title>Privoxy Copyright, License and History</title>
1705 <!-- Include copyright.sgml -->
1710 Portions of this document are <quote>borrowed</quote> from the original
1711 <application>Junkbuster</application> (tm) FAQ, and modified as
1712 appropriate for <application>Privoxy</application>.
1715 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1716 <sect2><title>License</title>
1717 <!-- Include copyright.sgml: -->
1719 <!-- end copyright -->
1721 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
1723 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1724 <sect2><title>History</title>
1725 <!-- Include history.sgml -->
1731 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
1734 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1736 <sect1 id="seealso"><title>See also</title>
1738 <!-- Include seealso.sgml -->
1749 Tue 09/11/01 06:38:14 PM EST: Test SGML doc by Hal Burgiss.
1751 Last modified: Mon Sep 10 19:22:09 CEST 2001
1753 This program is free software; you can redistribute it
1754 and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General
1755 Public License as published by the Free Software
1756 Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at
1757 your option) any later version.
1759 This program is distributed in the hope that it will
1760 be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the
1761 implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A
1762 PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public
1763 License for more details.
1765 The GNU General Public License should be included with
1766 this file. If not, you can view it at
1767 http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html
1768 or write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc., 59
1769 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307, USA.
1772 Revision 1.61.2.16 2002/08/13 00:10:38 hal9
1773 Add faq to troubleshooting re: blank page syndrome, ie {-prevent-compression}.
1775 Revision 1.61.2.15 2002/08/10 11:34:22 oes
1776 Add disclaimer about probably being out-of-date
1778 Revision 1.61.2.14 2002/08/07 02:53:43 hal9
1779 Fix some minor markup errors, and move one OSX Q/A to troubleshooting section.
1781 Revision 1.61.2.13 2002/08/06 11:55:32 oes
1782 Added missing close tag
1784 Revision 1.61.2.12 2002/08/06 11:43:46 david__schmidt
1785 Updated OSX uninstall FAQ... we have an uninstall script now.
1787 Revision 1.61.2.11 2002/08/06 08:54:03 oes
1788 Style police: Fixed formatting details
1790 Revision 1.61.2.10 2002/08/02 14:00:25 david__schmidt
1791 Made the OSX removal commands far less dangerous
1793 Revision 1.61.2.9 2002/08/02 13:14:45 oes
1794 Added warning about sudo rm -r for Mac OSX deinstallation; moved this item to install section
1796 Revision 1.61.2.8 2002/08/02 02:01:42 david__schmidt
1797 Add FAQ item for MSIE on OSX HTTP proxy confusion
1799 Revision 1.61.2.7 2002/08/02 01:46:01 david__schmidt
1800 Added FAQ item for Mac OSX uninstall woes
1802 Revision 1.61.2.6 2002/07/30 20:04:56 hal9
1803 Fix typo: 'schould'.
1805 Revision 1.61.2.5 2002/07/26 15:22:58 oes
1806 - Updated to reflect changes in standard.action
1807 - Added info on where to get updated actions files
1809 Revision 1.61.2.4 2002/07/25 21:42:29 hal9
1810 Add brief notes on not proxying non-HTTP protocols.
1812 Revision 1.61.2.3 2002/06/09 16:36:33 hal9
1813 Clarifications on filtering and MIME. Hardcode 'latest release' in index.html.
1815 Revision 1.61.2.2 2002/06/06 02:51:34 hal9
1816 Fix typo in URL http:/config.privoxy.org
1818 Revision 1.61.2.1 2002/06/05 23:10:43 hal9
1819 Add new FAQ re: DUN/IE. Change release date from May to June :)
1821 Revision 1.61 2002/05/25 12:37:25 hal9
1822 Various minor changes and edits.
1824 Revision 1.60 2002/05/22 17:17:48 oes
1825 Proofread & added more links into u-m
1827 Revision 1.59 2002/05/15 04:03:30 hal9
1828 Fix ulink -> link markup.
1830 Revision 1.58 2002/05/10 01:48:20 hal9
1831 This is mostly proposed copyright/licensing additions and changes. Docs
1832 are still GPL, but licensing and copyright are more visible. Also, copyright
1833 changed in doc header comments (eliminate references to JB except FAQ).
1835 Revision 1.57 2002/05/05 20:26:02 hal9
1836 Sorting out license vs copyright in these docs.
1838 Revision 1.56 2002/05/04 08:44:44 swa
1841 Revision 1.55 2002/05/04 00:41:56 hal9
1842 -Remove TOC/first page kludge in favor of proper handling via dsl file.
1844 Revision 1.54 2002/05/03 05:06:44 hal9
1845 Add brief Q/A on transparent proxies.
1847 Revision 1.53 2002/05/03 01:34:52 hal9
1848 Fix section numbering for new sections (due to TOC kludge).
1850 Revision 1.52 2002/04/29 03:08:43 hal9
1851 -Added new Q/A on new actions file set up (pointer to u-m)
1852 -Fixed a few broken links and converted old actions as a result of
1855 Revision 1.51 2002/04/26 17:24:31 swa
1856 bookmarks cleaned, changed structure of user manual, screen and programlisting cleanups, and numerous other changes that I forgot
1858 Revision 1.50 2002/04/26 05:25:23 hal9
1859 Mass commit to catch a few scattered fixes.
1861 Revision 1.49 2002/04/12 10:10:18 swa
1864 Revision 1.48 2002/04/10 18:45:15 swa
1867 Revision 1.47 2002/04/10 04:05:32 hal9
1870 Revision 1.45 2002/04/08 22:59:26 hal9
1871 Version update. Spell chkconfig correctly :)
1873 Revision 1.44 2002/04/07 21:24:29 hal9
1874 Touch up on name change.
1876 Revision 1.43 2002/04/04 21:59:53 hal9
1877 Added NT/W2K service/icon situation.
1879 Revision 1.42 2002/04/04 18:46:47 swa
1880 consistent look. reuse of copyright, history et. al.
1882 Revision 1.41 2002/04/04 06:48:37 hal9
1883 Structural changes to allow for conditional inclusion/exclusion of content
1884 based on entity toggles, e.g. 'entity % p-not-stable "INCLUDE"'. And
1885 definition of internal entities, e.g. 'entity p-version "2.9.13"' that will
1886 eventually be set by Makefile.
1887 More boilerplate text for use across multiple docs.
1889 Revision 1.40 2002/04/03 04:22:03 hal9
1890 Fixed several typos.
1892 Revision 1.39 2002/04/03 03:53:03 hal9
1893 Revert some changes, and then make some news, to layout, and appearance.
1895 Revision 1.38 2002/04/02 03:49:10 hal9
1896 Major changes to doc structure and layout. Sections are not automatically
1897 numbered now. TOC is on page by itself.
1899 Revision 1.37 2002/04/01 16:24:07 hal9
1900 -Rework of supported Q/A.
1901 -Set up entities to include boilerplate text.
1903 Revision 1.36 2002/03/31 23:18:47 hal9
1904 More on dealing with BLOCKED.
1906 Revision 1.35 2002/03/30 04:14:19 hal9
1907 Fix privoxy.org/config links.
1909 Revision 1.34 2002/03/29 04:35:56 hal9
1912 Revision 1.33 2002/03/29 01:31:48 hal9
1913 Several new Q/A's and other touch ups.
1915 Revision 1.32 2002/03/27 00:57:03 hal9
1916 Touch ups for name change.
1918 Revision 1.31 2002/03/26 22:29:55 swa
1919 we have a new homepage!
1921 Revision 1.30 2002/03/25 16:39:22 hal9
1922 A few new sections. Made all links relative to user-manual.
1924 Revision 1.29 2002/03/25 05:23:57 hal9
1925 Moved section, and touch ups.
1927 Revision 1.28 2002/03/25 04:27:33 hal9
1928 New section related to name change.
1930 Revision 1.25 2002/03/24 16:08:08 swa
1931 we are too lazy to make a block-built
1932 privoxy logo. hence removed the option.
1934 Revision 1.24 2002/03/24 15:46:20 swa
1935 name change related issue.
1937 Revision 1.23 2002/03/24 12:33:01 swa
1940 Revision 1.22 2002/03/24 11:51:00 swa
1941 name change. changed filenames.
1943 Revision 1.21 2002/03/24 11:01:06 swa
1946 Revision 1.20 2002/03/23 15:13:11 swa
1947 renamed every reference to the old name with foobar.
1948 fixed "application foobar application" tag, fixed
1949 "the foobar" with "foobar". left junkbustser in cvs
1950 comments and remarks to history untouched.
1952 Revision 1.19 2002/03/21 17:01:54 hal9
1955 Revision 1.18 2002/03/18 16:40:31 hal9
1958 Revision 1.17 2002/03/18 03:53:53 hal9
1961 Revision 1.16 2002/03/17 21:32:56 hal9
1962 A few more additions.
1964 Revision 1.15 2002/03/17 07:25:59 hal9
1965 Correcting some of my typos, and some additions.
1967 Revision 1.14 2002/03/17 02:39:13 hal9
1968 A little more added ...
1970 Revision 1.13 2002/03/17 00:22:20 hal9
1971 Adding new stuff, and trying to incorporate stuff from old faq.
1973 Revision 1.12 2002/03/11 20:13:21 swa
1976 Revision 1.11 2002/03/11 18:42:27 swa
1979 Revision 1.10 2002/03/11 13:13:27 swa
1980 correct feedback channels
1982 Revision 1.9 2002/03/10 23:34:04 swa
1983 more info on not hiding ip address
1985 Revision 1.8 2002/03/09 15:55:48 swa
1986 added default config section
1988 Revision 1.7 2002/03/07 18:16:55 swa
1991 Revision 1.6 2002/03/07 13:16:31 oes
1992 Committing changes by Stefan
1994 Revision 1.5 2002/03/02 15:50:04 swa
1995 2.9.11 version. more input for docs.
1997 Revision 1.4 2002/02/24 14:34:24 jongfoster
1998 Formatting changes. Now changing the doctype to DocBook XML 4.1
1999 will work - no other changes are needed.
2001 Revision 1.3 2001/09/23 10:13:48 swa
2002 upload process established. run make webserver and
2003 the documentation is moved to the webserver. documents
2004 are now linked correctly.
2006 Revision 1.2 2001/09/13 15:20:17 swa
2007 merged standards into developer manual
2009 Revision 1.1 2001/09/12 15:36:41 swa
2010 source files for junkbuster documentation
2012 Revision 1.3 2001/09/10 17:43:59 swa
2013 first proposal of a structure.
2015 Revision 1.2 2001/06/13 14:28:31 swa
2016 docs should have an author.
2018 Revision 1.1 2001/06/13 14:20:37 swa
2019 first import of project's documentation for the webserver.