1 Privoxy Frequently Asked Questions
3 Copyright © 2001-2006 by Privoxy Developers
5 $Id: faq.sgml,v 2.18 2006/09/22 01:27:55 hal9 Exp $
7 This FAQ gives quick answers to frequently asked questions about Privoxy. It is
8 not a substitute for the Privoxy User Manual.
12 Privoxy is a web proxy with advanced filtering capabilities for protecting
13 privacy, modifying web page data, managing cookies, controlling access, and
14 removing ads, banners, pop-ups and other obnoxious Internet junk. Privoxy has a
15 very flexible configuration and can be customized to suit individual needs and
16 tastes. Privoxy has application for both stand-alone systems and multi-user
19 Privoxy is based on Internet Junkbuster (tm).
21 Please note that this document is a work in progress. This copy represents the
22 state at the release of version 3.0.5. You can find the latest version of the
23 document at http://www.privoxy.org/faq/. Please see the Contact section if you
24 want to contact the developers.
26 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
29 1. General Information
31 1.1. Who should use Privoxy?
32 1.2. Is Privoxy the best choice for me?
33 1.3. What is a "proxy"? How does Privoxy work?
34 1.4. What is this new version of "Junkbuster"?
35 1.5. Why "Privoxy"? Why change the name from Junkbuster at all?
36 1.6. How does Privoxy differ from the old Junkbuster?
37 1.7. How does Privoxy know what is an ad, and what is not?
38 1.8. Can Privoxy make mistakes? This does not sound very scientific.
39 1.9. Will I have to configure Privoxy before I can use it?
40 1.10. My browser does the same things as Privoxy. Why should I use Privoxy
42 1.11. Why should I trust Privoxy?
43 1.12. Is there is a license or fee? What about a warranty? Registration?
44 1.13. Can Privoxy remove spyware? Adware? Viruses?
45 1.14. Can I use Privoxy with other ad-blocking software?
46 1.15. I would like to help you, what can I do?
48 1.15.1. Would you like to participate?
54 2.1. Which browsers are supported by Privoxy?
55 2.2. Which operating systems are supported?
56 2.3. Can I use Privoxy with my email client?
57 2.4. Can I install Privoxy over Junkbuster?
58 2.5. I just installed Privoxy. Is there anything special I have to do now?
59 2.6. What is the proxy address of Privoxy?
60 2.7. I just installed Privoxy, and nothing is happening. All the ads are
62 2.8. I get a "Privoxy is not being used" dummy page although Privoxy is
63 running and being used.
67 3.1. Where can I get updated Actions Files?
68 3.2. Can I use my old config files?
69 3.3. What exactly is an "actions" file?
70 3.4. The "actions" concept confuses me. Please list some of these
72 3.5. How are actions files configured? What is the easiest way to do this?
73 3.6. There are several different "actions" files. What are the differences?
74 3.7. How can I make my Yahoo/Hotmail/Gmail account work?
75 3.8. What's the difference between the "Cautious", "Medium" and "Advanced"
77 3.9. Why can I change the configuration with a browser? Does that not raise
79 3.10. What is the default.filter file? What is a "filter"?
80 3.11. How can I set up Privoxy to act as a proxy for my LAN?
81 3.12. Instead of ads, now I get a checkerboard pattern. I don't want to see
83 3.13. Why would anybody want to see a checkerboard pattern?
84 3.14. I see some images being replaced by a text instead of the
85 checkerboard image. Why and how do I get rid of this?
86 3.15. Can Privoxy run as a service on Win2K/NT/XP?
87 3.16. How can I make Privoxy work with other proxies like Squid or Tor?
88 3.17. Can I just set Privoxy to use port 80 and thus avoid individual
89 browser configuration?
90 3.18. Can Privoxy run as a "transparent" proxy?
91 3.19. How can I configure Privoxy for use with Outlook Express?
92 3.20. How can I have separate rules just for HTML mail?
93 3.21. I sometimes notice cookies sneaking through. How?
94 3.22. Are all cookies bad? Why?
95 3.23. How can I allow permanent cookies for my trusted sites?
96 3.24. Can I have separate configurations for different users?
97 3.25. Can I set-up Privoxy as a whitelist of "good" sites?
101 4.1. How much does Privoxy slow my browsing down? This has to add extra
103 4.2. I notice considerable delays in page requests compared to the old
104 Junkbuster. What's wrong?
105 4.3. What are "http://config.privoxy.org/" and "http://p.p/"?
106 4.4. How can I submit new ads, or report problems?
107 4.5. Why doesn't anyone answer my support request?
108 4.6. How can I hide my IP address?
109 4.7. Can Privoxy guarantee I am anonymous?
110 4.8. A test site says I am not using a Proxy.
111 4.9. How do I use Privoxy together with Tor?
112 4.10. Might some things break because header information or content is
114 4.11. Can Privoxy act as a "caching" proxy to speed up web browsing?
115 4.12. What about as a firewall? Can Privoxy protect me?
116 4.13. I have large empty spaces / a checkerboard pattern now where ads used
118 4.14. How can Privoxy filter Secure (HTTPS) URLs?
119 4.15. Privoxy runs as a "server". How secure is it? Do I need to take any
121 4.16. How can I temporarily disable Privoxy?
122 4.17. When "disabled" is Privoxy totally out of the picture?
123 4.18. My logs show Privoxy "crunches" ads, but also its own internal CGI
124 pages. What is a "crunch"?
125 4.19. Can Privoxy effect files that I download from a webserver? FTP
127 4.20. I just downloaded a Perl script, and Privoxy altered it! Yikes, what
129 4.21. Should I continue to use a "HOSTS" file for ad-blocking?
130 4.22. Where can I find more information about Privoxy and related issues?
131 4.23. I've noticed that Privoxy changes "Microsoft" to "MicroSuck"! Why are
132 you manipulating my browsing?
136 5.1. I am getting "connection refused" with every web page?
137 5.2. I just added a new rule, but the steenkin ad is still getting through.
139 5.3. One of my favorite sites does not work with Privoxy. What can I do?
140 5.4. After installing Privoxy, I have to log in every time I start IE. What
142 5.5. I cannot connect to any FTP sites. Privoxy is blocking me.
143 5.6. In Mac OSX, I can't configure Microsoft Internet Explorer to use
144 Privoxy as the HTTP proxy.
145 5.7. In Mac OSX, I dragged the Privoxy folder to the trash in order to
146 uninstall it. Now the finder tells me I don't have sufficient
147 privileges to empty the trash.
148 5.8. In Mac OSX Panther (10.3), images often fail to load and/or I
149 experience random delays in page loading. I'm using localhost as my
150 browser's proxy setting.
151 5.9. I get a completely blank page at one site. "View Source" shows only:
152 <html><body></body></html>. Without Privoxy the page loads fine.
153 5.10. Why am I getting a 503 Error (WSAECONNREFUSED) on every page?
154 5.11. My logs show many "Unable to get my own hostname" lines. Why?
155 5.12. When I try to launch Privoxy, I get an error message "port 8118 is
156 already in use" (or similar wording). Why?
157 5.13. Pages with UTF-8 fonts are garbled.
158 5.14. Why are binary files (such as images) corrupted when Privoxy is used?
159 5.15. What is the "demoronizer" and why is it there?
160 5.16. Why do I keep seeing "PrivoxyWindowOpen()" in raw source code?
161 5.17. I am getting too many DNS errors like "404 No Such Domain". Why can't
162 Privoxy do this better?
163 5.18. At one site Privoxy just hangs, and starts taking all CPU. Why is
165 5.19. I just installed Privoxy, and all my browsing has slowed to a crawl.
168 6. Contacting the developers, Bug Reporting and Feature Requests
171 6.2. Reporting Problems
173 6.2.1. Reporting Ads or Other Configuration Problems
174 6.2.2. Reporting Bugs
176 6.3. Request New Features
179 7. Privoxy Copyright, License and History
184 1. General Information
186 1.1. Who should use Privoxy?
188 Anyone that is interested in security, privacy, or in finer-grained control
189 over their web and Internet experience. Everyone is encouraged to try Privoxy.
191 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
193 1.2. Is Privoxy the best choice for me?
195 Privoxy is certainly a good choice, especially for those who want more control
196 and security. Those that have the ability to fine-tune their installation will
197 benefit the most. One of Privoxy's strength's is that it is highly configurable
198 giving you the ability to completely personalize your installation. Being
199 familiar with, or at least having an interest in learning about HTTP and other
200 networking protocols, HTML, IP (Internet Protocol), and "Regular Expressions"
201 will be a big plus and will help you get the most out of Privoxy.
203 Much of Privoxy's configuration can be done with a Web browser. But there are
204 areas where configuration is done using a text editor to edit configuration
207 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
209 1.3. What is a "proxy"? How does Privoxy work?
211 A web proxy is a service, based on a software such as Privoxy, that clients
212 (i.e. browsers) can use instead of connecting directly to web servers on the
213 Internet. The clients then ask the proxy to fetch the objects they need (web
214 pages, images, movies etc) on their behalf, and when the proxy has done so, it
215 hands the results back to the client. It is a "go-between". See the Wikipedia
216 proxy definition for more.
218 There are many reasons to use web proxies, such as security (firewalling),
219 efficiency (caching) and others, and there are any number of proxies to
220 accommodate those needs.
222 Privoxy is a proxy that is primarily focused on privacy protection, ad and junk
223 elimination and freeing the user from restrictions placed on his activities.
224 Sitting between your browser(s) and the Internet, it is in a perfect position
225 to filter outbound personal information that your browser is leaking, as well
226 as inbound junk. It uses a variety of techniques to do this, all of which are
227 under your complete control via the various configuration files and options.
229 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
231 1.4. What is this new version of "Junkbuster"?
233 Along time ago, there was the Internet Junkbuster, by Anonymous Coders and
234 Junkbusters Corporation. This saved many users a lot of pain in the early days
235 of web advertising and user tracking.
237 But the web, its protocols and standards, and with it, the techniques for
238 forcing ads on users, give up autonomy over their browsing, and for tracking
239 them, keeps evolving. Unfortunately, the Internet Junkbuster did not. Version
240 2.0.2, published in 1998, was (and is) the last official release available from
241 Junkbusters Corporation. Fortunately, it had been released under the GNU GPL,
242 which allowed further development by others.
244 So Stefan Waldherr started maintaining an improved version of the software, to
245 which eventually a number of people contributed patches. It could already
246 replace banners with a transparent image, and had a first version of pop-up
247 killing, but it was still very closely based on the original, with all its
248 limitations, such as the lack of HTTP/1.1 support, flexible per-site
249 configuration, or content modification. The last release from this effort was
250 version 2.0.2-10, published in 2000.
252 Then, some developers picked up the thread, and started turning the software
253 inside out, upside down, and then reassembled it, adding many new features
256 The result of this is Privoxy, whose first stable version, 3.0, was released
259 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
261 1.5. Why "Privoxy"? Why change the name from Junkbuster at all?
263 Junkbusters Corporation continues to offer their original version of the
264 Internet Junkbuster, so publishing our Junkbuster-derived software under the
265 same name led to confusion.
267 There are also potential legal complications from the continued use of the
268 Junkbuster name, which is a registered trademark of Junkbusters Corporation.
269 There are, however, no objections from Junkbusters Corporation to the Privoxy
270 project itself, and they, in fact, still share our ideals and goals.
272 The developers also believed that there are so many improvements over the
273 original code, that it was time to make a clean break from the past and make a
274 name in their own right.
276 Privoxy is the "Privacy Enhancing Proxy". Also, its content modification and
277 junk suppression gives you, the user, more control, more freedom, and allows
278 you to browse your personal and "private edition" of the web.
280 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
282 1.6. How does Privoxy differ from the old Junkbuster?
284 Privoxy picks up where Junkbuster left off. All the old features remain. The
285 new Privoxy still blocks ads and banners, still manages cookies, and still
286 helps protect your privacy. But, these are all greatly enhanced, and many, many
287 new features have been added, all in the same vein.
289 The configuration has changed significantly as well. This is something that
290 users will notice right off the bat if upgrading from Junkbuster 2.0.x. The
291 "blocklist" "cookielist", "imagelist" and much more has been combined into the
292 "actions" files, with a completely different syntax. See the What's New page
293 for the latest updates.
295 Privoxy's new features include:
297 * Integrated browser based configuration and control utility at http://
298 config.privoxy.org/ (shortcut: http://p.p/). Browser-based tracing of rule
299 and filter effects. Remote toggling.
301 * Web page content filtering (removes banners based on size, invisible
302 "web-bugs", JavaScript and HTML annoyances, pop-up windows, etc.)
304 * Modularized configuration that allows for standard settings and user
305 settings to reside in separate files, so that installing updated actions
306 files won't overwrite individual user settings.
308 * HTTP/1.1 compliant (but not all optional 1.1 features are supported).
310 * Support for Perl Compatible Regular Expressions in the configuration files,
311 and generally a more sophisticated and flexible configuration syntax over
314 * Improved cookie management features (e.g. session based cookies).
318 * Bypass many click-tracking scripts (avoids script redirection).
320 * Multi-threaded (POSIX and native threads).
322 * User-customizable HTML templates for all proxy-generated pages (e.g.
325 * Auto-detection and re-reading of config file changes.
327 * Improved signal handling, and a true daemon mode (Unix).
329 * Every feature now controllable on a per-site or per-location basis,
330 configuration more powerful and versatile over-all.
332 * Many smaller new features added, limitations and bugs removed, and security
335 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
337 1.7. How does Privoxy know what is an ad, and what is not?
339 Privoxy's approach to blocking ads is twofold:
341 First, there are certain patterns in the locations (URLs) of banner images.
342 This applies to both the path (you wouldn't guess how many web sites serve
343 their banners from a directory called "banners"!) and the host (blocking the
344 big banner hosting services like doublecklick.net already helps a lot). Privoxy
345 takes advantage of this fact by using URL patterns to sort out and block the
346 requests for things that sound like they would be ads or banners.
348 Second, banners tend to come in certain sizes. But you can't tell the size of
349 an image by its URL without downloading it, and if you do, it's too late to
350 save bandwidth. Therefore, Privoxy also inspects the HTML sources of web pages
351 while they are loaded, and replaces references to images with standard banner
352 sizes by dummy references, so that your browser doesn't request them anymore in
355 Both of this involves a certain amount of guesswork and is, of course, freely
356 and readily configurable.
358 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
360 1.8. Can Privoxy make mistakes? This does not sound very scientific.
362 Actually, it's a black art ;-) And yes, it is always possible to have a broad
363 rule accidentally block or change something by mistake. You will almost surely
364 run into such situations at some point. It is tricky writing rules to cover
365 every conceivable possibility, and not occasionally get false positives.
367 But this should not be a big concern since the Privoxy configuration is very
368 flexible, and includes tools to help identify these types of situations so they
369 can be addressed as needed, allowing you to customize your installation. (See
370 the Troubleshooting section below.)
372 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
374 1.9. Will I have to configure Privoxy before I can use it?
376 No, not really. The default installation should give you a good starting point,
377 and block most unwanted content.
379 But you will certainly run into situations where there are false positives, or
380 ads not being blocked that you may not want to see. In these cases, you would
381 certainly benefit by customizing Privoxy's configuration to more closely match
382 your individual situation. And we would encourage you to do this. This is where
383 the real power of Privoxy lies!
385 You will have to tell your browser about Privoxy (see the Installation section
388 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
390 1.10. My browser does the same things as Privoxy. Why should I use Privoxy at
393 Modern browsers do indeed have some of the same functionality as Privoxy. Maybe
394 this is adequate for you. But Privoxy is much more versatile and powerful, and
395 can do a number of things that browsers just can't.
397 In addition, a proxy is good choice if you use multiple browsers, or have a LAN
398 with multiple computers. This way all the configuration is in one place, and
399 you don't have to maintain a similar configuration for possibly many browsers.
401 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
403 1.11. Why should I trust Privoxy?
405 The most important reason is because you have access to everything, and you can
406 control everything. You can check every line of every configuration file
407 yourself. You can check every last bit of source code should you desire. And
408 even if you can't read code, there should be some comfort in knowing that
409 thousands of other people can, and do read it. You can build the software from
410 scratch, if you want, so that you know the executable is clean, and that it is
411 yours. In fact, we encourage this level of scrutiny. It is one reason we use
414 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
416 1.12. Is there is a license or fee? What about a warranty? Registration?
418 Privoxy is licensed under the GNU General Public License (GPL). It is free to
419 use, copy, modify or distribute as you wish under the terms of this license.
420 Please see the Copyright section for more information on the license and
421 copyright. Or the LICENSE file that should be included.
423 There is no warranty of any kind, expressed, implied or otherwise. That is
424 something that would cost real money ;-) There is no registration either.
425 Privoxy really is free in every respect!
427 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
429 1.13. Can Privoxy remove spyware? Adware? Viruses?
431 No. Privoxy cannot remove anything. It is not a removal tool. It is a
432 preventative. Privoxy can help prevent contact from sites that use such tactics
433 with approriate configuration rules, and thus could conceivably prevent
434 contamination from such sites.
436 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
438 1.14. Can I use Privoxy with other ad-blocking software?
440 Privoxy should work fine with other proxies and other software in general.
442 But it is probably not necessary to use Privoxy in conjunction with other
443 ad-blocking products, and this could conceivably cause undesirable results. It
444 would be better to choose one software or the other and work a little to tweak
445 its configuration to your liking.
447 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
449 1.15. I would like to help you, what can I do?
451 1.15.1. Would you like to participate?
453 Well, we always need help. There is something for everybody who wants to help
454 us. We welcome new developers, packagers, testers, documentation writers or
455 really anyone with a desire to help in any way. You DO NOT need to be a
456 "programmer". There are many other tasks available. In fact, the programmers
457 often can't spend as much time programming because of some of the other, more
458 mundane things that need to be done, like checking the Tracker feedback
461 So first thing, get an account on SourceForge.net and mail your id to the
462 developers mailing list. Then, please read the Developer's Manual, at least the
465 Once we have added you to the team, you'll have access to the CVS repository,
466 and together we'll find a suitable task for you.
468 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
472 We, of course, welcome donations and could use money for domain registering,
473 buying software to test Privoxy with, and, of course, for regular world-wide
474 get-togethers (hahaha). If you enjoy the software and feel like helping us with
475 a donation, just drop us a note.
477 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
481 If you are a vendor of a web-related software like a browser, web server or
482 proxy, and would like us to ensure that Privoxy runs smoothly with your
483 product, you might consider supplying us with a copy or license. We can't,
484 however, guarantee that we will fix all potential compatibility issues as a
487 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
491 2.1. Which browsers are supported by Privoxy?
493 Any browser that can be configured to use a proxy, which should be virtually
494 all browsers, including Firefox, Internet Explorer, and Opera among others.
495 Direct browser support is not an absolute requirement since Privoxy runs as a
496 separate application and talks to the browser in the standardized HTTP
497 protocol, just like a web server does.
499 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
501 2.2. Which operating systems are supported?
503 At present, Privoxy is known to run on Windows(95, 98, ME, 2000, XP), Linux
504 (RedHat, SuSE, Debian, Fedora, Gentoo, Slackware and others), Mac OSX, OS/2,
505 AmigaOS, FreeBSD, NetBSD, OpenBSD, Solaris, and various other flavors of Unix.
507 But any operating system that runs TCP/IP, can conceivably take advantage of
508 Privoxy in a networked situation where Privoxy would run as a server on a LAN
509 gateway. Then only the "gateway" needs to be running one of the above operating
512 Source code is freely available, so porting to other operating systems is
513 always a possibility.
515 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
517 2.3. Can I use Privoxy with my email client?
519 As long as there is some way to set a HTTP proxy for the client, then yes, any
520 application can be used, whether it is strictly speaking a "browser" or not.
521 Though this may not be the best approach for dealing with some of the common
522 abuses of HTML in email. See How can I configure Privoxy with Outlook Express?
523 below for more on this.
525 Be aware that HTML email presents a number of unique security and privacy
526 related issues, that can require advanced skills to overcome. The developers
527 recommend using email clients that can be configured to convert HTML to plain
528 text for these reasons.
530 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
532 2.4. Can I install Privoxy over Junkbuster?
534 We recommend you un-install Junkbuster first to minimize conflicts and
535 confusion. You may want to save your old configuration files for future
536 reference. The configuration files and syntax have substantially changed, so
537 you will need to manually port your old patterns. See the note to upgraders and
538 installation chapter in the User Manual for details.
540 Note: Some installers may automatically un-install Junkbuster, if present!
542 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
544 2.5. I just installed Privoxy. Is there anything special I have to do now?
546 All browsers must be told to use Privoxy as a proxy by specifying the correct
547 proxy address and port number in the appropriate configuration area for the
548 browser. See below. You should also flush your browser's memory and disk cache
549 to get rid of any cached junk items, and remove any stored cookies.
551 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
553 2.6. What is the proxy address of Privoxy?
555 If you set up the Privoxy to run on the computer you browse from (rather than
556 your ISP's server or some networked computer on a LAN), the proxy will be on
557 127.0.0.1 (sometimes referred to as "localhost", which is the special name used
558 by every computer on the Internet to refer to itself) and the port will be 8118
559 (unless you have Privoxy to run on a different port with the listen-address
562 When configuring your browser's proxy settings you typically enter the word
563 "localhost" or the IP address "127.0.0.1" in the boxes next to "HTTP" and
564 "Secure" (HTTPS) and then the number "8118" for "port". This tells your browser
565 to send all web requests to Privoxy instead of directly to the Internet.
567 Privoxy can also be used to proxy for a Local Area Network. In this case, your
568 would enter either the IP address of the LAN host where Privoxy is running, or
569 the equivalent hostname. Port assignment would be same as above. Note that
570 Privoxy doesn't listen on any LAN interfaces by default.
572 Privoxy does not currently handle any other protocols such as FTP, SMTP, IM,
573 IRC, ICQ, etc. Be sure that proxying any of these other protocols is not
576 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
578 2.7. I just installed Privoxy, and nothing is happening. All the ads are there.
581 Did you configure your browser to use Privoxy as a proxy? It does not sound
582 like it. See above. You might also try flushing the browser's caches to force a
583 full re-reading of pages. You can verify that Privoxy is running, and your
584 browser is correctly configured by entering the special URL: http://p.p/. This
585 should take you to a page titled "This is Privoxy.." with access to Privoxy's
586 internal configuration. If you see this, then you are good to go. If you
587 receive a page saying "Privoxy is not running", then the browser is not set up
588 to use your Privoxy installation. If you receive anything else (probably
589 nothing at all), it could either be that the browser is not set up correctly,
590 or that Privoxy is not running at all. Check the log file. For instructions on
591 starting Privoxy and browser configuration, see the chapter on starting Privoxy
594 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
596 2.8. I get a "Privoxy is not being used" dummy page although Privoxy is running
599 First, make sure that Privoxy is really running and being used by visiting
600 http://p.p/. You should see the Privoxy main page. If not, see the chapter on
601 starting Privoxy in the User Manual.
603 Now if http://p.p/ works for you, but other parts of Privoxy's web interface
604 show the dummy page, your browser has cached a redirection it encountered
605 before Privoxy was being used. You need to clear your browser's cache. Note
606 that shift-reloading the dummy page won't help, since that'll only refresh the
607 dummy page, not the redirection that lead you there.
609 The procedure for clearing the cache varies from browser to browser. For
610 example, Mozilla/Netscape users would click Edit --> Preferences --> Advanced
611 --> Cache and then click both "Clear Memory Cache" and "Clear Disk Cache". And,
612 Firefox users would click Tools --> Options --> Privacy --> Cache and then
613 click "Clear Cache Now".
615 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
619 3.1. Where can I get updated Actions Files?
621 Based on your feedback and the continuing development, updates of
622 default.action will be made available from time to time on the files section of
625 If you wish to receive an email notification whenever we release updates of
626 Privoxy or the actions file, subscribe to our announce mailing list,
627 ijbswa-announce@lists.sourceforge.net.
629 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
631 3.2. Can I use my old config files?
633 The syntax and purpose of configuration files has remained the same throughout
634 the 3.x series. Although each release contains updated, "improved" versions and
635 it is recommended to use the newer configuration files. If upgrading from
636 version prior to 3.0.4 the syntax for fast-redirects has changed. See the
637 What's New section of the User Manual for details.
639 But all configuration files have substantially changed from the Junkbuster
640 days, and early versions of Privoxy 2.x. The old files, like blocklist will not
643 Refer to the What's New page for information on configuration changes that may
644 occur from one release to another.
646 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
648 3.3. What exactly is an "actions" file?
650 Actions files are where various actions that Privoxy could take while
651 processing a certain request, are configured. Typically, you would define a set
652 of default actions that apply to all URLs, then add exceptions to these
653 defaults where needed. There is a wide array of actions available that give the
654 user a high degree of control and flexibility on how to process each and every
657 Actions can be defined on a URL pattern basis, i.e. for single URLs, whole web
658 sites, groups or parts thereof etc. Actions can also be grouped together and
659 then applied to requests matching one or more patterns. There are many possible
660 actions that might apply to any given site. As an example, if you are blocking
661 cookies as one of your default actions, but need to accept cookies from a given
662 site, you would need to define an exception for this site in one of your
663 actions files, preferably in user.action.
665 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
667 3.4. The "actions" concept confuses me. Please list some of these "actions".
669 For a comprehensive discussion of the actions concept, please refer to the
670 actions file chapter in the user manual. It includes a list of all actions and
671 an actions file tutorial to get you started.
673 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
675 3.5. How are actions files configured? What is the easiest way to do this?
677 Actions files are just text files in a special syntax and can be edited with a
678 text editor. But probably the easiest way is to access Privoxy's user interface
679 with your web browser at http://config.privoxy.org/ (Shortcut: http://p.p/) and
680 then select "View & change the current configuration" from the menu.
682 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
684 3.6. There are several different "actions" files. What are the differences?
686 As of Privoxy v2.9.15, three actions files are being included, to be used for
687 different purposes: These are default.action, the "main" actions file which is
688 actively maintained by the Privoxy developers, user.action, where users are
689 encouraged to make their private customizations, and standard.action, which is
690 for internal Privoxy use only. Please see the actions chapter in the User
691 Manual for a more detailed explanation.
693 Earlier versions included three different versions of the default.action file.
694 The new scheme allows for greater flexibility of local configuration, and for
695 browser based selection of pre-defined "aggressiveness" levels.
697 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
699 3.7. How can I make my Yahoo/Hotmail/Gmail account work?
701 The default configuration shouldn't impact the usability of any of these
702 services. It will, however, make all cookies temporary, so that your browser
703 will forget your login credentials in between browser sessions. If you would
704 like not to have to log in manually each time you access those websites, simply
705 turn off all cookie handling for them in the user.action file. An example for
706 yahoo might look like:
708 # Allow all cookies for Yahoo login:
710 { -crunch-incoming-cookies -crunch-outgoing-cookies -session-cookies-only }
713 These kinds of sites are often quite complex and heavy with Javascript and thus
714 "fragile". So if still a problem, we have an alias just for such sticky
717 # Gmail is a _fragile_ site:
722 Be sure to flush your browser's caches whenever making these kinds of changes,
723 just to make sure the changes "take".
725 Make sure the domain, host and path are appropriate as well. Your browser can
726 tell you where you are specifically and you should use that information for
727 your configuration settings. Note that above it is not referenced as gmail.com,
728 which is a valid domain name.
730 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
732 3.8. What's the difference between the "Cautious", "Medium" and "Advanced"
735 Configuring Privoxy is not entirely trivial. To help you get started, we
736 provide you with three different default action "profiles" in the web based
737 actions file editor at http://config.privoxy.org/show-status. See the User
738 Manual for a list of actions, and how the default profiles are set.
740 Where the defaults are likely to break some sites, exceptions for known popular
741 "problem" sites are included, but in general, the more aggressive your default
742 settings are, the more exceptions you will have to make later. See the User
743 Manual for a more detailed discussion.
745 It should be noted that the "Advanced" profile (formerly known as the
746 "Adventuresome" profile) is more aggressive, and will make use of some of
747 Privoxy's advanced features. Use at your own risk!
749 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
751 3.9. Why can I change the configuration with a browser? Does that not raise
754 It may seem strange that regular users can edit the config files with their
755 browsers, although the whole /etc/privoxy hierarchy belongs to the user
756 "privoxy", with only 644 permissions.
758 When you use the browser-based editor, Privoxy itself is writing to the config
759 files. Because Privoxy is running as the user "privoxy", it can update the
762 If you run Privoxy for multiple untrusted users (e.g. in a LAN), you will
763 probably want to turn the web-based editor and remote toggle features off by
764 setting "enable-edit-actions 0" and "enable-remote-toggle 0" in the main
767 Note that in the default configuration, only local users (i.e. those on
768 "localhost") can connect to Privoxy, so this is not (normally) a security
771 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
773 3.10. What is the default.filter file? What is a "filter"?
775 The default.filter file is where filters as supplied by the developers are
776 defined. Filters are a special subset of actions that can be used to modify or
777 remove, web page content on the fly. Filters apply to anything in the page
778 source (and optionally both client and server headers), including HTML tags,
779 and JavaScript. Regular expressions are used to accomplish this. There are a
780 number of pre-defined filters to deal with common annoyances. The filters are
781 only defined here, to invoke them, you need to use the filter action in one of
782 the actions files. Filtering is automatically disabled for inappropriate MIME
785 If you are familiar with regular expressions, and HTML, you can look at the
786 provided default.filter with a text editor and define your own filters. This is
787 potentially a very powerful feature, but requires some expertise in both
788 regular expressions and HTML/HTTP. You should place any modifications to the
789 default filters, or any new ones you create in a separate file, such as
790 user.filter, so they won't be overwritten during upgrades. The ability to
791 define multiple filter files in config is a new feature as of v. 3.0.5.
793 There is no GUI editor option for this part of the configuration, but you can
794 disable/enable the various pre-defined filters of the included default.filter
795 file with the web-based actions file editor.
797 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
799 3.11. How can I set up Privoxy to act as a proxy for my LAN?
801 By default, Privoxy only responds to requests from 127.0.0.1 (localhost). To
802 have it act as a server for a network, this needs to be changed in the main
803 configuration file. Look for the listen-address option, which may be commented
804 out with a "#" symbol. Make sure it is uncommented, and assign it the address
805 of the LAN gateway interface, and port number to use. Assuming your LAN address
806 is 192.168.1.1 and you wish to run Privoxy on port 8118, this line should look
809 listen-address 192.168.1.1:8118
811 Save the file, and restart Privoxy. Configure all browsers on the network then
812 to use this address and port number.
814 Alternately, you can have Privoxy listen on all available interfaces:
818 And then use Privoxy's permit-access feature to limit connections. A firewall
819 in this situation is recommended as well.
821 The above steps should be the same for any TCP network, regardless of operating
824 If you run Privoxy on a LAN with untrusted users, we recommend that you
825 double-check the access control and security options!
827 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
829 3.12. Instead of ads, now I get a checkerboard pattern. I don't want to see
832 The replacement for blocked images can be controlled with the set-image-blocker
833 action. You have the choice of a checkerboard pattern, a transparent 1x1 GIF
834 image (aka "blank"), or a redirect to a custom image of your choice. Note that
835 this choice only has effect for images which are blocked as images, i.e. whose
836 URLs match both a handle-as-image and block action.
838 If you want to see nothing, then change the set-image-blocker action to
839 "blank". This can be done by editing the default.action file, or trough the
840 web-based actions file editor.
842 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
844 3.13. Why would anybody want to see a checkerboard pattern?
846 Remember that telling which image is an ad and which isn't, is mostly
847 guesswork. While we hope that the standard configuration is rather smart, it
848 can and will make errors. The checkerboard image is visually decent, but it
849 shows you that and where images were blocked, which can be very helpful in case
850 some navigation aid or otherwise innocent image was erroneously blocked. Some
851 people might also enjoy seeing how many banners they don't have to see..
853 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
855 3.14. I see some images being replaced by a text instead of the checkerboard
856 image. Why and how do I get rid of this?
858 This happens when the banners are not embedded in the HTML code of the page
859 itself, but in separate HTML (sub)documents that are loaded into (i)frames or
860 (i)layers, and these external HTML documents are blocked. Being non-images they
861 get replaced by a substitute HTML page rather than a substitute image, which
862 wouldn't work out technically, since the browser expects and accepts only HTML
863 when it has requested an HTML document.
865 The substitute page adapts to the available space and shows itself as a
866 miniature two-liner if loaded into small frames, or full-blown with a large red
867 "BLOCKED" banner if space allows.
869 If you prefer the banners to be blocked by images, you must see to it that the
870 HTML documents in which they are embedded are not blocked. Clicking the "See
871 why" link offered in the substitute page will show you which rule blocked the
872 page. After changing the rule and un-blocking the HTML documents, the browser
873 will try to load the actual banner images and the usual image blocking will
874 (hopefully!) kick in.
876 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
878 3.15. Can Privoxy run as a service on Win2K/NT/XP?
880 Yes. Version 3.0.5 introduces full Windows service functionality. See the User
881 Manual for details on how to install and configure Privoxy as a service.
883 Earlier 3.x versions could run as a system service using srvany.exe. See the
884 discussion at http://sourceforge.net/tracker/?func=detail&atid=361118&aid=
885 485617&group_id=11118, for details, and a sample configuration.
887 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
889 3.16. How can I make Privoxy work with other proxies like Squid or Tor?
891 This can be done and is often useful to combine the benefits of Privoxy with
892 those of a another proxy. See the forwarding chapter in the User Manual which
893 describes how to do this, and the How do I use Privoxy together with Tor
896 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
898 3.17. Can I just set Privoxy to use port 80 and thus avoid individual browser
901 No, its more complicated than that. This only works with special kinds of
902 proxies known as "transparent" proxies (see below).
904 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
906 3.18. Can Privoxy run as a "transparent" proxy?
908 No, Privoxy currently does not have this ability, though it may be added in a
909 future release. Transparent proxies require special handling of the request
910 headers beyond what Privoxy is now capable of.
912 Chaining Privoxy behind another proxy that has this ability should work though.
913 See the forwarding chapter in the User Manual. As a transparent proxy to be
914 used for chaining we recommend Transproxy (http://transproxy.sourceforge.net/).
916 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
918 3.19. How can I configure Privoxy for use with Outlook Express?
920 Outlook Express uses Internet Explorer components to both render HTML, and
921 fetch any HTTP requests that may be embedded in an HTML email. So however you
922 have Privoxy configured to work with IE, this configuration should
923 automatically be shared.
925 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
927 3.20. How can I have separate rules just for HTML mail?
929 The short answer is, you can't. Privoxy has no way of knowing which particular
930 application makes a request, so there is no way to distinguish between web
931 pages and HTML mail. Privoxy just blindly proxies all requests. In the case of
932 Outlook Express (see above), OE uses IE anyway, and there is no way for Privoxy
933 to ever be able to distinguish between them (nor could any other proxy type
934 application for that matter).
936 For a good discussion of some of the issues involved (including privacy and
937 security issues), see http://sourceforge.net/tracker/?func=detail&atid=211118&
938 aid=629518&group_id=11118.
940 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
942 3.21. I sometimes notice cookies sneaking through. How?
944 Cookies can be set in several ways. The classic method is via the Set-Cookie
945 HTTP header. This is straightforward, and an easy one to manipulate, such as
946 the Privoxy concept of session-cookies-only. There is also the possibility of
947 using Javascript to set cookies (Privoxy calls these content-cookies). This is
948 trickier because the syntax can vary widely, and thus requires a certain amount
949 of guesswork. It is not realistic to catch all of these short of disabling
950 Javascript, which would break many sites. And lastly, if the cookies are
951 embedded in a HTTPS/SSL secure session via Javascript, they are beyond
954 All in all, Privoxy can help manage cookies in general, can help minimize the
955 loss of privacy posed by cookies, but can't realistically stop all cookies.
957 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
959 3.22. Are all cookies bad? Why?
961 No, in fact there are many beneficial uses of cookies. Cookies are just a
962 method that browsers can use to store data between pages, or between browser
963 sessions. Sometimes there is a good reason for this, and the user's life is a
964 bit easier as a result. But there is a long history of some websites taking
965 advantage of this layer of trust, and using the data they glean from you and
966 your browsing habits for their own purposes, and maybe to your potential
967 detriment. Such sites are using you and storing their data on your system. That
968 is why the security conscious watch from whom those cookies come, and why they
969 really need to be there.
971 See the Wikipedia cookie definition for more.
973 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
975 3.23. How can I allow permanent cookies for my trusted sites?
977 There are several actions that relate to cookies. The default behavior is to
978 allow only "session cookies", which means the cookies only last for the current
979 browser session. This eliminates most kinds of abuse related to cookies. But
980 there may be cases where we want cookies to last.
982 To disable all cookie actions, so that cookies are allowed unrestricted, both
983 in and out, for example.com:
985 { -crunch-incoming-cookies -crunch-outgoing-cookies -session-cookies-only -filter{content-cookies} }
988 Place the above in user.action. Note some of these may be off by default
989 anyway, so this might be redundant, but there is no harm being explicit in what
990 you want to happen. user.action includes an alias for this situation, called
993 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
995 3.24. Can I have separate configurations for different users?
997 Each instance of Privoxy has its own configuration, including such attributes
998 as the TCP port that it listens on. What you can do is run multiple instances
999 of Privoxy, each with a unique listen-address and configuration path, and then
1000 each of these can have their own configurations. Think of it as per-port
1003 Simple enough for a few users, but for large installations, consider having
1004 groups of users that might share like configurations.
1006 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1008 3.25. Can I set-up Privoxy as a whitelist of "good" sites?
1010 Sure. There are a couple of things you can do for simple whitelisting. Here's
1013 ############################################################
1015 ############################################################
1017 / # Block *all* URLs
1019 ############################################################
1021 ############################################################
1027 This allows access to only those three sites.
1029 A more interesting approach is Privoxy's trustfile concept, which incorporates
1030 the notion of "trusted referrers". See the User Manual Trust documentation.
1032 These are fairly simple approaches and are not completely foolproof. There are
1033 various other configuration options that should be disabled (described
1034 elsewhere here and in the User Manual) so that users can't modify their own
1035 configuration and easily circumvent the whitelist.
1037 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1041 4.1. How much does Privoxy slow my browsing down? This has to add extra time to
1044 How much of an impact depends on many things, including the CPU of the host
1045 system, how aggressive the configuration is, which specific actions are being
1046 triggered, the size of the page, etc.
1048 Overall, it should not slow you down any in real terms, and may actually help
1049 speed things up since ads, banners and other junk are not typically being
1050 retrieved and displayed. The actual processing time required by Privoxy itself
1051 for each page, is relatively small in the overall scheme of things, and happens
1052 very quickly. This is typically more than offset by time saved not downloading
1053 and rendering ad images (if ad blocking is being used).
1055 "Filtering" content via the filter or deanimate-gifs actions will certainly
1056 cause a perceived slowdown, since the entire document needs to be buffered
1057 before displaying. And on very large documents, there may be some impact. How
1058 much depends on the page size, the actual definition of the filter(s), etc. See
1059 below. Most other actions have little to no impact on speed.
1061 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1063 4.2. I notice considerable delays in page requests compared to the old
1064 Junkbuster. What's wrong?
1066 If you use any filter action, such as filtering banners by size, web-bugs etc,
1067 or the deanimate-gifs action, the entire document must be loaded into memory in
1068 order for the filtering mechanism to work, and nothing is sent to the browser
1071 The loading time typically does not really change much in real numbers, but the
1072 feeling is different, because most browsers are able to start rendering
1073 incomplete content, giving the user a feeling of "it works". This effect is
1074 more noticeable on slower dialup connections. Extremely large documents may
1075 have some impact on the time to load the page where there is filtering being
1076 done. But overall, the difference should be very minimal. If there is a big
1077 impact, then probably some other problem is contributing.
1079 Filtering is automatically disabled for inappropriate MIME types. But note that
1080 if the web server mis-reports the MIME type, then content that should not be
1081 filtered, could be. Privoxy only knows how to differentiate filterable content
1082 because of the MIME type as reported by the server, or because of some
1083 configuration setting that enables/disables filtering.
1085 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1087 4.3. What are "http://config.privoxy.org/" and "http://p.p/"?
1089 http://config.privoxy.org/ is the address of Privoxy's built-in user interface,
1090 and http://p.p/ is a shortcut for it.
1092 Since Privoxy sits between your web browser and the Internet, it can simply
1093 intercept requests for these addresses and answer them with its built-in "web
1096 This also makes for a good test for your browser configuration: If entering the
1097 URL http://config.privoxy.org/ takes you to a page saying "This is Privoxy
1098 ...", everything is OK. If you get a page saying "Privoxy is not working"
1099 instead, then your browser didn't use Privoxy for the request, hence it could
1100 not be intercepted, and you have accessed the real web site at
1103 With recent versions of Privoxy (version 2.9.x and later), the user interface
1104 features information on the run time status, the configuration, and even a
1105 built-in editor for the actions files.
1107 Note that the built-in URLs from earlier versions of Junkbuster / Privoxy,
1108 http://example.com/show-proxy-args and http://i.j.b/, are no longer supported.
1109 If you still use such an old version, you should really consider upgrading to
1112 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1114 4.4. How can I submit new ads, or report problems?
1116 Please see the Contact section for various ways to interact with the
1119 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1121 4.5. Why doesn't anyone answer my support request?
1123 Rest assured that it has been read and considered. Why it is not answered,
1124 could be for various reasons, including no one has a good answer for it, no one
1125 has had time to yet investigate it thoroughly, it has been reported numerous
1126 times already, or because not enough information was provided to help us help
1127 you. Your efforts are not wasted, and we do appreciate them.
1129 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1131 4.6. How can I hide my IP address?
1133 If you run both the browser and the proxy locally, you cannot hide your IP
1134 address with Privoxy or ultimately any other software. The server needs to know
1135 your IP address so that it knows where to send the responses back.
1137 There are many publicly usable "anonymous" proxies out there, which provide a
1138 further level of indirection between you and the web server.
1140 However, these proxies are called "anonymous" because you don't need a
1141 password, not because they would offer any real anonymity. Most of them will
1142 log your IP address and make it available to the authorities in case you
1143 violate the law of the country they run in. In fact you can't even rule out
1144 that some of them only exist to *collect* information on (those suspicious)
1145 people with a more than average preference for privacy.
1147 Your best bet is to chain Privoxy with Tor, an EFF supported onion routing
1148 system. The configuration details can be found in How do I use Privoxy together
1149 with Tor section just below.
1151 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1153 4.7. Can Privoxy guarantee I am anonymous?
1155 No. Your chances of remaining anonymous are greatly improved, but unless you
1156 chain Privoxy with Tor or a similar system and know what you're doing when it
1157 comes to configuring the rest of your system, it would be safest to assume that
1158 everything you do on the Web can be traced back to you.
1160 Privoxy can remove various information about you, and allows you more freedom
1161 to decide which sites you can trust, and what details you want to reveal. But
1162 it neither hides your ip address, nor can it guarantee that the rest of the
1163 system behaves correctly. There are several possibilities how a web sites can
1164 find out who you are, even if you are using a strict Privoxy configuration and
1165 chained it with Tor.
1167 Most of Privoxy's protection can be easily subverted by an insecure browser
1168 configuration, therefore you should use a browser that can be configured to
1169 only execute code from trusted sites, and be careful which sites you trust. For
1170 example there is no point in having Privoxy modify the User-Agent header, if
1171 websites can get all the information they want through JavaScript, ActiveX,
1174 A few browsers disclose the user's email address in certain situations, such as
1175 when transferring a file by FTP. Privoxy does not filter FTP. If you need this
1176 feature, or are concerned about the mail handler of your browser disclosing
1177 your email address, you might consider products such as NSClean.
1179 Browsers available only as binaries could use non-standard headers to give out
1180 any information they can have access to: see the manufacturer's license
1181 agreement. It's impossible to anticipate and prevent every breach of privacy
1182 that might occur. The professionally paranoid prefer browsers available as
1183 source code, because anticipating their behavior is easier. Trust the source,
1186 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1188 4.8. A test site says I am not using a Proxy.
1190 Good! Actually, they are probably testing for some other kinds of proxies.
1191 Hiding yourself completely would require additional steps.
1193 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1195 4.9. How do I use Privoxy together with Tor?
1197 Before you configure Privoxy to use Tor (http://tor.eff.org/), please follow
1198 the User Manual chapters 2. Installation and 5. Startup to make sure Privoxy
1199 itself is setup correctly.
1201 If it is, refer to Tor's extensive documentation to learn how to install Tor,
1202 and make sure Tor's logfile says that "Tor has successfully opened a circuit"
1203 and it "looks like client functionality is working".
1205 If either Tor or Privoxy isn't working, their combination most likely will
1206 neither. Testing them on their own will also help you to direct problem reports
1207 to the right audience. If Privoxy isn't working, don't bother the Tor
1208 developers. If Tor isn't working, don't send bug reports to the Privoxy Team.
1210 If you verified that Privoxy and Tor are working, it is time to connect them.
1211 As far as Privoxy is concerned, Tor is just another proxy that can be reached
1212 by socks4 or socks4a. Most likely you are interested in Tor to increase your
1213 anonymity level, therefore you should use socks4a, to make sure Privoxy's DNS
1214 requests are done through Tor and thus invisible to your local network.
1216 Since Privoxy 3.0.5, its configuration (section 5.2) is already prepared for
1217 Tor, if you are using a default Tor configuration and run it on the same system
1218 as Privoxy, you just have to uncomment the line:
1220 # forward-socks4a / 127.0.0.1:9050 .
1223 This is enough to reach the Internet, but additionally you should uncomment the
1224 following forward rules, to make sure your local network is still reachable
1227 # forward 192.168.*.*/ .
1228 # forward 10.*.*.*/ .
1229 # forward 127.*.*.*/ .
1232 Unencrypted connections to systems in these address ranges will be as (un)
1233 secure as the local network is, but the alternative is that you can't reach the
1234 network at all. If you also want to be able to reach servers in your local
1235 network by using their names, you will need additional exceptions that look
1238 # forward localhost/ .
1241 Save the modified configuration file and open http://config.privoxy.org/
1242 show-status/ in your browser, confirm that Privoxy has reloaded its
1243 configuration and that there are no other forward lines, unless you know that
1244 you need them. I everything looks good, refer to Tor Faq 4.2 to learn how to
1245 verify that you are really using Tor.
1247 Afterward, please take the time to at least skim through the rest of Tor's
1248 documentation. Make sure you understand what Tor does, why it is no replacement
1249 for application level security, and why you shouldn't use it for unencrypted
1252 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1254 4.10. Might some things break because header information or content is being
1257 Definitely. More and more sites use HTTP header content to decide what to
1258 display and how to display it. There is many ways that this can be handled, so
1259 having hard and fast rules, is tricky.
1261 "User-Agent" in particular is often used in this way to identify the browser,
1262 and adjust content accordingly. Changing this now (at least not further than
1263 removing the OS information) is not recommended, since so many sites do look
1264 for it. You may get undesirable results by changing this.
1266 For instance, different browsers use different encodings of Russian and Czech
1267 characters, certain web servers convert pages on-the-fly according to the User
1268 Agent header. Giving a "User Agent" with the wrong operating system or browser
1269 manufacturer causes some sites in these languages to be garbled; Surfers to
1270 Eastern European sites should change it to something closer. And then some page
1271 access counters work by looking at the "Referer" header; they may fail or break
1272 if unavailable. The weather maps of Intellicast have been blocked by their
1273 server when no "Referer" or cookie is provided, is another example. (But you
1274 can forge both headers without giving information away). There are many other
1275 ways things can go wrong when trying to fool a web server.
1277 Similar thoughts apply to modifying JavaScript, and, to a lesser degree, HTML
1280 If you have problems with a site, you will have to adjust your configuration
1281 accordingly. Cookies are probably the most likely adjustment that may be
1282 required, but by no means the only one.
1284 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1286 4.11. Can Privoxy act as a "caching" proxy to speed up web browsing?
1288 No, it does not have this ability at all. You want something like Squid for
1289 this. And, yes, before you ask, Privoxy can co-exist with other kinds of
1290 proxies like Squid. See the forwarding chapter in the user manual for details.
1292 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1294 4.12. What about as a firewall? Can Privoxy protect me?
1296 Not in the way you mean, or in the way a true firewall can. Privoxy can help
1297 protect your privacy, but not protect you from intrusion attempts. It is, of
1298 course, perfectly possible and recommended to use both.
1300 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1302 4.13. I have large empty spaces / a checkerboard pattern now where ads used to
1305 It would be technically possible eliminate the banners in a way that frees
1306 their screen estate in many cases, by doing all banner blocking with filters,
1307 i.e. eliminating the whole image references from the HTML pages instead of
1308 letting them stay in, and blocking the resulting requests for the banners
1311 But this would consume considerable CPU resources, would likely destroy the
1312 layout of many web pages which rely on the banners consuming a certain amount
1313 of screen space, and would fail in other cases, where the screen space is
1314 reserved e.g. by tables anyway. Also, making the banners disappear without a
1315 visual trace complicates troubleshooting.
1317 So we won't support this in the default configuration, but you can of course
1318 define appropriate filters yourself.
1320 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1322 4.14. How can Privoxy filter Secure (HTTPS) URLs?
1324 Since secure HTTP connections are encrypted SSL sessions between your browser
1325 and the secure site, and are meant to be reliably secure, there is little that
1326 Privoxy can do but hand the raw gibberish data though from one end to the other
1329 The only exception to this is blocking by host patterns, as the client needs to
1330 tell Privoxy the name of the remote server, so that Privoxy can establish the
1331 connection. If that name matches a host-only pattern, the connection will be
1334 As far as ad blocking is concerned, this is less of a restriction than it may
1335 seem, since ad sources are often identifiable by the host name, and often the
1336 banners to be placed in an encrypted page come unencrypted nonetheless for
1337 efficiency reasons, which exposes them to the full power of Privoxy's ad
1340 "Content cookies" (those that are embedded in the actual HTML or JS page
1341 content, see filter{content-cookies}), in an SSL transaction will be impossible
1342 to block under these conditions. Fortunately, this does not seem to be a very
1343 common scenario since most cookies come by traditional means.
1345 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1347 4.15. Privoxy runs as a "server". How secure is it? Do I need to take any
1348 special precautions?
1350 There are no known exploits that might affect Privoxy. On Unix-like systems,
1351 Privoxy can run as a non-privileged user, which is how we recommend it be run.
1352 Also, by default Privoxy only listens to requests from "localhost" only. The
1353 server aspect of Privoxy is not itself directly exposed to the Internet in this
1354 configuration. If you want to have Privoxy serve as a LAN proxy, this will have
1355 to be opened up to allow for LAN requests. In this case, we'd recommend you
1356 specify only the LAN gateway address, e.g. 192.168.1.1, in the main Privoxy
1357 configuration file and check all access control and security options. All LAN
1358 hosts can then use this as their proxy address in the browser proxy
1359 configuration, but Privoxy will not listen on any external interfaces. ACLs can
1360 be defined in addition, and using a firewall is always good too. Better safe
1363 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1365 4.16. How can I temporarily disable Privoxy?
1367 The easiest way is to access Privoxy with your browser by using the remote
1368 toggle URL: http://config.privoxy.org/toggle. See the Bookmarklets section of
1369 the User Manual for an easy way to access this feature.
1371 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1373 4.17. When "disabled" is Privoxy totally out of the picture?
1375 No, this just means all filtering and actions are disabled. Privoxy is still
1376 acting as a proxy, but just not doing any of the things that Privoxy would
1377 normally be expected to do. It is still a "middle-man" in the interaction
1378 between your browser and web sites.
1380 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1382 4.18. My logs show Privoxy "crunches" ads, but also its own internal CGI pages.
1385 A "crunch" simply means Privoxy intercepted something, nothing more. Often this
1386 is indeed ads or banners, but Privoxy uses the same mechanism for trapping
1387 requests for its own internal pages. For instance, a request for Privoxy's
1388 configuration page at: http://config.privoxy.org, is intercepted (i.e. it does
1389 not go out to the 'net), and the familiar CGI configuration is returned to the
1390 browser, and the log consequently will show a "crunch".
1392 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1394 4.19. Can Privoxy effect files that I download from a webserver? FTP server?
1396 From the webserver's perspective, there is no difference between viewing a
1397 document (i.e. a page), and downloading a file. The same is true of Privoxy. If
1398 there is a match for a block pattern, it will still be blocked, and of course
1401 Filtering is potentially more of a concern since the results are not always so
1402 obvious, and the effects of filtering are there whether the file is simply
1403 viewed, or downloaded. And potentially whether the content is some obnoxious
1404 advertisement, or Mr. Jimmy's latest/greatest source code jewel. Of course, one
1405 of these presumably is "bad" content that we don't want, and the other is
1406 "good" content that we do want. Privoxy is blind to the differences, and can
1407 only distinguish "good from bad" by the configuration parameters we give it.
1409 Privoxy knows the differences in files according to the "Document Type" as
1410 reported by the webserver. If this is reported accurately (e.g. "application/
1411 zip" for a zip archive), then Privoxy knows to ignore these where appropriate.
1412 Privoxy potentially can filter HTML as well as plain text documents, subject to
1413 configuration parameters of course. Also, documents that are of an unknown type
1414 (generally assumed to be "text/plain") can be filtered, as will those that
1415 might be incorrectly reported by the webserver. If such a file is a downloaded
1416 file that is intended to be saved to disk, then any content that might have
1417 been altered by filtering, will be saved too, for these (probably rare) cases.
1419 Note that versions later than 3.0.2 do NOT filter document types reported as
1420 "text/plain". Prior to this, Privoxy did filter this document type.
1422 In short, filtering is "ON" if a) the Document Type as reported by the
1423 webserver is appropriate and b) the configuration allows it (or at least does
1424 not disallow it). That's it. There is no magic cookie anywhere to say this is
1425 "good" and this is "bad". It's the configuration that let's it all happen or
1428 If you download text files, you probably do not want these to be filtered,
1429 particularly if the content is source code, or other critical content. Source
1430 code sometimes might be mistaken for Javascript (i.e. the kind that might open
1431 a pop-up window). It is recommended to turn off filtering for download sites
1432 (particularly if the content may be plain text files and you are using version
1433 3.0.2 or earlier) in your user.action file. And also, for any site or page
1434 where making any changes at all to the content is to be avoided.
1436 Privoxy does not do FTP at all, only HTTP and HTTPS (SSL) protocols, so please
1439 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1441 4.20. I just downloaded a Perl script, and Privoxy altered it! Yikes, what is
1446 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1448 4.21. Should I continue to use a "HOSTS" file for ad-blocking?
1450 One time-tested technique to defeat common ads is to trick the local DNS system
1451 by giving a phony IP address for the ad generator in the local HOSTS file,
1452 typically using 127.0.0.1, aka localhost. This effectively blocks the ad.
1454 There is no reason to use this technique in conjunction with Privoxy. Privoxy
1455 does essentially the same thing, much more elegantly and with much more
1456 flexibility. A large HOSTS file, in fact, not only duplicates effort, but may
1457 get in the way. It is recommended to remove such entries from your HOSTS file.
1458 If you think your hosts list is neglected by Privoxy's configuration, consider
1459 adding your list to your user.action file:
1464 ads.galore.example.com
1467 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1469 4.22. Where can I find more information about Privoxy and related issues?
1471 Other references and sites of interest to Privoxy users:
1473 http://www.privoxy.org/, the Privoxy Home page.
1475 http://www.privoxy.org/faq/, the Privoxy FAQ.
1477 http://sourceforge.net/projects/ijbswa/, the Project Page for Privoxy on
1480 http://config.privoxy.org/, the web-based user interface. Privoxy must be
1481 running for this to work. Shortcut: http://p.p/
1483 http://sourceforge.net/tracker/?group_id=11118&atid=460288, to submit "misses"
1484 and other configuration related suggestions to the developers.
1486 http://www.junkbusters.com/ht/en/cookies.html, an explanation how cookies are
1487 used to track web users.
1489 http://www.junkbusters.com/ijb.html, the original Internet Junkbuster.
1491 http://privacy.net/, a useful site to check what information about you is
1492 leaked while you browse the web.
1494 http://www.squid-cache.org/, a very popular caching proxy, which is often used
1495 together with Privoxy.
1497 http://tor.eff.org/, Tor can help anonymize web browsing, web publishing,
1498 instant messaging, IRC, SSH, and other applications.
1500 http://www.privoxy.org/developer-manual/, the Privoxy developer manual.
1502 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1504 4.23. I've noticed that Privoxy changes "Microsoft" to "MicroSuck"! Why are you
1505 manipulating my browsing?
1507 We're not. The text substitutions that you are seeing are disabled in the
1508 default configuration as shipped. You have either manually activated the "fun"
1509 filter which is clearly labeled "Text replacements for subversive browsing fun!
1510 " or you are using an older Privoxy version and have implicitly activated it by
1511 choosing the "Adventuresome" profile in the web-based editor. Please upgrade!
1513 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1517 5.1. I am getting "connection refused" with every web page?
1519 Either Privoxy is not running, or your browser is configured for a different
1520 port than what Privoxy is using, or, if using a forwarding rule, you have a
1521 configuration problem or a problem with a host in the forwarding chain.
1523 You should verify that Privoxy is indeed running and that the correct port is
1524 set, and matches what your browser is set to. See listen-address option in
1525 Privoxy's main configuration file. If using any forwarding rules, disable those
1526 to make sure the problem is not with a forwarder.
1528 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1530 5.2. I just added a new rule, but the steenkin ad is still getting through.
1533 If the ad had been displayed before you added its URL, it will probably be held
1534 in the browser's cache for some time, so it will be displayed without the need
1535 for any request to the server, and Privoxy will not be in the picture. The best
1536 thing to do is try flushing the browser's caches. And then try again.
1538 If this doesn't help, you probably have an error in the rule you applied. Try
1539 pasting the full URL of the offending ad into http://config.privoxy.org/
1540 show-url-info and see if it really matches your new rule. Blocking ads is like
1541 blocking spam: a lot of tinkering is required to stay ahead of the game.
1543 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1545 5.3. One of my favorite sites does not work with Privoxy. What can I do?
1547 First verify that it is indeed a Privoxy problem, by toggling off Privoxy
1548 through http://config.privoxy.org/toggle, and then shift-reloading the problem
1549 page (i.e. holding down the shift key while clicking reload. Alternatively,
1550 flush your browser's disk and memory caches).
1552 If still a problem, go to http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info and paste the
1553 full URL of the page in question into the prompt. See which actions are being
1554 applied to the URL, and which matches in which actions files are responsible
1555 for that. Now, armed with this information, go to http://config.privoxy.org/
1556 show-status and select the appropriate actions files for editing.
1558 You can now either look for a section which disables the actions that you
1559 suspect to cause the problem and add a pattern for your site there, or make up
1560 a completely new section for your site. In any case, the recommended way is to
1561 disable only the prime suspect, reload the problem page, and only if the
1562 problem persists, disable more and more actions until you have identified the
1563 culprit. You may or may not want to turn the other actions on again. Remember
1564 to flush your browser's caches in between any such changes!
1566 Alternately, if you are comfortable with a text editor, you can accomplish the
1567 same thing by editing the appropriate actions file. Probably the easiest way to
1568 deal with such problems when editing by hand is to add your site to a { fragile
1569 } section in user.action, which is an alias that turns off most "dangerous"
1570 actions, but is also likely to turn off more actions then needed, and thus
1571 lower your privacy and protection more than necessary,
1573 Troubleshooting actions is discussed in more detail in the User Manual
1574 appendix, Troubleshooting: the Anatomy of an Action. There is also an actions
1575 tutorial with general configuration information and examples.
1577 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1579 5.4. After installing Privoxy, I have to log in every time I start IE. What
1582 This is a quirk that effects the installation of Privoxy, in conjunction with
1583 Internet Explorer and Internet Connection Sharing on Windows 2000 and Windows
1584 XP. The symptoms may appear to be corrupted or invalid DUN settings, or
1587 When setting up an NT based Windows system with Privoxy you may find that
1588 things do not seem to be doing what you expect. When you set your system up you
1589 will probably have set up Internet Connection Sharing (ICS) with Dial up
1590 Networking (DUN) when logged in with administrator privileges. You will
1591 probably have made this DUN connection available to other accounts that you may
1592 have set-up on your system. E.g. Mum or Dad sets up the system and makes
1593 accounts suitably configured for the kids.
1595 When setting up Privoxy in this environment you will have to alter the proxy
1596 set-up of Internet Explorer (IE) for the specific DUN connection on which you
1597 wish to use Privoxy. When you do this the ICS DUN set-up becomes user specific.
1598 In this instance you will see no difference if you change the DUN connection
1599 under the account used to set-up the connection. However when you do this from
1600 another user you will notice that the DUN connection changes to make available
1601 to "Me only". You will also find that you have to store the password under each
1604 The reason for this is that each user's set-up for IE is user specific. Each
1605 set-up DUN connection and each LAN connection in IE store the settings for each
1606 user individually. As such this enforces individual configurations rather than
1607 common ones. Hence the first time you use a DUN connection after re-booting
1608 your system it may not perform as you expect, and prompt you for the password.
1609 Just set and save the password again and all should be OK.
1611 [Thanks to Ray Griffith for this submission.]
1613 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1615 5.5. I cannot connect to any FTP sites. Privoxy is blocking me.
1617 Privoxy cannot act as a proxy for FTP traffic, so do not configure your browser
1618 to use Privoxy as an FTP proxy. The same is true for any protocol other than
1619 HTTP or HTTPS (SSL).
1621 Most browsers understand FTP as well as HTTP. If you connect to a site, with a
1622 URL like ftp://ftp.example.com, your browser is making an FTP connection, and
1623 not a HTTP connection. So while your browser may speak FTP, Privoxy does not,
1624 and cannot proxy such traffic.
1626 To complicate matters, some systems may have a generic "proxy" setting, which
1627 will silently enable various protocols, including both HTTP and FTP proxying!
1628 So it is possible to accidentally enable FTP proxying in these cases. And of
1629 course, if this happens, Privoxy will indeed cause problems since it does not
1630 know FTP. Newer version will give a sane error message if a FTP connection is
1631 attempted. Just disable the FTP setting and all will be well again.
1633 Will Privoxy ever proxy FTP traffic? Unlikely. There just is not much reason,
1634 and the work to make this happen is more than it may seem.
1636 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1638 5.6. In Mac OSX, I can't configure Microsoft Internet Explorer to use Privoxy
1641 Microsoft Internet Explorer (in versions like 5.1) respects system-wide network
1642 settings. In order to change the HTTP proxy, open System Preferences, and click
1643 on the Network icon. In the settings pane that comes up, click on the Proxies
1644 tab. Ensure the "Web Proxy (HTTP)" checkbox is checked and enter 127.0.0.1 in
1645 the entry field. Enter 8118 in the Port field. The next time you start IE, it
1646 should reflect these values.
1648 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1650 5.7. In Mac OSX, I dragged the Privoxy folder to the trash in order to
1651 uninstall it. Now the finder tells me I don't have sufficient privileges to
1654 Just dragging the Privoxy folder to the trash is not enough to delete it.
1655 Privoxy supplies an uninstall.command file that takes care of these details.
1656 Open the trash, drag the uninstall.command file out of the trash and
1657 double-click on it. You will be prompted for confirmation and the
1658 administration password.
1660 The trash may still appear full after this command; emptying the trash from the
1661 desktop should make it appear empty again.
1663 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1665 5.8. In Mac OSX Panther (10.3), images often fail to load and/or I experience
1666 random delays in page loading. I'm using localhost as my browser's proxy
1669 We believe this is due to an IPv6-related bug in OSX, but don't fully
1670 understand the issue yet. In any case, changing the proxy setting to 127.0.0.1
1671 instead of localhost works around the problem.
1673 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1675 5.9. I get a completely blank page at one site. "View Source" shows only:
1676 <html><body></body></html>. Without Privoxy the page loads fine.
1678 Chances are that the site suffers from a bug in PHP, which results in empty
1679 pages being sent if the client explicitly requests an uncompressed page, like
1680 Privoxy does. This bug has been fixed in PHP 4.2.3.
1682 To find out if this is in fact the source of the problem, try adding the site
1683 to a -prevent-compression section in user.action:
1685 # Make exceptions for ill-behaved sites:
1687 {-prevent-compression}
1690 If that works, you may also want to report the problem to the site's
1691 webmasters, telling them to use zlib.output_compression instead of ob_gzhandler
1692 in their PHP applications (workaround) or upgrade to PHP 4.2.3 or later (fix).
1694 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1696 5.10. Why am I getting a 503 Error (WSAECONNREFUSED) on every page?
1698 More than likely this is a problem with your TCP/IP networking. ZoneAlarm has
1699 been reported to cause this symptom -- even if not running. The solution is to
1700 either fight the ZA configuration, or uninstall ZoneAlarm, and then find
1701 something better behaved in its place. Other personal firewall type products
1702 may cause similar type problems if not configured correctly.
1704 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1706 5.11. My logs show many "Unable to get my own hostname" lines. Why?
1708 Privoxy tries to get the hostname of the system its running on from the IP
1709 address of the system interface it is bound to (from the config file
1710 listen-address setting). If the system cannot supply this information, Privoxy
1711 logs this condition.
1713 Typically, this would be considered a minor system configuration error. It is
1714 not a fatal error to Privoxy however, but may result in a much slower response
1715 from Privoxy on some platforms due to DNS timeouts.
1717 This can be caused by a problem with the local HOSTS file. If this file has
1718 been changed from the original, try reverting it to see if that helps.
1720 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1722 5.12. When I try to launch Privoxy, I get an error message "port 8118 is
1723 already in use" (or similar wording). Why?
1725 Port 8118 is Privoxy's default TCP "listening" port. Typically this message
1726 would mean that there is already one instance of Privoxy running, and you are
1727 actually trying to start a second Privoxy on the same port, which will not
1728 work. (You can have multiple instances but they must be assigned different
1729 ports.) How and why this might happen varies from platform to platform, but you
1730 need to check your installation and start-up procedures.
1732 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1734 5.13. Pages with UTF-8 fonts are garbled.
1736 This is caused by the "demoronizer" filter. You should either upgrade Privoxy,
1737 or at least upgrade to the most recent default.action file available from
1738 SourceForge. Or you can simply disable the demoronizer filter.
1740 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1742 5.14. Why are binary files (such as images) corrupted when Privoxy is used?
1744 This may also be caused by the "demoronizer" filter, in conjunction with a web
1745 server that is misreporting a file type. Binary files are exempted from
1746 Privoxy's filtering (unless the web server by mistake says the file is
1747 something else). Either upgrade Privoxy, or go to the most recent
1748 default.action file available from SourceForge.
1750 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1752 5.15. What is the "demoronizer" and why is it there?
1754 The original demoronizer was a Perl script that cleaned up HTML pages which
1755 were created with certain Microsoft products. MS has used proprietary
1756 extensions to standardized font encodings (ISO 8859-1), which has caused
1757 problems for pages that are viewed with non-Microsoft products (and are
1758 expecting to see a standard set of fonts). The demoronizer corrected these
1759 errors so the pages displayed correctly. Privoxy borrowed from this script,
1760 introducing a filter based on the original demoronizer, which in turn could
1761 correct these errors on the fly.
1763 But this is only needed in some situations, and will cause serious problems in
1764 some other situations.
1766 If you are using Microsoft products, you do not need it. If you need to view
1767 pages with UTF-8 characters (such as Cyrillic or Chinese), then it will cause
1768 corruption of the fonts, and thus should not be on.
1770 On the other hand, if you use non-Microsoft products, and you occasionally
1771 notice wierd characters on pages, you might want to try it.
1773 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1775 5.16. Why do I keep seeing "PrivoxyWindowOpen()" in raw source code?
1777 Privoxy is attempting to disable malicious Javascript in this case, with the
1778 unsolicited-popups filter. Privoxy cannot tell very well "good" code snippets
1779 from "bad" code snippets.
1781 If you see this in HTML source, and the page displays without problems, then
1782 this is good, and likely some pop-up window was disabled. If you see this where
1783 it is causing a problem, such as a downloaded program source code file, then
1784 you should set an exception for this site or page such that the integrity of
1785 the page stays in tact by disabling all filtering.
1787 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1789 5.17. I am getting too many DNS errors like "404 No Such Domain". Why can't
1790 Privoxy do this better?
1792 There are potentially several factors here. First of all, the DNS resolution is
1793 done by the underlying operating system -- not Privoxy itself. Privoxy merely
1794 initiates the process and hands it off, and then later reports whatever the
1795 outcome was. And tries to give a coherent message if there seems to be a
1796 problem. In some cases, this might otherwise be mitigated by the browser itself
1797 which might try some work-arounds and alternate approaches (e.g adding "www."
1798 to the URL). In other cases, if Privoxy is being chained with another proxy,
1799 this could complicate the issue, and cause undue delays and timeouts. In the
1800 case of a "socks4a" proxy, the socks server handles all the DNS. Privoxy would
1801 just be the "messenger" which is reporting whatever problem occurred
1802 downstream, and not the root cause of the error.
1804 In any case, v. 3.0.5 includes various improvements to help Privoxy better
1807 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1809 5.18. At one site Privoxy just hangs, and starts taking all CPU. Why is this?
1811 This is probably a manifestation of the "100% cpu" problem that occurs on pages
1812 containing many (thousands upon thousands) of blank lines. The blank lines are
1813 in the raw HTML source of the page, and the browser just ignores them. But the
1814 pattern matching in Privoxy's page filtering mechanism is trying to match
1815 against absurdly long strings and this becomes very CPU-intensive, taking a
1816 long, long time to complete. Until a better solution comes along, disable
1817 filtering on these pages, particularly the js-annoyances and unsolicited-popups
1820 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1822 5.19. I just installed Privoxy, and all my browsing has slowed to a crawl. What
1825 This should not happen, and for the overwhelming number of users world-wide, it
1826 does not happen. I would suspect some inadvertent interaction of software
1827 components such as anti-virus software, spyware protectors, personal firewalls
1828 or similar components. Try disabling (or uninstalling) these one at a time and
1831 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1833 6. Contacting the developers, Bug Reporting and Feature Requests
1835 We value your feedback. In fact, we rely on it to improve Privoxy and its
1836 configuration. However, please note the following hints, so we can provide you
1837 with the best support:
1839 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1843 For casual users, our support forum at SourceForge is probably best suited:
1844 http://sourceforge.net/tracker/?group_id=11118&atid=211118
1846 All users are of course welcome to discuss their issues on the users mailing
1847 list, where the developers also hang around.
1849 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1851 6.2. Reporting Problems
1853 "Problems" for our purposes, come in two forms:
1855 * Configuration issues, such as ads that slip through, or sites that don't
1856 function properly due to one Privoxy "action" or another being turned "on".
1858 * "Bugs" in the programming code that makes up Privoxy, such as that might
1861 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1863 6.2.1. Reporting Ads or Other Configuration Problems
1865 Please send feedback on ads that slipped through, innocent images that were
1866 blocked, sites that don't work properly, and other configuration related
1867 problem of default.action file, to http://sourceforge.net/tracker/?group_id=
1868 11118&atid=460288, the Actions File Tracker.
1870 New, improved default.action files may occasionally be made available based on
1871 your feedback. These will be announced on the ijbswa-announce list and
1872 available from our the files section of our project page.
1874 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1876 6.2.2. Reporting Bugs
1878 Please report all bugs only through our bug tracker: http://sourceforge.net/
1879 tracker/?group_id=11118&atid=111118.
1881 Before doing so, please make sure that the bug has not already been submitted
1882 and observe the additional hints at the top of the submit form. If already
1883 submitted, please feel free to add any info to the original report that might
1884 help solve the issue.
1886 Please try to verify that it is a Privoxy bug, and not a browser or site bug
1887 first. If unsure, try toggling off Privoxy, and see if the problem persists. If
1888 you are using your own custom configuration, please try the stock configs to
1889 see if the problem is configuration related.
1891 If not using the latest version, the bug may have been found and fixed in the
1892 meantime. We would appreciate if you could take the time to upgrade to the
1893 latest version (or even the latest CVS snapshot) and verify your bug.
1895 Please be sure to provide the following information:
1897 * The exact Privoxy version of the proxy software (if you got the source from
1898 CVS, please also give the date).
1900 * The operating system and versions you run Privoxy on, (e.g. Windows XP).
1902 * The name, platform, and version of the browser you were using (e.g.
1903 Internet Explorer v5.5 for Mac).
1905 * The URL where the problem occurred, or some way for us to duplicate the
1906 problem (e.g. http://somesite.example.com?somethingelse=123).
1908 * Whether your version of Privoxy is one supplied by the developers of
1909 Privoxy via SourceForge, or somewhere else.
1911 * Whether you are using Privoxy in tandem with another proxy such as TOR. If
1912 so, please try disabling the other proxy.
1914 * Whether you are using a personal firewall product. If so, does Privoxy work
1917 * Any other pertinent information to help identify the problem such as config
1918 or log file excerpts (yes, you should have log file entries for each action
1921 * Please provide your SF login, or email address, in case we need to contact
1924 The appendix of the Privoxy User Manual also has helpful information on
1925 understanding actions, and action debugging.
1927 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1929 6.3. Request New Features
1931 You are welcome to submit ideas on new features or other proposals for
1932 improvement through our feature request tracker at http://sourceforge.net/
1933 tracker/?atid=361118&group_id=11118.
1935 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1939 For any other issues, feel free to use the mailing lists. Technically
1940 interested users and people who wish to contribute to the project are also
1941 welcome on the developers list! You can find an overview of all Privoxy-related
1942 mailing lists, including list archives, at: http://sourceforge.net/mail/?
1945 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1947 7. Privoxy Copyright, License and History
1949 Copyright © 2001 - 2006 by Privoxy Developers <
1950 ijbswa-developers@lists.sourceforge.net>
1952 Some source code is based on code Copyright © 1997 by Anonymous Coders and
1953 Junkbusters, Inc. and licensed under the GNU General Public License.
1955 Portions of this document are "borrowed" from the original Junkbuster (tm) FAQ,
1956 and modified as appropriate for Privoxy.
1958 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1962 Privoxy is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the
1963 terms of the GNU General Public License, version 2, as published by the Free
1964 Software Foundation.
1966 This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY
1967 WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A
1968 PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details, which
1969 is available from the Free Software Foundation, Inc, 51 Franklin Street, Fifth
1970 Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301, USA
1972 You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along with
1973 this program; if not, write to the
1976 Foundation, Inc. 51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor
1977 Boston, MA 02110-1301
1980 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1984 Along time ago, there was the Internet Junkbuster, by Anonymous Coders and
1985 Junkbusters Corporation. This saved many users a lot of pain in the early days
1986 of web advertising and user tracking.
1988 But the web, its protocols and standards, and with it, the techniques for
1989 forcing ads on users, give up autonomy over their browsing, and for tracking
1990 them, keeps evolving. Unfortunately, the Internet Junkbuster did not. Version
1991 2.0.2, published in 1998, was (and is) the last official release available from
1992 Junkbusters Corporation. Fortunately, it had been released under the GNU GPL,
1993 which allowed further development by others.
1995 So Stefan Waldherr started maintaining an improved version of the software, to
1996 which eventually a number of people contributed patches. It could already
1997 replace banners with a transparent image, and had a first version of pop-up
1998 killing, but it was still very closely based on the original, with all its
1999 limitations, such as the lack of HTTP/1.1 support, flexible per-site
2000 configuration, or content modification. The last release from this effort was
2001 version 2.0.2-10, published in 2000.
2003 Then, some developers picked up the thread, and started turning the software
2004 inside out, upside down, and then reassembled it, adding many new features
2007 The result of this is Privoxy, whose first stable version, 3.0, was released