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28 <h1 class="SECT1"><a name="INSTALLATION" id="INSTALLATION">2. Installation</a></h1>
30 <h3 class="SECT2"><a name="WHICHBROWSERS" id="WHICHBROWSERS">2.1. Which browsers are supported by
32 <p>Any browser that can be configured to use a proxy, which should be virtually all browsers, including
33 <span class="APPLICATION">Firefox</span>, <span class="APPLICATION">Internet Explorer</span>, <span class=
34 "APPLICATION">Opera</span>, and <span class="APPLICATION">Safari</span> among others. Direct browser support is
35 not an absolute requirement since <span class="APPLICATION">Privoxy</span> runs as a separate application and
36 talks to the browser in the standardized HTTP protocol, just like a web server does.</p>
39 <h3 class="SECT2"><a name="WHICHOS" id="WHICHOS">2.2. Which operating systems are supported?</a></h3>
40 <p>At present, <span class="APPLICATION">Privoxy</span> is known to run on Windows 95 and later versions (98, ME,
41 2000, XP, Vista, Windows 7 etc.), GNU/Linux (RedHat, SuSE, Debian, Fedora, Gentoo, Slackware and others), Mac OS
42 X (10.4 and upwards on PPC and Intel processors), OS/2, Haiku, DragonFly, ElectroBSD, FreeBSD, NetBSD, OpenBSD,
43 Solaris, and various other flavors of Unix.</p>
44 <p>But any operating system that runs TCP/IP, can conceivably take advantage of <span class=
45 "APPLICATION">Privoxy</span> in a networked situation where <span class="APPLICATION">Privoxy</span> would run as
46 a server on a LAN gateway. Then only the <span class="QUOTE">"gateway"</span> needs to be running one of the
47 above operating systems.</p>
48 <p>Source code is freely available, so porting to other operating systems is always a possibility.</p>
51 <h3 class="SECT2"><a name="EMAIL-CLIENT" id="EMAIL-CLIENT">2.3. Can I use Privoxy with my email client?</a></h3>
52 <p>As long as there is some way to set a HTTP proxy for the client, then yes, any application can be used,
53 whether it is strictly speaking a <span class="QUOTE">"browser"</span> or not. Though this may not be the best
54 approach for dealing with some of the common abuses of HTML in email. See <a href=
55 "configuration.html#OUTLOOK">How can I configure <span class="APPLICATION">Privoxy</span> with <span class=
56 "APPLICATION">Outlook</span>?</a> below for more on this.</p>
57 <p>Be aware that HTML email presents a number of unique security and privacy related issues, that can require
58 advanced skills to overcome. The developers recommend using email clients that can be configured to convert HTML
59 to plain text for these reasons.</p>
62 <h3 class="SECT2"><a name="FIRSTSTEP" id="FIRSTSTEP">2.4. I just installed Privoxy. Is there anything special I
63 have to do now?</a></h3>
64 <p>All browsers should be told to use <span class="APPLICATION">Privoxy</span> as a proxy by specifying the
65 correct proxy address and port number in the appropriate configuration area for the browser. It's possible to
66 combine <span class="APPLICATION">Privoxy</span> with a packet filter to intercept HTTP requests even if the
67 client isn't explicitly configured to use <span class="APPLICATION">Privoxy</span>, but where possible,
68 configuring the client is recommended. See <a href="../user-manual/startup.html" target="_top">the User Manual
69 for more details</a>. You should also flush your browser's memory and disk cache to get rid of any cached junk
70 items, and remove any stored <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Browser_cookie" target="_top">cookies</a>.</p>
73 <h3 class="SECT2"><a name="LOCALHOST" id="LOCALHOST">2.5. What is the proxy address of Privoxy?</a></h3>
74 <p>If you set up the <span class="APPLICATION">Privoxy</span> to run on the computer you browse from (rather than
75 your ISP's server or some networked computer on a LAN), the proxy will be on <tt class="LITERAL">127.0.0.1</tt>
76 (sometimes referred to as <span class="QUOTE">"localhost"</span>, which is the special name used by every
77 computer on the Internet to refer to itself) and the port will be 8118 (unless you used the <a href=
78 "../user-manual/config.html#LISTEN-ADDRESS" target="_top">listen-address</a> config option to tell <span class=
79 "APPLICATION">Privoxy</span> to run on a different port).</p>
80 <p>When configuring your browser's proxy settings you typically enter the word <span class=
81 "QUOTE">"localhost"</span> or the IP address <span class="QUOTE">"127.0.0.1"</span> in the boxes next to
82 <span class="QUOTE">"HTTP"</span> and <span class="QUOTE">"Secure"</span> (HTTPS) and then the number
83 <span class="QUOTE">"8118"</span> for <span class="QUOTE">"port"</span>. This tells your browser to send all web
84 requests to <span class="APPLICATION">Privoxy</span> instead of directly to the Internet.</p>
85 <p><span class="APPLICATION">Privoxy</span> can also be used to proxy for a Local Area Network. In this case,
86 your would enter either the IP address of the LAN host where <span class="APPLICATION">Privoxy</span> is running,
87 or the equivalent hostname, e.g. <tt class="LITERAL">192.168.1.1</tt>. Port assignment would be same as above.
88 Note that <span class="APPLICATION">Privoxy</span> doesn't listen on any LAN interfaces by default.</p>
89 <p><span class="APPLICATION">Privoxy</span> does not currently handle any other protocols such as FTP, SMTP, IM,
93 <h3 class="SECT2"><a name="NOTHING" id="NOTHING">2.6. I just installed Privoxy, and nothing is happening. All the
94 ads are there. What's wrong?</a></h3>
95 <p>Did you configure your browser to use <span class="APPLICATION">Privoxy</span> as a proxy? It does not sound
96 like it. See above. You might also try flushing the browser's caches to force a full re-reading of pages. You can
97 verify that <span class="APPLICATION">Privoxy</span> is running, and your browser is correctly configured by
98 entering the special URL: <a href="http://p.p/" target="_top">http://p.p/</a>. This should take you to a page
99 titled <span class="QUOTE">"This is Privoxy.."</span> with access to <span class="APPLICATION">Privoxy's</span>
100 internal configuration. If you see this, then you are good to go. If you receive a page saying <span class=
101 "QUOTE">"Privoxy is not running"</span>, then the browser is not set up to use your <span class=
102 "APPLICATION">Privoxy</span> installation. If you receive anything else (probably nothing at all), it could
103 either be that the browser is not set up correctly, or that <span class="APPLICATION">Privoxy</span> is not
104 running at all. Check the <a href="../user-manual/config.html#LOGFILE" target="_top">log file</a>. For
105 instructions on starting <span class="APPLICATION">Privoxy</span> and browser configuration, see the <a href=
106 "https://www.privoxy.org/user-manual/startup.html" target="_top">chapter on starting <span class=
107 "APPLICATION">Privoxy</span></a> in the <a href="https://www.privoxy.org/user-manual/" target="_top">User
111 <h3 class="SECT2"><a name="NOTUSED" id="NOTUSED">2.7. I get a <span class="QUOTE">"Privoxy is not being
112 used"</span> dummy page although Privoxy is running and being used.</a></h3>
113 <p>First, make sure that Privoxy is <span class="emphasis"><i class="EMPHASIS">really</i></span> running and
114 being used by visiting <a href="http://p.p/" target="_top">http://p.p/</a>. You should see the <span class=
115 "APPLICATION">Privoxy</span> main page. If not, see the <a href=
116 "https://www.privoxy.org/user-manual/startup.html" target="_top">chapter on starting <span class=
117 "APPLICATION">Privoxy</span></a> in the <a href="https://www.privoxy.org/user-manual/" target="_top">User
119 <p>Now if <a href="http://p.p/" target="_top">http://p.p/</a> works for you, but other parts of <span class=
120 "APPLICATION">Privoxy</span>'s web interface show the dummy page, your browser has cached a redirection it
121 encountered before <span class="APPLICATION">Privoxy</span> was being used. You need to clear your browser's
122 cache. Note that shift-reloading the dummy page won't help, since that'll only refresh the dummy page, not the
123 redirection that lead you there.</p>
124 <p>The procedure for clearing the cache varies from browser to browser. For example, <span class=
125 "APPLICATION">Mozilla/Netscape</span> users would click <span class="GUIBUTTON">Edit</span> --> <span class=
126 "GUIBUTTON">Preferences</span> --> <span class="GUIBUTTON">Advanced</span> --> <span class=
127 "GUIBUTTON">Cache</span> and then click both <span class="QUOTE">"<span class="GUIBUTTON">Clear Memory
128 Cache</span>"</span> and <span class="QUOTE">"<span class="GUIBUTTON">Clear Disk Cache</span>"</span>. In some
129 <span class="APPLICATION">Firefox</span> versions it's <span class="GUIBUTTON">Tools</span> --> <span class=
130 "GUIBUTTON">Options</span> --> <span class="GUIBUTTON">Privacy</span> --> <span class=
131 "GUIBUTTON">Cache</span> and then click <span class="QUOTE">"<span class="GUIBUTTON">Clear Cache
132 Now</span>"</span>.</p>
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