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Privoxy Frequently Asked Questions

   By: Privoxy Developers
   
   $Id: faq.sgml,v 1.32 2002/03/27 00:57:03 hal9 Exp $
   
   This FAQ gives users and developers alike answers to frequently asked
   questions about Privoxy.
   
   Privoxy is a web proxy with advanced filtering capabilities for
   protecting privacy, filtering web page content, managing cookies,
   controlling access, and removing ads, banners, pop-ups and other
   obnoxious Internet junk. Privoxy has a very flexible configuration and
   can be customized to suit individual needs and tastes. Privoxy has
   application for both stand-alone systems and multi-user networks.
   
   Privoxy is based on the code of the Internet Junkbuster. Junkbuster
   was originally written by JunkBusters Corporation, and was released as
   free open-source software under the GNU GPL. Stefan Waldherr made many
   improvements, and started the SourceForge project to continue
   development.
   
   You can find the latest version of the document at
   [1]http://www.privoxy.org/faq/. Please see the Contact section in the
   [2]user-manual if you want to contact the developers.
     _________________________________________________________________
   
   Table of Contents
   1. [3]Frequently Asked Questions
          
        1.1. [4]General Information
                
              1.1.1. [5]What is this new version of Privoxy?
              1.1.2. [6]Why "Privoxy"? Why a name change at all?
              1.1.3. [7]How does it differ from the old Junkbuster?
              1.1.4. [8]What are some of the new features?
              1.1.5. [9]What is a "proxy"? How does Privoxy work?
              1.1.6. [10]My browser does the same things as Privoxy. Why
                      should I use Privoxy at all?
                      
              1.1.7. [11]Is there is a license or fee? What about a
                      warranty? Registration?
                      
              1.1.8. [12]I would like to help you, what do I do?
                      
        1.2. [13]Installation
                
              1.2.1. [14]Which browsers are supported by Privoxy?
              1.2.2. [15]Which operating systems are supported?
              1.2.3. [16]Can I install Privoxy over Junkbuster?
              1.2.4. [17]I just installed Privoxy. Is there anything
                      special I have to do now?
                      
              1.2.5. [18]What is the proxy address of Privoxy?
              1.2.6. [19]I just installed Privoxy, and nothing is
                      happening. All the ads are there. What's wrong?
                      
        1.3. [20]Configuration
                
              1.3.1. [21]Can I use my old config files?
              1.3.2. [22]What is an "actions" file?
              1.3.3. [23]The "actions"concept confuses me. Please list
                      some of these "actions".
                      
              1.3.4. [24]How are actions files configured? What is the
                      easiest way to do this?
                      
              1.3.5. [25]What are the differences between
                      intermediate.action, basic.action, etc.?
                      
              1.3.6. [26]Why can I change the configuration with a
                      browser? Does that not raise security issues?
                      
              1.3.7. [27]What is a "default.filter"?
              1.3.8. [28]How can I set up Privoxy to act as a proxy for
                      my LAN?
                      
              1.3.9. [29]Instead of ads, now I get a checkerboard
                      pattern. I don't want to see anything.
                      
              1.3.10. [30]Why would anybody want to see a checkerboard
                      pattern?
                      
              1.3.11. [31]I see large red banners on some pages that say
                      "Blocked". How do I get rid of this?
                      
              1.3.12. [32]How can I make Privoxy work with other proxies
                      like Squid?
                      
        1.4. [33]Miscellaneous
                
              1.4.1. [34]How much does Privoxy slow my browsing down?
                      This has to add extra time to browsing.
                      
              1.4.2. [35]I noticed considerable delays in page requests
                      compared to the old Junkbuster. What's wrong?
                      
              1.4.3. [36]What is the "http://p.p/"?
              1.4.4. [37]Do you still maintain the blocklists?
              1.4.5. [38]How can I submit new ads?
              1.4.6. [39]How can I hide my IP address?
              1.4.7. [40]Can Privoxy guarantee I am anonymous?
              1.4.8. [41]Might some things break because header
                      information is being altered?
                      
              1.4.9. [42]Can Privoxy act as a "caching" proxy to speed up
                      web browsing?
                      
              1.4.10. [43]What about as a firewall? Can Privoxy protect
                      me?
                      
              1.4.11. [44]The Privoxy logo that replaces ads is very
                      blocky and ugly looking. Can't a better font be
                      used?
                      
              1.4.12. [45]I have large empty spaces now where ads used to
                      be. Why does Privoxy leave these large gaps?
                      
              1.4.13. [46]How can Privoxy filter Secure (HTTPS) URLs?
              1.4.14. [47]Privoxy runs as a "server". How secure is it?
                      Do I need to take any special precautions?
                      
              1.4.15. [48]How can I temporarily disable Privoxy?
                      
        1.5. [49]Troubleshooting
                
              1.5.1. [50]I just upgraded and am getting "connection
                      refused" with every web page?
                      
              1.5.2. [51]I just added a new rule, but the steenkin ad is
                      still getting through. How?
                      
              1.5.3. [52]One of my favorite sites does not work with
                      Privoxy. What can I do?
                      
              1.5.4. [53]What time is it?
                      
   2. [54]Copyright and History
   3. [55]See also
          
1. Frequently Asked Questions

1.1. General Information

1.1.1. What is this new version of Privoxy?

   The original Internet Junkbuster (tm) is a copyrighted product of
   [56]Junkbusters Corporation. Development of this effort stopped some
   time ago as of version 2.0.2. Stefan Waldherr started the ijbswa
   project on [57]Sourceforge to rekindle development. Other developers
   subsequently joined with Stefan, and have since added many new
   features, refinements and enhancements.
   
   The new Privoxy started with the same Junkbuster code base, but has
   changed significantly at this point.
     _________________________________________________________________
   
1.1.2. Why "Privoxy"? Why a name change at all?

   Privoxy is for "Privacy Enhancing Proxy". There are possible legal
   complications from the continued use of the Junkbuster name, which is
   a trademark of [58]Junkbusters Corporation. (There are no objections
   from Junkbusters Corporation to the Privoxy project itself though, and
   they in fact still share our ideals and goals.)
   
   The developers also believed that there so many changes from the
   original code, that it was time to make a clean break from the past
   and make a name in their own right, especially now with the pending
   release of version 3.0.
     _________________________________________________________________
   
1.1.3. How does it differ from the old Junkbuster?

   All the old features remain. The new Privoxy still blocks ads and
   banners, still manages cookies, and still helps protect your privacy.
   But, these are all enhanced, and many new features have been added,
   all in the same vein.
   
   The configuration has changed significantly as well. This is something
   that users will notice right off the bat. The "blocklist" file does
   not exist any more. This is replaced by "actions" files, such as
   default.actions. This is where most of the per site configuration is
   now.
     _________________________________________________________________
   
1.1.4. What are some of the new features?

     * Integrated browser based configuration and control utility
       ([59]http://p.p). Browser-based tracing of rule and filter
       effects.
     * Blocking of annoying pop-up browser windows.
     * HTTP/1.1 compliant (most, but not all 1.1 features are supported).
     * Support for Perl Compatible Regular Expressions in the
       configuration files, and generally a more sophisticated and
       flexible configuration syntax over previous versions.
     * GIF de-animation.
     * Web page content filtering (removes banners based on size,
       invisible "web-bugs", JavaScript, pop-ups, status bar abuse, etc.)
     * Bypass many click-tracking scripts (avoids script redirection).
     * Multi-threaded (POSIX and native threads).
     * Auto-detection and re-reading of config file changes.
     * User-customizable HTML templates (e.g. 404 error page).
     * Improved cookie management features (e.g. session based cookies).
     * Builds from source on most UNIX-like systems. Packages available
       for: Linux (RedHat, SuSE, or Debian), Windows, Sun Solaris, Mac
       OSX, OS/2, HP-UX 11 and AmigaOS.
     * In addition, the configuration is much more powerful and versatile
       over-all.
     _________________________________________________________________
   
1.1.5. What is a "proxy"? How does Privoxy work?

   When you connect to a web site with Privoxy, you are really connecting
   to your locally running version of Privoxy. Privoxy intercepts your
   requests for the web page, and relays that to the "real" web site. The
   web site sends the HTTP data stream back to Privoxy, where Privoxy can
   work its magic before it relays this data back to your web browser.
   
   Since Privoxy sits between you and the WWW, it is in a position to
   intercept and completely manage all web traffic and HTTP content
   before it gets to your browser. Privoxy uses various programming
   methods to do this, all of which is under your control via the various
   configuration files and options.
   
   There are many kinds of proxies. Privoxy best fits the "filtering
   proxy" category.
     _________________________________________________________________
   
1.1.6. My browser does the same things as Privoxy. Why should I use Privoxy
at all?

   Modern browsers do indeed have some of the same functionality as
   Privoxy. Maybe this is adequate for you. But Privoxy is much more
   versatile and powerful, and can do a number of things that browsers
   just can't.
   
   In addition, a proxy is good choice if you use multiple browsers, or
   have a LAN with multiple computers. This way all the configuration is
   in one place, and you don't have to maintain a similar configuration
   for possibly many browsers.
     _________________________________________________________________
   
1.1.7. Is there is a license or fee? What about a warranty? Registration?

   Privoxy is licensed under the GNU General Public License (GPL). It is
   free to use, copy, modify or distribute as you wish under the terms of
   this license. See [60]http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html for
   specifics.
   
   There is no warranty of any kind, expressed, implied or otherwise.
   That is something that would cost real money ;-) There is no
   registration either. Privoxy really is free in every respect!
     _________________________________________________________________
   
1.1.8. I would like to help you, what do I do?

1.1.8.1. Money Money Money

   We, of course, welcome donations and use the money for domain
   registering, regular world-wide get-togethers (hahaha). Anyway, we'll
   soon describe the process how to donate money to the team.
     _________________________________________________________________
   
1.1.8.2. You want to work with us?

   Well, helping the team is always a good idea. We welcome new
   developers, RPM gurus or documentation makers. Simply get an account
   on sourceforge.net and mail your id to the developer mailing list.
   Then read the section Quickstart in the developers manual.
   
   Once we have added you to the team, you'll have write access to the
   CVS repository, and together we'll find a suitable task for you.
     _________________________________________________________________
   
1.2. Installation

1.2.1. Which browsers are supported by Privoxy?

   Any browser that can be configured to use a "proxy", which is probably
   almost all browsers. Direct browser support is not necessary since
   Privoxy runs as a separate application and just exchanges standard
   HTML data with your browser.
     _________________________________________________________________
   
1.2.2. Which operating systems are supported?

   Right now Win32, Mac OSX, OS/2, AmigaOS, Linux, and many flavors of
   Unix.
   
   Source code is available, so porting to other operating systems, is
   always a possibility.
     _________________________________________________________________
   
1.2.3. Can I install Privoxy over Junkbuster?

   We recommend you uninstall Junkbuster first to minimize conflicts and
   confusion. You may want to save your old configuration files for
   future reference. The configuration is substantially changed.
   
   See the [61]user-manual for platform specific installation
   instructions. [FIXME: This is meant for after the name change for
   3.0!]
     _________________________________________________________________
   
1.2.4. I just installed Privoxy. Is there anything special I have to do now?

   All browsers must be told to use Privoxy as a proxy by specifying the
   correct proxy address and port number in the appropriate configuration
   area for the browser. See below.
     _________________________________________________________________
   
1.2.5. What is the proxy address of Privoxy?

   If you set up the Privoxy to run on the computer you browse from
   (rather than your ISP's server or some networked computer on a LAN),
   the proxy will be on "localhost" (which is the special name used by
   every computer on the Internet to refer to itself) and the port will
   be 8118 (unless you have Privoxy to run on a different port with the
   listen-address config option).
   
   When configuring your browser's proxy settings you typically enter the
   word "localhost" in the boxes next to "HTTP" and "Secure" (HTTPS) and
   then the number "8118" for "port". This tells your browser to send all
   web requests to Privoxy instead of directly to the Internet.
   
   Privoxy can also be used to proxy for a Local Area Network. In this
   case, your would enter either the IP address of the LAN host where
   Privoxy is running, or the equivalent hostname. Port assignment would
   be same as above.
   
   Privoxy does not currently handle protocols such as FTP, SMTP, IM,
   IRC, ICQ, or other Internet protocols.
     _________________________________________________________________
   
1.2.6. I just installed Privoxy, and nothing is happening. All the ads are
there. What's wrong?

   Did you configure your browser to use Privoxy as a proxy? It does not
   sound like it. See above. You might also try flushing the browser's
   caches to force a full re-reading of pages. You can verify that
   Privoxy is running, and your browser is correctly configured by
   entering the special URL: [62]http://p.p/. This should give you a
   banner that says "This is Privoxy" and access to Privoxy's internal
   configuration. If you see this, then you are good to go. If not, the
   browser or Privoxy are not set up correctly.
     _________________________________________________________________
   
1.3. Configuration

1.3.1. Can I use my old config files?

   There are major changes to Junkbuster configuration from version 2.0.x
   to 2.9.x and later. The older files will not work at all. If this is
   the case, you will need to re-enter your old data into the new
   configuration structure. This is probably also a good recommendation
   even if upgrading from 2.9.x to 3.x since there were many minor
   changes along the way.
     _________________________________________________________________
   
1.3.2. What is an "actions" file?

   "actions" files are where various actions that Privoxy might take, are
   configured. Typically, you would define a set of default actions that
   apply to all URLs, then add exceptions to these defaults.
   
   Actions can be defined on a per site basis, or for groups of sites.
   Actions can also be grouped together and then applied to one or more
   sites. There are many possible actions that might apply to any given
   site. As an example, if we are blocking cookies as one of our default
   actions, but need to accept cookies from a given site, we would define
   this in our "actions" file.
   
   Privoxy comes with several default actions files, with varying degrees
   of filtering and blocking, as starting points for your own
   configuration (see below).
     _________________________________________________________________
   
1.3.3. The "actions"concept confuses me. Please list some of these
"actions".

   These are all explained in the [63]user-manual. Please refer to that.
     _________________________________________________________________
   
1.3.4. How are actions files configured? What is the easiest way to do this?

   The easiest way to do this, is to access Privoxy with your web browser
   at [64]http://p.p/, and then select "[65]Edit the actions list" from
   the selection list. You can also do this by editing the appropriate
   file with a text editor.
   
   Please see the [66]user-manual for a detailed explanation of these and
   other configuration files, and their various options and syntax.
     _________________________________________________________________
   
1.3.5. What are the differences between intermediate.action, basic.action,
etc.?

   Configuring Privoxy is not easy. To help you get started, we provide
   you with three different default configurations. The following table
   shows you, which features are enabled in each configuration.
   
   Table 1. Default Configurations
   Feature default.action basic.action intermediate.action
   advanced.action
   ad-filtering ? x x x
   blank image ? x x x
   de-animate GIFs ? x x x
   referer forging ? x x x
   jon's +no-cookies-keep (i.e. session cookies only) ? x x x
   no-popup windows ?   x x
   fast redirects ?   x x
   hide-referrer ?   x x
   hide-useragent ?   x x
   content-modification ?     x
   feature-x ?
   feature-y ?
   feature-z ?
     _________________________________________________________________
   
1.3.6. Why can I change the configuration with a browser? Does that not
raise security issues?

   What I don't understand, is how I can browser edit the config file as
   a regular user, while the whole /etc/privoxy hierarchy belongs to the
   user "privoxy", with only 644 perms.
   
   When you use the browser-based editor, Privoxy itself is writing to
   the config files. Because Privoxy is running as the user "privoxy", it
   can update the config files.
   
   If you don't like this, setting "enable-edit-actions 0" in the config
   file will disable the browser-based editor. If you're that paranoid,
   you should also consider setting "enable-remote-toggle 0" to prevent
   browser-based enabling/disabling of Privoxy.
   
   Note that normally only local users can connect to Privoxy, so this is
   not (normally) a security problem.
     _________________________________________________________________
   
1.3.7. What is a "default.filter"?

   The "default.filter" file is used to "filter" any web page content. By
   "filtering" we mean it can modify, remove, or change anything on the
   page, including HTML tags, and JavaScript. Regular expressions are
   used to accomplish this, and operate on a line by line basis. This is
   potentially a very powerful feature, but requires some expertise.
   
   If you are familiar with regular expressions, and HTML, you can look
   at the provided default.filter with a text editor and see some of
   things it can be used for.
   
   Presently, there is no GUI editor option for this part of the
   configuration, but you can disable/enable various sections of the
   included default file with the "Actions List Editor" from your
   browser.
     _________________________________________________________________
   
1.3.8. How can I set up Privoxy to act as a proxy for my LAN?

   By default, Privoxy only responds to requests from localhost. To have
   it act as a server for a network, this needs to be changed in the main
   config file where the Privoxy configuration is located. In that file
   is a "listen-address" option. It may be commented out with a "#"
   symbol. Make sure it is uncommented, and assign it the address of the
   LAN gateway interface, and port number to use:
   
  listen-address  192.168.1.1:8118

   Save the file, and restart Privoxy. Configure all browsers on the
   network then to use this address and port number.
     _________________________________________________________________
   
1.3.9. Instead of ads, now I get a checkerboard pattern. I don't want to see
anything.

   This is a configuration option for images that Privoxy is stopping.
   You have the choice a checkerboard pattern, a transparent 1x1 GIF
   image (aka "blank"), or a custom URL or your choice.
   
   If you want to see nothing, then change the "+image-blocker" action to
   "+image-blocker{blank}". This can be done from the "Edit Actions List"
   selection at [67]http://p.p/. Or by hand editing the appropriate
   actions file. This will only effect what is defined as "images"
   though.
     _________________________________________________________________
   
1.3.10. Why would anybody want to see a checkerboard pattern?

   This can be helpful for troubleshooting problems. It might also be
   good for anyone new to Privoxy so that they can see if their favorite
   pages are displaying correctly, and Privoxy is not inadvertently
   removing something important.
     _________________________________________________________________
   
1.3.11. I see large red banners on some pages that say "Blocked". How do I
get rid of this?

   These are URLs that match something in one of Privoxy's block actions
   (+block). It is meant to be a warning so that you know something has
   been blocked and an easy way for you to see why. These are handled
   differently than what has been defined as "images" (e.g. ad banners).
   If you want them to be treated as if they were images, so that they
   can be made invisible, then move the offending URL from the "+block"
   section to the "+imageblock" section of your actions file.
   Alternately, you could modify the "block" HTML template that is used
   by Privoxy to display this, and make it something more to your liking.
     _________________________________________________________________
   
1.3.12. How can I make Privoxy work with other proxies like Squid?

   This can be done. See the [68]user manual, which describes how to do
   this.
     _________________________________________________________________
   
1.4. Miscellaneous

1.4.1. How much does Privoxy slow my browsing down? This has to add extra
time to browsing.

   It should not slow you down any in real terms, and may actually help
   speed things up since ads, banners and other junk are not being
   displayed. The actual processing time required by Privoxy itself for
   each page, is relatively small in the overall scheme of things, and
   happens very quickly. This is typically more than offset by time saved
   not downloading and rendering ad images.
   
   "Filtering" via the filterfile mechanism may cause a perceived
   slowdown, since the entire page is buffered before displaying. See
   below.
     _________________________________________________________________
   
1.4.2. I noticed considerable delays in page requests compared to the old
Junkbuster. What's wrong?

   Using the default filtering configuration, I noticed considerable
   delays in page requests compared to the old Junkbuster. Loading pages
   with large contents seemed to take forever, then suddenly delivering
   all the content at once.
   
   The whole content must be loaded in order to filter, and nothing is is
   sent to the browser during this time. The loading time does not really
   change in real numbers, but the feeling is different, because most
   browsers are able to start rendering incomplete content, giving the
   user a feeling of "it works".
   
   To modify the content of a page (i.e. make frames resizeable again,
   etc.) and not just replace ads, Privoxy needs to download the entire
   page first, do its content magic and then send the page to the
   browser.
     _________________________________________________________________
   
1.4.3. What is the "http://p.p/"?

   Since Privoxy sits between your web browser and the Internet, it can
   be programmed to handle certain pages specially.
   
   With recent versions of Privoxy (version 2.9.x), you can get some
   information about Privoxy and change some settings by going to
   http://p.p/ or, equivalently, http://www.privoxy.org/config/ (Note
   that p.p is far easier to type but may not work in some
   configurations).
   
   These pages are *not* forwarded to a server on the Internet - instead
   they are handled by a special web server which is built in to Privoxy.
   
   If you are not running Privoxy, then http://p.p/ will fail, and
   http://www.privoxy.org/config/ will return a web page telling you
   you're not running Privoxy.
   
   If you have version 2.0.2, then the equivalent is
   http://example.com/show-proxy-args (but you get far less information,
   and you should really consider upgrading to 2.9.x).
     _________________________________________________________________
   
1.4.4. Do you still maintain the blocklists?

   No. The format of the blocklists has changed significantly in the
   versions 2.9.x. Once we have released the new version, there will
   again be blocklists that you can update automatically.
     _________________________________________________________________
   
1.4.5. How can I submit new ads?

   As of now, please discontinue to submit new ad blocking infos. Once we
   have released the new version, there will again be a form on the
   website, which you can use to contribute new ads.
     _________________________________________________________________
   
1.4.6. How can I hide my IP address?

   You cannot hide your IP address with Privoxy or any other software,
   since the server needs to know your IP address to send the answer to
   you.
   
   Fortunately there are many publicly usable anonymous proxies out
   there, which solve the problem by providing a further level of
   indirection between you and the web server, shared by many people and
   thus letting your requests "drown" in white noise of unrelated
   requests as far as user tracking is concerned.
   
   Most of them will, however, log your IP address and make it available
   to the authorities in case you abuse that anonymity for criminal
   purposes. In fact you can't even rule out that some of them only exist
   to *collect* information on (those suspicious) people with a more than
   average preference for privacy.
   
   You can find a list of anonymous public proxies at [69]multiproxy.org
   and many more through Google.
     _________________________________________________________________
   
1.4.7. Can Privoxy guarantee I am anonymous?

   No. Your chances of remaining anonymous are greatly improved, but
   unless you are an expert on Internet security it would be safest to
   assume that everything you do on the Web can be traced back to you.
   
   Privoxy can remove various information about you, and allows you more
   freedom to decide which sites you can trust. But it's still possible
   that web sites can find out who you are. Here's one way this can
   happen.
   
   A few browsers disclose the user's email address in certain
   situations, such as when transferring a file by FTP. Privoxy does not
   filter FTP. If you need this feature, or are concerned about the mail
   handler of your browser disclosing your email address, you might
   consider products such as NSClean.
   
   Browsers available only as binaries could use non-standard headers to
   give out any information they can have access to: see the
   manufacturer's license agreement. It's impossible to anticipate and
   prevent every breach of privacy that might occur. The professionally
   paranoid prefer browsers available as source code, because
   anticipating their behavior is easier. Trust the source, Luke!
     _________________________________________________________________
   
1.4.8. Might some things break because header information is being altered?

   Definitely. More and more sites use HTTP header content to decide what
   to display and how to display it. There is many ways that this can be
   handled, so having hard and fast rules, is tricky.
   
   "USER AGENT" in particular is often used in this way to identify the
   browser, and adjust content accordingly. Changing this now is not
   recommended, since so many sites do look for this. You may get
   undesirable results by changing this.
   
   For instance, different browsers use different encodings of Russian
   and Czech characters, certain web servers convert pages on-the-fly
   according to the User Agent header. Giving a "User Agent" with the
   wrong operating system or browser manufacturer causes some sites in
   these languages to be garbled; Surfers to Eastern European sites
   should change it to something closer. And then some page access
   counters work by looking at the "REFERER" header; they may fail or
   break if unavailable. The weather maps of Intellicast have been
   blocked by their server when no "REFERER" or cookie is provided, is
   another example. There are many, many other ways things can go wrong
   when trying to fool a web server.
   
   If you have problems with a site, you will have to adjust your
   configuration accordingly. Cookies are probably the most likely
   adjustment that may be required, but by no means the only one.
     _________________________________________________________________
   
1.4.9. Can Privoxy act as a "caching" proxy to speed up web browsing?

   No, it does not have this ability at all. You want something like
   [70]Squid for this. And, yes, before you ask, Privoxy can co-exist
   with other kinds of proxies like "Squid".
     _________________________________________________________________
   
1.4.10. What about as a firewall? Can Privoxy protect me?

   Not in the way you mean, or in the way a true firewall can, or a proxy
   that has this specific capability. Privoxy can help protect your
   privacy, but not really protect you from intrusion attempts.
     _________________________________________________________________
   
1.4.11. The Privoxy logo that replaces ads is very blocky and ugly looking.
Can't a better font be used?

   This is not a font problem. The logo is an image that is created by
   Privoxy on the fly. So as to not waste memory, the image is rather
   small. The blockiness comes when the image is scaled to fill a largish
   area. There is not much to be done about this, other than to use one
   of the other "imageblock" directives: pattern, blank, or a URL of your
   choosing.
   
   Given the above problem, we have decided to remove the logo option
   entirely [as of v2.9.13].
     _________________________________________________________________
   
1.4.12. I have large empty spaces now where ads used to be. Why does Privoxy
leave these large gaps?

   It would be easy enough to just eliminate this space altogether,
   rather than fill it with blank space. But, this would create problems
   with many pages that use the overall size of the ad to help organize
   the page layout and position the various components of the page where
   they were intended to be. It is best left this way.
     _________________________________________________________________
   
1.4.13. How can Privoxy filter Secure (HTTPS) URLs?

   This is a limitation since HTTPS transactions are encrypted SSL
   sessions between your browser and the secure site, and are meant to be
   reliably secure and private. This means that all cookies and HTTP
   header information are also encrypted from the time they leave your
   browser, to the site, and vice versa. Privoxy does not try to
   unencrypt this information, so it just passes through as is. Privoxy
   can still catch images and ads that are embedded in the SSL stream
   though.
     _________________________________________________________________
   
1.4.14. Privoxy runs as a "server". How secure is it? Do I need to take any
special precautions?

   There are no known exploits that might effect Privoxy. On Unix-like
   systems, Privoxy can run as a non-privileged user, which is how we
   recommend it be run. Also, by default Privoxy only listens to requests
   from "localhost". It is not itself directly exposed to the Internet in
   this configuration. If you want to have Privoxy serve as a LAN proxy,
   this will have to be opened up to allow for LAN requests. In this
   case, we'd recommend you specify only the LAN gateway address, e.g.
   192.168.1.1 in the main Privoxy config file. All LAN hosts can then
   use this as their proxy address in the browser proxy configuration. In
   this way, Privoxy will not listen on any external ports. Of course, a
   firewall is always good too. Better safe than sorry.
     _________________________________________________________________
   
1.4.15. How can I temporarily disable Privoxy?

   The easiest way is to access Privoxy with your browser by using the
   special URL: [71]http://p.p/ and select "Toggle Privoxy on or off"
   from that page.
     _________________________________________________________________
   
1.5. Troubleshooting

1.5.1. I just upgraded and am getting "connection refused" with every web
page?

   Either Privoxy is not running, or your browser is configured for a
   different port than what Privoxy is using.
   
   The old Privoxy (and also Junkbuster) used port 8000 by default. This
   has been changed to port 8118 now, due to a conflict with NAS (Network
   Audio Service), which uses port 8000. If you haven't, you need to
   change your browser to the new port number, or alternately change
   Privoxy's "listen-address" setting in the config file used to start
   Privoxy.
     _________________________________________________________________
   
1.5.2. I just added a new rule, but the steenkin ad is still getting
through. How?

   If the ad had been displayed before you added its URL, it will
   probably be held in the browser's cache for some time, so it will be
   displayed without the need for any request to the server, and Privoxy
   will not be in the picture. The best thing to do is try flushing the
   browser's caches. And then try again.
   
   If this doesn't help, you probably have an error in the rule you
   applied. Try pasting the full URL of the offending ad into
   [72]http://www.privoxy.org/config/show-url-info and see if any actions
   match your new rule.
     _________________________________________________________________
   
1.5.3. One of my favorite sites does not work with Privoxy. What can I do?

   First verify that it is indeed a Privoxy problem, by disabling Privoxy
   filtering and blocking. Go to [73]http://p.p/ and click on "Toggle
   Privoxy On or Off", then disable it. Now try that page again.
   
   If still a problem, go to "Show which actions apply to a URL and why"
   from [74]http://p.p/ and paste the full URL of the page in question
   into the prompt. See which actions are being applied to the URL. Now,
   armed with this information, go to "Edit the actions list". Here you
   should see various sections that have various Privoxy features
   disabled for specific sites. Disabled "actions" will have a "-" (minus
   sign) in front of them. Add your problem page URL to one of these
   sections that looks like it is disabling the feature that is causing
   the problem. Re-try the page. There might be some trial and error
   involved. This is discussed in a little more detail in the
   [75]user-manual appendix.
   
   Alternately, if you are comfortable with a text editor, you can
   accomplish the same thing by editing the appropriate "actions" file.
     _________________________________________________________________
   
1.5.4. What time is it?

   Time for you to go!
     _________________________________________________________________
   
2. Copyright and History

   Please see the user manual for information on Copyright and History.
     _________________________________________________________________
   
3. See also

   Please see the user manual for information on references.

References

   1. http://www.privoxy.org/faq/
   2. http://www.privoxy.org/user-manual/contact.html
   3. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#QUESTIONS
   4. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#GENERAL
   5. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#NEWJB
   6. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#AEN37
   7. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#DIFFERS
   8. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#FEATURES
   9. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#PROXYMORON
  10. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#BROWSERS2
  11. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#LICENSE
  12. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#JOINTEAM
  13. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#INSTALLATION
  14. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#WHICHBROWSERS
  15. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#WHICHOS
  16. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#NEWINSTALL
  17. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#AEN151
  18. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#LOCALHOST
  19. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#AEN176
  20. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#CONFIGURATION
  21. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#NEWCONFIG
  22. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#AEN192
  23. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#ACTIONSS
  24. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#AEN210
  25. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#CONFIGFILES
  26. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#BROWSECONFIG
  27. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#AEN327
  28. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#AEN339
  29. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#AEN351
  30. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#AEN362
  31. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#AEN367
  32. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#OTHERPROXY
  33. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#MISC
  34. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#AEN386
  35. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#LOADINGTIMES
  36. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#CONFIGURL
  37. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#BLOCKLIST
  38. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#NEWADS
  39. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#IP
  40. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#AEN427
  41. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#AEN438
  42. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#AEN448
  43. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#AEN456
  44. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#AEN461
  45. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#AEN470
  46. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#AEN474
  47. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#AEN481
  48. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#TURNOFF
  49. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#AEN499
  50. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#AEN501
  51. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#AEN514
  52. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#AEN520
  53. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#AEN538
  54. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#COPYRIGHT
  55. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#SEEALSO
  56. http://www.junkbusters.com/
  57. http://ijbswa.sourceforge.net/
  58. http://junkbusters.com/
  59. http://p.p/
  60. http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html
  61. http://www.privoxy.org/user-manual/
  62. http://p.p/
  63. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/user-manual/configuration.html#ACTIONSFILE
  64. http://p.p/
  65. http://www.privoxy.org/config/edit-actions
  66. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/user-manual/configuration.html#ACTIONSFILE
  67. http://p.p/
  68. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/user-manual/configuration.html#FORWARDING
  69. http://www.multiproxy.org/anon_list.htm
  70. http://www.squid-cache.org/
  71. http://p.p/
  72. http://www.privoxy.org/config/show-url-info
  73. http://p.p/
  74. http://p.p/
  75. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/user-manual/appendix.html#ACTIONSANAT