<!DOCTYPE article PUBLIC "-//OASIS//DTD DocBook V3.1//EN"[
-<!entity % dummy "IGNORE">
+<!entity % dummy "IGNORE">
<!entity supported SYSTEM "supported.sgml">
<!entity newfeatures SYSTEM "newfeatures.sgml">
<!entity p-intro SYSTEM "privoxy.sgml">
<!entity history SYSTEM "history.sgml">
<!entity copyright SYSTEM "copyright.sgml">
<!entity license SYSTEM "license.sgml">
-<!entity p-version "3.0.16">
+<!entity p-version "3.0.19">
<!entity p-status "stable">
<!entity % p-not-stable "IGNORE">
<!entity % p-stable "INCLUDE">
Purpose : FAQ
This file belongs into
ijbswa.sourceforge.net:/home/groups/i/ij/ijbswa/htdocs/
-
- $Id: faq.sgml,v 2.69 2010/02/13 17:38:27 fabiankeil Exp $
+
+ $Id: faq.sgml,v 2.84 2011/11/13 17:03:54 fabiankeil Exp $
Copyright (C) 2001-2009 Privoxy Developers http://www.privoxy.org/
See LICENSE.
<Qandaset defaultlabel='qanda'>
<QandAEntry>
<question>
- <para>
+ <para>
How are you?
</para>
</question>
<answer>
- <para>
+ <para>
Fine.
</para>
</answer>
</QandASet>
========================================================================
- NOTE: Please read developer-manual/documentation.html before touching
+ NOTE: Please read developer-manual/documentation.html before touching
this file!
- Please we keep the info in this file as version independent as possible
- so we only have to maintain one FAQ. Where significant changes are
- made to Privoxy configuration, please note the change in such a way that
+ Please we keep the info in this file as version independent as possible
+ so we only have to maintain one FAQ. Where significant changes are
+ made to Privoxy configuration, please note the change in such a way that
it makes sense to both users of older and newer versions.
========================================================================
<subscript>
<!-- Completely the wrong markup, but very little is allowed -->
<!-- in this part of an article. FIXME -->
- <link linkend="copyright">Copyright</link> &my-copy; 2001-2010 by
+ <link linkend="copyright">Copyright</link> &my-copy; 2001-2011 by
<ulink url="http://www.privoxy.org/">Privoxy Developers</ulink>
</subscript>
</pubdate>
-<pubdate>$Id: faq.sgml,v 2.69 2010/02/13 17:38:27 fabiankeil Exp $</pubdate>
+<pubdate>$Id: faq.sgml,v 2.84 2011/11/13 17:03:54 fabiankeil Exp $</pubdate>
<!--
-Note: this should generate a separate page, and a live link to it.
+Note: this should generate a separate page, and a live link to it.
But it doesn't for some mysterious reason. Please leave commented
-unless it can be fixed proper. For the time being, the copyright
+unless it can be fixed proper. For the time being, the copyright
statement will be in copyright.smgl.
Hal.
-<legalnotice id="legalnotice">
+<legalnotice id="legalnotice">
<para>
text goes here ........
</para>
<para>
This FAQ gives quick answers to frequently asked questions about
<ulink url="http://www.privoxy.org/">Privoxy</ulink>.
- It is not a substitute for the
+ It is not a substitute for the
<ulink url="../user-manual/index.html"><citetitle>Privoxy User Manual</citetitle></ulink>.
-<!--
+<!--
This works, at least in some situtations:
Test: <ulink url="privoxy-user-manual.pdf"><citetitle>User Manual</citetitle></ulink>.
--->
+-->
</para>
<!-- Include privoxy.sgml boilerplate: -->
You can find the latest version of the document at <ulink
url="http://www.privoxy.org/faq/">http://www.privoxy.org/faq/</ulink>.
Please see the <link linkend="contact">Contact section</link> if you want to
- contact the developers.
+ contact the developers.
</para>
<!-- <para> -->
<sect1 id="general"><title>General Information</title>
<sect2 renderas="sect3" id="who-uses"><title>Who should give &my-app; a try?</title>
<para>
- Anyone who is interested in security, privacy, or in
+ Anyone who is interested in security, privacy, or in
finer-grained control over their web and Internet experience.
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2 renderas="sect3" id="bestchoice"><title>Is Privoxy the best choice for
me?</title>
<para>
- &my-app; is certainly a good choice, especially for those who want more
+ &my-app; is certainly a good choice, especially for those who want more
control and security. Those with the willingness to read the documentation
and the ability to fine-tune their installation will benefit the most.
</para>
completely personalize your installation. Being familiar with, or at least
having an interest in learning about <ulink
url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Http">HTTP</ulink> and other networking
- protocols, <ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Html">HTML</ulink>, and
+ protocols, <ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Html">HTML</ulink>, and
<ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regular_expressions"><quote>Regular
Expressions</quote></ulink>
- will be a big plus and will help you get the most out of &my-app;.
- A new installation just includes a very basic configuration. The user
- should take this as a starting point only, and enhance it as he or she
- sees fit. In fact, the user is encouraged, and expected to, fine-tune the
+ will be a big plus and will help you get the most out of &my-app;.
+ A new installation just includes a very basic configuration. The user
+ should take this as a starting point only, and enhance it as he or she
+ sees fit. In fact, the user is encouraged, and expected to, fine-tune the
configuration.
</para>
<para>
- Much of <application>Privoxy's</application> configuration can be done
+ Much of <application>Privoxy's</application> configuration can be done
with a <ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_browser">Web browser</ulink>.
- But there are areas where configuration is done using a
+ But there are areas where configuration is done using a
<ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Text_editors">text editor</ulink>
to edit configuration files. Also note that the web-based action editor
doesn't use authentication and should only be enabled in environments
<sect2 renderas="sect3" id="otherstuff">
<title>Does Privoxy do anything more than ad blocking?</title>
- <para>
- Yes, ad blocking is but one possible use. There are many, many ways &my-app;
- can be used to sanitize and customize web browsing.
+ <para>
+ Yes, ad blocking is but one possible use. There are many, many ways &my-app;
+ can be used to sanitize and customize web browsing.
</para>
</sect2>
-<sect2 renderas="sect3" id="newjb"><title>What is this new version of
+<sect2 renderas="sect3" id="newjb"><title>What is this new version of
<quote><citetitle>Junkbuster</citetitle></quote>?</title>
<!-- Include history.sgml -->
led to confusion.
</para>
<para>
- There are also potential legal complications from our use of the
- <application>Junkbuster</application> name, which is a registered trademark of
+ There are also potential legal complications from our use of the
+ <application>Junkbuster</application> name, which is a registered trademark of
<ulink url="http://junkbusters.com/">Junkbusters Corporation</ulink>.
- There are, however, no objections from Junkbusters Corporation to the
+ There are, however, no objections from Junkbusters Corporation to the
<application>Privoxy</application> project itself, and they, in fact, still
share our ideals and goals.
</para>
<para>
- The developers also believed that there are so many improvements over the original
- code, that it was time to make a clean break from the past and make
+ The developers also believed that there are so many improvements over the original
+ code, that it was time to make a clean break from the past and make
a name in their own right.
</para>
<para>
- <application>Privoxy</application> is the
+ <application>Privoxy</application> is the
<quote><emphasis>Privacy Enhancing Proxy</emphasis></quote>. Also, its content
modification and junk suppression gives <emphasis>you</emphasis>, the user, more
control, more freedom, and allows you to browse your personal and
</sect2>
<sect2 renderas="sect3" id="differs"><title>How does Privoxy differ
-from the old Junkbuster?</title>
+from the old Junkbuster?</title>
<para>
<application>Privoxy</application> picks up where
<application>Junkbuster</application> left off.
<application>Privoxy</application>'s new features include:
</para>
-<!-- Include newfeatures.sgml: -->
+<!-- Include newfeatures.sgml: -->
&newfeatures;
<!-- end include -->
and the host (blocking the big banner hosting services like doublecklick.net
already helps a lot). <application>Privoxy</application> takes advantage of this
fact by using <ulink url="../user-manual/actions-file.html#AF-PATTERNS">URL
- patterns</ulink> to sort out and block the requests for things that sound
+ patterns</ulink> to sort out and block the requests for things that sound
like they would be ads or banners.
</para>
<para>
</sect2>
<sect2 renderas="sect3">
-<title id="mistakes">Can Privoxy make mistakes?
+<title id="mistakes">Can Privoxy make mistakes?
This does not sound very scientific.</title>
<para>
Actually, it's a black art ;-) And yes, it is always possible to have a broad
The default installation should give you a good starting
point, and block <emphasis>most</emphasis> ads and unwanted content,
but many of the more advanced features are off by default, and require
- you to activate them.
+ you to activate them.
</para>
<para>
You do have to set up your browser to use
<application>Privoxy</application> (see the <link
- linkend="firststep">Installation section below</link>).
+ linkend="firststep">Installation section below</link>).
</para>
<para>
And you will certainly run into situations where there are false positives,
<sect2 renderas="sect3" id="lan">
<title>Can Privoxy run as a server on a network?</title>
- <para>
+ <para>
Yes, &my-app; runs as a server already, and can easily be configured to
<quote>serve</quote> more than one client. See <link linkend="lanconfig">
How can I set up Privoxy to act as a proxy for my LAN</link> below.
your browser just can't.
</para>
<para>
- In addition, a proxy is good choice if you use multiple browsers, or
- have a LAN with multiple computers since &my-app; can run as a server
+ In addition, a proxy is good choice if you use multiple browsers, or
+ have a LAN with multiple computers since &my-app; can run as a server
application. This way all the configuration is in one place, and you don't
have to maintain a similar configuration for possibly many browsers or
users.
The most important reason is because you have access to
<emphasis>everything</emphasis>, and you can control everything. You can
check every line of every configuration file yourself. You can check every
- last bit of source code should you desire. And even if you can't read code,
- there should be some comfort in knowing that <!-- thousands of -->other people can,
+ last bit of source code should you desire. And even if you can't read code,
+ there should be some comfort in knowing that <!-- thousands of -->other people can,
and do read it. You can build the software from scratch, if you want,
so that you know the executable is clean, and that it is
<emphasis>yours</emphasis>. In fact, we encourage this level of scrutiny. It
</para>
</sect2>
-<sect2 renderas="sect3" id="license"><title>Is there is a license or fee? What about a
+<sect2 renderas="sect3" id="license"><title>Is there is a license or fee? What about a
warranty? Registration?</title>
<para>
<application>Privoxy</application> is free software and licensed under the <ulink
url="http://www.gnu.org/licenses/old-licenses/gpl-2.0.html">GNU General Public License (GPL) version 2</ulink>.
It is free to use, copy, modify or distribute as you wish under the terms of this
license. Please see the <link linkend="copyright">Copyright</link> section for more
- information on the license and copyright. Or the <filename>LICENSE</filename> file
+ information on the license and copyright. Or the <filename>LICENSE</filename> file
that should be included.
</para>
<para>
<para>
<application>Privoxy</application> is developed by unpaid volunteers
and thus our current running costs are pretty low. Nevertheless, we
- have plans that will cost money in the future. We would like to get
- this money through donations made by our users.
+ have plans that will cost money in the future. They include,
+ but aren't limited to spending money on:
+
</para>
<para>
- <application>Privoxy</application> has therefore become an associated
- project of <ulink url="http://www.spi-inc.org/about-spi/about-spi">Software
- in the Public Interest (SPI)</ulink>, which allows us to receive tax-deductible
- donations in most western countries.
+<itemizedlist>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Hardware to help make sure <application>Privoxy</application>
+ keeps running on platforms the developers currently can't test
+ on and can be ported to others.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Technical books to educate our developers about said platforms
+ or to improve their knowledge in general.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ More reliable hosting,
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+</itemizedlist>
+</para>
+
+<para>
+ We would like to get this money through donations made by our users.
</para>
<para>
- We intend to use the donations to pay for our domain after transfering
- it to SPI. Our goal is to make sure there's no single point of failure
- and the bill gets paid and the site keeps running even if a some of
- the currently active developers were to suddenly disappear for a while.
+ <application>Privoxy</application> has therefore become an associated
+ project of <ulink url="http://www.spi-inc.org/about-spi/about-spi">Software
+ in the Public Interest (SPI)</ulink>, which allows us to receive donations.
+ In the United States they are tax-deductible, in a few other western countries
+ they might be tax-deductible in the future.
</para>
<para>
- We would also like to spend some money on more reliable hosting,
- on hardware to help make sure <application>Privoxy</application>
- keeps running on platforms the developers currently can't test on,
- and on technical books to educate our developers about said platforms
- or to improve their knowledge in general.
+ If you read this section before you may notice that paying for the
+ project domain privoxy.org is no longer on the list. It has been
+ transferred to SPI is sponsored by Mythic Beasts Ltd.
</para>
<para>
If you enjoy our software and feel like helping out with a donation,
please have a look at
<ulink url="http://www.spi-inc.org/donations">SPI's donation page</ulink>
- to see what the options are.
+ to see what the options are. If you have any questions regarding donations
+ please mail to either the public user mailing list or, if it's a private
+ matter, to <ulink url="mailto:fk@fabiankeil.de">Fabian Keil</ulink>
+ (Privoxy's SPI liason) directly.
</para>
</sect3>
<sect2 renderas="sect3" id="whichbrowsers">
<title>Which browsers are supported by Privoxy?</title>
<para>
- Any browser that can be configured to use a proxy, which
+ Any browser that can be configured to use a proxy, which
should be virtually all browsers, including
<application>Firefox</application>, <application>Internet
- Explorer</application>, <application>Opera</application>, and
+ Explorer</application>, <application>Opera</application>, and
<application>Safari</application> among others.
Direct browser support is not an absolute requirement since
<application>Privoxy</application> runs as a separate application and talks
dealing with some of the common abuses of HTML in email. See <link
linkend="outlook">How can I configure <application>Privoxy</application>
with <application>Outlook</application>?</link> below for more on
- this.
+ this.
</para>
<para>
Be aware that HTML email presents a number of unique security and privacy
</sect2>
<!-- Nobody is going to still be doing this!
-<sect2 renderas="sect3" id="newinstall"><title>Can I install
+<sect2 renderas="sect3" id="newinstall"><title>Can I install
Privoxy over Junkbuster?</title>
<para>
We recommend you un-install <application>Junkbuster</application>
- first to minimize conflicts and confusion. You may want to
+ first to minimize conflicts and confusion. You may want to
save your old configuration files for future reference. The configuration
files and syntax have substantially changed, so you will need to manually
port your old patterns. See the <ulink url="../user-manual/upgradersnote.html">note
-->
<sect2 renderas="sect3" id="firststep">
-<title>I just installed Privoxy. Is there anything
+<title>I just installed Privoxy. Is there anything
special I have to do now?</title>
<para>
- All browsers should be told to use <application>Privoxy</application>
- as a proxy by specifying the correct proxy address and port number
+ All browsers should be told to use <application>Privoxy</application>
+ as a proxy by specifying the correct proxy address and port number
in the appropriate configuration area for the browser. It's possible
to combine &my-app; with a packet filter to intercept HTTP requests
even if the client isn't explicitly configured to use &my-app;,
- but where possible, configuring the client is recommended. See
+ but where possible, configuring the client is recommended. See
<ulink url="../user-manual/startup.html">the User Manual for more
details</ulink>. You should also flush your browser's memory and disk
- cache to get rid of any cached junk items, and remove any stored
+ cache to get rid of any cached junk items, and remove any stored
<ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Browser_cookie">cookies</ulink>.
</para>
<para>
If you set up the <application>Privoxy</application> 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 <literal>127.0.0.1</literal>
+ networked computer on a LAN), the proxy will be on <literal>127.0.0.1</literal>
(sometimes referred to as <quote>localhost</quote>,
which is the special name used by every computer on the Internet to refer
to itself) and the port will be 8118 (unless you used the <ulink
When configuring your browser's proxy settings you typically enter
the word <quote>localhost</quote> or the IP address <quote>127.0.0.1</quote>
in the boxes next to <quote>HTTP</quote> and <quote>Secure</quote> (HTTPS) and
- then the number <quote>8118</quote> for <quote>port</quote>.
+ then the number <quote>8118</quote> for <quote>port</quote>.
This tells your browser to send all web requests to <application>Privoxy</application>
instead of directly to the Internet.
</para>
<para>
- <application>Privoxy</application> 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 <application>Privoxy</application>
+ <application>Privoxy</application> 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 <application>Privoxy</application>
is running, or the equivalent hostname, e.g. <literal>192.168.1.1</literal>.
Port assignment would be same as above. Note that
<application>Privoxy</application> doesn't listen on any LAN interfaces by
All the ads are there. What's wrong?</title>
<para>
- Did you configure your browser to use <application>Privoxy</application>
+ Did you configure your browser to use <application>Privoxy</application>
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 <application>Privoxy</application> is running, and your browser
- is correctly configured by entering the special URL:
- <ulink url="http://p.p/">http://p.p/</ulink>.
+ the browser's caches to force a full re-reading of pages. You can verify
+ that <application>Privoxy</application> is running, and your browser
+ is correctly configured by entering the special URL:
+ <ulink url="http://p.p/">http://p.p/</ulink>.
<!-- Use http://p.p/ instead of http://config.privoxy.org/ here because
of potential redirect caching problem (see next Q). -->
This should take you to a page titled <quote>This is Privoxy..</quote> with
access to <application>Privoxy's</application> internal configuration.
- If you see this, then you are good to go. If you receive a page saying
+ If you see this, then you are good to go. If you receive a page saying
<quote>Privoxy is not running</quote>, then the browser is not set up to use
your <application>Privoxy</application> installation.
If you receive anything else (probably nothing at all), it could either
<para>
The procedure for clearing the cache varies from browser to browser. For
- example, <application>Mozilla/Netscape</application> users would click
+ example, <application>Mozilla/Netscape</application> users would click
<guibutton>Edit</guibutton> --> <guibutton>Preferences</guibutton> -->
<guibutton>Advanced</guibutton> --> <guibutton>Cache</guibutton> and
then click both <quote><guibutton>Clear Memory Cache</guibutton></quote>
<para>
&my-app; utilizes the concept of <quote>
- <ulink url="../user-manual/actions-file.html#ACTIONS">actions</ulink></quote>
+ <ulink url="../user-manual/actions-file.html#ACTIONS">actions</ulink></quote>
that are used to manipulate and control web page data.
<ulink url="../user-manual/actions-file.html">Actions files</ulink>
are where these <ulink url="../user-manual/actions-file.html#ACTIONS">actions</ulink>
There is a wide array of actions available that give the user a high degree
of control and flexibility on how to process each and every web page.
</para>
-
+
<para>
Actions can be defined on a <ulink
url="../user-manual/actions-file.html#AF-PATTERNS">URL pattern</ulink> basis, i.e.
</sect2>
<sect2 renderas="sect3" id="actionss">
-<title>The <quote>actions</quote> concept confuses me. Please list
+<title>The <quote>actions</quote> concept confuses me. Please list
some of these <quote>actions</quote>.</title>
<para>
For a comprehensive discussion of the actions concept, please refer
<sect2 renderas="sect3">
<title id="actconfig">How are actions files configured? What is the easiest
-way to do this?</title>
+way to do this?</title>
<para>
Actions files are just text files in a special syntax and can be edited
at <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/">http://config.privoxy.org/</ulink>
(Shortcut: <ulink url="http://p.p/">http://p.p/</ulink>) and then select
<quote><ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status">View &
- change the current configuration</ulink></quote> from the menu. Note
- that this feature must be explicitly enabled in the main config file
+ change the current configuration</ulink></quote> from the menu. Note
+ that this feature must be explicitly enabled in the main config file
(see <ulink
url="../user-manual/config.html#ENABLE-EDIT-ACTIONS">enable-edit-actions</ulink>).
</para>
<sect2 renderas="sect3" id="getupdates"><title>Where can I get updated Actions Files?</title>
<para>
- Based on your feedback and the continuing development, updates of
+ Based on your feedback and the continuing development, updates of
<filename>default.action</filename> will be
made available from time to time on the <ulink
url="http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=11118">files section</ulink> of
<sect2 renderas="sect3" id="difficult">
<title>Why is the configuration so complicated?</title>
<para>
- <quote>Complicated</quote> is in the eye of the beholder. Those that are
+ <quote>Complicated</quote> is in the eye of the beholder. Those that are
familiar with some of the underlying concepts, such as regular expression
syntax, take to it like a fish takes to water. Also, software that tries
hard to be <quote>user friendly</quote>, often lacks sophistication and
flexibility. There is always that trade-off there between power vs.
easy-of-use. Furthermore, anyone is welcome to contribute ideas and
- implementations to enhance &my-app;.
+ implementations to enhance &my-app;.
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2 renderas="sect3" id="yahoo"><title>How can I make my Yahoo/Hotmail/Gmail account work?</title>
<para>
The default configuration shouldn't impact the usability of any of these services.
- It may, however, make all <ulink
- url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Browser_cookie">cookies</ulink>
+ It may, however, make all <ulink
+ url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Browser_cookie">cookies</ulink>
temporary, so that your browser will forget your
login credentials in between browser sessions. If you would like not to have to log
in manually each time you access those websites, simply turn off all cookie handling
.login.yahoo.com</screen>
</para>
<para>
- These kinds of sites are often quite complex and heavy with
- <ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Javascript">Javascript</ulink> and
- thus <quote>fragile</quote>. So if <emphasis>still</emphasis> a problem,
+ These kinds of sites are often quite complex and heavy with
+ <ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Javascript">Javascript</ulink> and
+ thus <quote>fragile</quote>. So if <emphasis>still</emphasis> a problem,
we have an <ulink
url="../user-manual/actions-file.html#ALIASES">alias</ulink> just for such
sticky situations:
</para>
<para>
Make sure the domain, host and path are appropriate as well. Your browser can
- tell you where you are specifically and you should use that information for
- your configuration settings. Note that above it is not referenced as
+ tell you where you are specifically and you should use that information for
+ your configuration settings. Note that above it is not referenced as
<literal>gmail.com</literal>, which is a valid domain name.
</para>
<quote>profiles</quote> in the web based actions file editor at <ulink
url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status">http://config.privoxy.org/show-status</ulink>.
See the <ulink url="../user-manual/actions-file.html"><citetitle>User
- Manual</citetitle></ulink> for a list of actions, and how the default
+ Manual</citetitle></ulink> for a list of actions, and how the default
profiles are set.
</para>
Where the defaults are likely to break some sites, exceptions for
known popular <quote>problem</quote> sites are included, but in
general, the more aggressive your default settings are, the more exceptions
- you will have to make later. New users are best to start off in
- <quote>Cautious</quote> setting. This is safest and will have the fewest
+ you will have to make later. New users are best to start off in
+ <quote>Cautious</quote> setting. This is safest and will have the fewest
problems. See the <ulink
url="../user-manual/index.html"><citetitle>User Manual</citetitle></ulink>
for a more detailed discussion.
</para>
<para>
- It should be noted that the <quote>Advanced</quote> profile (formerly known
+ It should be noted that the <quote>Advanced</quote> profile (formerly known
as the <quote>Adventuresome</quote> profile) is more
- aggressive, and will make use of some of
+ aggressive, and will make use of some of
<application>Privoxy's</application> advanced features. Use at your own risk!
</para>
</sect2>
-<sect2 renderas="sect3" id="browseconfig"> <title>Why can I change the configuration
+<sect2 renderas="sect3" id="browseconfig"> <title>Why can I change the configuration
with a browser? Does that not raise security issues?</title>
<para>
It may seem strange that regular users can edit the config files with their
<para>
If you run <application>Privoxy</application> for multiple untrusted users (e.g. in
a LAN) or aren't entirely in control of your own browser, you will probably want
- to make sure that the the web-based editor and remote toggle features are
+ to make sure that the web-based editor and remote toggle features are
<quote>off</quote> by setting <quote><literal><ulink
url="../user-manual/config.html#ENABLE-EDIT-ACTIONS">enable-edit-actions</ulink>
0</literal></quote> and <quote><literal><ulink
</para>
<para>
- If you are familiar with regular expressions, and HTML, you can look at
+ If you are familiar with regular expressions, and HTML, you can look at
the provided <filename>default.filter</filename> with a text editor and define
your own filters. This is potentially a very powerful feature, but
- requires some expertise in both regular expressions and HTML/HTTP.
- <![%p-newstuff;[ You should
- place any modifications to the default filters, or any new ones you create
- in a separate file, such as <filename>user.filter</filename>, so they won't
- be overwritten during upgrades.
- The ability to define multiple filter files
+ requires some expertise in both regular expressions and HTML/HTTP.
+ <![%p-newstuff;[ You should
+ place any modifications to the default filters, or any new ones you create
+ in a separate file, such as <filename>user.filter</filename>, so they won't
+ be overwritten during upgrades.
+ The ability to define multiple filter files
in <filename>config</filename> is a new feature as of v. 3.0.5.]]>
</para>
<para>
- There is no GUI editor option for this part of the configuration,
- but you can disable/enable the various pre-defined filters of the included
+ There is no GUI editor option for this part of the configuration,
+ but you can disable/enable the various pre-defined filters of the included
<filename>default.filter</filename> file with the <ulink
url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status">web-based actions file editor</ulink>.
Note that the custom actions editor must be explicitly enabled in
</sect2>
<sect2 renderas="sect3" id="lanconfig">
-<title>How can I set up Privoxy to act as a proxy for my
+<title>How can I set up Privoxy to act as a proxy for my
LAN?</title>
<para>
- By default, <application>Privoxy</application> only responds to requests
+ By default, <application>Privoxy</application> only responds to requests
from <literal>127.0.0.1</literal> (localhost). To have it act as a server for
a network, this needs to be changed in the <ulink
url="../user-manual/config.html">main configuration file</ulink>. Look for
</para>
<para>
- Save the file, and restart <application>Privoxy</application>. Configure
+ Save the file, and restart <application>Privoxy</application>. Configure
all browsers on the network then to use this address and port number.
</para>
<para>
- Alternately, you can have <application>Privoxy</application> listen on
+ Alternately, you can have <application>Privoxy</application> listen on
all available interfaces:
</para>
</para>
<para>
- And then use <application>Privoxy's</application>
+ And then use <application>Privoxy's</application>
<ulink
- url="../user-manual/config.html#PERMIT-ACCESS">permit-access</ulink>
- feature to limit connections. A firewall in this situation is recommended
+ url="../user-manual/config.html#PERMIT-ACCESS">permit-access</ulink>
+ feature to limit connections. A firewall in this situation is recommended
as well.
</para>
<para>
If you want to see nothing, then change the <ulink
url="../user-manual/actions-file.html#SET-IMAGE-BLOCKER"><literal>set-image-blocker</literal>
- action</ulink> to <quote>blank</quote>. This can be done by editing the
+ action</ulink> to <quote>blank</quote>. This can be done by editing the
<filename>user.action</filename> file, or through the <ulink
url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status">web-based actions file editor</ulink>.
</para>
is rather smart, it will make occasional mistakes. The checkerboard image is visually
decent, and it shows you where images have been blocked, which can be very
helpful in case some navigation aid or otherwise innocent image was
- erroneously blocked. It is recommended for new users so they can
+ erroneously blocked. It is recommended for new users so they can
<quote>see</quote> what is happening. Some people might also enjoy seeing how
many banners they <emphasis>don't</emphasis> have to see.
</para>
or (i)layers, and these external HTML documents are blocked. Being non-images
they get replaced by a substitute HTML page rather than a substitute image,
which wouldn't work out technically, since the browser expects and accepts
- only HTML when it has requested an HTML document.
+ only HTML when it has requested an HTML document.
</para>
<para>
The substitute page adapts to the available space and shows itself as a
<sect2 renderas="sect3" id="srvany">
-<title>Can Privoxy run as a service
+<title>Can Privoxy run as a service
on Win2K/NT/XP?</title>
<para>
<![%p-newstuff;[
Yes. Version 3.0.5 introduces full <application>Windows</application> service
functionality. See <ulink url="../user-manual/installation.html#installation-pack-win">
- the <citetitle>User Manual</citetitle></ulink> for details on how to install and configure
+ the <citetitle>User Manual</citetitle></ulink> for details on how to install and configure
<application>Privoxy</application> as a service.
-</para>
+</para>
<para>
Earlier ]]>3.x versions could run as a system service using <command>srvany.exe</command>.
See the discussion at <ulink
<sect2 renderas="sect3" id="otherproxy">
-<title>How can I make Privoxy work with other
-proxies like Squid or Tor?</title>
+<title>How can I make Privoxy work with other proxies?</title>
<para>
This can be done and is often useful to combine the benefits of
- <application>Privoxy</application> with those of a another proxy.
+ <application>Privoxy</application> with those of a another proxy,
+ for example to cache content.
See the <ulink
url="../user-manual/config.html#FORWARDING">forwarding chapter</ulink>
in the <ulink url="../user-manual/index.html">User Manual</ulink> which
- describes how to do this, and the <link linkend="TOR">
- How do I use Privoxy together with
- Tor</link> section below.
+ describes how to do this. If you intend to use Privoxy with Tor,
+ please also have a look at
+ <link linkend="TOR">How do I use Privoxy together with Tor</link>.
</para>
</sect2>
and thus avoid individual browser configuration?</title>
<para>
- No, its more complicated than that. This only works with special kinds
- of proxies known as <quote>intercepting</quote> proxies (see below).
+ No, its more complicated than that. This only works with special kinds
+ of proxies known as <quote>intercepting</quote> proxies
+ (<link linkend="INTERCEPTING">see below</link>).
</para>
</sect2>
<para>
However, some people say <quote>transparent proxy</quote> when they
mean <quote>intercepting proxy</quote>. If you are one of them,
- please read the <ulink url="#intercepting">next entry</ulink>.
+ please read the <link linkend="INTERCEPTING">next entry</link>.
</para>
</sect2>
but it can handle requests that where intercepted and redirected
with a packet filter (like <application>PF</application> or
<application>iptables</application>), as long as the <literal>Host</literal>
- header is present.
+ header is present.
</para>
<para>
As the <literal>Host</literal> header is required by HTTP/1.1 and as most
of knowing which particular application makes a request, so there is no way to
distinguish between web pages and HTML mail.
<application>Privoxy</application> just blindly proxies all requests. In the
- case of <application>Outlook Express</application> (see above), OE uses
- IE anyway, and there is no way for <application>Privoxy</application> to ever
+ case of <application>Outlook Express</application> (see above), OE uses
+ IE anyway, and there is no way for <application>Privoxy</application> to ever
be able to distinguish between them (nor could any other proxy type application for
that matter).
</para>
<para>
- For a good discussion of some of the issues involved (including privacy and
- security issues), see
+ For a good discussion of some of the issues involved (including privacy and
+ security issues), see
<ulink url="http://sourceforge.net/tracker/?func=detail&atid=211118&aid=629518&group_id=11118">http://sourceforge.net/tracker/?func=detail&atid=211118&aid=629518&group_id=11118</ulink>.
</para>
</sect2>
<title>I sometimes notice cookies sneaking through. How?</title>
<para>
<ulink
- url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Browser_cookie">Cookies</ulink> can be
- set in several ways. The classic method is via the
+ url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Browser_cookie">Cookies</ulink> can be
+ set in several ways. The classic method is via the
<literal>Set-Cookie</literal> HTTP header. This is straightforward, and an
- easy one to manipulate, such as the &my-app; concept of
+ easy one to manipulate, such as the &my-app; concept of
<ulink url="../user-manual/actions-file.html#SESSION-COOKIES-ONLY">session-cookies-only</ulink>.
- There is also the possibility of using
+ There is also the possibility of using
<ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Javascript">Javascript</ulink> to
set cookies (&my-app; calls these <literal>content-cookies</literal>). This
is trickier because the syntax can vary widely, and thus requires a certain
<sect2 renderas="sect3" id="evil-cookies">
<title>Are all cookies bad? Why?</title>
<para>
- No, in fact there are many beneficial uses of
+ No, in fact there are many beneficial uses of
<ulink
url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Browser_cookie">cookies</ulink>. Cookies are just a
method that browsers can use to store data between pages, or between browser
sessions. Sometimes there is a good reason for this, and the user's life is a
bit easier as a result. But there is a long history of some websites taking
- advantage of this layer of trust, and using the data they glean from you and
+ advantage of this layer of trust, and using the data they glean from you and
your browsing habits for their own purposes, and maybe to your potential
detriment. Such sites are using you and storing their data on your system.
That is why the privacy conscious watch from whom those cookies come, and why
they really <emphasis>need</emphasis> to be there.
</para>
<para>
- See the
+ See the
<ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Browser_cookie">Wikipedia cookie
definition</ulink> for more.
</para>
<title>How can I allow permanent cookies for my trusted sites?</title>
<para>
- There are several actions that relate to cookies. The default behavior is to
+ There are several actions that relate to cookies. The default behavior is to
allow only <quote>session cookies</quote>, which means the cookies only last
- for the current browser session. This eliminates most kinds of abuse related
+ for the current browser session. This eliminates most kinds of abuse related
to cookies. But there may be cases where you want cookies to last.
</para>
<para>
To disable all cookie actions, so that cookies are allowed unrestricted,
- both in and out, for <literal>example.com</literal>:
+ both in and out, for <literal>example.com</literal>:
</para>
<para>
<screen>
<para>
Each instance of <application>Privoxy</application> has its own
configuration, including such attributes as the TCP port that it listens on.
- What you can do is run multiple instances of <application>Privoxy</application>, each with
- a unique
+ What you can do is run multiple instances of <application>Privoxy</application>, each with
+ a unique
<ulink url="../user-manual/config.html#LISTEN-ADDRESS">listen-address</ulink>
configuration setting, and configuration path, and then
each of these can have their own configurations. Think of it as per-port
configuration.
</para>
-<para>
+<para>
Simple enough for a few users, but for large installations, consider having
groups of users that might share like configurations.
</para>
############################################################
{ <ulink url="../user-manual/actions-file.html#BLOCK">+block</ulink> }
/ # Block *all* URLs
-
+
############################################################
# Whitelist
############################################################
toys.example.com
games.example.com</screen>
<para>
- This allows access to only those three sites by first blocking all URLs, and
+ This allows access to only those three sites by first blocking all URLs, and
then subsequently allowing three specific exceptions.
</para>
<para>
- Another approach is <application>Privoxy's</application>
- <literal>trustfile</literal> concept, which incorporates the notion of
+ Another approach is <application>Privoxy's</application>
+ <literal>trustfile</literal> concept, which incorporates the notion of
<quote>trusted referrers</quote>. See the <ulink
url="../user-manual/config.html#TRUSTFILE">Trust documentation</ulink>
for details.
<sect2 renderas="sect3" id="no-adblock">
<title>How can I turn off ad-blocking?</title>
<para>
- Ad blocking is achieved through a complex application of various &my-app;
- <ulink url="../user-manual/actions-file.html">actions</ulink>. These
- actions are deployed against simple images, banners, flash animations,
+ Ad blocking is achieved through a complex application of various &my-app;
+ <ulink url="../user-manual/actions-file.html">actions</ulink>. These
+ actions are deployed against simple images, banners, flash animations,
text pages, JavaScript, pop-ups and pop-unders, etc., so its not as simple as
just turning one or two actions off. The various actions that make up
&my-app; ad blocking are hard-coded into the default configuration files. It
has been assumed that everyone using &my-app; is interested in this
- particular feature.
+ particular feature.
</para>
<para>
If you want to do without this, there are several approaches you can take:
blocking rules, and corresponding exceptions. Or lastly, if you are not
concerned about the additional blocks that are done for privacy reasons, you
can very easily over-ride <emphasis>all</emphasis> blocking with the
- following very simple rule in your <filename>user.action</filename>:
+ following very simple rule in your <filename>user.action</filename>:
</para>
<para>
<screen>
{ <ulink url="../user-manual/actions-file.html#BLOCK">-block</ulink> }
/ # UN-Block *all* URLs</screen>
</para>
-<para>
+<para>
Or even a more comprehensive reversing of various ad related actions:
</para>
<para>
</sect2>
<sect2 renderas="sect3" id="templates">
-<title>How can I have custom template pages, like the
+<title>How can I have custom template pages, like the
<emphasis>BLOCKED</emphasis> page?</title>
<para>
&my-app; <quote>templates</quote> are specialized text files utilized by
during upgrades. You can, however, create completely new templates,
place them in another directory and specify the alternate path in the main
<filename>config</filename>. For details, have a look at the <ulink
- url="../user-manual/config.html#templdir">templdir</ulink> option.
+ url="../user-manual/config.html#templdir">templdir</ulink> option.
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2 renderas="sect3" id="blockall">
-<title>How can I remove the <quote>Go There Anyway</quote> link from
+<title>How can I remove the <quote>Go There Anyway</quote> link from
the <emphasis>BLOCKED</emphasis> page?</title>
<para>
There is more than one way to do it (although Perl is not involved).
Editing the BLOCKED template page (see above) may dissuade some users, but
this method is easily circumvented. Where you need this level of control, you
might want to build &my-app; from source, and disable various features that are
- available as compile-time options. You should
+ available as compile-time options. You should
<command>configure</command> the sources as follows:
</para>
<para>
<sect1 id="misc"><title>Miscellaneous</title>
<sect2 renderas="sect3">
-<title id="slowsme">How much does Privoxy slow my browsing down? This
+<title id="slowsme">How much does Privoxy slow my browsing down? This
has to add extra time to browsing.</title>
<para>
How much of an impact depends on many things, including the CPU of the host
- system, how aggressive the configuration is, which specific actions are being triggered,
+ system, how aggressive the configuration is, which specific actions are being triggered,
the size of the page, the bandwidth of the connection, etc.
</para>
<para>
- Overall, it should not slow you down any in real terms, and may actually help
+ Overall, 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 typically being
retrieved and displayed. The actual processing time required by
<application>Privoxy</application> itself for each page, is relatively small
url="../user-manual/actions-file.html#FILTER">filter</ulink></literal> action,
such as filtering banners by size, web-bugs etc, or the <literal><ulink
url="../user-manual/actions-file.html#DEANIMATE-GIFS">deanimate-gifs</ulink></literal>
- action, the entire document must be loaded into memory in order for the filtering
+ action, the entire document must be loaded into memory in order for the filtering
mechanism to work, and nothing is sent to the browser during this time.
</para>
<para>
anti-virus software).
</para>
<para>
- Filtering is automatically disabled for inappropriate MIME types. But note
+ Filtering is automatically disabled for inappropriate MIME types. But note
that if the web server mis-reports the MIME type, then content that should
not be filtered, could be. <application>Privoxy</application> only knows how
to differentiate filterable content because of the MIME type as reported by
"http://p.p/"?</title>
<para>
<ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/">http://config.privoxy.org/</ulink> is the
- address of <application>Privoxy</application>'s built-in user interface, and
+ address of <application>Privoxy</application>'s built-in user interface, and
<ulink url="http://p.p/">http://p.p/</ulink> is a shortcut for it.
</para>
<para>
- Since <application>Privoxy</application> sits between your web browser and the Internet,
+ Since <application>Privoxy</application> sits between your web browser and the Internet,
it can simply intercept requests for these addresses and answer them with its built-in
<quote>web server</quote>.
</para>
<sect2 renderas="sect3" id="blocklist"><title>Do you still maintain the blocklists?</title>
<para>
No. The patterns for blocking now reside (among other things) in the <ulink
- url="../user-manual/actions-file.html">actions files</ulink>, which are
+ url="../user-manual/actions-file.html">actions files</ulink>, which are
actively maintained instead. See next question ...
</para>
</sect2>
</sect2>
-<sect2 renderas="sect3" id="newads2"><title>If I do submit missed ads, will
+<sect2 renderas="sect3" id="newads2"><title>If I do submit missed ads, will
they be included in future updates?</title>
<para>
Whether such submissions are eventually included in the
- <filename>default.action</filename> configuration file depends on how
- significant the issue is. We of course want to address any potential
- problem with major, high-profile sites such as <citetitle>Google</citetitle>,
- <citetitle>Yahoo</citetitle>, etc. Any site with global or regional reach,
+ <filename>default.action</filename> configuration file depends on how
+ significant the issue is. We of course want to address any potential
+ problem with major, high-profile sites such as <citetitle>Google</citetitle>,
+ <citetitle>Yahoo</citetitle>, etc. Any site with global or regional reach,
has a good chance of being a candidate. But at the other end of the spectrum
are any number of smaller, low-profile sites such as for local clubs or
schools. Since their reach and impact are much less, they are best handled by
inclusion in the user's <filename>user.action</filename>, and thus would be
- unlikely to be included.
+ unlikely to be included.
</para>
</sect2>
-<sect2 renderas="sect3" id="noonecares"><title>Why doesn't anyone answer my support
+<sect2 renderas="sect3" id="noonecares"><title>Why doesn't anyone answer my support
request?</title>
<para>
Rest assured that it has been read and considered. Why it is not answered,
If you run both the browser and &my-app; locally, you cannot hide your IP
address with <application>Privoxy</application> or ultimately any other
software alone. The server needs to know your IP address so that it knows
- where to send the responses back.
+ where to send the responses back.
</para>
<para>
There are many publicly usable "anonymous" proxies out there, which
</para>
<para>
<application>Privoxy</application> can remove various information about you,
- and allows <emphasis>you</emphasis> more freedom to decide which sites
- you can trust, and what details you want to reveal. But it neither
+ and allows <emphasis>you</emphasis> more freedom to decide which sites
+ you can trust, and what details you want to reveal. But it neither
hides your IP address, nor can it guarantee that the rest of the system
behaves correctly. There are several possibilities how a web sites can find
out who you are, even if you are using a strict <application>Privoxy</application>
<ulink url="../user-manual/startup.html">5. Startup</ulink> to make sure
<application>Privoxy</application> itself is setup correctly.
</para>
-<para>
+<para>
If it is, refer to <ulink url="https://www.torproject.org/documentation.html">Tor's
extensive documentation</ulink> to learn how to install <application>Tor</application>,
and make sure <application>Tor</application>'s logfile says that
If you verified that <application>Privoxy</application> and <application>Tor</application>
are working, it is time to connect them. As far as <application>Privoxy</application>
is concerned, <application>Tor</application> is just another proxy that can be reached
- by socks4 or socks4a. Most likely you are interested in <application>Tor</application>
- to increase your anonymity level, therefore you should use socks4a, to make sure DNS requests are
- done through <application>Tor</application> and thus invisible to your local network.
+ by socks4, socks4a and socks5. Most likely you are interested in <application>Tor</application>
+ to increase your anonymity level, therefore you should use socks5, to make sure DNS
+ requests are done through <application>Tor</application> and thus invisible to your
+ local network. Using socks4a would work too, but with socks5 you get more precise error
+ messages.
</para>
<![%p-newstuff;[
content is being altered?</title>
<para>
- Definitely. It is common for sites to use browser type, browser version,
+ Definitely. It is common for sites to use browser type, browser version,
HTTP header content, and various other techniques in order to dynamically
decide what to display and how to display it. What you see, and what I see,
might be very different. There are many, many ways that this can be handled,
many other ways things can go wrong when trying to fool a web server. The
results of which could inadvertently cause pages to load incorrectly,
partially, or even not at all. And there may be no obvious clues as to just
- what went wrong, or why. Nowhere will there be a message that says
- <quote><emphasis>Turn off <literal>fast-redirects</literal> or else!</emphasis>
+ what went wrong, or why. Nowhere will there be a message that says
+ <quote><emphasis>Turn off <literal>fast-redirects</literal> or else!</emphasis>
</quote>
</para>
</para>
<para>
- If you have problems with a site, you will have to adjust your configuration
- accordingly. Cookies are probably the most likely adjustment that may
+ 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.
</para>
<sect2 renderas="sect3">
-<title id="caching">Can Privoxy act as a <quote>caching</quote> proxy to
+<title id="caching">Can Privoxy act as a <quote>caching</quote> proxy to
speed up web browsing?</title>
<para>
- No, it does not have this ability at all. You want something like
+ No, it does not have this ability at all. You want something like
<ulink url="http://www.squid-cache.org/">Squid</ulink> or
<ulink url="http://www.pps.jussieu.fr/~jch/software/polipo/">Polipo</ulink> for this.
- And, yes, before you ask, <application>Privoxy</application> can co-exist
+ And, yes, before you ask, <application>Privoxy</application> can co-exist
with other kinds of proxies like <application>Squid</application>.
See the <ulink url="../user-manual/config.html#FORWARDING">forwarding
chapter</ulink> in the <ulink url="../user-manual/index.html">user
<sect2 renderas="sect3">
<title id="firewall">What about as a firewall? Can Privoxy protect me?</title>
<para>
- Not in the way you mean, or in the way some firewall vendors claim they can.
+ Not in the way you mean, or in the way some firewall vendors claim they can.
<application>Privoxy</application> can help protect your privacy, but can't
protect your system from intrusion attempts. It is, of course, perfectly possible
to use <emphasis>both</emphasis>.
ads used to be. Why?</title>
<para>
It is technically possible to eliminate banners and ads in a way that frees
- their allocated page space. This could easily be done by blocking with
+ their allocated page space. This could easily be done by blocking with
<application>Privoxy's</application> filters,
and eliminating the <emphasis>entire</emphasis> image references from the
- HTML page source.
+ HTML page source.
</para>
<para>
But, this would consume considerably more CPU resources (IOW, slow things
As far as ad blocking is concerned, this is less of a restriction than it may
seem, since ad sources are often identifiable by the host name, and often
the banners to be placed in an encrypted page come unencrypted nonetheless
- for efficiency reasons, which exposes them to the full power of
+ for efficiency reasons, which exposes them to the full power of
<application>Privoxy</application>'s ad blocking.
</para>
<para>
<quote>Content cookies</quote> (those that are embedded in the actual HTML or
JS page content, see <literal><ulink
- url="../user-manual/actions-file.html#FILTER-CONTENT-COOKIES">filter{content-cookies}</ulink></literal>),
- in an SSL transaction will be impossible to block under these conditions.
- Fortunately, this does not seem to be a very common scenario since most
+ url="../user-manual/actions-file.html#FILTER-CONTENT-COOKIES">filter{content-cookies}</ulink></literal>),
+ in an SSL transaction will be impossible to block under these conditions.
+ Fortunately, this does not seem to be a very common scenario since most
cookies come by traditional means.
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2 renderas="sect3">
-<title id="secure">Privoxy runs as a <quote>server</quote>. How
+<title id="secure">Privoxy runs as a <quote>server</quote>. How
secure is it? Do I need to take any special precautions?</title>
<para>
- On Unix-like systems, <application>Privoxy</application> can run as a non-privileged
+ On Unix-like systems, <application>Privoxy</application> can run as a non-privileged
user, which is how we recommend it be run. Also, by default
<application>Privoxy</application> listens to requests from <quote>localhost</quote>
only.
</para>
<para>
- The server aspect of <application>Privoxy</application> is not itself directly
+ The server aspect of <application>Privoxy</application> is not itself directly
exposed to the Internet in this configuration. If you want to have
<application>Privoxy</application> 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
+ you specify only the LAN gateway address, e.g. 192.168.1.1, in the main
<application>Privoxy</application> configuration file and check all <ulink
url="../user-manual/config.html#ACCESS-CONTROL">access control and security
options</ulink>. All LAN hosts can then use this as their proxy address
url="http://config.privoxy.org/toggle">http://config.privoxy.org/toggle</ulink>.
</para>
<para>
- See the <ulink url="../user-manual/appendix.html#BOOKMARKLETS">Bookmarklets section</ulink>
- of the <citetitle>User Manual</citetitle> for an easy way to access this
- feature. Note that this is a feature that may need to be enabled in the main
+ See the <ulink url="../user-manual/appendix.html#BOOKMARKLETS">Bookmarklets section</ulink>
+ of the <citetitle>User Manual</citetitle> for an easy way to access this
+ feature. Note that this is a feature that may need to be enabled in the main
<filename>config</filename> file.
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2 renderas="sect3" id="reallyoff">
-<title>When <quote>disabled</quote> is Privoxy totally
+<title>When <quote>disabled</quote> is Privoxy totally
out of the picture?</title>
<para>
No, this just means all optional filtering and actions are disabled.
- <application>Privoxy</application> is still acting as a proxy, but just
+ <application>Privoxy</application> is still acting as a proxy, but just
doing less of the things that <application>Privoxy</application> would
- normally be expected to do. It is still a <quote>middle-man</quote> in
- the interaction between your browser and web sites. See below to bypass
+ normally be expected to do. It is still a <quote>middle-man</quote> in
+ the interaction between your browser and web sites. See below to bypass
the proxy.
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2 renderas="sect3" id="crunch">
-<title>My logs show Privoxy <quote>crunches</quote>
+<title>My logs show Privoxy <quote>crunches</quote>
ads, but also its own internal CGI pages. What is a <quote>crunch</quote>?</title>
<para>
- A <quote>crunch</quote> simply means <application>Privoxy</application> intercepted
+ A <quote>crunch</quote> simply means <application>Privoxy</application> intercepted
<emphasis>something</emphasis>, nothing more. Often this is indeed ads or
banners, but <application>Privoxy</application> uses the same mechanism for
trapping requests for its own internal pages. For instance, a request for
viewing a document (i.e. a page), and downloading a file. The same is true of
<application>Privoxy</application>. If there is a match for a <literal><ulink
url="../user-manual/actions-file.html#BLOCK">block</ulink></literal> pattern,
- it will still be blocked, and of course this is obvious.
+ it will still be blocked, and of course this is obvious.
</para>
<para>
Filtering is potentially more of a concern since the results are not always
altered by filtering, will be saved too, for these (probably rare) cases.
</para>
<para>
- Note that versions later than 3.0.2 do NOT filter document types reported as
+ Note that versions later than 3.0.2 do NOT filter document types reported as
<quote>text/plain</quote>. Prior to this, <application>Privoxy</application>
did filter this document type.
</para>
all to the content is to be avoided.
</para>
<para>
- <application>Privoxy</application> does not do FTP at all, only HTTP
+ <application>Privoxy</application> does not do FTP at all, only HTTP
and HTTPS (SSL) protocols.
</para>
</sect2>
<title>Should I continue to use a <quote>HOSTS</quote> file for ad-blocking?</title>
<para>
One time-tested technique to defeat common ads is to trick the local DNS
- system by giving a phony IP address for the ad generator in the local
- <filename>HOSTS</filename> file, typically using <literal>127.0.0.1</literal>, aka
+ system by giving a phony IP address for the ad generator in the local
+ <filename>HOSTS</filename> file, typically using <literal>127.0.0.1</literal>, aka
<literal>localhost</literal>. This effectively blocks the ad.
</para>
<para>
- There is no reason to use this technique in conjunction with
+ There is no reason to use this technique in conjunction with
<application>Privoxy</application>. <application>Privoxy</application>
- does essentially the same thing, much more elegantly and with much more
+ does essentially the same thing, much more elegantly and with much more
flexibility. A large <filename>HOSTS</filename> file, in fact, not only
duplicates effort, but may get in the way and seriously slow down your system.
- It is recommended to remove such entries from your <filename>HOSTS</filename> file. If you think
- your hosts list is neglected by <application>Privoxy's </application>
+ It is recommended to remove such entries from your <filename>HOSTS</filename> file. If you think
+ your hosts list is neglected by <application>Privoxy's </application>
configuration, consider adding your list to your <filename>user.action</filename> file:
</para>
<para>
<!--
<para>
- Please see the
- <ulink url="../user-manual/seealso.html">user-manual</ulink> for
+ Please see the
+ <ulink url="../user-manual/seealso.html">user-manual</ulink> for
others references.
</para>
-->
</sect2>
<sect2 renderas="sect3" id="microsuck">
-<title>I've noticed that Privoxy changes <quote>Microsoft</quote> to
+<title>I've noticed that Privoxy changes <quote>Microsoft</quote> to
<quote>MicroSuck</quote>! Why are you manipulating my browsing?</title>
<para>
Privoxy generates HTML in both its own <quote>templates</quote>, and possibly
whenever there are text substitutions via a &my-app; filter. While this
should always conform to the HTML 4.01 specifications, it has not been
- validated against this or any other standard.
+ validated against this or any other standard.
</para>
</sect2>
<para>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem><para>
-<application>Privoxy</application> is not running. Solution: verify
+<application>Privoxy</application> is not running. Solution: verify
that &my-app; is installed correctly, has not crashed, and is indeed running.
Turn on <application>Privoxy's</application> logging, and look at the logs to see what they say.
</para></listitem>
configuration and take the forwarders out of the equation.
</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>
- Or you have a firewall that is interfering and blocking you. Solution:
+ Or you have a firewall that is interfering and blocking you. Solution:
try disabling or removing the firewall as a simple test.
</para></listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect2>
<sect2 renderas="sect3">
-<title id="flushit">I just added a new rule, but the steenkin ad is
+<title id="flushit">I just added a new rule, but the steenkin ad is
still getting through. How?</title>
<para>
If the ad had been displayed before you added its URL, it will probably be
applied. Try pasting the full URL of the offending ad into <ulink
url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info">http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info</ulink>
and see if it really matches your new rule. Blocking ads is like blocking
- spam: a lot of tinkering is required to stay ahead of the game. And
- remember you need to block the URL of the ad in question, which may be
+ spam: a lot of tinkering is required to stay ahead of the game. And
+ remember you need to block the URL of the ad in question, which may be
entirely different from the site URL itself. Most ads are hosted on different
servers than the main site itself. If you right-click on the ad, you should
- be able to get all the relevant information you need. Alternately, you can
+ be able to get all the relevant information you need. Alternately, you can
find the correct URL by looking at <application>Privoxy's</application> logs
(you may need to enable logging in the main config file if its disabled).
</para>
<para>
- Below is a slightly modified real-life log snippet that originates with one
+ Below is a slightly modified real-life log snippet that originates with one
requested URL: <literal>www.example.com</literal> (name of site was changed
for this example, the number of requests is real). You can see in this the
complexity of what goes into making up this one <quote>page</quote>. There
content is obviously <quote>good</quote> or <quote>bad</quote>, but not all.
Many of the more questionable looking requests, are going to outside domains
that seem to be identifying themselves with suspicious looking names, making
- our job a little easier. &my-app; has <quote>crunched</quote> (meaning caught
- and BLOCKED) quite a few items in this example, but perhaps missed a few as well.
+ our job a little easier. &my-app; has <quote>crunched</quote> (meaning caught
+ and BLOCKED) quite a few items in this example, but perhaps missed a few as well.
</para>
<para>
<screen>
What can I do?</title>
<para>
- First verify that it is indeed a <application>Privoxy</application> problem,
+ First verify that it is indeed a <application>Privoxy</application> problem,
by toggling off <application>Privoxy</application> through <ulink
url="http://config.privoxy.org/toggle">http://config.privoxy.org/toggle</ulink>
(the toggle feature may need to be enabled in the main
on again. Remember to flush your browser's caches in between any such changes!
</para>
<para>
- Alternately, if you are comfortable with a text editor, you can accomplish
- the same thing by editing the appropriate actions file. Probably the easiest
+ Alternately, if you are comfortable with a text editor, you can accomplish
+ the same thing by editing the appropriate actions file. Probably the easiest
way to deal with such problems when editing by hand is to add your
site to a <literal>{ fragile }</literal> section in <filename>user.action</filename>,
which is an alias that turns off most <quote>dangerous</quote>
actions, but is also likely to turn off more actions then needed, and thus lower
- your privacy and protection more than necessary,
+ your privacy and protection more than necessary,
</para>
<para>
Troubleshooting actions is discussed in more detail in the <ulink
with general configuration information and examples.
</para>
<para>
- As a last resort, you can always see if your browser has a setting that will
+ As a last resort, you can always see if your browser has a setting that will
bypass the proxy setting for selective sites. Modern browsers can do this.
</para>
set-up DUN connection and each LAN connection in IE store the settings for
each user individually. As such this enforces individual configurations
rather than common ones. Hence the first time you use a DUN connection after
- re-booting your system it may not perform as you expect, and prompt you for
+ re-booting your system it may not perform as you expect, and prompt you for
the password. Just set and save the password again and all should be OK.
</para>
<title>I cannot connect to any FTP sites. Privoxy
is blocking me.</title>
<para>
- <application>Privoxy</application> cannot act as a proxy for FTP traffic,
+ <application>Privoxy</application> cannot act as a proxy for FTP traffic,
so do not configure your browser to use <application>Privoxy</application>
as an FTP proxy. The same is true for <emphasis>any protocol other than HTTP
- or HTTPS (SSL)</emphasis>.
+ or HTTPS (SSL)</emphasis>.
</para>
<para>
Most browsers understand FTP as well as HTTP. If you connect to a site, with
a URL like <literal>ftp://ftp.example.com</literal>, your browser is making
- an FTP connection, and not a HTTP connection. So while your browser may
- speak FTP, <application>Privoxy</application> does not, and cannot proxy
+ an FTP connection, and not a HTTP connection. So while your browser may
+ speak FTP, <application>Privoxy</application> does not, and cannot proxy
such traffic.
</para>
<para>
accidentally enable FTP proxying in these cases. And of course, if this
happens, <application>Privoxy</application> will indeed cause problems since
it does not know FTP. <![%p-newstuff;[Newer version will give a sane error
- message if a FTP connection is attempted.]]> Just disable the FTP setting
+ message if a FTP connection is attempted.]]> Just disable the FTP setting
and all will be well again.
</para>
<para>
<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
<sect2 id="macosxie" renderas="sect3">
-<title>In Mac OS X, I can't configure Microsoft Internet Explorer to use
+<title>In Mac OS X, I can't configure Microsoft Internet Explorer to use
Privoxy as the HTTP proxy.</title>
<para>
Microsoft Internet Explorer (in versions like 5.1) respects system-wide
network settings. In order to change the HTTP proxy, open System
Preferences, and click on the Network icon. In the settings pane that
- comes up, click on the Proxies tab. Ensure the "Web Proxy (HTTP)" checkbox
- is checked and enter <literal>127.0.0.1</literal> in the entry field.
+ comes up, click on the Proxies tab. Ensure the "Web Proxy (HTTP)" checkbox
+ is checked and enter <literal>127.0.0.1</literal> in the entry field.
Enter <literal>8118</literal> in the Port field. The next time you start
IE, it should reflect these values.
</para>
<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
<sect2 renderas="sect3" id="macosxuninstall">
-<title>In Mac OS X, I dragged the Privoxy folder to the trash in order to
+<title>In Mac OS X, I dragged the Privoxy folder to the trash in order to
uninstall it. Now the finder tells me I don't have sufficient privileges to
empty the trash.</title>
<para>
Note: This ONLY applies to privoxy 3.0.6 and earlier.
- </para>
+ </para>
<para>
Just dragging the <application>Privoxy</application> folder to the trash is
not enough to delete it. <application>Privoxy</application> supplies an
these details. Open the trash, drag the <application>uninstall.command</application>
file out of the trash and double-click on it. You will be prompted for
confirmation and the administration password.
- </para>
+ </para>
<para>
- The trash may still appear full after this command; emptying the trash
+ The trash may still appear full after this command; emptying the trash
from the desktop should make it appear empty again.
</para>
</sect2>
<literal>localhost</literal> as my browser's proxy setting.</title>
<para>
We believe this is due to an IPv6-related bug in Mac OS X, but don't fully
- understand the issue yet. In any case, changing the proxy setting to
+ understand the issue yet. In any case, changing the proxy setting to
<literal>127.0.0.1</literal> instead of <literal>localhost</literal>
works around the problem.
</para>
<filename>user.action</filename>:
</para>
<screen>
- # Make exceptions for ill-behaved sites:
- #
- {-prevent-compression}
+ # Make exceptions for ill-behaved sites:
+ #
+ {-prevent-compression}
.example.com</screen>
<para>
If that works, you may also want to report the problem to the
its running on from the IP address of the system interface it is bound to
(from the <filename>config</filename> file
<emphasis>listen-address</emphasis> setting). If the system cannot supply
- this information, <application>Privoxy</application> logs this condition.
+ this information, <application>Privoxy</application> logs this condition.
</para>
<para>
Typically, this would be considered a minor system configuration error. It is
</sect2>
<sect2 renderas="sect3" id="inuse">
-<title>When I try to launch Privoxy, I get an
+<title>When I try to launch Privoxy, I get an
error message <quote>port 8118 is already in use</quote> (or similar wording).
Why?</title>
<para>
- Port 8118 is <application>Privoxy's</application> default TCP
+ Port 8118 is <application>Privoxy's</application> default TCP
<quote>listening</quote> port. Typically this message would mean that there
is already one instance of <application>Privoxy</application> running, and
your system is actually trying to start a second
is used?
</title>
<para>
- This may also be caused by the <quote>demoronizer</quote> filter,
- in conjunction with a web server that is misreporting the content type. Binary
+ This may also be caused by the <quote>demoronizer</quote> filter,
+ in conjunction with a web server that is misreporting the content type. Binary
files are exempted from <application>Privoxy's</application> filtering
(unless the web server by mistake says the file is something else). Either
upgrade <application>Privoxy</application>, or go to the most recent
What is the <quote>demoronizer</quote> and why is it there?
</title>
<para>
- The original demoronizer was a Perl script that cleaned up HTML pages which
- were created with certain Microsoft products. MS has used proprietary extensions
+ The original demoronizer was a Perl script that cleaned up HTML pages which
+ were created with certain Microsoft products. MS has used proprietary extensions
to standardized font encodings (ISO 8859-1), which has caused problems for pages
that are viewed with non-Microsoft products (and are expecting to see a
standard set of fonts). The demoronizer corrected these errors so the pages
displayed correctly. <application>Privoxy</application> borrowed from this
script, introducing a filter based on the original demoronizer, which in turn could
- correct these errors on the fly.
+ correct these errors on the fly.
</para>
<para>
- But this is only needed in some situations, and will cause serious problems in some
+ But this is only needed in some situations, and will cause serious problems in some
other situations.
</para>
<para>
- If you are using Microsoft products, you do not need it. If you need to view
- pages with UTF-8 characters (such as Cyrillic or Chinese), then it will
+ If you are using Microsoft products, you do not need it. If you need to view
+ pages with UTF-8 characters (such as Cyrillic or Chinese), then it will
cause corruption of the fonts, and thus <emphasis>should not be on</emphasis>.
</para>
<para>
- On the other hand, if you use non-Microsoft products, and you occasionally
+ On the other hand, if you use non-Microsoft products, and you occasionally
notice weird characters on pages, you might want to try it.
</para>
</sect2>
Why do I keep seeing <quote>PrivoxyWindowOpen()</quote> in raw source code?
</title>
<para>
- <application>Privoxy</application> is attempting to disable malicious
- <ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Javascript">Javascript</ulink>
+ <application>Privoxy</application> is attempting to disable malicious
+ <ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Javascript">Javascript</ulink>
in this case, with the <literal>unsolicited-popups</literal>
- filter. <application>Privoxy</application> cannot tell very well
+ filter. <application>Privoxy</application> cannot tell very well
<quote>good</quote> code snippets from <quote>bad</quote> code snippets.
</para>
<para>
- If you see this in HTML source, and the page displays without problems, then
- this is good, and likely some pop-up window was disabled. If you see this
- where it is causing a problem, such as a downloaded program source code file,
+ If you see this in HTML source, and the page displays without problems, then
+ this is good, and likely some pop-up window was disabled. If you see this
+ where it is causing a problem, such as a downloaded program source code file,
then you should set an exception for this site or page such that the
integrity of the page stays in tact by disabling all filtering.
</para>
<sect2 renderas="sect3" id="allcpu">
<title>
- At one site Privoxy just hangs, and starts taking
+ At one site Privoxy just hangs, and starts taking
all CPU. Why is this?
</title>
<para>
This is probably a manifestation of the <quote>100% cpu</quote> problem that
- occurs on pages containing many (thousands upon thousands) of blank lines. The blank lines
- are in the raw HTML source of the page, and the browser just ignores them. But the
+ occurs on pages containing many (thousands upon thousands) of blank lines. The blank lines
+ are in the raw HTML source of the page, and the browser just ignores them. But the
pattern matching in <application>Privoxy's</application> page filtering
mechanism is trying to match against absurdly long strings and this becomes
very CPU-intensive, taking a long, long time to complete.
If you compiled &my-app; with threading support (on POSIX-based systems),
the <quote>Conditional #defines</quote> section on <ulink
url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status">http://config.privoxy.org/show-status</ulink>
- will list <quote>FEATURE_PTHREAD</quote> as <quote>enabled</quote>.
+ will list <quote>FEATURE_PTHREAD</quote> as <quote>enabled</quote>.
</para>
</sect2>
&contacting;
<!-- end contacting -->
</sect1>
-
+
<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
<sect1 id="copyright"><title>Privoxy Copyright, License and History</title>
<!-- Include copyright.sgml -->
©right;
<!-- end -->
-
+
<para>
Portions of this document are <quote>borrowed</quote> from the original
- <application>Junkbuster</application> (tm) FAQ, and modified as
+ <application>Junkbuster</application> (tm) FAQ, and modified as
appropriate for <application>Privoxy</application>.
</para>
</sect1>
<!-- ~ End section ~ -->
-
-
+
+
<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
<!--
<sect1 id="seealso"><title>See also</title>
<!-- hhmts end -->
<!--
Tue 09/11/01 06:38:14 PM EST: Test SGML doc by Hal Burgiss.
-
- This program is free software; you can redistribute it
+
+ This program is free software; you can redistribute it
and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General
Public License as published by the Free Software
Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at
The GNU General Public License should be included with
this file. If not, you can view it at
http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html
- or write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc.,
+ or write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc.,
51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301, USA
$Log: faq.sgml,v $
+Revision 2.84 2011/11/13 17:03:54 fabiankeil
+Bump entities for 3.0.18 stable
+
+Revision 2.83 2011/11/13 16:53:24 fabiankeil
+Rephrase the donations section some more
+
+Mention that the domain is now sponsored by Mythic Beasts Ltd
+and make it clear that asking questions about donations is
+possible, too.
+
+Revision 2.82 2011/11/13 16:50:34 fabiankeil
+Note that donations for Privoxy are currently only tax-deductible in the US
+
+As it turns out tax-deductible donations in a few other western
+countries are theoretically possible through partner organizations
+but aren't available out of the box.
+
+Revision 2.81 2011/09/04 11:10:12 fabiankeil
+Ditch trailing whitespace
+
+Revision 2.80 2011/08/18 11:42:50 fabiankeil
+Bump some more documentation copyright ranges.
+
+Revision 2.79 2011/08/17 10:40:07 fabiankeil
+Update the entities.
+
+This commit is chronological out of order.
+
+Revision 2.78 2011/04/19 13:14:10 fabiankeil
+Fix spelling errors in the documentation. Found with codespell.
+
+Revision 2.77 2011/03/03 14:22:12 fabiankeil
+Remove duplicated 'the'
+
+Revision 2.76 2010/11/22 10:35:02 fabiankeil
+Mention socks5 in another part of the Tor section.
+
+Revision 2.75 2010/11/13 10:08:00 fabiankeil
+Fix a link to the 'intercepting' entry and add another one
+
+Revision 2.74 2010/11/13 10:07:46 fabiankeil
+Remove the product names in the 'otherproxy' entry's title.
+
+I'm tired of getting the 'otherproxy' entry as first hit
+when searching the index for the Tor FAQ.
+
+Revision 2.73 2010/11/06 12:55:48 fabiankeil
+Set p-version to 3.0.17
+
+Revision 2.72 2010/02/27 12:13:17 fabiankeil
+Fix spelling.
+
+Revision 2.71 2010/02/27 12:12:13 fabiankeil
+Consistently recommending socks5 in the Tor entry and mention its advantage compared to socks4a.
+Reported by David in #2960129.
+
+Revision 2.70 2010/02/20 18:08:31 ler762
+fix typo
+
Revision 2.69 2010/02/13 17:38:27 fabiankeil
Update entities for 3.0.16 stable.
projects / privoxy.git / blobdiff