+<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN">
<HTML
><HEAD
><TITLE
>Miscellaneous</TITLE
><META
NAME="GENERATOR"
-CONTENT="Modular DocBook HTML Stylesheet Version 1.76b+
-"><LINK
+CONTENT="Modular DocBook HTML Stylesheet Version 1.7"><LINK
REL="HOME"
TITLE="Privoxy Frequently Asked Questions"
HREF="index.html"><LINK
><H1
CLASS="SECT1"
><A
-NAME="MISC">4. Miscellaneous</H1
+NAME="MISC"
+>4. Miscellaneous</A
+></H1
><DIV
CLASS="SECT2"
><H3
CLASS="SECT2"
><A
-NAME="AEN528">4.1. How much does <SPAN
+NAME="AEN537"
+>4.1. How much does <SPAN
CLASS="APPLICATION"
>Privoxy</SPAN
> slow my browsing down? This
-has to add extra time to browsing.</H3
+has to add extra time to browsing.</A
+></H3
><P
> 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.
> <SPAN
CLASS="QUOTE"
>"Filtering"</SPAN
-> content via the <TT
+> content via the <VAR
CLASS="LITERAL"
><A
HREF="../user-manual/actions-file.html#FILTER"
TARGET="_top"
>filter</A
-></TT
+></VAR
> or
- <TT
+ <VAR
CLASS="LITERAL"
><A
HREF="../user-manual/actions-file.html#DEANIMATE-GIFS"
TARGET="_top"
>deanimate-gifs</A
-></TT
+></VAR
>
actions may cause a perceived slowdown, since the entire document needs to be buffered
before displaying. See below.</P
><H3
CLASS="SECT2"
><A
-NAME="LOADINGTIMES">4.2. I noticed considerable
-delays in page requests compared to the old Junkbuster. What's wrong?</H3
+NAME="LOADINGTIMES"
+>4.2. I noticed considerable
+delays in page requests compared to the old Junkbuster. What's wrong?</A
+></H3
><P
-> If you use any <TT
+> If you use any <VAR
CLASS="LITERAL"
><A
HREF="../user-manual/actions-file.html#FILTER"
TARGET="_top"
>filter</A
-></TT
+></VAR
> action,
- such as filtering banners by size, web-bugs etc, or the <TT
+ such as filtering banners by size, web-bugs etc, or the <VAR
CLASS="LITERAL"
><A
HREF="../user-manual/actions-file.html#DEANIMATE-GIFS"
TARGET="_top"
>deanimate-gifs</A
-></TT
+></VAR
>
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.</P
noticeable on slow dialup connections.
</P
><P
-> Filtering is automatically disabled for inappropriate MIME types. </P
+> 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. <SPAN
+CLASS="APPLICATION"
+>Privoxy</SPAN
+> only knows how
+ to differentiate filterable content because of the MIME type as reported by
+ the server, or because of some configuration setting that enables/disables
+ filtering. </P
></DIV
><DIV
CLASS="SECT2"
><H3
CLASS="SECT2"
><A
-NAME="CONFIGURL">4.3. What are "http://config.privoxy.org/" and
-"http://p.p/"?</H3
+NAME="CONFIGURL"
+>4.3. What are "http://config.privoxy.org/" and
+"http://p.p/"?</A
+></H3
><P
> <A
HREF="http://config.privoxy.org/"
>
takes you to a page saying <SPAN
CLASS="QUOTE"
->"This is Privoxy.."</SPAN
+>"This is Privoxy ..."</SPAN
>, everything is OK.
If you get a page saying <SPAN
CLASS="QUOTE"
>Privoxy</SPAN
>, http://example.com/show-proxy-args and http://i.j.b/,
are no longer supported. If you still use such an old version, you should really consider
- upgrading to 3.1.1.</P
+ upgrading to 3.0.3.</P
></DIV
><DIV
CLASS="SECT2"
><H3
CLASS="SECT2"
><A
-NAME="BLOCKLIST">4.4. Do you still maintain the blocklists?</H3
+NAME="BLOCKLIST"
+>4.4. Do you still maintain the blocklists?</A
+></H3
><P
> No. The patterns for blocking now reside (among other things) in the <A
HREF="../user-manual/actions-file.html"
><H3
CLASS="SECT2"
><A
-NAME="NEWADS">4.5. How can I submit new ads?</H3
+NAME="NEWADS"
+>4.5. How can I submit new ads?</A
+></H3
><P
>Yes, absolutely! Please see the <A
HREF="contact.html"
><H3
CLASS="SECT2"
><A
-NAME="IP">4.6. How can I hide my IP address?</H3
+NAME="IP"
+>4.6. How can I hide my IP address?</A
+></H3
><P
> If you run both the browser and the proxy locally, you cannot hide your IP
address with <SPAN
HREF="http://anon.inf.tu-dresden.de/index_en.html"
TARGET="_top"
>http://anon.inf.tu-dresden.de/index_en.html</A
->.</P
+>).</P
><P
> There is, however, even in the single-machine case the possibility to make the
server believe that your machine is in fact a shared proxy serving a whole big
><H3
CLASS="SECT2"
><A
-NAME="AEN588">4.7. Can <SPAN
+NAME="AEN598"
+>4.7. Can <SPAN
CLASS="APPLICATION"
>Privoxy</SPAN
-> guarantee I am anonymous?</H3
+> guarantee I am anonymous?</A
+></H3
><P
> 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
><H3
CLASS="SECT2"
><A
-NAME="AEN599">4.8. Might some things break because header information or
-content is being altered?</H3
+NAME="AEN609"
+>4.8. Might some things break because header information or
+content is being altered?</A
+></H3
><P
> 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,
><H3
CLASS="SECT2"
><A
-NAME="AEN610">4.9. Can <SPAN
+NAME="AEN620"
+>4.9. Can <SPAN
CLASS="APPLICATION"
>Privoxy</SPAN
> act as a <SPAN
CLASS="QUOTE"
>"caching"</SPAN
> proxy to
-speed up web browsing?</H3
+speed up web browsing?</A
+></H3
><P
> No, it does not have this ability at all. You want something like
<A
><H3
CLASS="SECT2"
><A
-NAME="AEN620">4.10. What about as a firewall? Can <SPAN
+NAME="AEN630"
+>4.10. What about as a firewall? Can <SPAN
CLASS="APPLICATION"
>Privoxy</SPAN
-> protect me?</H3
+> protect me?</A
+></H3
><P
> Not in the way you mean, or in the way a true firewall can.
<SPAN
><H3
CLASS="SECT2"
><A
-NAME="AEN626">4.11. I have large empty spaces / a checkerboard pattern now where
-ads used to be. Why?</H3
+NAME="AEN636"
+>4.11. I have large empty spaces / a checkerboard pattern now where
+ads used to be. Why?</A
+></H3
><P
> It would be technically possible eliminate the banners in a way that frees
their screen estate in many cases, by doing all banner blocking with filters,
><H3
CLASS="SECT2"
><A
-NAME="AEN631">4.12. How can <SPAN
+NAME="AEN641"
+>4.12. How can <SPAN
CLASS="APPLICATION"
>Privoxy</SPAN
-> filter Secure (HTTPS) URLs?</H3
+> filter Secure (HTTPS) URLs?</A
+></H3
><P
> Since secure HTTP connections are encrypted SSL sessions between your browser
and the secure site, and are meant to be reliably <SPAN
CLASS="APPLICATION"
>Privoxy</SPAN
>'s ad blocking.</P
+><P
+> <SPAN
+CLASS="QUOTE"
+>"Content cookies"</SPAN
+> (those that are embedded in the actual HTML or
+ JS page content, see <VAR
+CLASS="LITERAL"
+><A
+HREF="../user-manual/actions-file.html#FILTER-CONTENT-COOKIES"
+TARGET="_top"
+>filter{content-cookies}</A
+></VAR
+>),
+ 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.</P
></DIV
><DIV
CLASS="SECT2"
><H3
CLASS="SECT2"
><A
-NAME="AEN642">4.13. <SPAN
+NAME="AEN656"
+>4.13. <SPAN
CLASS="APPLICATION"
>Privoxy</SPAN
> runs as a <SPAN
CLASS="QUOTE"
>"server"</SPAN
>. How
-secure is it? Do I need to take any special precautions?</H3
+secure is it? Do I need to take any special precautions?</A
+></H3
><P
> There are no known exploits that might affect
<SPAN
><H3
CLASS="SECT2"
><A
-NAME="TURNOFF">4.14. How can I temporarily disable <SPAN
+NAME="TURNOFF"
+>4.14. How can I temporarily disable <SPAN
CLASS="APPLICATION"
>Privoxy</SPAN
->?</H3
+>?</A
+></H3
><P
> The easiest way is to access <SPAN
CLASS="APPLICATION"
><H3
CLASS="SECT2"
><A
-NAME="REALLYOFF">4.15. When <SPAN
+NAME="REALLYOFF"
+>4.15. When <SPAN
CLASS="QUOTE"
>"disabled"</SPAN
> is <SPAN
CLASS="APPLICATION"
>Privoxy</SPAN
> totally
-out of the picture?</H3
+out of the picture?</A
+></H3
><P
> No, this just means all filtering and actions are disabled.
<SPAN
><H3
CLASS="SECT2"
><A
-NAME="CRUNCH">4.16. My logs show <SPAN
+NAME="CRUNCH"
+>4.16. My logs show <SPAN
CLASS="APPLICATION"
>Privoxy</SPAN
> <SPAN
ads, but also its own CGI pages. What is a <SPAN
CLASS="QUOTE"
>"crunch"</SPAN
->?</H3
+>?</A
+></H3
><P
> A <SPAN
CLASS="QUOTE"
><H3
CLASS="SECT2"
><A
-NAME="DOWNLOADS">4.17. Can <SPAN
+NAME="DOWNLOADS"
+>4.17. Can <SPAN
CLASS="APPLICATION"
>Privoxy</SPAN
> effect files that I download
-from a webserver? FTP server?</H3
+from a webserver? FTP server?</A
+></H3
><P
> From the webserver's perspective, there is no difference between
viewing a document (i.e. a page), and downloading a file. The same is true of
<SPAN
CLASS="APPLICATION"
>Privoxy</SPAN
->. If there is a match for a <TT
+>. If there is a match for a <VAR
CLASS="LITERAL"
><A
HREF="../user-manual/actions-file.html#BLOCK"
TARGET="_top"
>block</A
-></TT
+></VAR
> pattern,
- it will still be blocked, and of course this is obvious. Filtering is
- potentially more of a concern since the results are not always so obvious.</P
+ it will still be blocked, and of course this is obvious.
+ </P
+><P
+> Filtering is potentially more of a concern since the results are not always
+ so obvious, and the effects of filtering are there whether the file is simply
+ viewed, or downloaded. And potentially whether the content is some obnoxious
+ advertizement, or Mr. Jimmy's latest/greatest source code jewel. Of course,
+ one of these presumably is <SPAN
+CLASS="QUOTE"
+>"bad"</SPAN
+> content that we don't want, and
+ the other is <SPAN
+CLASS="QUOTE"
+>"good"</SPAN
+> content that we do want.
+ <SPAN
+CLASS="APPLICATION"
+>Privoxy</SPAN
+> is blind to the differences, and can only
+ distinguish <SPAN
+CLASS="QUOTE"
+>"good from bad"</SPAN
+> by the configuration parameters
+ <SPAN
+CLASS="emphasis"
+><I
+CLASS="EMPHASIS"
+>we</I
+></SPAN
+> give it.</P
><P
> <SPAN
CLASS="APPLICATION"
CLASS="APPLICATION"
>Privoxy</SPAN
> knows to ignore these where
- appropriate. It is possible, however, that documents that are of an unknown
- type (generally assumed to be <SPAN
+ appropriate. <SPAN
+CLASS="APPLICATION"
+>Privoxy</SPAN
+> potentially can filter HTML
+ as well as plain text documents, subject to configuration parameters of
+ course. Also, documents that are of an unknown type (generally assumed to be
+ <SPAN
+CLASS="QUOTE"
+>"text/plain"</SPAN
+>) can be filtered, as will those that might be
+ incorrectly reported by the webserver. If such a file is a downloaded file
+ that is intended to be saved to disk, then any content that might have been
+ altered by filtering, will be saved too, for these (probably rare) cases.</P
+><P
+> Note that versions later than 3.0.2 do NOT filter document types of
+ <SPAN
CLASS="QUOTE"
>"text/plain"</SPAN
->) will be filtered, as
- will those that might be incorrectly reported by the webserver. If such a
- file is a downloaded file that is intended to be saved to disk, then any
- content that might have been altered by filtering, will be saved too, for
- these (probably very rare) cases.</P
+>. Prior to this, <SPAN
+CLASS="APPLICATION"
+>Privoxy</SPAN
+>
+ did filter this document type.</P
+><P
+> In short, filtering is <SPAN
+CLASS="QUOTE"
+>"ON"</SPAN
+> if a) the Document Type as reported
+ by the webserver is appropriate <SPAN
+CLASS="emphasis"
+><I
+CLASS="EMPHASIS"
+>and</I
+></SPAN
+> b) the configuration
+ allows it (or at least does not disallow it). That's it. There is no magic
+ cookie anywhere to say this is <SPAN
+CLASS="QUOTE"
+>"good"</SPAN
+> and this is
+ <SPAN
+CLASS="QUOTE"
+>"bad"</SPAN
+>. It's the configuration that let's it all happen or not.</P
+><P
+> If you download text files, you probably do not want these to be filtered,
+ particularly if the content is source code, or other critical content. Source
+ code sometimes might be mistaken for Javascript (i.e. the kind that might
+ open a pop-up window). It is recommended to turn off filtering for download
+ sites (particularly if the content may be plain text files and you are using
+ version 3.0.2 or earlier) in your <TT
+CLASS="FILENAME"
+>user.action</TT
+> file. And
+ also, for any site or page where making <SPAN
+CLASS="emphasis"
+><I
+CLASS="EMPHASIS"
+>any</I
+></SPAN
+> changes at
+ all to the content is to be avoided.</P
><P
> <SPAN
CLASS="APPLICATION"
>Privoxy</SPAN
> does not do FTP at all, only HTTP
- protocols.</P
+ protocols, so please don't even try.</P
+></DIV
+><DIV
+CLASS="SECT2"
+><H3
+CLASS="SECT2"
+><A
+NAME="DOWNLOADS2"
+>4.18. I just downloaded a Perl script, and <SPAN
+CLASS="APPLICATION"
+>Privoxy</SPAN
+>
+altered it! Yikes, what is wrong!</A
+></H3
+><P
+> Please read above.</P
></DIV
><DIV
CLASS="SECT2"
><H3
CLASS="SECT2"
><A
-NAME="SEEALSO">4.18. Where can I find more information about <SPAN
+NAME="SEEALSO"
+>4.19. Where can I find more information about <SPAN
CLASS="APPLICATION"
>Privoxy</SPAN
>
-and related issues?</H3
+and related issues?</A
+></H3
><P
> Other references and sites of interest to <SPAN
CLASS="APPLICATION"
></P
></P
></DIV
+><DIV
+CLASS="SECT2"
+><H3
+CLASS="SECT2"
+><A
+NAME="MICROSUCK"
+>4.20. I've noticed that Privoxy changes <SPAN
+CLASS="QUOTE"
+>"Microsoft"</SPAN
+> to
+<SPAN
+CLASS="QUOTE"
+>"MicroSuck"</SPAN
+>! Why are you manipulating my browsing?</A
+></H3
+><P
+> We're not. The text substitutions that you are seeing are disabled
+ in the default configuration as shipped. You have either manually
+ activated the <SPAN
+CLASS="QUOTE"
+>"<VAR
+CLASS="LITERAL"
+>fun</VAR
+>"</SPAN
+> filter which
+ is clearly labeled <SPAN
+CLASS="QUOTE"
+>"Text replacements for subversive browsing
+ fun!"</SPAN
+> or you have implicitly activated it by choosing the
+ <SPAN
+CLASS="QUOTE"
+>"Adventuresome"</SPAN
+> profile in the web-based editor (formerly known
+ as the <SPAN
+CLASS="APPLICATION"
+>Advanced</SPAN
+> profile).</P
+></DIV
></DIV
><DIV
CLASS="NAVFOOTER"
projects / privoxy.git / blobdiff