This FAQ gives quick answers to frequently asked questions about
+> This FAQ gives quick answers to frequently asked questions about
Privoxy.
- It can't and doesn't replace the
+ It is not a substitute for the
User ManualPrivoxy User Manual.
Privoxy is a web proxy with advanced filtering
- capabilities for protecting privacy, modifying web page content, managing
- cookies, controlling access, and removing ads, banners, pop-ups and other
- obnoxious Internet junk. Privoxy has a very
- flexible configuration and can be customized to suit individual needs and
- tastes. Privoxy has application for both
- stand-alone systems and multi-user networks.
What is Privoxy?
Privoxy is based on Internet
- Junkbuster (tm).
Privoxy is a non-caching web proxy with advanced filtering capabilities
+ for enhancing privacy, modifying web page data and HTTP headers, controlling
+ access, and removing ads and other obnoxious Internet junk. Privoxy has a
+ flexible configuration and can be customized to suit individual needs and tastes.
+ It has application for both stand-alone systems and multi-user networks.
Privoxy is Free Software and licensed under the GNU GPLv2.
Privoxy is an associated project of Software in the Public Interest (SPI).
Please note that this document is constantly evolving. This copy represents
- the state at the release of version 3.0.3.
+> Helping hands and donations are welcome:
+
Please note that this document is a work in progress. This copy represents
+ the state at the release of version 3.0.17.
You can find the latest version of the document at - 1.1. What is this new version of Who should give Privoxy? a try?
1.2. Why "Privoxy"? Why a name change at all?Is Privoxy the best choice for
+me?1.3. How does Privoxy differ
-from the old Junkbuster?1.4. What is a "proxy"? How does
-Privoxy work?1.4. Does Privoxy do anything more than ad blocking?1.5. What is this new version of
+"Junkbuster"?1.6. Why "Privoxy"? Why change the name from
+Junkbuster at all?1.7. How does Privoxy differ
+from the old Junkbuster?1.8. How does Privoxy know what is
+>How does Privoxy know what is
an ad, and what is not?1.6. Can Privoxy make mistakes?
+>1.9. Can Privoxy make mistakes?
This does not sound very scientific.1.7. Will I have to configure Privoxy
+>1.10. Will I have to configure Privoxy
before I can use it?1.8. 1.11. Can Privoxy run as a server on a network?1.12. My browser does the same things as
-Privoxy. Why should I use
-Privoxy at all?1.9. 1.13. Why should I trust Privoxy?1.14. Is there is a license or fee? What about a
warranty? Registration?1.10. I would like to help you, what do I do?1.15. Can Privoxy remove spyware? Adware? Viruses?- 1.10.1. Money Money Money1.16. Can I use Privoxy with other ad-blocking software?
- 1.10.2. Software1.17. I would like to help you, what can I do?
- 1.17.1. Would you like to participate?
- 1.10.3. You want to work with us?1.17.2. Would you like to donate?
- 2.1. Which browsers are supported by Privoxy?Which browsers are supported by Privoxy?
- 2.2.
- 2.3. Can I use Privoxy with my email client?Can I use Privoxy with my email client?
- 2.4. Can I install
- Privoxy over Junkbuster?
- 2.5. I just installed Privoxy. Is there anything
+HREF="installation.html#FIRSTSTEP"
+>I just installed Privoxy. Is there anything
special I have to do now?
- 2.6. 2.5. What is the proxy address of Privoxy?What is the proxy address of Privoxy?
- 2.7. 2.6. I just installed Privoxy, and nothing is happening.
+>I just installed Privoxy, and nothing is happening.
All the ads are there. What's wrong?
- 2.8. 2.7. I get a "Privoxy is not being used" dummy page although
-Privoxy is running and being used.
- 3.1. Where can I get updated Actions Files?
- 3.2. Can I use my old config files?
- 3.3. What is an What exactly is an "actions" file?
- 3.4. 3.2. The .
- 3.5. 3.3. How are actions files configured? What is the easiest
way to do this?
- 3.6. 3.4. There are several different "actions"
- 3.5. Where can I get updated Actions Files?
- 3.6. Can I use my old config files?
- 3.7. How can I make my Yahoo/Hotmail/GMX account work?Why is the configuration so complicated?
- 3.8. How can I make my Yahoo/Hotmail/Gmail account work?
- 3.9. What's the difference between the
"Medium" and "Adventuresome""Advanced" defaults?
- 3.9. 3.10. Why can I change the configuration
with a browser? Does that not raise security issues?
- 3.10. 3.11. What is the default.filter?
- 3.11. How can I set up Privoxy to act as a proxy for my
+>3.12. How can I set up Privoxy to act as a proxy for my
LAN?
- 3.12. 3.13. Instead of ads, now I get a checkerboard pattern. I don't want to see anything.
- 3.13. 3.14. Why would anybody want to see a checkerboard pattern?
- 3.14. I see some images being replaced by a text
+>3.15. I see some images being replaced with text
instead of the checkerboard image. Why and how do I get rid of this?
- 3.15. 3.16. Can Privoxy run as a service
-on Win2K/NT?Can Privoxy run as a service
+on Win2K/NT/XP?
- 3.16. 3.17. How can I make Privoxy work with other
-proxies like Squid?How can I make Privoxy work with other
+proxies like Squid or Tor?
- 3.17. 3.18. Can I just set Privoxy to use port 80
+>Can I just set Privoxy to use port 80
and thus avoid individual browser configuration?
- 3.18. 3.19. Can Privoxy run as a Can Privoxy run as a "transparent" proxy?
- 3.19. 3.20. Can Privoxy run as a "intercepting" proxy?
- 3.21. How can I configure Privoxy for use with Outlook
- Express?How can I configure Privoxy for use with Outlook?
- 3.20. 3.22. How can I have separate rules just for HTML mail?
- 3.21. 3.23. I sometimes notice cookies sneaking through. How?
- 3.24. Are all cookies bad? Why?
- 3.25. How can I allow permanent cookies for my trusted sites?
- 3.26. Can I have separate configurations for different users?
- 3.27. Can I set-up Privoxy as a whitelist of
+"good" sites?
- 3.28. How can I turn off ad-blocking?
- 3.29. How can I have custom template pages, like the
+BLOCKED page?
- 3.30. How can I remove the "Go There Anyway" link from
+the BLOCKED page?
- 4.1. How much does Privoxy slow my browsing down? This
+HREF="misc.html#AEN728"
+>How much does Privoxy slow my browsing down? This
has to add extra time to browsing.
- 4.2. I noticed considerable
-delays in page requests compared to the old Junkbuster. What's wrong?I notice considerable
+delays in page requests. What's wrong?
- 4.3.
- 4.4. Do you still maintain the blocklists?How can I submit new ads, or report
+problems?
- 4.5. How can I submit new ads?If I do submit missed ads, will
+they be included in future updates?
- 4.6. How can I hide my IP address?Why doesn't anyone answer my support
+request?
- 4.7. Can Privoxy guarantee I am anonymous?How can I hide my IP address?
- 4.8. Can Privoxy guarantee I am anonymous?
- 4.9. A test site says I am not using a Proxy.
- 4.10. How do I use Privoxy
+ together with Tor?
- 4.11. Might some things break because header information or
content is being altered?
- 4.9. Can Privoxy act as a 4.12. Can Privoxy act as a "caching" proxy to
speed up web browsing?
- 4.10. What about as a firewall? Can Privoxy protect me?4.13. What about as a firewall? Can Privoxy protect me?
- 4.11. 4.14. I have large empty spaces / a checkerboard pattern now where
ads used to be. Why?
- 4.12. How can Privoxy filter Secure (HTTPS) URLs?4.15. How can Privoxy filter Secure (HTTPS) URLs?
- 4.13. Privoxy runs as a 4.16. Privoxy runs as a "server". How
secure is it? Do I need to take any special precautions?
- 4.14. 4.17. How can I temporarily disable Privoxy?Can I temporarily disable Privoxy?
- 4.15. 4.18. When "disabled" is Privoxy totally
+> is Privoxy totally
out of the picture?
- 4.16. 4.19. How can I tell Privoxy to totally ignore certain sites?
- 4.20. My logs show Privoxy My logs show Privoxy "crunches"
-ads, but also its own CGI pages. What is a "crunch"?
- 4.17. 4.21. Can Privoxy effect files that I download
+>Can Privoxy effect files that I download
from a webserver? FTP server?
- 4.18. 4.22. I just downloaded a Perl script, and Privoxy
+>I just downloaded a Perl script, and Privoxy
altered it! Yikes, what is wrong!
- 4.19. 4.23. Should I continue to use a "HOSTS" file for ad-blocking?
- 4.24. Where can I find more information about Privoxy
+>Where can I find more information about Privoxy
and related issues?
- 4.20. 4.25. I've noticed that Privoxy changes "MicroSuck"! Why are you manipulating my browsing?
- 4.26. Does Privoxy produce "valid" HTML (or XHTML)?
- 4.27. How did you manage to get Privoxy on my computer without my consent?
- 5.1. I just upgraded and am getting I cannot connect to any websites. Or, I am getting
+"connection refused"
-with every web page? message with every web page. Why?
- 5.2. Why am I getting a 503 Error (WSAECONNREFUSED) on every page?
- 5.3. I just added a new rule, but the steenkin ad is
still getting through. How?
- 5.3. 5.4. One of my favorite sites does not work with Privoxy.
+>One of my favorite sites does not work with Privoxy.
What can I do?
- 5.4. 5.5. After installing Privoxy, I have to log in
+>After installing Privoxy, I have to log in
every time I start IE. What gives?
- 5.5. 5.6. I cannot connect to any FTP sites. Privoxy
- seems to be blocking me.I cannot connect to any FTP sites. Privoxy
+ is blocking me.
- 5.6. In Mac OSX, I can't configure Microsoft Internet Explorer to use
- Privoxy as the HTTP proxy.5.7. In Mac OS X, I can't configure Microsoft Internet Explorer to use
+ Privoxy as the HTTP proxy.
- 5.7. In Mac OSX, 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
+>5.8. 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.
- 5.8. In Mac OSX Panther (10.3), images often fail to load and/or I
+>5.9. In Mac OS X Panther (10.3), images often fail to load and/or I
experience random delays in page loading. I'm using
- localhostlocalhost as my browser's proxy setting.
- 5.9. 5.10. I get a completely blank page at one site. <html><body></body></html>. Without
- Privoxy the page loads fine.
- 5.10. Why am I getting a 503 Error (WSAECONNREFUSED) on every page?
- 5.11.
- 5.12. When I try to launch Privoxy, I get an
+>When I try to launch Privoxy, I get an
error message "port 8118 is already in use"
- 5.14. Why are binary files (such as images) corrupted when Privoxy
+>Why are binary files (such as images) corrupted when Privoxy
is used?
- "PrivoxyWindowOpen()" in raw source code?
- 5.17. I am getting too many DNS errors like "404 No Such Domain". Why
+ can't Privoxy do this better?
- 5.18. At one site Privoxy just hangs, and starts taking
+ all CPU. Why is this?
- 5.19. I just installed Privoxy, and all my
+browsing has slowed to a crawl. What gives?
- 5.20. Why do my filters work on some sites but not on others?
- 5.21. On some HTTPS sites my browser warns me about unauthenticated content,
+ the URL bar doesn't get highlighted and the lock symbol appears to be broken.
+ What's going on?
- 5.22. I get selinux error messages. How can I fix this?
- 5.23. I compiled Privoxy with Gentoo's portage and it appears to be very slow. Why?
6.2. Reporting Problems- 6.2.1. Reporting Ads or Other Configuration Problems
- 6.2.2. Report BugsReporting Bugs
6.3. 6.4. Report Ads or Other Actions-Related Problems6.5. Other- 7.1. License
- 7.2. History