This FAQ gives users and developers alike answers to frequently asked
- questions about This FAQ gives quick answers to frequently asked questions about
+ Privoxy
- .
+>.
+ It is not a substitute for the
+ Privoxy User Manual.
Privoxy is a web proxy with advanced filtering
- capabilities for protecting privacy, filtering web page content, managing
- cookies, controlling access, and removing ads, banners, pop-ups and other
- obnoxious Internet junk. Privoxy has a very
- flexible configuration and can be customized to suit individual needs and
- tastes. Privoxy has application for both
- stand-alone systems and multi-user networks.
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).
Helping hands and donations are welcome:
+
You can find the latest version of the document at Please note that this document is a work in progress. This copy represents
+ the state at the release of version 3.0.27.
+ You can find the latest version of the document at http://www.privoxy.org/faq/https://www.privoxy.org/faq/.
- Please see the Contact section if you want to contact the developers.
+ Please see the Contact section if you want to
+ contact the developers.
- 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?What is a "proxy"? How does
+Privoxy work?
- 1.4. What are some of the new features?Does Privoxy do anything more than ad blocking?
- 1.5. What is a "proxy"? How does
+HREF="general.html#NEWJB"
+>What is this new version of
Privoxy work?"Junkbuster"?
- 1.6. How does Privoxy know what is
-an ad, and what is not?Why "Privoxy"? Why change the name from
+Junkbuster at all?
- 1.7. Can Privoxy make mistakes?
-This does not sound very scientific.How does Privoxy differ
+from the old Junkbuster?
- 1.8. How does Privoxy know what is an ad, and what is not?
- 1.9. Can Privoxy make mistakes?
+This does not sound very scientific.
- 1.10. Will I have to configure Privoxy
+ before I can use it?
- 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
+>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?
- 1.16. Can I use Privoxy with other ad-blocking software?
- 1.17. I would like to help you, what can I do?
- 1.10.1. Money Money Money1.17.1. Would you like to participate?
- 1.10.2. You want to work with us?1.17.2. Would you like to donate?
- 1.18. How can I become a sponsor and get my logo or link on privoxy.org?
2.1. Which browsers are supported by Privoxy?Which browsers are supported by Privoxy?2.2. 2.3. Can I install
- Privoxy over Junkbuster?Can I use Privoxy with my email client?2.4. I just installed Privoxy. Is there anything
+HREF="installation.html#FIRSTSTEP"
+>I just installed Privoxy. Is there anything
special I have to do now?2.5. What is the proxy address of Privoxy?What is the proxy address of Privoxy?2.6. I just installed Privoxy, and nothing is happening.
+HREF="installation.html#NOTHING"
+>I just installed Privoxy, and nothing is happening.
All the ads are there. What's wrong?2.7. I get a "Privoxy is not being used" dummy page although
+Privoxy is running and being used.- 3.1. Can I use my old config files?
- 3.2. What is an What exactly is an "actions" file?
- 3.3. 3.2. The "actions" concept confuses me. Please list
+> concept confuses me. Please list
some of these "actions".
- 3.4. 3.3. How are actions files configured? What is the easiest
way to do this?
- 3.5. 3.4. There are several different "actions"
- 3.5. Where can I get updated Actions Files?
- 3.6. Why can I change the configuration with a
-browser? Does that not raise security issues?Can I use my old config files?
- 3.7. What is "default.filter"?Why is the configuration so complicated?
- 3.8. How can I set up Privoxy to act as a proxy for my
- LAN?How can I make my Yahoo/Hotmail/Gmail account work?
- 3.9. Instead of ads, now I get a checkerboard pattern. I don't want to see anything.What's the difference between the
+"Cautious", "Medium" and "Advanced" defaults?
- 3.10. Why would anybody want to see a checkerboard pattern?Why can I change the configuration
+with a browser? Does that not raise security issues?
- 3.11. I see large red banners on some pages that say
-What is the default.filter file? What is a "Blocked". Why and how do I get rid of this?"filter"?
- 3.12. I cannot see all of the "Blocked" page banner. Help.How can I set up Privoxy to act as a proxy for my
+ LAN?
- 3.13. Can Privoxy run as a service
-on Win2K/NT?Instead of ads, now I get a checkerboard pattern. I don't want to see anything.
- 3.14. How can I make Privoxy work with other
-proxies like Squid?Why would anybody want to see a checkerboard pattern?
- 3.15. I see some images being replaced with text
+instead of the checkerboard image. Why and how do I get rid of this?
- 3.16. Can Privoxy run as a service
+on Win2K/NT/XP?
- 3.17. How can I make Privoxy work with other proxies?
- 3.18. Can I just set Privoxy to use port 80
+and thus avoid individual browser configuration?
- 3.19. Can Privoxy run as a Can Privoxy run as a "transparent" proxy?
- 3.20. Can Privoxy run as a "intercepting" proxy?
- 3.21. How can I configure Privoxy for use with Outlook?
- 3.22. How can I have separate rules just for HTML mail?
- 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#SLOWSME"
+>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. What is the "http://p.p/"?What are "http://config.privoxy.org/" and
+"http://p.p/"?
- 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. Might some things break because header information is
-being altered?Can Privoxy guarantee I am anonymous?
- 4.9. Can Privoxy act as a "caching" proxy to
-speed up web browsing?A test site says I am not using a Proxy.
- 4.10. What about as a firewall? Can Privoxy protect me?How do I use Privoxy
+ together with Tor?
- 4.11. The Privoxy logo that replaces ads is very blocky
-and ugly looking. Can't a better font be used?Might some things break because header information or
+content is being altered?
- 4.12. I have large empty spaces now where ads used to be.
-Why?Can Privoxy act as a "caching" proxy to
+speed up web browsing?
- 4.13. How can Privoxy filter Secure (HTTPS) URLs?What about as a firewall? Can Privoxy protect me?
- 4.14. Privoxy runs as a I have large empty spaces / a checkerboard pattern now where
+ads used to be. Why?
- 4.15. How can Privoxy filter Secure (HTTPS) URLs?
- 4.16. Does Privoxy support HTTP/2?
- 4.17. Privoxy runs as a "server". How
+>. How
secure is it? Do I need to take any special precautions?
- 4.15. 4.18. How can I temporarily disable PrivoxyCan I temporarily disable Privoxy?
- 4.19. When "disabled" is Privoxy totally
+out of the picture?
- 4.20. How can I tell Privoxy to totally ignore certain sites?
- 4.21. My logs show Privoxy "crunches"
+ads, but also its own internal CGI pages. What is a "crunch"?
- 4.16. 4.22. Can Privoxy affect files that I download
+from a webserver? FTP server?
- 4.23. I just downloaded a Perl script, and Privoxy
+altered it! Yikes, what is wrong!
- 4.24. Should I continue to use a "HOSTS" file for ad-blocking?
- 4.25. Where can I find more information about Privoxy
+>Where can I find more information about Privoxy
and related issues?
- 4.26. I've noticed that Privoxy changes "Microsoft" to
+"MicroSuck"! Why are you manipulating my browsing?
- 4.27. Does Privoxy produce "valid" HTML (or XHTML)?
- 4.28. 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. I just added a new rule, but the steenkin ad is
-still getting through. How?Why am I getting a 503 Error (WSAECONNREFUSED) on every page?
- 5.3. One of my favorite sites does not work with I just added a new rule, but the steenkin ad is
+still getting through. How?
- 5.4. One of my favorite sites does not work with Privoxy.
+What can I do?
- 5.5. After installing Privoxy, I have to log in
+every time I start IE. What gives?
- 5.6. I cannot connect to any FTP sites. Privoxy
+ is blocking me.
- 5.7. In Mac OS X, I can't configure Microsoft Internet Explorer to use
+ Privoxy as the HTTP proxy.
- 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.
- 5.9. In Mac OS X Panther (10.3), images often fail to load and/or I
+ experience random delays in page loading. I'm using
+ localhost as my browser's proxy setting.
- 5.10. I just upgraded to Mac OS X 10.9 (Mavericks) and now Privoxy.
-What can I do? has stopped
+ working.
- 5.11. My logs show many "Unable to get my own hostname" lines.
+Why?
- 5.12. When I try to launch Privoxy, I get an
+error message "port 8118 is already in use" (or similar wording).
+Why?
- 5.13. Pages with UTF-8 fonts are garbled.
- 5.14. Why are binary files (such as images) corrupted when Privoxy
+ is used?
- 5.15. What is the "demoronizer" and why is it there?
- 5.16. Why do I keep seeing "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?
- 5.24. What are tainted sockets and how do I prevent them?
- 5.25. After adding my custom filters, Privoxy crashes when visitting certain websites
- 5.26. What to do if editing the config file of privoxy is access denied?
- 6.1. Get SupportPlease provide sufficient information
- 6.2. Report bugsGet Support
- 6.3. Request new featuresReporting Problems
- 6.4. 6.3.1. Report ads or other filter problemsReporting Ads or Other Configuration Problems
- 6.3.2. Reporting Bugs
- 6.4. Reporting security problems
- 6.5. OtherMailing Lists
- 6.6. SourceForge support trackers
7. Copyright and HistoryPrivoxy Copyright, License and History- 7.1. CopyrightLicense
- 7.2. History