There are several possibilities:
Either Privoxy is not running, or your
- browser is configured for a different port than what
- is not running. Solution: verify
+ that Privoxy is using.
Early Or your browser is configured for a different port than what + Privoxy 2.x versions (and also - is using. Solution: verify that Junkbuster) used port 8000 by - default. This has been changed to port 8118 now, due to a conflict - with NAS (Network Audio Service), which uses port 8000. If you haven't, - you need to change your browser to the new port number, or alternately - change the Privoxy + and your browser are set to the same port (listen-address - option in Privoxy's main configuration file.
).Or if using a forwarding rule, you have a configuration problem or a + problem with a host in the forwarding chain. Solution: temporarily alter your + configuration and take the forwarders out of the equation.
Or you have a firewall that is interfering and blocking you. Solution: + try disabling or removing the firewall as a simple test. +
More than likely this is a problem with your TCP/IP networking. ZoneAlarm has + been reported to cause this symptom -- even if not running! The solution is + to either fight the ZA configuration, or uninstall ZoneAlarm, and then find + something better behaved in its place. Other personal firewall type products + may cause similar type problems if not configured correctly. +
If the ad had been displayed before you added its URL, it will probably be held in the browser's cache for some time, so it will be displayed without @@ -143,8 +174,7 @@ still getting through. How?Privoxy - will not be in the picture. The best thing to do is try flushing the browser's - caches. And then try again.
If this doesn't help, you probably have an error in the rule you applied. Try pasting the full URL of the offending ad into http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info 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.
Privoxy's logs + (you may need to enable logging in the main config file if its disabled).Below is a slightly modified real-life log snippet that originates with one + requested URL: www.example.com (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 "page". There + are eight different domains involved here, with thirty two separate URLs + requested in all, making up all manner of images, Shockwave Flash, + JavaScript, CSS stylesheets, scripts, and other related content. Some of this + content is obviously "good" or "bad", 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. Privoxy has "crunched" (meaning caught + and BLOCKED) quite a few items in this example, but perhaps missed a few as well.
Request: www.example.com/ +Request: www.example.com/favicon.ico +Request: img.example.com/main.css +Request: img.example.com/sr.js +Request: example.betamarker.com/example.html +Request: www.lik-sang.com/Banners/bestsellers/skyscraper.php?likref=BSellers +Request: img.example.com/pb.png +Request: www.google-analytics.com/urchin.js crunch! (Blocked) +Request: www.advertising-department.com/ats/switch.ps.php?26856 crunch! (Blocked) +Request: img.example.com/p.gif +Request: www.popuptraffic.com/assign.php?l=example&mode=behind crunch! (Blocked) +Request: www.popuptraffic.com/scripts/popup.php?hid=5c3cf&tmpl=PBa.tmpl crunch! (Blocked) +Request: www.popuptraffic.com/assign.php?l=example crunch! (Blocked) +Request: www.lik-sang.com/Banners/best_sellers/best_sellers.css +Request: www.adtrak.net/adx.js crunch! (Blocked) +Request: img.example.com/hbg.gif +Request: img.example.com/example.jpg +Request: img.example.com/mt.png +Request: img.example.com/mm.png +Request: img.example.com/mb.png +Request: www.popuptraffic.com/scripts/popup.php?hid=a71b91fa5&tmpl=Ua.tmp crunch! (Blocked) +Request: www.example.com/tracker.js +Request: www.lik-sang.com/Banners/best_sellers/lsi_head.gif +Request: www.adtrak.net/adjs.php?n=020548130&what=zone:61 crunch! (Blocked) +Request: www.adtrak.net/adjs.php?n=463594413&what=zone:58&source=Ua crunch! (Blocked) +Request: www.lik-sang.com/Banners/best_sellers/bottomani.swf +Request: mmm.elitemediagroup.net/install.php?allowpop=no&popupmincook=0&allowsp2=1 crunch! (Blocked) +Request: www.example.com/tracker.js?screen=1400x1050&win=962x693 +Request: www.adtrak.net/adlog.php?bannerid=1309&clientid=439&zoneid=61 crunch! (Blocked) +Request: 66.70.21.80/scripts/click.php?hid=5c3cf599a9efd0320d26&si +Request: 66.70.21.80/img/pixel.gif +Request: www.adtrak.net/adlog.php?bannerid=1309&clientid=439&zoneid=58&source=Ua&block=86400 crunch! (Blocked) +Request: 66.70.21.80/scripts/click.php?hid=a71b9f6504b0c5681fa5&si=Ua |
Despite 12 out of 32 requests being blocked, the page looked, and seemed to + behave perfectly "normal" (minus some ads, of course).
First verify that it is indeed a http://config.privoxy.org/toggle, +> + (the toggle feature may need to be enabled in the main + config), and then shift-reloading the problem page (i.e. holding down the shift key while clicking reload. Alternatively, flush your browser's disk and memory caches).
If still a problem, go to If the problem went away, we know we have a configuration related problem. + Now go to http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info - and paste the full URL of the page in question into the prompt. See which actions - are being applied to the URL, and which matches in which actions files are - responsible for that. Now, armed with this information, go to required. + Now, armed with this information, go to + http://config.privoxy.org/show-status - and select the appropriate actions files for editing.
You can now either look for a section which disables the actions that you suspect to cause the problem and add a pattern for your site there, @@ -232,6 +373,9 @@ TARGET="_top" >actions tutorial with general configuration information and examples.
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.
This is a quirk that effects the installation of
5.5. I cannot connect to any FTP sites. Privoxy
- is blocking me.5.6. I cannot connect to any FTP sites. Privoxy
+ is blocking me. "proxy"
- setting, which will silently enable various protocols, including
+ setting, which will enable various protocols, including
Microsoft Internet Explorer (in versions like 5.1) respects system-wide
network settings. In order to change the HTTP proxy, open System
@@ -389,17 +533,20 @@ CLASS="SECT2"
> Note: This ONLY applies to privoxy 3.0.6 and earlier.
+ Just dragging the Privoxy folder to the trash is
- not enough to delete it. Privoxy supplies an
@@ -407,11 +554,11 @@ CLASS="APPLICATION"
CLASS="APPLICATION"
>uninstall.command We believe this is due to an IPv6-related bug in OSX, but don't fully
+> 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
5.9. I get a completely blank page at one site. 5.10. I get a completely blank page at one site. "View Source"
@@ -460,7 +606,8 @@ CLASS="QUOTE"
CLASS="MARKUP"
><html><body></body></html>. Without
- Privoxy the page loads fine. Chances are that the site suffers from a bug in
More than likely this is a problem with your TCP/IP networking. ZoneAlarm has
- been reported to cause this symptom -- even if not running. The solution is
- to either fight the ZA configuration, or uninstall ZoneAlarm, and then find
- something better behaved in its place. Other personal firewall type products
- may cause similar type problems if not configured correctly.
- 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
- empty the trash.
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
+NAME="MACOSXIMAGES"
+>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.
as my browser's proxy setting.5.10. Why am I getting a 503 Error (WSAECONNREFUSED) on every page?
This can be caused by a problem with the local HOSTShosts
file. If this file has been changed from the original, try reverting it to
- see if that helps. You should also be able to work around the problem with the
+ hostname option.
Port 8118 is Privoxy running, and - you are actually trying to start a second Privoxy - on the same port, which will not work. (You can have multiple instances but - they must be assigned different ports.) How and why this might happen varies - from platform to platform, but you need to check your installation and - start-up procedures.
on the same port, which will not work. + (You can have multiple instances but they must be assigned different ports.) + How and why this might happen varies from platform to platform, but you need + to check your installation and start-up procedures. This is caused by the 5.14. Why are binary files (such as images) corrupted when Privoxy
- is used? This may also be caused by the "demoronizer" filter,
- in conjunction with a web server that is misreporting a file type. Binary
+ in conjunction with a web server that is misreporting the content type. Binary
files are exempted from Privoxy's5.15. What is the "demoronizer" and why is it there? and why is it there? The original demoronizer was a Perl script that cleaned up HTML pages which
were created with certain Microsoft products. MS has used proprietary extensions
@@ -712,7 +851,7 @@ CLASS="EMPHASIS"
>. On the other hand, if you use non-Microsoft products, and you occasionally
- notice wierd characters on pages, you might want to try it.
5.17. I am getting too many DNS errors like "404 No Such Domain". Why
- can't Privoxy do this better? There are potentially several factors here. First of all, the DNS resolution
is done by the underlying operating system -- not
@@ -780,18 +919,19 @@ CLASS="APPLICATION"
>Privoxy
In other cases, if Privoxy is being chained with another proxy, this - could complicate the issue, and cause undue +> is being chained + with another proxy, this could complicate the issue, and cause undue delays and timeouts. In the case of a "socks4a" which is reporting whatever problem occurred downstream, and not the root cause of the error.
In any case, v. 3.0.4 includes various improvements to help +> In any case, versions newer than 3.0.3 include various improvements to help Privoxy5.18. At one site Privoxy just hangs, and starts taking - all CPU. Why is this?
This is probably a manifestation of the Privoxy's page filtering mechanism is trying to match against absurdly long strings and this becomes - very CPU-intensive, taking a long, long time to complete. Until a better - solution comes along, disable filtering on these pages, particularly the -
Until a better solution comes along, disable filtering on these pages, + particularly the js-annoyances and and + unsolicited-popups - filters.
filters. If you run into this problem + with a recent Privoxy version, please send a problem report.This should not happen, and for the overwhelming number of users world-wide, it does not happen. I would suspect some inadvertent interaction of software components such as anti-virus software, spyware protectors, personal firewalls or similar components. Try disabling (or uninstalling) these one - at a time and see if that helps.
Privoxy version, please report the problem.It's probably due to compression. It is a common practice for web servers to + send their content "compressed" in order to speed things up, and + then let the browser "uncompress" them. When compiled with zlib support + Privoxy can decompress content before filtering, otherwise you may want to enable +prevent-compression.
As of Privoxy 3.0.9, zlib support is enabled in the default builds.
Probably the browser is requesting ads through HTTPS and Privoxy + is blocking the requests. Privoxy's error messages are delivered + unencrypted and while it's obvious for the browser that the HTTPS + request is already blocked by the proxy, some warn about unauthenticated + content anyway.
To work around the problem you can redirect those requests to an invalid + local address instead of blocking them. While the redirects aren't + encrypted either, many browsers don't care. They simply follow the + redirect, fail to reach a server and display an error message instead + of the ad.
To do that, enable logging to figure out which requests get blocked by + Privoxy and add the hosts (no path patterns) to a section like this:
{+redirect{http://127.0.0.1:0/} -block -limit-connect}
+.ivwbox.de:443/ |
Additionally you have to configure your browser to contact + "127.0.0.1:0" directly (instead of through Privoxy).
To add a proxy exception in Mozilla Firefox + open the "Preferences", click the "Settings" + button located on the "Network" tab in the "Advanced" + section, and add "127.0.0.1:0" in the "No Proxy for:" + field.
Please report the problem to the creator of your selinux policies.
The problem is that some selinux policy writers aren't familiar + with the application they are trying to "secure" and + thus create policies that make no sense.
In Privoxy's case the problem usually + is that the policy only allows outgoing connections for certain + destination ports (e.g. 80 and 443). While this may cover the + standard ports, websites occasionally use other ports as well. + This isn't a security problem and therefore Privoxy's + default configuration doesn't block these requests.
If you really want to block these ports (and don't be able + to load websites that don't use standard ports), you should + configure Privoxy to block these ports as well, so it doesn't + trigger the selinux warnings.
Probably you unintentionally compiled Privoxy without threading support + in which case requests have to be serialized and only one can be served + at the same time.
Check your "USE" flags and make sure they include + "threads". If they don't, add the flag and rebuild Privoxy.
If you compiled Privoxy with threading support (on POSIX-based systems), + the "Conditional #defines" section on http://config.privoxy.org/show-status + will list "FEATURE_PTHREAD" as "enabled".