Quickstart to Using Privoxy

Privoxy 3.0.17 User Manual4. Quickstart to Using Privoxy4. Quickstart to Using Privoxy

If upgrading, please back up any configuration files. See - the Note to Upgraders Section. -
Install Privoxy. See the Installation Section for platform specific +> below for platform specific information.
Advanced users and those who want to offer Privoxy + service to more than just their local machine should check the main config file, especially the security-relevant options. These are + off by default. +
Start Privoxy, if the installation program has - not done this already. See the section Starting - Starting Privoxy
Set your browser to use Set your browser to use Privoxy as HTTP and HTTPS - proxy by setting the proxy configuration for address of - as HTTP and + HTTPS (SSL) proxy + by setting the proxy configuration for address of + localhost127.0.0.1 and port 8118. - (Junkbuster and earlier versions of - DO NOT activate proxying for FTP or + any protocols besides HTTP and HTTPS (SSL) unless you intend to prevent your + browser from using these protocols. +
Flush your browser's disk and memory caches, to remove any cached ad images. + If using Privoxy used port 8000.) See the section Starting to manage + cookies, + you should remove any currently stored cookies too. +
A default installation should provide a reasonable starting point for + most. There will undoubtedly be occasions where you will want to adjust the + configuration, but that can be dealt with as the need arises. Little + to no initial configuration is required in most cases, you may want + to enable the + web-based action editor though. + Be sure to read the warnings first. +
See the Configuration section for more + configuration options, and how to customize your installation. + You might also want to look at the next section for a quick + introduction to how Privoxy blocks ads and + banners.
If you experience ads that slip through, innocent images that are + blocked, or otherwise feel the need to fine-tune + Privoxy's behavior, take a look at the actions files. As a quick start, you might + find the richly commented examples + helpful. You can also view and edit the actions files through the web-based user interface. The + Appendix "Troubleshooting: Anatomy of an + Action" has hints on how to understand and debug actions that + "misbehave".
Flush your browser's caches, to remove any cached ad images. +> Please see the section Contacting the + Developers on how to report bugs, problems with websites or to get + help.
Enjoy surfing with enhanced comfort and privacy. You may want to customize the - Now enjoy surfing with enhanced control, comfort and privacy! +

4.1. Quickstart to Ad Blocking

Ad blocking is but one of Privoxy's + array of features. Many of these features are for the technically minded advanced + user. But, ad and banner blocking is surely common ground for everybody.

+ This section will provide a quick summary of ad blocking so + you can get up to speed quickly without having to read the more extensive + information provided below, though this is highly recommended.

First a bit of a warning ... blocking ads is much like blocking SPAM: the + more aggressive you are about it, the more likely you are to block + things that were not intended. And the more likely that some things + may not work as intended. So there is a trade off here. If you want + extreme ad free browsing, be prepared to deal with more + "problem" sites, and to spend more time adjusting the + configuration to solve these unintended consequences. In short, there is + not an easy way to eliminate all ads. Either take + the easy way and settle for most ads blocked with the + default configuration, or jump in and tweak it for your personal surfing + habits and preferences.

Secondly, a brief explanation of Privoxy's + "actions". "Actions" in this context, are + the directives we use to tell Privoxy to perform + some task relating to HTTP transactions (i.e. web browsing). We tell + Privoxy to take some "action". Each + action has a unique name and function. While there are many potential + actions in Privoxy's + arsenal, only a few are used for ad blocking. Actions, and action + configuration files, are explained in depth below.

Actions are specified in Privoxy's configuration, + followed by one or more URLs to which the action should apply. URLs + can actually be URL type patterns that use + wildcards so they can apply potentially to a range of similar URLs. The + actions, together with the URL patterns are called a section.

When you connect to a website, the full URL will either match one or more + of the sections as defined in Privoxy's configuration, + or not. If so, then Privoxy will perform the + respective actions. If not, then nothing special happens. Furthermore, web + pages may contain embedded, secondary URLs that your web browser will + use to load additional components of the page, as it parses the + original page's HTML content. An ad image for instance, is just an URL + embedded in the page somewhere. The image itself may be on the same server, + or a server somewhere else on the Internet. Complex web pages will have many + such embedded URLs. Privoxy can deal with each URL individually, so, for + instance, the main page text is not touched, but images from such-and-such + server are blocked.

The most important actions for basic ad blocking are: block, handle-as-image, + handle-as-empty-document,and + set-image-blocker:

block - this is perhaps + the single most used action, and is particularly important for ad blocking. + This action stops any contact between your browser and any URL patterns + that match this action's configuration. It can be used for blocking ads, + but also anything that is determined to be unwanted. By itself, it simply + stops any communication with the remote server and sends + Privoxy's own built-in BLOCKED page instead to + let you now what has happened (with some exceptions, see below). +
handle-as-image - + tells Privoxy to treat this URL as an image. + Privoxy's default configuration already does this + for all common image types (e.g. GIF), but there are many situations where this + is not so easy to determine. So we'll force it in these cases. This is particularly + important for ad blocking, since only if we know that it's an image of + some kind, can we replace it with an image of our choosing, instead of the + Privoxy BLOCKED page (which would only result in + a "broken image" icon). There are some limitations to this + though. For instance, you can't just brute-force an image substitution for + an entire HTML page in most situations. +
handle-as-empty-document - + sends an empty document instead of Privoxy's + normal BLOCKED HTML page. This is useful for file types that are neither + HTML nor images, such as blocking JavaScript files. +
set-image-blocker - tells + Privoxy what to display in place of an ad image that + has hit a block rule. For this to come into play, the URL must match a + block action somewhere in the + configuration, and, it must also match an + handle-as-image action. +
The configuration options on what to display instead of the ad are: +

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pattern - a checkerboard pattern, so that an ad + replacement is obvious. This is the default. +

blank - A very small empty GIF image is displayed. + This is the so-called "invisible" configuration option. +

http://<URL> - A redirect to any image anywhere + of the user's choosing (advanced usage). +

Advanced users will eventually want to explore Privoxy + filters as well. Filters + are very different from blocks. + A "block" blocks a site, page, or unwanted contented. Filters + are a way of filtering or modifying what is actually on the page. An example + filter usage: a text replacement of "no-no" for + "nasty-word". That is a very simple example. This process can be + used for ad blocking, but it is more in the realm of advanced usage and has + some pitfalls to be wary off.

The quickest way to adjust any of these settings is with your browser through + the special Privoxy editor at http://config.privoxy.org/show-status + (shortcut: http://p.p/show-status). This + is an internal page, and does not require Internet access.

Note that as of Privoxy 3.0.7 beta the + action editor is disabled by default. Check the + enable-edit-actions + section in the configuration file to learn why and in which + cases it's safe to enable again.

If you decided to enable the action editor, select the appropriate + "actions" file, and click + "Edit". It is best to put personal or + local preferences in user.action since this is not + meant to be overwritten during upgrades, and will over-ride the settings in + other files. Here you can insert new "actions", and URLs for ad + blocking or other purposes, and make other adjustments to the configuration. + Privoxy will detect these changes automatically.

A quick and simple step by step example:

Right click on the ad image to be blocked, then select + "Copy Link Location" from the + pop-up menu. +
Set your browser to + http://config.privoxy.org/show-status +
Find user.action in the top section, and click + on "Edit": +

file to - personalize your new browsing experience. See the Configuration section for more configuration - options, and how to further customize your installation. +>Figure 1. Actions Files in Use
+
You should have a section with only + block listed under + "Actions:". + If not, click a "Insert new section below" + button, and in the new section that just appeared, click the + Edit button right under the word "Actions:". + This will bring up a list of all actions. Find + block near the top, and click + in the "Enabled" column, then "Submit" + just below the list.
If you experience problems with sites that Now, in the block actions section, + click the "misbehave", see - the Anatomy of an Action section in the - Appendix. +>"Add" button, and paste the URL the + browser got from "Copy Link Location". + Remove the http:// at the beginning of the URL. Then, click + "Submit" (or + "OK" if in a pop-up window).
Please see the section Contacting the - Developers on how to report bugs or problems with websites or to get - help. +> Now go back to the original page, and press SHIFT-Reload + (or flush all browser caches). The image should be gone now.

This is a very crude and simple example. There might be good reasons to use a + wildcard pattern match to include potentially similar images from the same + site. For a more extensive explanation of "patterns", and + the entire actions concept, see the Actions + section.

For advanced users who want to hand edit their config files, you might want + to now go to the Actions Files Tutorial. + The ideas explained therein also apply to the web-based editor.

There are also various + filters that can be used for ad blocking + (filters are a special subset of actions). These + fall into the "advanced" usage category, and are explained in + depth in later sections.

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