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5 <!entity p-intro SYSTEM "privoxy.sgml">
6 <!entity seealso SYSTEM "seealso.sgml">
7 <!entity contacting SYSTEM "contacting.sgml">
8 <!entity history SYSTEM "history.sgml">
9 <!entity copyright SYSTEM "copyright.sgml">
10 <!entity license SYSTEM "license.sgml">
11 <!entity p-version "2.9.15">
12 <!entity p-status "beta">
13 <!entity % p-not-stable "INCLUDE">
14 <!entity % p-stable "IGNORE">
15 <!entity % p-text "IGNORE"> <!-- define we are not a text only doc -->
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18 <!entity my-copy "©"> <!-- kludge for docbook2man -->
21 File : $Source: /cvsroot/ijbswa/current/doc/source/faq.sgml,v $
24 This file belongs into
25 ijbswa.sourceforge.net:/home/groups/i/ij/ijbswa/htdocs/
27 $Id: faq.sgml,v 1.61.2.1 2002/06/05 23:10:43 hal9 Exp $
29 Copyright (C) 2001, 2002 Privoxy Developers <developers@privoxy.org>
32 Based partially on the Internet Junkbuster FAQ originally written by and
33 Copyright (C) 1997 Anonymous Coders and Junkbusters Corporation.
34 http://www.junkbusters.com/
36 <Qandaset defaultlabel='qanda'>
51 ========================================================================
52 NOTE: Please read developer-manual/documentation.html before touching
53 anything in this, or other Privoxy documentation. You have been warned!
54 Failure to abide by this rule will result in the revocation of your license
55 to live a peaceful existence!
56 ========================================================================
62 <article id="index" class="faq">
64 <title>Privoxy Frequently Asked Questions</title>
68 <!-- Completely the wrong markup, but very little is allowed -->
69 <!-- in this part of an article. FIXME -->
70 <link linkend="copyright">Copyright</link> &my-copy; 2001, 2002 by
71 <ulink url="http://www.privoxy.org">Privoxy Developers</ulink>
75 <pubdate>$Id: faq.sgml,v 1.61.2.1 2002/06/05 23:10:43 hal9 Exp $</pubdate>
79 Note: this should generate a separate page, and a live link to it.
80 But it doesn't for some mysterious reason. Please leave commented
81 unless it can be fixed proper. For the time being, the copyright
82 statement will be in copyright.smgl.
86 <legalnotice id="legalnotice">
88 text goes here ........
98 <orgname>By: Privoxy Developers</orgname>
107 This is here to keep vim syntax file from breaking :/
108 If I knew enough to fix it, I would.
109 PLEASE DO NOT REMOVE! HB: hal@foobox.net
114 This FAQ gives quick answers to frequently asked questions about
115 <ulink url="http://www.privoxy.org/">Privoxy</ulink>
116 <![%p-stable;[ v.&p-version]]>. It can't and doesn't replace the
117 <ulink url="../user-manual/index.html"><citetitle>User Manual</citetitle></ulink>.
120 <!-- Include privoxy.sgml boilerplate: -->
122 <!-- end boilerplate -->
125 You can find the latest version of the document at <ulink
126 url="http://www.privoxy.org/faq/">http://www.privoxy.org/faq/</ulink>.
127 Please see the <link linkend="contact">Contact section</link> if you want to
128 contact the developers.
132 <!-- Feel free to send a note to the developers at <email>ijbswa-developers@lists.sourceforge.net</email>. -->
138 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
140 <sect1 id="general"><title>General Information</title>
142 <sect2 renderas="sect3" id="newjb"><title>What is this new version of <application>Privoxy</application>?</title>
144 <!-- Include history.sgml -->
151 <sect2 renderas="sect3">
152 <title id="whyprivoxy">Why <quote>Privoxy</quote>? Why a name change at all?</title>
154 <application>Privoxy</application> is the
155 <quote><emphasis>Privacy Enhancing Proxy</emphasis></quote>. Also, its content
156 modification and junk suppression allow you to browse your
157 <quote><emphasis>private</emphasis> edition</quote> of the web.
160 <ulink url="http://junkbusters.com/">Junkbusters Corporation</ulink>
161 continues to offer their original version of the <application>Internet
162 Junkbuster</application>, so publishing our
163 <application> Junkbuster</application>-derived software under the same name
167 There are also potential legal complications from the continued use of the
168 <application>Junkbuster</application> name, which is a registered trademark of
169 <ulink url="http://junkbusters.com/">Junkbusters Corporation</ulink>.
170 There are, however, no objections from Junkbusters Corporation to the
171 <application>Privoxy</application> project itself, and they, in fact, still
172 share our ideals and goals.
175 The developers also believed that there are so many changes from the original
176 code, that it was time to make a clean break from the past and make
177 a name in their own right<![%p-not-stable;[, especially now with the pending
178 release of version 3.0]]>.
183 <sect2 renderas="sect3" id="differs"><title>How does <application>Privoxy</application> differ
184 from the old <application>Junkbuster?</application></title>
186 <application>Privoxy</application> picks up where
187 <application>Junkbuster</application> left off. All the old features remain.
188 The new <application>Privoxy</application> still blocks ads and banners,
189 still manages cookies, and still helps protect your privacy. But, these are
190 all enhanced, and many new features have been added, all in the same vein.
193 The configuration has changed significantly as well. This is something that
194 users will notice right off the bat if upgrading from
195 <application>Junkbuster</application> 2.0.x. The <quote>blocklist</quote>
196 <quote>cookielist</quote>, <quote>imagelist</quote> and much more has been
197 combined into the <quote>actions</quote> files, with a completely different
198 syntax. See the <ulink url="../user-manual/upgradersnote.html">note to
199 upgraders</ulink> for details.
202 <application>Privoxy</application>'s new features include:
205 <!-- Include newfeatures.sgml: -->
211 <sect2 renderas="sect3" id="proxymoron"><title>What is a <quote>proxy</quote>? How does
212 <application>Privoxy</application> work? </title>
214 A web proxy is a service, based on a software such as <application>Privoxy</application>,
215 that clients (i.e. browsers) can use instead of connecting directly to the web
216 servers on the Internet. The clients then ask the proxy to fetch the objects
217 they need (web pages, images, movies etc) on their behalf, and when the proxy
218 has done so, it hands the results back to the client.
221 There are many reasons to use web proxies, such as security (firewalling),
222 efficiency (caching) and others, and there are just as many different proxies
223 to accommodate those needs.
226 <application>Privoxy</application> is a proxy that is solely focused on privacy
227 protection and junk elimination. Sitting between your browser(s) and the Internet,
228 it is in a perfect position to filter outbound personal information that your
229 browser is leaking, as well as inbound junk. It uses a variety of techniques to do
230 this, all of which are under your control via the various configuration
236 <sect2 renderas="sect3" id="whatsanad">
237 <title id="knows">How does <application>Privoxy</application> know what is
238 an ad, and what is not?</title>
240 <application>Privoxy</application>'s approach to blocking ads is twofold:
243 First, there are certain patterns in the <emphasis>locations</emphasis> (URLs)
244 of banner images. This applies to both the path (you wouldn't guess how many
245 web sites serve their banners from a directory called <quote>banners</quote>!)
246 and the host (blocking the big banner hosting services like doublecklick.net
247 already helps a lot). <application>Privoxy</application> takes advantage of this
248 fact by using <ulink url="../user-manual/actions-file.html#AF-PATTERNS">URL
249 patterns</ulink> to sort out and block the requests for banners.
252 Second, banners tend to come in certain <emphasis>sizes</emphasis>. But you
253 can't tell the size of an image by its URL without downloading it, and if you
254 do, it's too late to save bandwidth. Therefore, <application>Privoxy</application>
255 also inspects the HTML sources of web pages while they are loaded, and replaces
256 references to images with standard banner sizes by dummy references, so that
257 your browser doesn't request them anymore in the first place.
260 Both of this involves a certain amount of guesswork and is, of course, freely
265 <sect2 renderas="sect3">
266 <title id="mistakes">Can <application>Privoxy</application> make mistakes?
267 This does not sound very scientific.</title>
269 Actually, it's a black art ;-) And yes, it is always possible to have a broad
270 rule accidentally block or change something by mistake. There is a good chance
271 you may run into such a situation at some point. It is tricky writing rules to
272 cover every conceivable possibility, and not occasionally get false positives.
276 But this should not be a big concern since the
277 <application>Privoxy</application> configuration is very flexible, and
278 includes tools to help identify these types of situations so they can be
279 addressed as needed, allowing you to customize your installation.
280 (<link linkend="badsite">See the Troubleshooting section below</link>.)
286 <sect2 renderas="sect3" id="browsers2"><title>My browser does the same things as
287 <application>Privoxy</application>. Why should I use
288 <application>Privoxy</application> at all?</title>
290 Modern browsers do indeed have <emphasis>some</emphasis> of the same
291 functionality as <application>Privoxy</application>. Maybe this is
292 adequate for you. But <application>Privoxy</application> is much more
293 versatile and powerful, and can do a number of things that browsers just can't.
296 In addition, a proxy is good choice if you use multiple browsers, or
297 have a LAN with multiple computers. This way all the configuration
298 is in one place, and you don't have to maintain a similar configuration
299 for possibly many browsers.
305 <sect2 renderas="sect3" id="license"><title>Is there is a license or fee? What about a
306 warranty? Registration?</title>
308 <application>Privoxy</application> is licensed under the <ulink
309 url="http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html">GNU General Public License (GPL)</ulink>.
310 It is free to use, copy, modify or distribute as you wish under the terms of this
311 license. Please see the <link linkend="copyright">Copyright</link> section for more
312 information on the license and copyright. Or the <filename>LICENSE</filename> file
313 that should be included.
316 There is <emphasis>no warranty</emphasis> of any kind, expressed, implied or otherwise.
317 That is something that would cost real money ;-) There is no registration either.
318 <application>Privoxy</application> really is <emphasis>free</emphasis>
324 <sect2 renderas="sect3" id="jointeam"><title>I would like to help you, what do I do?</title>
326 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="jointeam-money"><title>Money Money Money</title>
328 We, of course, welcome donations and could use money for domain registering,
329 buying software to test <application>Privoxy</application> with, and, of course,
330 for regular world-wide get-togethers (hahaha). If you enjoy the software and feel
331 like helping us with a donation, just <ulink
332 url="mailto:developers@privoxy.org">drop us a note</ulink>.
336 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="jointeam-software"><title>Software</title>
338 If you are a vendor of a web-related software like a browser, web server
339 or proxy, and would like us to ensure that <application>Privoxy</application>
340 runs smoothly with your product, you might consider supplying us with a
341 copy or license. We can't, however, guarantee that we will fix all potential
342 compatibility issues as a result.
346 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="jointeam-work"><title>You want to work with us?</title>
348 Well, helping the team is always a good idea. We welcome new developers,
349 packaging gurus or documentation writers. Simply <ulink
350 url="https://sourceforge.net/account/register.php">get an account on SourceForge.net</ulink>
351 and mail your id to the <ulink url="mailto:developers@privoxy.org">developers
352 mailing list</ulink>. Then read the <ulink
353 url="../developer-manual/index.html">Developer's Manual</ulink>.
356 Once we have added you to the team, you'll have write access to the <ulink
357 url="http://sourceforge.net/cvs/?group_id=11118">CVS repository</ulink>, and
358 together we'll find a suitable task for you.
367 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
369 <sect1 id="installation"><title>Installation</title>
371 <sect2 renderas="sect3" id="whichbrowsers">
372 <title>Which browsers are supported by <application>Privoxy</application>?</title>
374 Any browser that can be configured to use a proxy, which
375 should be virtually all browsers. Direct browser support is not necessary
376 since <application>Privoxy</application> runs as a separate application and
377 talks to the browser in the standardized HTTP protocol, just like a web server
382 <sect2 renderas="sect3" id="whichos">
383 <title>Which operating systems are supported?</title>
385 Include supported.sgml here:
390 <sect2 renderas="sect3" id="newinstall"><title>Can I install
391 <application>Privoxy</application> over <application>Junkbuster</application>?</title>
393 We recommend you un-install <application>Junkbuster</application>
394 first to minimize conflicts and confusion. You may want to
395 save your old configuration files for future reference. The configuration
396 files and syntax have substantially changed, so you will need to manually
397 port your old patterns. See the <ulink url="../user-manual/upgradersnote.html">note
398 to upgraders</ulink> and <ulink url="../user-manual/installation.html">installation
399 chapter</ulink> in the <ulink url="../user-manual/index.html">user manual</ulink>
403 Note: Some installers may automatically un-install
404 <application>Junkbuster</application>, if present!
409 <sect2 renderas="sect3">
410 <title id="firststep">I just installed <application>Privoxy</application>. Is there anything
411 special I have to do now?</title>
414 All browsers must be told to use <application>Privoxy</application>
415 as a proxy by specifying the correct proxy address and port number
416 in the appropriate configuration area for the browser. See below.
417 You should also flush your browser's memory and disk cache to get rid of any
425 <sect2 renderas="sect3" id="localhost"><title>What is the proxy address of <application>Privoxy</application>?</title>
427 If you set up the <application>Privoxy</application> to run on
428 the computer you browse from (rather than your ISP's server or some
429 networked computer on a LAN), the proxy will be on <literal>127.0.0.1</literal>
430 (sometimes referred to as <quote>localhost</quote>,
431 which is the special name used by every computer on the Internet to refer
432 to itself) and the port will be 8118 (unless you have <application>Privoxy</application>
433 to run on a different port with the <ulink
434 url="../user-manual/config.html#LISTEN-ADDRESS">listen-address</ulink> config option).
437 When configuring your browser's proxy settings you typically enter
438 the word <quote>localhost</quote> or the IP address <quote>127.0.0.1</quote>
439 in the boxes next to <quote>HTTP</quote> and <quote>Secure</quote> (HTTPS) and
440 then the number <quote>8118</quote> for <quote>port</quote>.
441 This tells your browser to send all web requests to <application>Privoxy</application>
442 instead of directly to the Internet.
445 <application>Privoxy</application> can also be used to proxy for
446 a Local Area Network. In this case, your would enter either the IP
447 address of the LAN host where <application>Privoxy</application>
448 is running, or the equivalent hostname. Port assignment would be
449 same as above. Note that <application>Privoxy</application> doesn't
450 listen on any LAN interfaces by default.
453 <application>Privoxy</application> does not currently handle
454 protocols such as FTP, SMTP, IM, IRC, ICQ, or other Internet
459 <sect2 renderas="sect3">
460 <title id="nothing">I just installed <application>Privoxy</application>, and nothing is happening.
461 All the ads are there. What's wrong?</title>
464 Did you configure your browser to use <application>Privoxy</application>
465 as a proxy? It does not sound like it. See above. You might also try flushing
466 the browser's caches to force a full re-reading of pages. You can verify
467 that <application>Privoxy</application> is running, and your browser
468 is correctly configured by entering the special URL:
469 <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/">http://config.privoxy.org/</ulink>.
470 This should take you to a page titled <quote>This is Privoxy..</quote> with
471 access to <application>Privoxy's</application> internal configuration.
472 If you see this, then you are good to go. If you receive a page saying
473 <quote>Privoxy is not running</quote>, then the browser is not set up to use
474 your <application>Privoxy</application> installation.
475 If you receive anything else (probably nothing at all), it could either
476 be that the browser is not set up correctly, or that
477 <application>Privoxy</application> is not running at all. Check the <ulink
478 url="../user-manual/config.html#LOGFILE">log file</ulink>.
488 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
490 <sect1 id="configuration"><title>Configuration</title>
492 <sect2 renderas="sect3" id="newconfig"><title>Can I use my old config files?</title>
494 The syntax, number, and purpose of configuration files has substantially
495 changed from <application>Junkbuster</application> and earlier versions
496 of <application>Privoxy</application>. The old files, like <filename>blocklist</filename>
497 will not work at all. If you are upgrading from a 2.0.x version, you will
498 need to port your configuration data to the new format. Note that even the
499 pattern syntax has changed! Even configuration files from the 2.9.x versions
500 will need to be adapted, as configuration syntax has been very much in flow
505 <sect2 renderas="sect3">
506 <title id="actionsfile">What is an <quote>actions</quote> file?</title>
509 <ulink url="../user-manual/actions-file.html">Actions files</ulink>
510 are where various <ulink url="../user-manual/actions-file.html#ACTIONS">actions</ulink>
511 that <application>Privoxy</application> might take while processing a certain
512 request, are configured. Typically, you would define a set of default actions
513 that apply to all URLs, then add exceptions to these defaults where needed.
517 Actions can be defined on a <ulink
518 url="../user-manual/actions-file.html#AF-PATTERNS">URL pattern</ulink> basis, i.e.
519 for single URLs, whole web sites, groups or parts thereof etc. Actions can also be
520 grouped together and then applied to requests matching one or more patterns.
521 There are many possible actions that might apply to any given site. As an example,
522 if you are blocking cookies as one of your default actions, but need to accept
523 cookies from a given site, you would need to define an exception for this
524 site in one of your actions files, preferably in <filename>user.action</filename>
529 <sect2 renderas="sect3" id="actionss">
530 <title>The <quote>actions</quote> concept confuses me. Please list
531 some of these <quote>actions</quote>.</title>
533 For a comprehensive discussion of the actions concept, please refer
534 to the <ulink url="../user-manual/actions-file.html">actions file
535 chapter</ulink> in the <ulink url="../user-manual/index.html">user
536 manual</ulink>. It includes a <ulink
537 url="../user-manual/actions-file.html#ACTIONS">list of all actions</ulink>
538 and an <ulink url="../user-manual/actions-file.html#ACT-EXAMPLES">actions
539 file tutorial</ulink> to get you started.
544 <sect2 renderas="sect3">
545 <title id="actconfig">How are actions files configured? What is the easiest
546 way to do this?</title>
549 Actions files are just text files in a special syntax and can be edited
550 with a text editor. The probably easiest way is to access
551 <application>Privoxy</application>'s user interface with your web browser
552 at <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/">http://config.privoxy.org/</ulink>
553 (Shortcut: <ulink url="http://p.p/">http://p.p/</ulink>) and then select
554 <quote><ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status">View &
555 change the current configuration</ulink></quote> from the menu.
560 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
561 <sect2 renderas="sect3">
562 <title>There are several different <quote>actions</quote> files. What are
563 the differences?</title>
565 As of <application>Privoxy</application> v2.9.15, three actions files
566 are being included, to be used for
567 different purposes: These are
568 <filename>default.action</filename>, the <quote>main</quote> actions file
569 which is actively maintained by the <application>Privoxy</application>
570 developers, <filename>user.action</filename>, where users are encouraged
571 to make their private customizations, and <filename>standard.action</filename>,
572 which is for internal <application>Privoxy</application> use only.
573 Please see <ulink url="../user-manual/actions-file.html">the actions chapter</ulink>
574 in the <ulink url="../user-manual/index.html">user manual</ulink> for a more
575 detailed explanation.
579 Earlier versions included three different versions of the
580 <filename>default.action</filename> file. The new scheme allows for
581 greater flexibility of local configuration, and for browser based
582 selection of pre-defined <quote>aggressiveness</quote> levels.
587 <sect2 renderas="sect3" id="yahoo"><title>How can I make my Yahoo/Hotmail/GMX account work?</title>
589 The default configuration shouldn't impact the usability of any of these services.
590 It will, however, make all cookies temporary, so that your browser will forget your
591 login credentials in between browser sessions. If you would like not to have to log
592 in manually each time you access those websites, simply turn off all cookie handling
593 for them in the <filename>user.action</filename> file. An example for yahoo might
597 <screen># Allow all cookies for Yahoo login:
599 { -<ulink url="../user-manual/actions-file.html#CRUNCH-INCOMING-COOKIES">crunch-incoming-cookies</ulink> -<ulink url="../user-manual/actions-file.html#CRUNCH-OUTGOING-COOKIES">crunch-outgoing-cookies</ulink> -<ulink url="../user-manual/actions-file.html#SESSION-COOKIES-ONLY">session-cookies-only</ulink> }
600 .login.yahoo.com</screen>
605 <sect2 renderas="sect3" id="configfiles"> <title>What's the difference between the
606 <quote>Cautious</quote>, <quote>Medium</quote> and <quote>Advenced</quote> defaults?</title>
608 Configuring <application>Privoxy</application> is not entirely trivial. To help you get
609 started, we provide you with three different default action <quote>packages</quote> in
610 the web based actions file editor at <ulink
611 url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status">http://config.privoxy.org/show-status</ulink>.
612 The following table shows you, which of the most important features are enabled in each
616 <table frame=all><title>Default Configurations</title>
617 <tgroup cols=4 align=left colsep=1 rowsep=1>
624 <entry>Feature</entry>
625 <entry>Cautious</entry>
626 <entry>Intermadiate</entry>
627 <entry>Advanced</entry>
632 <!-- <entry>f1</entry> -->
633 <!-- <entry>f2</entry> -->
634 <!-- <entry>f3</entry> -->
635 <!-- <entry>f4</entry> -->
641 <entry>Ad-blocking by URL</entry>
648 <entry>Ad-filtering by size</entry>
655 <entry>GIF de-animation</entry>
662 <entry>Referer forging</entry>
669 <entry>Cookie handling</entry>
671 <entry>session-only</entry>
676 <entry>Pop-up killing</entry>
683 <entry>Fast redirects</entry>
690 <entry>HTML taming</entry>
697 <entry>JavaScript taming</entry>
704 <entry>Web-bug killing</entry>
711 <entry>Fun text replacements</entry>
722 Where the defaults are likely to break some sites, exceptions for
723 known popular <quote>problem</quote> sites are included, but in
724 general, the more aggressive your default settings are, the more
725 exceptions you will have to make later. See the <ulink
726 url="../user-manual/index.html">user manual</ulink> for a more
732 <sect2 renderas="sect3" id="browseconfig"> <title>Why can I change the configuration
733 with a browser? Does that not raise security issues?</title>
735 It may seem strange that regular users can edit the config files with their
736 browsers, although the whole <filename>/etc/privoxy</filename> hierarchy
737 belongs to the user <quote>privoxy</quote>, with only 644 permissions.
740 When you use the browser-based editor, <application>Privoxy</application>
741 itself is writing to the config files. Because
742 <application>Privoxy</application> is running as the user <quote>privoxy</quote>,
743 it can update the config files.
746 If you run <application>Privoxy</application> for multiple untrusted users (e.g. in
747 a LAN), you will probably want to turn the web-based editor and remote toggle
748 features off by setting <quote><literal><ulink
749 url="../user-manual/config.html#ENABLE-EDIT-ACTIONS">enable-edit-actions</ulink>
750 0</literal></quote> and <quote><literal><ulink
751 url="../user-manual/config.html#ENABLE-REMOTE-TOGGLE">enable-remote-toggle</ulink>
752 0</literal></quote> in the <ulink url="../user-manual/config.html">main configuration file</ulink>.
755 Note that in the default configuration, only local users (i.e. those on
756 <quote>localhost</quote>) can connect to <application>Privoxy</application>,
757 so this is not (normally) a security problem.
762 <sect2 renderas="sect3">
763 <title id="filterfile">What is the <filename>default.filter</filename> file?</title>
765 The <ulink url="../user-manual/filter-file.html"><filename>default.filter</filename></ulink>
766 file is where <emphasis>filters</emphasis> are defined, which can be used to modify or
767 remove, web page content on the fly. This applies to <emphasis>anything</emphasis>
768 in the page source, including HTML tags, and JavaScript. Regular expressions are used
769 to accomplish this. There are a number of pre-defined filters to deal with common
770 annoyances. The filters are only defined here, to invoke them, you need to use the
771 <ulink url="../user-manual/actions-file.html#FILTER"><literal>filter</literal> action</ulink>.
775 If you are familiar with regular expressions, and HTML, you can look at
776 the provided <filename>default.filter</filename> with a text editor and define
777 your own filters. This is potentially a very powerful feature, but
778 requires some expertise.
782 Presently, there is no GUI editor option for this part of the configuration,
783 but you can disable/enable the various pre-defined filters of the included
784 <filename>default.filter</filename> file with the <ulink
785 url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status">web-based actions file editor</ulink>.
790 <sect2 renderas="sect3">
791 <title id="lanconfig">How can I set up <application>Privoxy</application> to act as a proxy for my
794 By default, <application>Privoxy</application> only responds to requests
795 from <literal>127.0.0.1</literal> (localhost). To have it act as a server for
796 a network, this needs to be changed in the <ulink
797 url="../user-manual/config.html">main configuration file</ulink>. Look for
799 url="../user-manual/config.html#LISTEN-ADDRESS">listen-address</ulink></literal>
800 option, which may be commented out with a <quote>#</quote> symbol. Make sure
801 it is uncommented, and assign it the address of the LAN gateway interface,
802 and port number to use. Assuming your LAN address is 192.168.1.1 and you
803 wish to run <application>Privoxy</application> on port 8118, this line
809 listen-address 192.168.1.1:8118</screen>
813 Save the file, and restart <application>Privoxy</application>. Configure
814 all browsers on the network then to use this address and port number.
818 If you run <application>Privoxy</application> on a LAN with untrusted users,
819 we recommend that you double-check the <ulink
820 url="../user-manual/config.html#ACCESS-CONTROL">access control and security</ulink>
827 <sect2 renderas="sect3">
828 <title id="noseeum">Instead of ads, now I get a checkerboard pattern. I don't want to see anything.</title>
830 The replacement for blocked images can be controlled with the <ulink
831 url="../user-manual/actions-file.html#SET-IMAGE-BLOCKER"><literal>set-image-blocker</literal>
832 action</ulink>. You have the choice of a checkerboard pattern, a transparent 1x1 GIF
833 image (aka <quote>blank</quote>), or a redirect to a custom image of your choice.
834 Note that this choice only has effect for images which are blocked as images, i.e.
835 whose URLs match both a <literal><ulink
836 url="../user-manual/actions-file.html#HANDLE-AS-IMAGE">handle-as-image</ulink></literal>
837 <emphasis>and</emphasis> <literal><ulink
838 url="../user-manual/actions-file.html#BLOCK">block</ulink></literal> action.
841 If you want to see nothing, then change the <ulink
842 url="../user-manual/actions-file.html#SET-IMAGE-BLOCKER"><literal>set-image-blocker</literal>
843 action</ulink> to <quote>blank</quote>. This can be done by editing the
844 <filename>default.action</filename> file, or trough the <ulink
845 url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status">web-based actions file editor</ulink>.
850 <sect2 renderas="sect3">
851 <title id="whyseeum">Why would anybody want to see a checkerboard pattern?</title>
853 Remember that <link linkend="whatsanad">telling which image is an ad and which
854 isn't</link>, is mostly guesswork. While we hope that the standard configuration
855 is rather smart, it can and will make errors. The checkerboard image is visually
856 decent, but it shows you that and where images were blocked, which can be very
857 helpful in case some navigation aid or otherwise innocent image was
858 erraneously blocked. Some people might also enjoy seeing how many banners
859 they <emphasis>don't</emphasis> have to see..
864 <!-- This has changed with the adaptive "blocked" page
866 <sect2 renderas="sect3">
867 <title id="blockedisugly">I see large red banners on some pages that say
868 <quote>Blocked</quote>. Why and how do I get rid of this?</title>
870 These are URLs that match something in one of
871 <application>Privoxy's</application> block actions
873 url="../user-manual/actions-file.html#BLOCK"><quote>+block</quote></ulink>).
874 It is meant to be a warning so that you know something has been blocked and
875 an easy way for you to see why. These are handled differently than what has
876 been defined explicitly as <quote>images</quote> (e.g. ads that are GIF image
877 files). Depending on the URL itself, it is sometimes hard for
878 <application>Privoxy</application> to really know whether there is indeed an
879 ad image there or not. And there are limitations as to what
880 <application>Privoxy</application> can do to <quote>fool</quote> the
885 For instance, if the ad is in a frame, then it is embedded in the separate
886 HTML page used for the frame. In this case, you cannot just substitute an
887 aribitrary image (like we would for a <quote>blank</quote> image), for an HTML
888 page. The browser is expecting an HTML page, and that is what it must have
889 for frames. Such situations can be a little trickier to deal with, and
890 <application>Privoxy</application> may show the <quote>Blocked</quote> page,
891 despite your best efforts.
895 If you want these to be treated as if they were images, so that they can be
896 made invisible, you can try moving the offending URL from the
897 <quote>+block</quote> section to the <quote>+imageblock</quote> section of
898 your actions file. Just be forewarned, if any URL is made
899 <quote>invisible</quote>, you may not have any inkling that something has
900 been removed from that page, or why. If this approach does not work, then you are
901 probably dealing with a frame (or <quote>ilayer</quote>), and the only thing
902 that can go there is an HTML page of some sort.
905 To deal with this situation, you could modify the
906 <quote><filename>block</filename></quote> HTML template that is used by
907 <application>Privoxy</application> to display this, and make it something
908 more to your liking. Currently, there is no configuration option for this.
909 You will have to modify, or create your own page, and use this to replace
910 <filename>templates/blocked</filename>, which is what
911 <application>Privoxy</application> uses to display the <quote>Blocked</quote>
915 Another way to deal with this is find why and where
916 <application>Privoxy</application> is blocking the frame, and
917 diable this. Then let the <quote>+set-image-blocker</quote> action
918 handle the ad that is embedded in the frame's HTML page.
923 <sect2 renderas="sect3" id="alliseeisred">
924 <title>I cannot see all of the <quote>Blocked</quote> page banner. Help.</title>
926 There is not enough available space to fit the entire Blocked page. Try right
927 clicking on the visible portion, and select <quote>Show Frame</quote>,
928 or equivalent. This will usually allow you to see the entire Privoxy
929 <quote>Blocked</quote> page, and from there you can see just what is being
933 As of Privoxy 2.9.14, the Blocked banner page is re-sizeable, and tries
934 to adjust to the allotted space. There may be occassions where there
935 just isn't enough room to display much of anything useful though.
942 <sect2 renderas="sect3">
943 <title id="blockedbytext">I see some images being replaced by a text
944 instead of the checkerboard image. Why and how do I get rid of this?</title>
946 This happens when the banners are not embedded in the HTML code of the
947 page itself, but in separate HTML (sub)documents that are loaded into (i)frames
948 or (i)layers, and these external HTML documents are blocked. Being non-images
949 they get replaced by a substitute HTML page rather than a substitute image,
950 which wouldn't work out technically, since the browser expects and accepts
951 only HTML when it has requested an HTML document.
954 The substitute page adapts to the available space and shows itself as a
955 miniature two-liner if loaded into small frames, or full-blown with a
956 large red "BLOCKED" banner if space allows.
959 If you prefer the banners to be blocked by images, you must see to it that
960 the HTML documents in which they are embedded are not blocked. Clicking
961 the <quote>See why</quote> link offered in the substitute page will show
962 you which rule blocked the page. After changing the rule and un-blocking
963 the HTML documents, the browser will try to load the actual banner images
964 and the usual image blocking will (hopefully!) kick in.
969 <sect2 renderas="sect3" id="srvany">
970 <title>Can <application>Privoxy</application> run as a service
973 Yes, it can run as a system service using <command>srvany.exe</command>.
974 The only catch is that this will effectively disable the
975 <application>Privoxy</application> icon (and its menu!) in the taskbar. You can have
976 one or the other, but not both at this time :(
979 There is a pending feature request for this functionality. See the discussion
981 url="http://sourceforge.net/tracker/?func=detail&atid=361118&aid=485617&group_id=11118">http://sourceforge.net/tracker/?func=detail&atid=361118&aid=485617&group_id=11118</ulink>,
982 for details, and a sample configuration.
988 <sect2 renderas="sect3" id="otherproxy">
989 <title>How can I make <application>Privoxy</application> work with other
990 proxies like <application>Squid</application>?</title>
992 This can be done and is often useful to combine the benefits of
993 <application>Privoxy</application> with those of a caching proxy.
995 url="../user-manual/config.html#FORWARDING">forwarding chapter</ulink>
996 in the <ulink url="../user-manual/index.html">user manual</ulink> which
997 describes how to do this.
1001 <sect2 renderas="sect3" id="transparent">
1002 <title>Can <application>Privoxy</application> run as a <quote>transparent
1003 </quote> proxy?</title>
1005 No, <application>Privoxy</application> currently does not have this ability,
1006 though it is planned for a future release. Transparent proxies require
1007 special handling of the request headers beyond what
1008 <application>Privoxy</application> is now capable of.
1012 Chaining <application>Privoxy</application> behind another proxy that has
1013 this ability should work though.
1015 url="../user-manual/config.html#FORWARDING">forwarding chapter</ulink>
1016 in the <ulink url="../user-manual/index.html">user manual</ulink>. As
1017 a transparent proxy to be used for chaining we recommend Transproxy
1018 (<ulink url="http://www.transproxy.nlc.net.au/">http://www.transproxy.nlc.net.au/</ulink>).
1025 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
1028 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1030 <sect1 id="misc"><title>Miscellaneous</title>
1032 <sect2 renderas="sect3">
1033 <title id="slowsme">How much does <application>Privoxy</application> slow my browsing down? This
1034 has to add extra time to browsing.</title>
1036 It should not slow you down any in real terms, and may actually help
1037 speed things up since ads, banners and other junk are not being displayed.
1038 The actual processing time required by <application>Privoxy</application>
1039 itself for each page, is relatively small in the overall scheme of things,
1040 and happens very quickly. This is typically more than offset by time saved
1041 not downloading and rendering ad images.
1045 <quote>Filtering</quote> content via the <literal><ulink
1046 url="../user-manual/actions-file.html#FILTER">filter</ulink></literal> or
1048 url="../user-manual/actions-file.html#DEANIMATE-GIFS">deanimate-gifs</ulink></literal>
1049 actions may cause a perceived slowdown, since the entire document needs to be buffered
1050 before displaying. See below.
1056 <sect2 renderas="sect3" id="loadingtimes"><title>I noticed considerable
1057 delays in page requests compared to the old Junkbuster. What's wrong?</title>
1059 If you use any <literal><ulink
1060 url="../user-manual/actions-file.html#FILTER">filter</ulink></literal> action,
1061 such as filtering banners by size, web-bugs etc, or the <literal><ulink
1062 url="../user-manual/actions-file.html#DEANIMATE-GIFS">deanimate-gifs</ulink></literal>
1063 action, the entire document must be loaded into memory in order for the filtering
1064 mechanism to work, and nothing is sent to the browser during this time.
1067 The loading time does not really change in real numbers, but the feeling is
1068 different, because most browsers are able to start rendering incomplete
1069 content, giving the user a feeling of "it works". This effect is especially
1070 noticeable on slow dialup connections.
1075 <sect2 renderas="sect3" id="configurl"><title>What are "http://config.privoxy.org/" and
1076 "http://p.p/"?</title>
1078 <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/">http://config.privoxy.org/</ulink> is the
1079 address of <application>Privoxy</application>'s built-in user interface, and
1080 <ulink url="http://p.p/">http://p.p/</ulink> is a shortcut for it.
1083 Since <application>Privoxy</application> sits between your web browser and the Internet,
1084 it can simply intercept requests for these addresses and answer them with its built-in
1085 <quote>web server</quote>.
1088 This also makes for a good test for your browser configuration: If entering the
1089 URL <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/">http://config.privoxy.org/</ulink>
1090 takes you to a page saying <quote>This is Privoxy..</quote>, everything is OK.
1091 If you get a page saying <quote>Privoxy is not working</quote> instead, then
1092 your browser didn't use <application>Privoxy</application> for the request,
1093 hence it could not be intercepted, and you have accessed the <emphasis>real</emphasis>
1094 web site at config.privoxy.org.
1097 With recent versions of <application>Privoxy</application> (version 2.9.x and
1098 later), the user interface features information on the run time status, the
1099 configuration, and even a built-in editor for the <ulink
1100 url="../user-manual/actions-file.html">actions files</ulink>.
1104 Note that the built-in URLs from earlier versions of <application>Junkbuster</application>
1105 / <application>Privoxy</application>, http://example.com/show-proxy-args and http://i.j.b/,
1106 are no longer supported. If you still use such an old version, you should really consider
1107 upgrading to &p-version;.
1112 FIXME: commented out until we have data. HB 03/18/02.
1114 <sect2 renderas="sect3" id="badfiledesc"><title>I get the message 'Bad File Descriptor', why?</title>
1122 <sect2 renderas="sect3" id="blocklist"><title>Do you still maintain the blocklists?</title>
1124 No. The patterns for blocking now reside (among other things) in the <ulink
1125 url="../user-manual/actions-file.html">actions files</ulink>, which are
1126 actively maintained instead. See next question ...
1130 <sect2 renderas="sect3" id="newads"><title>How can I submit new ads?</title>
1132 Yes, absolutely! Please see the <link linkend="contact">Contact section</link> for
1133 how to do that. Please note that you (technically) need the latest
1134 <application>Privoxy</application> version for this to work.
1139 <sect2 renderas="sect3" id="ip"><title>How can I hide my IP address?</title>
1141 If you run both the browser and the proxy locally, you cannot hide your IP
1142 address with <application>Privoxy</application> or any other software. The
1143 server needs to know your IP address to send the answers back to you.
1146 Fortunately there are many publicly usable anonymous proxies out there, which
1147 solve the problem by providing a further level of indirection between you and
1148 the web server, shared by many people, and thus letting your requests "drown"
1149 in white noise of unrelated requests as far as user tracking is concerned.
1152 Most of them will, however, log your IP address and make it available to the
1153 authorities in case you abuse that anonymity for criminal purposes. In fact
1154 you can't even rule out that some of them only exist to *collect* information
1155 on (those suspicious) people with a more than average preference for privacy.
1158 You can find a list of anonymous public proxies at <ulink
1159 url="http://www.multiproxy.org/anon_list.htm">multiproxy.org</ulink> and many
1160 more through Google. A particularly interesting project is the JAP service
1161 offered by the Technical University of Dresden (<ulink
1162 url="http://anon.inf.tu-dresden.de/index_en.html">http://anon.inf.tu-dresden.de/index_en.html</ulink>.
1165 There is, however, even in the single-machine case the possibility to make the
1166 server believe that your machine is in fact a shared proxy serving a whole big
1167 LAN, and we are looking into that.
1171 <sect2 renderas="sect3">
1172 <title id="anonforsure">Can <application>Privoxy</application> guarantee I am anonymous?</title>
1174 No. Your chances of remaining anonymous are greatly improved, but unless you
1175 are an expert on Internet security it would be safest to assume that
1176 everything you do on the Web can be traced back to you.
1179 <application>Privoxy</application> can remove various information about you,
1180 and allows <emphasis>you</emphasis> more freedom to decide which sites
1181 you can trust, and what details you want to reveal. But it's still possible
1182 that web sites can find out who you are. Here's one way this can happen.
1185 A few browsers disclose the user's email address in certain situations, such
1186 as when transferring a file by FTP. <application>Privoxy</application>
1187 does not filter FTP. If you need this feature, or are concerned about the
1188 mail handler of your browser disclosing your email address, you might
1189 consider products such as <application>NSClean</application>.
1192 Browsers available only as binaries could use non-standard headers to give
1193 out any information they can have access to: see the manufacturer's license
1194 agreement. It's impossible to anticipate and prevent every breach of privacy
1195 that might occur. The professionally paranoid prefer browsers available as
1196 source code, because anticipating their behavior is easier. Trust the source,
1202 <sect2 renderas="sect3">
1203 <title id="sitebreak">Might some things break because header information or
1204 content is being altered?</title>
1207 Definitely. More and more sites use HTTP header content to decide what to
1208 display and how to display it. There is many ways that this can be handled,
1209 so having hard and fast rules, is tricky.
1213 <quote>User-Agent</quote> in particular is often used in this way to identify
1214 the browser, and adjust content accordingly. Changing this now (at least not
1215 further than removing the OS information) is not recommended, since so many
1216 sites do look for it. You may get undesirable results by changing this.
1220 For instance, different browsers use different encodings of Russian and Czech
1221 characters, certain web servers convert pages on-the-fly according to the
1222 User Agent header. Giving a <quote>User Agent</quote> with the wrong
1223 operating system or browser manufacturer causes some sites in these languages
1224 to be garbled; Surfers to Eastern European sites should change it to
1225 something closer. And then some page access counters work by looking at the
1226 <quote>Referer</quote> header; they may fail or break if unavailable. The
1227 weather maps of Intellicast have been blocked by their server when no
1228 <quote>Referer</quote> or cookie is provided, is another example. (But you
1229 can forge both headers without giving information away). There are
1230 many other ways things can go wrong when trying to fool a web server.
1234 Similar thoughts apply to modifying JavaScript, and, to a lesser degree,
1239 If you have problems with a site, you will have to adjust your configuration
1240 accordingly. Cookies are probably the most likely adjustment that may
1241 be required, but by no means the only one.
1247 <sect2 renderas="sect3">
1248 <title id="caching">Can <application>Privoxy</application> act as a <quote>caching</quote> proxy to
1249 speed up web browsing?</title>
1251 No, it does not have this ability at all. You want something like
1252 <ulink url="http://www.squid-cache.org/">Squid</ulink> for this. And, yes,
1253 before you ask, <application>Privoxy</application> can co-exist
1254 with other kinds of proxies like <application>Squid</application>.
1255 See the <ulink url="../user-manual/config.html#FORWARDING">forwarding
1256 chapter</ulink> in the <ulink url="../user-manual/index.html">user
1257 manual</ulink> for details.
1261 <sect2 renderas="sect3">
1262 <title id="firewall">What about as a firewall? Can <application>Privoxy</application> protect me?</title>
1264 Not in the way you mean, or in the way a true firewall can.
1265 <application>Privoxy</application> can help protect your privacy, but not
1266 protect you from intrusion attempts. It is, of course, perfectly possible
1267 and recommended to use <emphasis>both</emphasis>.
1271 <!-- No longer needed
1272 <sect2 renderas="sect3">
1273 <title id="logo">The <application>Privoxy</application> logo that replaces ads is very blocky
1274 and ugly looking. Can't a better font be used?</title>
1277 This is not a font problem. The logo is an image that is created by
1278 <application>Privoxy</application> on the fly. So as to not waste
1279 memory, the image is rather small. The blockiness comes when the
1280 image is scaled to fill a largish area. There is not much to be done
1281 about this, other than to use one of the other
1282 <quote>imageblock</quote> directives: <emphasis>pattern</emphasis>,
1283 <emphasis>blank</emphasis>, or a URL of your choosing.
1286 Given the above problem, we have decided to remove the logo option entirely
1292 <sect2 renderas="sect3">
1293 <title id="wasted">I have large empty spaces / a checkerboard pattern now where
1294 ads used to be. Why?</title>
1296 It would be technically possible eliminate the banners in a way that frees
1297 their screen estate in many cases, by doing all banner blocking with filters,
1298 i.e. eliminating the whole image references from the HTML pages instead
1299 of letting them stay in, and blocking the resulting requests for the
1303 But this would consume considerable CPU resources, would likely destroy
1304 the layout of many web pages which rely on the banners consuming a certain
1305 amount of screen space, and would fail in other cases, where the screen space
1306 is reserved e.g. by tables anyway. Also, making the banners disappear without
1307 a visual trace complicates troubleshooting.
1310 So we won't support this in the default configuration, but you can of course
1311 define appropriate filters yourself.
1315 <sect2 renderas="sect3">
1316 <title id="ssl">How can <application>Privoxy</application> filter Secure (HTTPS) URLs?</title>
1318 Since secure HTTP connections are encrypted SSL sessions between your browser
1319 and the secure site, and are meant to be reliably <emphasis>secure</emphasis>,
1320 there is little that <application>Privoxy</application> can do but hand the raw
1321 gibberish data though from one end to the other unprocessed.
1324 The only exception to this is blocking by host patterns, as the client needs
1325 to tell <application>Privoxy</application> the name of the remote server,
1326 so that <application>Privoxy</application> can establish the connection.
1327 If that name matches a host-only pattern, the connection will be blocked.
1330 As far as ad blocking is concerned, this is less of a restriction than it may
1331 seem, since ad sources are often identifiable by the host name, and often
1332 the banners to be placed in an encrypted page come unencrypted nonetheless
1333 for efficiency reasons, which exposes them to the full power of
1334 <application>Privoxy</application>'s ad blocking.
1339 <sect2 renderas="sect3">
1340 <title id="secure"><application>Privoxy</application> runs as a <quote>server</quote>. How
1341 secure is it? Do I need to take any special precautions?</title>
1343 There are no known exploits that might affect
1344 <application>Privoxy</application>. On Unix-like systems,
1345 <application>Privoxy</application> can run as a non-privileged
1346 user, which is how we recommend it be run. Also, by default
1347 <application>Privoxy</application> only listens to requests
1348 from <quote>localhost</quote> only. The server aspect of
1349 <application>Privoxy</application> is not itself directly exposed to the
1350 Internet in this configuration. If you want to have
1351 <application>Privoxy</application> serve as a LAN proxy, this will have to
1352 be opened up to allow for LAN requests. In this case, we'd recommend
1353 you specify only the LAN gateway address, e.g. 192.168.1.1, in the main
1354 <application>Privoxy</application> configuration file and check all <ulink
1355 url="../user-manual/config.html#ACCESS-CONTROL">access control and security
1356 options</ulink>. All LAN hosts can then use this as their proxy address
1357 in the browser proxy configuration, but <application>Privoxy</application>
1358 will not listen on any external interfaces. ACLs can be defined in addition,
1359 and using a firewall is always good too. Better safe than sorry.
1364 <sect2 renderas="sect3" id="turnoff">
1365 <title>How can I temporarily disable <application>Privoxy</application>?</title>
1367 The easiest way is to access <application>Privoxy</application> with your
1368 browser by using the remote toggle URL: <ulink
1369 url="http://config.privoxy.org/toggle">http://config.privoxy.org/toggle</ulink>.
1373 <sect2 renderas="sect3" id="seealso">
1374 <title>Where can I find more information about <application>Privoxy</application>
1375 and related issues?</title>
1376 <!-- Include seealso.sgml boilerplate: -->
1378 <!-- end boilerplate -->
1383 <ulink url="../user-manual/seealso.html">user-manual</ulink> for
1392 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1394 <sect1 id="trouble">
1395 <title>Troubleshooting</title>
1397 <sect2 renderas="sect3">
1398 <title id="refused">I just upgraded and am getting <quote>connection refused</quote>
1399 with every web page?</title>
1401 Either <application>Privoxy</application> is not running, or your
1402 browser is configured for a different port than what
1403 <application>Privoxy</application> is using.
1407 The old <application>Privoxy</application> (and also
1408 <application>Junkbuster</application>) used port 8000 by
1409 default. This has been changed to port 8118 now, due to a conflict
1410 with NAS (Network Audio Service), which uses port 8000. If you haven't,
1411 you need to change your browser to the new port number, or alternately
1413 url="../user-manual/config.html#LISTEN-ADDRESS"><literal>listen-address</literal>
1414 option</ulink> in <application>Privoxy's</application> <ulink
1415 url="../user-manual/config.html">main configuration file</ulink>.
1420 <sect2 renderas="sect3">
1421 <title id="flushit">I just added a new rule, but the steenkin ad is
1422 still getting through. How?</title>
1424 If the ad had been displayed before you added its URL, it will probably be
1425 held in the browser's cache for some time, so it will be displayed without
1426 the need for any request to the server, and <application>Privoxy</application>
1427 will not be in the picture. The best thing to do is try flushing the browser's
1428 caches. And then try again.
1432 If this doesn't help, you probably have an error in the rule you
1433 applied. Try pasting the full URL of the offending ad into <ulink
1434 url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info">http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info</ulink>
1435 and see if it really matches your new rule.
1440 <sect2 renderas="sect3">
1441 <title id="badsite">One of my favorite sites does not work with <application>Privoxy</application>.
1442 What can I do?</title>
1445 First verify that it is indeed a <application>Privoxy</application> problem,
1446 by toggling off <application>Privoxy</application> through <ulink
1447 url="http://config.privoxy.org/toggle">http://config.privoxy.org/toggle</ulink>,
1448 and then shift-reloading the problem page (i.e. holding down the shift key
1449 while clicking reload. Alternatively, flush your browser's disk and memory
1454 If still a problem, go to <ulink
1455 url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info">http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info</ulink>
1456 and paste the full URL of the page in question into the prompt. See which actions
1457 are being applied to the URL, and which matches in which actions files are
1458 responsible for that. Now, armed with this information, go to <ulink
1459 url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status">http://config.privoxy.org/show-status</ulink>
1460 and select the appropriate actions files for editing.
1463 You can now either look for a section which disables the actions that
1464 you suspect to cause the problem and add a pattern for your site there,
1465 or make up a completely new section for your site. In any case, the recommended
1466 way is to disable only the prime suspect, reload the problem page, and only
1467 if the problem persists, disable more and more actions until you have
1468 identified the culprit. You may or may not want to turn the other actions
1469 on again. Remember to flush your browser's caches in between any such changes!
1472 Alternately, if you are comfortable with a text editor, you can accomplish
1473 the same thing by editing the appropriate actions file. Probably the easiest
1474 way to deal with such problems when editing by hand is to add your
1475 site to a <literal>{ fragile }</literal> section in <filename>user.action</filename>,
1476 which is an alias that turns off most <quote>dangerous</quote>
1477 actions, but is also likely to turn off more actions then needed, and thus lower
1478 your privacy and protection more than necessary,
1481 Troubleshooting actions is discussed in more detail in the <ulink
1482 url="../user-manual/appendix.html#ACTIONSANAT">user-manual appendix</ulink>.
1483 There is also an <ulink
1484 url="../user-manual/actions-file.html#ACT-EXAMPLES">actions tutorial</ulink>.
1490 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1492 <title>After installing <application>Privoxy</application>, I have to log in
1493 every time I start IE. What gives?</title>
1496 This is a quirk that effects the installation of
1497 <application>Privoxy</application>, in conjunction with Internet Explorer and
1498 Internet Connection Sharing on Windows 2000 and Windows XP. The symptoms may
1499 appear to be corrupted or invalid DUN settings, or passwords.
1503 When setting up an NT based Windows system with
1504 <application>Privoxy</application> you may find that things do not seem to be
1505 doing what you expect. When you set your system up you will probably have set
1506 up Internet Connection Sharing (ICS) with Dial up Networking (DUN) when
1507 logged in with administrator privileges. You will probably have made this DUN
1508 connection available to other accounts that you may have set-up on your
1509 system. E.g. Mum or Dad sets up the system and makes accounts suitably
1510 configured for the kids.
1514 When setting up <application>Privoxy</application> in this environment you
1515 will have to alter the proxy set-up of Internet Explorer (IE) for the
1516 specific DUN connection on which you wish to use
1517 <application>Privoxy</application>. When you do this the ICS DUN set-up
1518 becomes user specific. In this instance you will see no difference if you
1519 change the DUN connection under the account used to set-up the connection.
1520 However when you do this from another user you will notice that the DUN
1521 connection changes to make available to "Me only". You will also find that
1522 you have to store the password under each different user!
1526 The reason for this is that each user's set-up for IE is user specific. Each
1527 set-up DUN connection and each LAN connection in IE store the settings for
1528 each user individually. As such this enforces individual configurations
1529 rather than common ones. Hence the first time you use a DUN connection after
1530 re-booting your system it may not perform as you expect, and prompt you for
1531 the password. Just set and save the password again and all should be OK.
1535 [Thanks to Ray Griffith for this submission.]
1543 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1545 FIXME: Commented out until we have something to put here. HB 03/18/02.
1546 <sect1 id="knownissues"><title>Known Issues</title>
1553 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1554 <sect1 id="contact"><title>Contacting the developers, Bug Reporting and Feature Requests</title>
1555 <!-- Include contacting.sgml -->
1557 <!-- end contacting -->
1560 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1561 <sect1 id="copyright"><title>Privoxy Copyright, License and History</title>
1563 <!-- Include copyright.sgml -->
1568 Portions of this document are <quote>borrowed</quote> from the original
1569 <application>Junkbuster</application> (tm) FAQ, and modified as
1570 appropriate for <application>Privoxy</application>.
1573 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1574 <sect2><title>License</title>
1575 <!-- Include copyright.sgml: -->
1577 <!-- end copyright -->
1579 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
1581 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1582 <sect2><title>History</title>
1583 <!-- Include history.sgml -->
1589 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
1592 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1594 <sect1 id="seealso"><title>See also</title>
1596 <!-- Include seealso.sgml -->
1607 Tue 09/11/01 06:38:14 PM EST: Test SGML doc by Hal Burgiss.
1609 Last modified: Mon Sep 10 19:22:09 CEST 2001
1611 This program is free software; you can redistribute it
1612 and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General
1613 Public License as published by the Free Software
1614 Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at
1615 your option) any later version.
1617 This program is distributed in the hope that it will
1618 be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the
1619 implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A
1620 PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public
1621 License for more details.
1623 The GNU General Public License should be included with
1624 this file. If not, you can view it at
1625 http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html
1626 or write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc., 59
1627 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307, USA.
1630 Revision 1.61.2.1 2002/06/05 23:10:43 hal9
1631 Add new FAQ re: DUN/IE. Change release date from May to June :)
1633 Revision 1.61 2002/05/25 12:37:25 hal9
1634 Various minor changes and edits.
1636 Revision 1.60 2002/05/22 17:17:48 oes
1637 Proofread & added more links into u-m
1639 Revision 1.59 2002/05/15 04:03:30 hal9
1640 Fix ulink -> link markup.
1642 Revision 1.58 2002/05/10 01:48:20 hal9
1643 This is mostly proposed copyright/licensing additions and changes. Docs
1644 are still GPL, but licensing and copyright are more visible. Also, copyright
1645 changed in doc header comments (eliminate references to JB except FAQ).
1647 Revision 1.57 2002/05/05 20:26:02 hal9
1648 Sorting out license vs copyright in these docs.
1650 Revision 1.56 2002/05/04 08:44:44 swa
1653 Revision 1.55 2002/05/04 00:41:56 hal9
1654 -Remove TOC/first page kludge in favor of proper handling via dsl file.
1656 Revision 1.54 2002/05/03 05:06:44 hal9
1657 Add brief Q/A on transparent proxies.
1659 Revision 1.53 2002/05/03 01:34:52 hal9
1660 Fix section numbering for new sections (due to TOC kludge).
1662 Revision 1.52 2002/04/29 03:08:43 hal9
1663 -Added new Q/A on new actions file set up (pointer to u-m)
1664 -Fixed a few broken links and converted old actions as a result of
1667 Revision 1.51 2002/04/26 17:24:31 swa
1668 bookmarks cleaned, changed structure of user manual, screen and programlisting cleanups, and numerous other changes that I forgot
1670 Revision 1.50 2002/04/26 05:25:23 hal9
1671 Mass commit to catch a few scattered fixes.
1673 Revision 1.49 2002/04/12 10:10:18 swa
1676 Revision 1.48 2002/04/10 18:45:15 swa
1679 Revision 1.47 2002/04/10 04:05:32 hal9
1682 Revision 1.45 2002/04/08 22:59:26 hal9
1683 Version update. Spell chkconfig correctly :)
1685 Revision 1.44 2002/04/07 21:24:29 hal9
1686 Touch up on name change.
1688 Revision 1.43 2002/04/04 21:59:53 hal9
1689 Added NT/W2K service/icon situation.
1691 Revision 1.42 2002/04/04 18:46:47 swa
1692 consistent look. reuse of copyright, history et. al.
1694 Revision 1.41 2002/04/04 06:48:37 hal9
1695 Structural changes to allow for conditional inclusion/exclusion of content
1696 based on entity toggles, e.g. 'entity % p-not-stable "INCLUDE"'. And
1697 definition of internal entities, e.g. 'entity p-version "2.9.13"' that will
1698 eventually be set by Makefile.
1699 More boilerplate text for use across multiple docs.
1701 Revision 1.40 2002/04/03 04:22:03 hal9
1702 Fixed several typos.
1704 Revision 1.39 2002/04/03 03:53:03 hal9
1705 Revert some changes, and then make some news, to layout, and appearance.
1707 Revision 1.38 2002/04/02 03:49:10 hal9
1708 Major changes to doc structure and layout. Sections are not automatically
1709 numbered now. TOC is on page by itself.
1711 Revision 1.37 2002/04/01 16:24:07 hal9
1712 -Rework of supported Q/A.
1713 -Set up entities to include boilerplate text.
1715 Revision 1.36 2002/03/31 23:18:47 hal9
1716 More on dealing with BLOCKED.
1718 Revision 1.35 2002/03/30 04:14:19 hal9
1719 Fix privoxy.org/config links.
1721 Revision 1.34 2002/03/29 04:35:56 hal9
1724 Revision 1.33 2002/03/29 01:31:48 hal9
1725 Several new Q/A's and other touch ups.
1727 Revision 1.32 2002/03/27 00:57:03 hal9
1728 Touch ups for name change.
1730 Revision 1.31 2002/03/26 22:29:55 swa
1731 we have a new homepage!
1733 Revision 1.30 2002/03/25 16:39:22 hal9
1734 A few new sections. Made all links relative to user-manual.
1736 Revision 1.29 2002/03/25 05:23:57 hal9
1737 Moved section, and touch ups.
1739 Revision 1.28 2002/03/25 04:27:33 hal9
1740 New section related to name change.
1742 Revision 1.25 2002/03/24 16:08:08 swa
1743 we are too lazy to make a block-built
1744 privoxy logo. hence removed the option.
1746 Revision 1.24 2002/03/24 15:46:20 swa
1747 name change related issue.
1749 Revision 1.23 2002/03/24 12:33:01 swa
1752 Revision 1.22 2002/03/24 11:51:00 swa
1753 name change. changed filenames.
1755 Revision 1.21 2002/03/24 11:01:06 swa
1758 Revision 1.20 2002/03/23 15:13:11 swa
1759 renamed every reference to the old name with foobar.
1760 fixed "application foobar application" tag, fixed
1761 "the foobar" with "foobar". left junkbustser in cvs
1762 comments and remarks to history untouched.
1764 Revision 1.19 2002/03/21 17:01:54 hal9
1767 Revision 1.18 2002/03/18 16:40:31 hal9
1770 Revision 1.17 2002/03/18 03:53:53 hal9
1773 Revision 1.16 2002/03/17 21:32:56 hal9
1774 A few more additions.
1776 Revision 1.15 2002/03/17 07:25:59 hal9
1777 Correcting some of my typos, and some additions.
1779 Revision 1.14 2002/03/17 02:39:13 hal9
1780 A little more added ...
1782 Revision 1.13 2002/03/17 00:22:20 hal9
1783 Adding new stuff, and trying to incorporate stuff from old faq.
1785 Revision 1.12 2002/03/11 20:13:21 swa
1788 Revision 1.11 2002/03/11 18:42:27 swa
1791 Revision 1.10 2002/03/11 13:13:27 swa
1792 correct feedback channels
1794 Revision 1.9 2002/03/10 23:34:04 swa
1795 more info on not hiding ip address
1797 Revision 1.8 2002/03/09 15:55:48 swa
1798 added default config section
1800 Revision 1.7 2002/03/07 18:16:55 swa
1803 Revision 1.6 2002/03/07 13:16:31 oes
1804 Committing changes by Stefan
1806 Revision 1.5 2002/03/02 15:50:04 swa
1807 2.9.11 version. more input for docs.
1809 Revision 1.4 2002/02/24 14:34:24 jongfoster
1810 Formatting changes. Now changing the doctype to DocBook XML 4.1
1811 will work - no other changes are needed.
1813 Revision 1.3 2001/09/23 10:13:48 swa
1814 upload process established. run make webserver and
1815 the documentation is moved to the webserver. documents
1816 are now linked correctly.
1818 Revision 1.2 2001/09/13 15:20:17 swa
1819 merged standards into developer manual
1821 Revision 1.1 2001/09/12 15:36:41 swa
1822 source files for junkbuster documentation
1824 Revision 1.3 2001/09/10 17:43:59 swa
1825 first proposal of a structure.
1827 Revision 1.2 2001/06/13 14:28:31 swa
1828 docs should have an author.
1830 Revision 1.1 2001/06/13 14:20:37 swa
1831 first import of project's documentation for the webserver.