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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 "0.0.0">
12 <!entity p-status "UNRELEASED">
13 <!entity % p-not-stable "INCLUDE">
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15 <!entity % p-text "IGNORE"> <!-- define we are not a text only doc -->
16 <!entity % p-doc "INCLUDE"> <!-- and we are a formal doc -->
17 <!entity % p-supp-userman "INCLUDE"> <!-- Include all from supported.sgml -->
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 1.61.2.21 2002/10/10 04:09:35 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 1.61.2.21 2002/10/10 04:09:35 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 It can't and doesn't replace the
117 <ulink url="../user-manual/index.html"><citetitle>User Manual</citetitle></ulink>.
119 This works, at least in some situtations:
120 Test: <ulink url="privoxy-user-manual.pdf"><citetitle>User Manual</citetitle></ulink>.
124 <!-- Include privoxy.sgml boilerplate: -->
126 <!-- end boilerplate -->
129 Please note that this document is constantly evolving. This copy represents
130 the state at the release of version &p-version;.
131 You can find the latest version of the document at <ulink
132 url="http://www.privoxy.org/faq/">http://www.privoxy.org/faq/</ulink>.
133 Please see the <link linkend="contact">Contact section</link> if you want to
134 contact the developers.
138 <!-- Feel free to send a note to the developers at <email>ijbswa-developers@lists.sourceforge.net</email>. -->
144 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
146 <sect1 id="general"><title>General Information</title>
148 <sect2 renderas="sect3" id="newjb"><title>What is this new version of <application>Privoxy</application>?</title>
150 <!-- Include history.sgml -->
157 <sect2 renderas="sect3">
158 <title id="whyprivoxy">Why <quote>Privoxy</quote>? Why a name change at all?</title>
160 <application>Privoxy</application> is the
161 <quote><emphasis>Privacy Enhancing Proxy</emphasis></quote>. Also, its content
162 modification and junk suppression allow you to browse your
163 <quote><emphasis>private</emphasis> edition</quote> of the web.
166 <ulink url="http://junkbusters.com/">Junkbusters Corporation</ulink>
167 continues to offer their original version of the <application>Internet
168 Junkbuster</application>, so publishing our
169 <application> Junkbuster</application>-derived software under the same name
173 There are also potential legal complications from the continued use of the
174 <application>Junkbuster</application> name, which is a registered trademark of
175 <ulink url="http://junkbusters.com/">Junkbusters Corporation</ulink>.
176 There are, however, no objections from Junkbusters Corporation to the
177 <application>Privoxy</application> project itself, and they, in fact, still
178 share our ideals and goals.
181 The developers also believed that there are so many changes from the original
182 code, that it was time to make a clean break from the past and make
183 a name in their own right<![%p-not-stable;[, especially now with the pending
184 release of version 3.0]]>.
189 <sect2 renderas="sect3" id="differs"><title>How does <application>Privoxy</application> differ
190 from the old <application>Junkbuster?</application></title>
192 <application>Privoxy</application> picks up where
193 <application>Junkbuster</application> left off. All the old features remain.
194 The new <application>Privoxy</application> still blocks ads and banners,
195 still manages cookies, and still helps protect your privacy. But, these are
196 all enhanced, and many new features have been added, all in the same vein.
199 The configuration has changed significantly as well. This is something that
200 users will notice right off the bat if upgrading from
201 <application>Junkbuster</application> 2.0.x. The <quote>blocklist</quote>
202 <quote>cookielist</quote>, <quote>imagelist</quote> and much more has been
203 combined into the <quote>actions</quote> files, with a completely different
204 syntax. See the <ulink url="../user-manual/upgradersnote.html">note to
205 upgraders</ulink> for details.
208 <application>Privoxy</application>'s new features include:
211 <!-- Include newfeatures.sgml: -->
217 <sect2 renderas="sect3" id="proxymoron"><title>What is a <quote>proxy</quote>? How does
218 <application>Privoxy</application> work? </title>
220 A web proxy is a service, based on a software such as <application>Privoxy</application>,
221 that clients (i.e. browsers) can use instead of connecting directly to the web
222 servers on the Internet. The clients then ask the proxy to fetch the objects
223 they need (web pages, images, movies etc) on their behalf, and when the proxy
224 has done so, it hands the results back to the client.
227 There are many reasons to use web proxies, such as security (firewalling),
228 efficiency (caching) and others, and there are just as many different proxies
229 to accommodate those needs.
232 <application>Privoxy</application> is a proxy that is solely focused on privacy
233 protection and junk elimination. Sitting between your browser(s) and the Internet,
234 it is in a perfect position to filter outbound personal information that your
235 browser is leaking, as well as inbound junk. It uses a variety of techniques to do
236 this, all of which are under your control via the various configuration
242 <sect2 renderas="sect3" id="whatsanad">
243 <title id="knows">How does <application>Privoxy</application> know what is
244 an ad, and what is not?</title>
246 <application>Privoxy</application>'s approach to blocking ads is twofold:
249 First, there are certain patterns in the <emphasis>locations</emphasis> (URLs)
250 of banner images. This applies to both the path (you wouldn't guess how many
251 web sites serve their banners from a directory called <quote>banners</quote>!)
252 and the host (blocking the big banner hosting services like doublecklick.net
253 already helps a lot). <application>Privoxy</application> takes advantage of this
254 fact by using <ulink url="../user-manual/actions-file.html#AF-PATTERNS">URL
255 patterns</ulink> to sort out and block the requests for banners.
258 Second, banners tend to come in certain <emphasis>sizes</emphasis>. But you
259 can't tell the size of an image by its URL without downloading it, and if you
260 do, it's too late to save bandwidth. Therefore, <application>Privoxy</application>
261 also inspects the HTML sources of web pages while they are loaded, and replaces
262 references to images with standard banner sizes by dummy references, so that
263 your browser doesn't request them anymore in the first place.
266 Both of this involves a certain amount of guesswork and is, of course, freely
271 <sect2 renderas="sect3">
272 <title id="mistakes">Can <application>Privoxy</application> make mistakes?
273 This does not sound very scientific.</title>
275 Actually, it's a black art ;-) And yes, it is always possible to have a broad
276 rule accidentally block or change something by mistake. There is a good chance
277 you may run into such a situation at some point. It is tricky writing rules to
278 cover every conceivable possibility, and not occasionally get false positives.
282 But this should not be a big concern since the
283 <application>Privoxy</application> configuration is very flexible, and
284 includes tools to help identify these types of situations so they can be
285 addressed as needed, allowing you to customize your installation.
286 (<link linkend="badsite">See the Troubleshooting section below</link>.)
292 <sect2 renderas="sect3" id="browsers2"><title>My browser does the same things as
293 <application>Privoxy</application>. Why should I use
294 <application>Privoxy</application> at all?</title>
296 Modern browsers do indeed have <emphasis>some</emphasis> of the same
297 functionality as <application>Privoxy</application>. Maybe this is
298 adequate for you. But <application>Privoxy</application> is much more
299 versatile and powerful, and can do a number of things that browsers just can't.
302 In addition, a proxy is good choice if you use multiple browsers, or
303 have a LAN with multiple computers. This way all the configuration
304 is in one place, and you don't have to maintain a similar configuration
305 for possibly many browsers.
311 <sect2 renderas="sect3" id="license"><title>Is there is a license or fee? What about a
312 warranty? Registration?</title>
314 <application>Privoxy</application> is licensed under the <ulink
315 url="http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html">GNU General Public License (GPL)</ulink>.
316 It is free to use, copy, modify or distribute as you wish under the terms of this
317 license. Please see the <link linkend="copyright">Copyright</link> section for more
318 information on the license and copyright. Or the <filename>LICENSE</filename> file
319 that should be included.
322 There is <emphasis>no warranty</emphasis> of any kind, expressed, implied or otherwise.
323 That is something that would cost real money ;-) There is no registration either.
324 <application>Privoxy</application> really is <emphasis>free</emphasis>
330 <sect2 renderas="sect3" id="jointeam"><title>I would like to help you, what do I do?</title>
332 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="jointeam-money"><title>Money Money Money</title>
334 We, of course, welcome donations and could use money for domain registering,
335 buying software to test <application>Privoxy</application> with, and, of course,
336 for regular world-wide get-togethers (hahaha). If you enjoy the software and feel
337 like helping us with a donation, just <ulink
338 url="mailto:developers@privoxy.org">drop us a note</ulink>.
342 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="jointeam-software"><title>Software</title>
344 If you are a vendor of a web-related software like a browser, web server
345 or proxy, and would like us to ensure that <application>Privoxy</application>
346 runs smoothly with your product, you might consider supplying us with a
347 copy or license. We can't, however, guarantee that we will fix all potential
348 compatibility issues as a result.
352 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="jointeam-work"><title>You want to work with us?</title>
354 Well, helping the team is always a good idea. We welcome new developers,
355 packaging gurus or documentation writers. Simply <ulink
356 url="https://sourceforge.net/account/register.php">get an account on SourceForge.net</ulink>
357 and mail your id to the <ulink url="mailto:developers@privoxy.org">developers
358 mailing list</ulink>. Then read the <ulink
359 url="../developer-manual/index.html">Developer's Manual</ulink>.
362 Once we have added you to the team, you'll have write access to the <ulink
363 url="http://sourceforge.net/cvs/?group_id=11118">CVS repository</ulink>, and
364 together we'll find a suitable task for you.
373 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
375 <sect1 id="installation"><title>Installation</title>
377 <sect2 renderas="sect3" id="whichbrowsers">
378 <title>Which browsers are supported by <application>Privoxy</application>?</title>
380 Any browser that can be configured to use a proxy, which
381 should be virtually all browsers. Direct browser support is not necessary
382 since <application>Privoxy</application> runs as a separate application and
383 talks to the browser in the standardized HTTP protocol, just like a web server
388 <sect2 renderas="sect3" id="whichos">
389 <title>Which operating systems are supported?</title>
391 Include supported.sgml here:
396 <sect2 renderas="sect3" id="newinstall"><title>Can I install
397 <application>Privoxy</application> over <application>Junkbuster</application>?</title>
399 We recommend you un-install <application>Junkbuster</application>
400 first to minimize conflicts and confusion. You may want to
401 save your old configuration files for future reference. The configuration
402 files and syntax have substantially changed, so you will need to manually
403 port your old patterns. See the <ulink url="../user-manual/upgradersnote.html">note
404 to upgraders</ulink> and <ulink url="../user-manual/installation.html">installation
405 chapter</ulink> in the <ulink url="../user-manual/index.html">user manual</ulink>
409 Note: Some installers may automatically un-install
410 <application>Junkbuster</application>, if present!
415 <sect2 renderas="sect3">
416 <title id="firststep">I just installed <application>Privoxy</application>. Is there anything
417 special I have to do now?</title>
420 All browsers must be told to use <application>Privoxy</application>
421 as a proxy by specifying the correct proxy address and port number
422 in the appropriate configuration area for the browser. See below.
423 You should also flush your browser's memory and disk cache to get rid of any
431 <sect2 renderas="sect3" id="localhost"><title>What is the proxy address of <application>Privoxy</application>?</title>
433 If you set up the <application>Privoxy</application> to run on
434 the computer you browse from (rather than your ISP's server or some
435 networked computer on a LAN), the proxy will be on <literal>127.0.0.1</literal>
436 (sometimes referred to as <quote>localhost</quote>,
437 which is the special name used by every computer on the Internet to refer
438 to itself) and the port will be 8118 (unless you have <application>Privoxy</application>
439 to run on a different port with the <ulink
440 url="../user-manual/config.html#LISTEN-ADDRESS">listen-address</ulink> config option).
443 When configuring your browser's proxy settings you typically enter
444 the word <quote>localhost</quote> or the IP address <quote>127.0.0.1</quote>
445 in the boxes next to <quote>HTTP</quote> and <quote>Secure</quote> (HTTPS) and
446 then the number <quote>8118</quote> for <quote>port</quote>.
447 This tells your browser to send all web requests to <application>Privoxy</application>
448 instead of directly to the Internet.
451 <application>Privoxy</application> can also be used to proxy for
452 a Local Area Network. In this case, your would enter either the IP
453 address of the LAN host where <application>Privoxy</application>
454 is running, or the equivalent hostname. Port assignment would be
455 same as above. Note that <application>Privoxy</application> doesn't
456 listen on any LAN interfaces by default.
459 <application>Privoxy</application> does not currently handle
460 protocols such as FTP, SMTP, IM, IRC, ICQ, or other Internet
465 <sect2 renderas="sect3" id="nothing">
466 <title>I just installed <application>Privoxy</application>, and nothing is happening.
467 All the ads are there. What's wrong?</title>
470 Did you configure your browser to use <application>Privoxy</application>
471 as a proxy? It does not sound like it. See above. You might also try flushing
472 the browser's caches to force a full re-reading of pages. You can verify
473 that <application>Privoxy</application> is running, and your browser
474 is correctly configured by entering the special URL:
475 <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/">http://config.privoxy.org/</ulink>.
476 This should take you to a page titled <quote>This is Privoxy..</quote> with
477 access to <application>Privoxy's</application> internal configuration.
478 If you see this, then you are good to go. If you receive a page saying
479 <quote>Privoxy is not running</quote>, then the browser is not set up to use
480 your <application>Privoxy</application> installation.
481 If you receive anything else (probably nothing at all), it could either
482 be that the browser is not set up correctly, or that
483 <application>Privoxy</application> is not running at all. Check the <ulink
484 url="../user-manual/config.html#LOGFILE">log file</ulink>.
492 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
494 <sect1 id="configuration"><title>Configuration</title>
496 <sect2 renderas="sect3" id="getupdates"><title>Where can I get updated Actions Files?</title>
498 Based on your feedback and the continuing development, updated actions files will be
499 made available on the <ulink
500 url="http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=11118">files section</ulink> of
501 our <ulink url="http://sf.net/projects/ijbswa/">project page</ulink>.
505 If you wish to receive an email notification whenever we release updates of
506 <application>Privoxy</application> or the actions file, <ulink
507 url="http://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/ijbswa-announce/">subscribe
508 to our announce mailing list</ulink>, ijbswa-announce@lists.sourceforge.net.
513 <sect2 renderas="sect3" id="newconfig"><title>Can I use my old config files?</title>
515 The syntax, number, and purpose of configuration files has substantially
516 changed from <application>Junkbuster</application> and earlier versions
517 of <application>Privoxy</application>. The old files, like <filename>blocklist</filename>
518 will not work at all. If you are upgrading from a 2.0.x version, you will
519 need to port your configuration data to the new format. Note that even the
520 pattern syntax has changed! Even configuration files from the 2.9.x versions
521 will need to be adapted, as configuration syntax has been very much in flow
526 <sect2 renderas="sect3">
527 <title id="actionsfile">What is an <quote>actions</quote> file?</title>
530 <ulink url="../user-manual/actions-file.html">Actions files</ulink>
531 are where various <ulink url="../user-manual/actions-file.html#ACTIONS">actions</ulink>
532 that <application>Privoxy</application> might take while processing a certain
533 request, are configured. Typically, you would define a set of default actions
534 that apply to all URLs, then add exceptions to these defaults where needed.
538 Actions can be defined on a <ulink
539 url="../user-manual/actions-file.html#AF-PATTERNS">URL pattern</ulink> basis, i.e.
540 for single URLs, whole web sites, groups or parts thereof etc. Actions can also be
541 grouped together and then applied to requests matching one or more patterns.
542 There are many possible actions that might apply to any given site. As an example,
543 if you are blocking cookies as one of your default actions, but need to accept
544 cookies from a given site, you would need to define an exception for this
545 site in one of your actions files, preferably in <filename>user.action</filename>
550 <sect2 renderas="sect3" id="actionss">
551 <title>The <quote>actions</quote> concept confuses me. Please list
552 some of these <quote>actions</quote>.</title>
554 For a comprehensive discussion of the actions concept, please refer
555 to the <ulink url="../user-manual/actions-file.html">actions file
556 chapter</ulink> in the <ulink url="../user-manual/index.html">user
557 manual</ulink>. It includes a <ulink
558 url="../user-manual/actions-file.html#ACTIONS">list of all actions</ulink>
559 and an <ulink url="../user-manual/actions-file.html#ACT-EXAMPLES">actions
560 file tutorial</ulink> to get you started.
565 <sect2 renderas="sect3">
566 <title id="actconfig">How are actions files configured? What is the easiest
567 way to do this?</title>
570 Actions files are just text files in a special syntax and can be edited
571 with a text editor. But probably the easiest way is to access
572 <application>Privoxy</application>'s user interface with your web browser
573 at <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/">http://config.privoxy.org/</ulink>
574 (Shortcut: <ulink url="http://p.p/">http://p.p/</ulink>) and then select
575 <quote><ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status">View &
576 change the current configuration</ulink></quote> from the menu.
581 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
582 <sect2 renderas="sect3">
583 <title>There are several different <quote>actions</quote> files. What are
584 the differences?</title>
586 As of <application>Privoxy</application> v2.9.15, three actions files
587 are being included, to be used for
588 different purposes: These are
589 <filename>default.action</filename>, the <quote>main</quote> actions file
590 which is actively maintained by the <application>Privoxy</application>
591 developers, <filename>user.action</filename>, where users are encouraged
592 to make their private customizations, and <filename>standard.action</filename>,
593 which is for internal <application>Privoxy</application> use only.
594 Please see <ulink url="../user-manual/actions-file.html">the actions chapter</ulink>
595 in the <ulink url="../user-manual/index.html">user manual</ulink> for a more
596 detailed explanation.
600 Earlier versions included three different versions of the
601 <filename>default.action</filename> file. The new scheme allows for
602 greater flexibility of local configuration, and for browser based
603 selection of pre-defined <quote>aggressiveness</quote> levels.
608 <sect2 renderas="sect3" id="yahoo"><title>How can I make my Yahoo/Hotmail/GMX account work?</title>
610 The default configuration shouldn't impact the usability of any of these services.
611 It will, however, make all cookies temporary, so that your browser will forget your
612 login credentials in between browser sessions. If you would like not to have to log
613 in manually each time you access those websites, simply turn off all cookie handling
614 for them in the <filename>user.action</filename> file. An example for yahoo might
618 <screen># Allow all cookies for Yahoo login:
620 { -<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> }
621 .login.yahoo.com</screen>
626 <sect2 renderas="sect3" id="configfiles"> <title>What's the difference between the
627 <quote>Cautious</quote>, <quote>Medium</quote> and <quote>Radical</quote> defaults?</title>
629 Configuring <application>Privoxy</application> is not entirely trivial. To
630 help you get started, we provide you with three different default action
631 <quote>profiles</quote> in the web based actions file editor at <ulink
632 url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status">http://config.privoxy.org/show-status</ulink>.
633 The following table shows you, which of the most important features are
634 enabled in each configuration:
637 <table frame=all><title>Default Configurations</title>
638 <tgroup cols=4 align=left colsep=1 rowsep=1>
645 <entry>Feature</entry>
646 <entry>Cautious</entry>
647 <entry>Intermadiate</entry>
648 <entry>Radical</entry>
653 <!-- <entry>f1</entry> -->
654 <!-- <entry>f2</entry> -->
655 <!-- <entry>f3</entry> -->
656 <!-- <entry>f4</entry> -->
662 <entry>Ad-blocking by URL</entry>
669 <entry>Ad-filtering by size</entry>
676 <entry>GIF de-animation</entry>
683 <entry>Referer forging</entry>
690 <entry>Cookie handling</entry>
692 <entry>session-only</entry>
697 <entry>Pop-up killing</entry>
704 <entry>Fast redirects</entry>
711 <entry>HTML taming</entry>
718 <entry>JavaScript taming</entry>
725 <entry>Web-bug killing</entry>
732 <entry>Fun text replacements</entry>
739 <entry>Image tag reordering</entry>
746 <entry>Ad-filtering by link</entry>
753 <entry>Demoronizer</entry>
765 Where the defaults are likely to break some sites, exceptions for
766 known popular <quote>problem</quote> sites are included, but in
767 general, the more aggressive your default settings are, the more
768 exceptions you will have to make later. See the <ulink
769 url="../user-manual/index.html">user manual</ulink> for a more
774 It should be noted that the <quote>Radical</quote> profile is not only more
775 aggressive, but also includes fun and, extreme usage of most of
776 <application>Privoxy's</application> features. Use at your own risk!
781 <sect2 renderas="sect3" id="browseconfig"> <title>Why can I change the configuration
782 with a browser? Does that not raise security issues?</title>
784 It may seem strange that regular users can edit the config files with their
785 browsers, although the whole <filename>/etc/privoxy</filename> hierarchy
786 belongs to the user <quote>privoxy</quote>, with only 644 permissions.
789 When you use the browser-based editor, <application>Privoxy</application>
790 itself is writing to the config files. Because
791 <application>Privoxy</application> is running as the user <quote>privoxy</quote>,
792 it can update the config files.
795 If you run <application>Privoxy</application> for multiple untrusted users (e.g. in
796 a LAN), you will probably want to turn the web-based editor and remote toggle
797 features off by setting <quote><literal><ulink
798 url="../user-manual/config.html#ENABLE-EDIT-ACTIONS">enable-edit-actions</ulink>
799 0</literal></quote> and <quote><literal><ulink
800 url="../user-manual/config.html#ENABLE-REMOTE-TOGGLE">enable-remote-toggle</ulink>
801 0</literal></quote> in the <ulink url="../user-manual/config.html">main configuration file</ulink>.
804 Note that in the default configuration, only local users (i.e. those on
805 <quote>localhost</quote>) can connect to <application>Privoxy</application>,
806 so this is not (normally) a security problem.
811 <sect2 renderas="sect3">
812 <title id="filterfile">What is the <filename>default.filter</filename> file? What is a <quote>filter</quote>?</title>
814 The <ulink url="../user-manual/filter-file.html"><filename>default.filter</filename></ulink>
815 file is where <emphasis>filters</emphasis> are defined, which can be used to modify or
816 remove, web page content on the fly. Filters apply to <emphasis>anything</emphasis>
817 in the page source, including HTML tags, and JavaScript. Regular expressions are used
818 to accomplish this. There are a number of pre-defined filters to deal with common
819 annoyances. The filters are only defined here, to invoke them, you need to use the
821 url="../user-manual/actions-file.html#FILTER"><literal>filter</literal>
822 action</ulink> in one of the actions files. Filtering is automatically
823 disabled for inappropriate MIME types.
827 If you are familiar with regular expressions, and HTML, you can look at
828 the provided <filename>default.filter</filename> with a text editor and define
829 your own filters. This is potentially a very powerful feature, but
830 requires some expertise in both regular expressions and HTML/HTTP.
834 Presently, there is no GUI editor option for this part of the configuration,
835 but you can disable/enable the various pre-defined filters of the included
836 <filename>default.filter</filename> file with the <ulink
837 url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status">web-based actions file editor</ulink>.
842 <sect2 renderas="sect3">
843 <title id="lanconfig">How can I set up <application>Privoxy</application> to act as a proxy for my
846 By default, <application>Privoxy</application> only responds to requests
847 from <literal>127.0.0.1</literal> (localhost). To have it act as a server for
848 a network, this needs to be changed in the <ulink
849 url="../user-manual/config.html">main configuration file</ulink>. Look for
851 url="../user-manual/config.html#LISTEN-ADDRESS">listen-address</ulink></literal>
852 option, which may be commented out with a <quote>#</quote> symbol. Make sure
853 it is uncommented, and assign it the address of the LAN gateway interface,
854 and port number to use. Assuming your LAN address is 192.168.1.1 and you
855 wish to run <application>Privoxy</application> on port 8118, this line
861 listen-address 192.168.1.1:8118</screen>
865 Save the file, and restart <application>Privoxy</application>. Configure
866 all browsers on the network then to use this address and port number.
870 Alternately, you can have <application>Privoxy</application> listen on
871 all available interfaces:
876 listen-address :8118</screen>
880 And then use <application>Privoxy's</application>
882 url="../user-manual/config.html#PERMIT-ACCESS">permit-access</ulink>
883 feature to limit connections. A firewall in this situation is recommended
888 The above steps should be the same for any TCP network, regardless of
893 If you run <application>Privoxy</application> on a LAN with untrusted users,
894 we recommend that you double-check the <ulink
895 url="../user-manual/config.html#ACCESS-CONTROL">access control and security</ulink>
902 <sect2 renderas="sect3">
903 <title id="noseeum">Instead of ads, now I get a checkerboard pattern. I don't want to see anything.</title>
905 The replacement for blocked images can be controlled with the <ulink
906 url="../user-manual/actions-file.html#SET-IMAGE-BLOCKER"><literal>set-image-blocker</literal>
907 action</ulink>. You have the choice of a checkerboard pattern, a transparent 1x1 GIF
908 image (aka <quote>blank</quote>), or a redirect to a custom image of your choice.
909 Note that this choice only has effect for images which are blocked as images, i.e.
910 whose URLs match both a <literal><ulink
911 url="../user-manual/actions-file.html#HANDLE-AS-IMAGE">handle-as-image</ulink></literal>
912 <emphasis>and</emphasis> <literal><ulink
913 url="../user-manual/actions-file.html#BLOCK">block</ulink></literal> action.
916 If you want to see nothing, then change the <ulink
917 url="../user-manual/actions-file.html#SET-IMAGE-BLOCKER"><literal>set-image-blocker</literal>
918 action</ulink> to <quote>blank</quote>. This can be done by editing the
919 <filename>default.action</filename> file, or trough the <ulink
920 url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status">web-based actions file editor</ulink>.
925 <sect2 renderas="sect3">
926 <title id="whyseeum">Why would anybody want to see a checkerboard pattern?</title>
928 Remember that <link linkend="whatsanad">telling which image is an ad and which
929 isn't</link>, is mostly guesswork. While we hope that the standard configuration
930 is rather smart, it can and will make errors. The checkerboard image is visually
931 decent, but it shows you that and where images were blocked, which can be very
932 helpful in case some navigation aid or otherwise innocent image was
933 erraneously blocked. Some people might also enjoy seeing how many banners
934 they <emphasis>don't</emphasis> have to see..
939 <!-- This has changed with the adaptive "blocked" page
941 <sect2 renderas="sect3">
942 <title id="blockedisugly">I see large red banners on some pages that say
943 <quote>Blocked</quote>. Why and how do I get rid of this?</title>
945 These are URLs that match something in one of
946 <application>Privoxy's</application> block actions
948 url="../user-manual/actions-file.html#BLOCK"><quote>+block</quote></ulink>).
949 It is meant to be a warning so that you know something has been blocked and
950 an easy way for you to see why. These are handled differently than what has
951 been defined explicitly as <quote>images</quote> (e.g. ads that are GIF image
952 files). Depending on the URL itself, it is sometimes hard for
953 <application>Privoxy</application> to really know whether there is indeed an
954 ad image there or not. And there are limitations as to what
955 <application>Privoxy</application> can do to <quote>fool</quote> the
960 For instance, if the ad is in a frame, then it is embedded in the separate
961 HTML page used for the frame. In this case, you cannot just substitute an
962 aribitrary image (like we would for a <quote>blank</quote> image), for an HTML
963 page. The browser is expecting an HTML page, and that is what it must have
964 for frames. Such situations can be a little trickier to deal with, and
965 <application>Privoxy</application> may show the <quote>Blocked</quote> page,
966 despite your best efforts.
970 If you want these to be treated as if they were images, so that they can be
971 made invisible, you can try moving the offending URL from the
972 <quote>+block</quote> section to the <quote>+imageblock</quote> section of
973 your actions file. Just be forewarned, if any URL is made
974 <quote>invisible</quote>, you may not have any inkling that something has
975 been removed from that page, or why. If this approach does not work, then you are
976 probably dealing with a frame (or <quote>ilayer</quote>), and the only thing
977 that can go there is an HTML page of some sort.
980 To deal with this situation, you could modify the
981 <quote><filename>block</filename></quote> HTML template that is used by
982 <application>Privoxy</application> to display this, and make it something
983 more to your liking. Currently, there is no configuration option for this.
984 You will have to modify, or create your own page, and use this to replace
985 <filename>templates/blocked</filename>, which is what
986 <application>Privoxy</application> uses to display the <quote>Blocked</quote>
990 Another way to deal with this is find why and where
991 <application>Privoxy</application> is blocking the frame, and
992 diable this. Then let the <quote>+set-image-blocker</quote> action
993 handle the ad that is embedded in the frame's HTML page.
998 <sect2 renderas="sect3" id="alliseeisred">
999 <title>I cannot see all of the <quote>Blocked</quote> page banner. Help.</title>
1001 There is not enough available space to fit the entire Blocked page. Try right
1002 clicking on the visible portion, and select <quote>Show Frame</quote>,
1003 or equivalent. This will usually allow you to see the entire Privoxy
1004 <quote>Blocked</quote> page, and from there you can see just what is being
1008 As of Privoxy 2.9.14, the Blocked banner page is re-sizeable, and tries
1009 to adjust to the allotted space. There may be occassions where there
1010 just isn't enough room to display much of anything useful though.
1017 <sect2 renderas="sect3">
1018 <title id="blockedbytext">I see some images being replaced by a text
1019 instead of the checkerboard image. Why and how do I get rid of this?</title>
1021 This happens when the banners are not embedded in the HTML code of the
1022 page itself, but in separate HTML (sub)documents that are loaded into (i)frames
1023 or (i)layers, and these external HTML documents are blocked. Being non-images
1024 they get replaced by a substitute HTML page rather than a substitute image,
1025 which wouldn't work out technically, since the browser expects and accepts
1026 only HTML when it has requested an HTML document.
1029 The substitute page adapts to the available space and shows itself as a
1030 miniature two-liner if loaded into small frames, or full-blown with a
1031 large red "BLOCKED" banner if space allows.
1034 If you prefer the banners to be blocked by images, you must see to it that
1035 the HTML documents in which they are embedded are not blocked. Clicking
1036 the <quote>See why</quote> link offered in the substitute page will show
1037 you which rule blocked the page. After changing the rule and un-blocking
1038 the HTML documents, the browser will try to load the actual banner images
1039 and the usual image blocking will (hopefully!) kick in.
1044 <sect2 renderas="sect3" id="srvany">
1045 <title>Can <application>Privoxy</application> run as a service
1046 on Win2K/NT?</title>
1048 Yes, it can run as a system service using <command>srvany.exe</command>.
1049 See the discussion at <ulink
1050 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>,
1051 for details, and a sample configuration.
1054 Version 3.0.1 fixes the problem where the icon and menu where not available
1055 in the taskbar for this usage.
1060 <sect2 renderas="sect3" id="otherproxy">
1061 <title>How can I make <application>Privoxy</application> work with other
1062 proxies like <application>Squid</application>?</title>
1064 This can be done and is often useful to combine the benefits of
1065 <application>Privoxy</application> with those of a caching proxy.
1067 url="../user-manual/config.html#FORWARDING">forwarding chapter</ulink>
1068 in the <ulink url="../user-manual/index.html">user manual</ulink> which
1069 describes how to do this.
1073 <sect2 renderas="sect3" id="port-80">
1074 <title>Can I just set <application>Privoxy</application> to use port 80
1075 and thus avoid individual browser configuration?</title>
1078 No, its more complicated than that. This only works with special kinds
1079 of proxies known as <quote>transparent</quote> proxies (see below).
1084 <sect2 renderas="sect3" id="transparent">
1085 <title>Can <application>Privoxy</application> run as a <quote>transparent
1086 </quote> proxy?</title>
1088 No, <application>Privoxy</application> currently does not have this ability,
1089 though it is planned for a future release. Transparent proxies require
1090 special handling of the request headers beyond what
1091 <application>Privoxy</application> is now capable of.
1095 Chaining <application>Privoxy</application> behind another proxy that has
1096 this ability should work though.
1098 url="../user-manual/config.html#FORWARDING">forwarding chapter</ulink>
1099 in the <ulink url="../user-manual/index.html">user manual</ulink>. As
1100 a transparent proxy to be used for chaining we recommend Transproxy
1101 (<ulink url="http://www.transproxy.nlc.net.au/">http://www.transproxy.nlc.net.au/</ulink>).
1108 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
1111 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1113 <sect1 id="misc"><title>Miscellaneous</title>
1115 <sect2 renderas="sect3">
1116 <title id="slowsme">How much does <application>Privoxy</application> slow my browsing down? This
1117 has to add extra time to browsing.</title>
1119 It should not slow you down any in real terms, and may actually help
1120 speed things up since ads, banners and other junk are not being displayed.
1121 The actual processing time required by <application>Privoxy</application>
1122 itself for each page, is relatively small in the overall scheme of things,
1123 and happens very quickly. This is typically more than offset by time saved
1124 not downloading and rendering ad images.
1128 <quote>Filtering</quote> content via the <literal><ulink
1129 url="../user-manual/actions-file.html#FILTER">filter</ulink></literal> or
1131 url="../user-manual/actions-file.html#DEANIMATE-GIFS">deanimate-gifs</ulink></literal>
1132 actions may cause a perceived slowdown, since the entire document needs to be buffered
1133 before displaying. See below.
1139 <sect2 renderas="sect3" id="loadingtimes"><title>I noticed considerable
1140 delays in page requests compared to the old Junkbuster. What's wrong?</title>
1142 If you use any <literal><ulink
1143 url="../user-manual/actions-file.html#FILTER">filter</ulink></literal> action,
1144 such as filtering banners by size, web-bugs etc, or the <literal><ulink
1145 url="../user-manual/actions-file.html#DEANIMATE-GIFS">deanimate-gifs</ulink></literal>
1146 action, the entire document must be loaded into memory in order for the filtering
1147 mechanism to work, and nothing is sent to the browser during this time.
1150 The loading time does not really change in real numbers, but the feeling is
1151 different, because most browsers are able to start rendering incomplete
1152 content, giving the user a feeling of "it works". This effect is especially
1153 noticeable on slow dialup connections.
1156 Filtering is automatically disabled for inappropriate MIME types.
1162 <sect2 renderas="sect3" id="configurl"><title>What are "http://config.privoxy.org/" and
1163 "http://p.p/"?</title>
1165 <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/">http://config.privoxy.org/</ulink> is the
1166 address of <application>Privoxy</application>'s built-in user interface, and
1167 <ulink url="http://p.p/">http://p.p/</ulink> is a shortcut for it.
1170 Since <application>Privoxy</application> sits between your web browser and the Internet,
1171 it can simply intercept requests for these addresses and answer them with its built-in
1172 <quote>web server</quote>.
1175 This also makes for a good test for your browser configuration: If entering the
1176 URL <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/">http://config.privoxy.org/</ulink>
1177 takes you to a page saying <quote>This is Privoxy..</quote>, everything is OK.
1178 If you get a page saying <quote>Privoxy is not working</quote> instead, then
1179 your browser didn't use <application>Privoxy</application> for the request,
1180 hence it could not be intercepted, and you have accessed the <emphasis>real</emphasis>
1181 web site at config.privoxy.org.
1184 With recent versions of <application>Privoxy</application> (version 2.9.x and
1185 later), the user interface features information on the run time status, the
1186 configuration, and even a built-in editor for the <ulink
1187 url="../user-manual/actions-file.html">actions files</ulink>.
1191 Note that the built-in URLs from earlier versions of <application>Junkbuster</application>
1192 / <application>Privoxy</application>, http://example.com/show-proxy-args and http://i.j.b/,
1193 are no longer supported. If you still use such an old version, you should really consider
1194 upgrading to &p-version;.
1199 FIXME: commented out until we have data. HB 03/18/02.
1201 <sect2 renderas="sect3" id="badfiledesc"><title>I get the message 'Bad File Descriptor', why?</title>
1209 <sect2 renderas="sect3" id="blocklist"><title>Do you still maintain the blocklists?</title>
1211 No. The patterns for blocking now reside (among other things) in the <ulink
1212 url="../user-manual/actions-file.html">actions files</ulink>, which are
1213 actively maintained instead. See next question ...
1217 <sect2 renderas="sect3" id="newads"><title>How can I submit new ads?</title>
1219 Yes, absolutely! Please see the <link linkend="contact">Contact section</link> for
1220 how to do that. Please note that you (technically) need the latest
1221 <application>Privoxy</application> version for this to work.
1226 <sect2 renderas="sect3" id="ip"><title>How can I hide my IP address?</title>
1228 If you run both the browser and the proxy locally, you cannot hide your IP
1229 address with <application>Privoxy</application> or any other software. The
1230 server needs to know your IP address to send the answers back to you.
1233 Fortunately there are many publicly usable anonymous proxies out there, which
1234 solve the problem by providing a further level of indirection between you and
1235 the web server, shared by many people, and thus letting your requests "drown"
1236 in white noise of unrelated requests as far as user tracking is concerned.
1239 Most of them will, however, log your IP address and make it available to the
1240 authorities in case you abuse that anonymity for criminal purposes. In fact
1241 you can't even rule out that some of them only exist to *collect* information
1242 on (those suspicious) people with a more than average preference for privacy.
1245 You can find a list of anonymous public proxies at <ulink
1246 url="http://www.multiproxy.org/anon_list.htm">multiproxy.org</ulink> and many
1247 more through Google. A particularly interesting project is the JAP service
1248 offered by the Technical University of Dresden (<ulink
1249 url="http://anon.inf.tu-dresden.de/index_en.html">http://anon.inf.tu-dresden.de/index_en.html</ulink>.
1252 There is, however, even in the single-machine case the possibility to make the
1253 server believe that your machine is in fact a shared proxy serving a whole big
1254 LAN, and we are looking into that.
1258 <sect2 renderas="sect3">
1259 <title id="anonforsure">Can <application>Privoxy</application> guarantee I am anonymous?</title>
1261 No. Your chances of remaining anonymous are greatly improved, but unless you
1262 are an expert on Internet security it would be safest to assume that
1263 everything you do on the Web can be traced back to you.
1266 <application>Privoxy</application> can remove various information about you,
1267 and allows <emphasis>you</emphasis> more freedom to decide which sites
1268 you can trust, and what details you want to reveal. But it's still possible
1269 that web sites can find out who you are. Here's one way this can happen.
1272 A few browsers disclose the user's email address in certain situations, such
1273 as when transferring a file by FTP. <application>Privoxy</application>
1274 does not filter FTP. If you need this feature, or are concerned about the
1275 mail handler of your browser disclosing your email address, you might
1276 consider products such as <application>NSClean</application>.
1279 Browsers available only as binaries could use non-standard headers to give
1280 out any information they can have access to: see the manufacturer's license
1281 agreement. It's impossible to anticipate and prevent every breach of privacy
1282 that might occur. The professionally paranoid prefer browsers available as
1283 source code, because anticipating their behavior is easier. Trust the source,
1289 <sect2 renderas="sect3">
1290 <title id="sitebreak">Might some things break because header information or
1291 content is being altered?</title>
1294 Definitely. More and more sites use HTTP header content to decide what to
1295 display and how to display it. There is many ways that this can be handled,
1296 so having hard and fast rules, is tricky.
1300 <quote>User-Agent</quote> in particular is often used in this way to identify
1301 the browser, and adjust content accordingly. Changing this now (at least not
1302 further than removing the OS information) is not recommended, since so many
1303 sites do look for it. You may get undesirable results by changing this.
1307 For instance, different browsers use different encodings of Russian and Czech
1308 characters, certain web servers convert pages on-the-fly according to the
1309 User Agent header. Giving a <quote>User Agent</quote> with the wrong
1310 operating system or browser manufacturer causes some sites in these languages
1311 to be garbled; Surfers to Eastern European sites should change it to
1312 something closer. And then some page access counters work by looking at the
1313 <quote>Referer</quote> header; they may fail or break if unavailable. The
1314 weather maps of Intellicast have been blocked by their server when no
1315 <quote>Referer</quote> or cookie is provided, is another example. (But you
1316 can forge both headers without giving information away). There are
1317 many other ways things can go wrong when trying to fool a web server.
1321 Similar thoughts apply to modifying JavaScript, and, to a lesser degree,
1326 If you have problems with a site, you will have to adjust your configuration
1327 accordingly. Cookies are probably the most likely adjustment that may
1328 be required, but by no means the only one.
1334 <sect2 renderas="sect3">
1335 <title id="caching">Can <application>Privoxy</application> act as a <quote>caching</quote> proxy to
1336 speed up web browsing?</title>
1338 No, it does not have this ability at all. You want something like
1339 <ulink url="http://www.squid-cache.org/">Squid</ulink> for this. And, yes,
1340 before you ask, <application>Privoxy</application> can co-exist
1341 with other kinds of proxies like <application>Squid</application>.
1342 See the <ulink url="../user-manual/config.html#FORWARDING">forwarding
1343 chapter</ulink> in the <ulink url="../user-manual/index.html">user
1344 manual</ulink> for details.
1348 <sect2 renderas="sect3">
1349 <title id="firewall">What about as a firewall? Can <application>Privoxy</application> protect me?</title>
1351 Not in the way you mean, or in the way a true firewall can.
1352 <application>Privoxy</application> can help protect your privacy, but not
1353 protect you from intrusion attempts. It is, of course, perfectly possible
1354 and recommended to use <emphasis>both</emphasis>.
1358 <!-- No longer needed
1359 <sect2 renderas="sect3">
1360 <title id="logo">The <application>Privoxy</application> logo that replaces ads is very blocky
1361 and ugly looking. Can't a better font be used?</title>
1364 This is not a font problem. The logo is an image that is created by
1365 <application>Privoxy</application> on the fly. So as to not waste
1366 memory, the image is rather small. The blockiness comes when the
1367 image is scaled to fill a largish area. There is not much to be done
1368 about this, other than to use one of the other
1369 <quote>imageblock</quote> directives: <emphasis>pattern</emphasis>,
1370 <emphasis>blank</emphasis>, or a URL of your choosing.
1373 Given the above problem, we have decided to remove the logo option entirely
1379 <sect2 renderas="sect3">
1380 <title id="wasted">I have large empty spaces / a checkerboard pattern now where
1381 ads used to be. Why?</title>
1383 It would be technically possible eliminate the banners in a way that frees
1384 their screen estate in many cases, by doing all banner blocking with filters,
1385 i.e. eliminating the whole image references from the HTML pages instead
1386 of letting them stay in, and blocking the resulting requests for the
1390 But this would consume considerable CPU resources, would likely destroy
1391 the layout of many web pages which rely on the banners consuming a certain
1392 amount of screen space, and would fail in other cases, where the screen space
1393 is reserved e.g. by tables anyway. Also, making the banners disappear without
1394 a visual trace complicates troubleshooting.
1397 So we won't support this in the default configuration, but you can of course
1398 define appropriate filters yourself.
1402 <sect2 renderas="sect3">
1403 <title id="ssl">How can <application>Privoxy</application> filter Secure (HTTPS) URLs?</title>
1405 Since secure HTTP connections are encrypted SSL sessions between your browser
1406 and the secure site, and are meant to be reliably <emphasis>secure</emphasis>,
1407 there is little that <application>Privoxy</application> can do but hand the raw
1408 gibberish data though from one end to the other unprocessed.
1411 The only exception to this is blocking by host patterns, as the client needs
1412 to tell <application>Privoxy</application> the name of the remote server,
1413 so that <application>Privoxy</application> can establish the connection.
1414 If that name matches a host-only pattern, the connection will be blocked.
1417 As far as ad blocking is concerned, this is less of a restriction than it may
1418 seem, since ad sources are often identifiable by the host name, and often
1419 the banners to be placed in an encrypted page come unencrypted nonetheless
1420 for efficiency reasons, which exposes them to the full power of
1421 <application>Privoxy</application>'s ad blocking.
1424 <quote>Content cookies</quote> (those that are embedded in the actual HTML or
1425 JS page content, see <literal><ulink
1426 url="../user-manual/actions-file.html#FILTER-CONTENT-COOKIES">filter{content-cookies}</ulink></literal>),
1427 in an SSL transaction will be impossible to block under these conditions.
1428 Fortunately, this does not seem to be a very common scenario since most
1429 cookies come by traditional means.
1434 <sect2 renderas="sect3">
1435 <title id="secure"><application>Privoxy</application> runs as a <quote>server</quote>. How
1436 secure is it? Do I need to take any special precautions?</title>
1438 There are no known exploits that might affect
1439 <application>Privoxy</application>. On Unix-like systems,
1440 <application>Privoxy</application> can run as a non-privileged
1441 user, which is how we recommend it be run. Also, by default
1442 <application>Privoxy</application> only listens to requests
1443 from <quote>localhost</quote> only. The server aspect of
1444 <application>Privoxy</application> is not itself directly exposed to the
1445 Internet in this configuration. If you want to have
1446 <application>Privoxy</application> serve as a LAN proxy, this will have to
1447 be opened up to allow for LAN requests. In this case, we'd recommend
1448 you specify only the LAN gateway address, e.g. 192.168.1.1, in the main
1449 <application>Privoxy</application> configuration file and check all <ulink
1450 url="../user-manual/config.html#ACCESS-CONTROL">access control and security
1451 options</ulink>. All LAN hosts can then use this as their proxy address
1452 in the browser proxy configuration, but <application>Privoxy</application>
1453 will not listen on any external interfaces. ACLs can be defined in addition,
1454 and using a firewall is always good too. Better safe than sorry.
1459 <sect2 renderas="sect3" id="turnoff">
1460 <title>How can I temporarily disable <application>Privoxy</application>?</title>
1462 The easiest way is to access <application>Privoxy</application> with your
1463 browser by using the remote toggle URL: <ulink
1464 url="http://config.privoxy.org/toggle">http://config.privoxy.org/toggle</ulink>.
1465 See the <ulink url="../user-manual/appendix.html#BOOKMARKLETS">Bookmarklets section</ulink>
1466 of the <citetitle>User Manual</citetitle> for an easy way to access this
1471 <sect2 renderas="sect3" id="reallyoff">
1472 <title>When <quote>disabled</quote> is <application>Privoxy</application> totally
1473 out of the picture?</title>
1475 No, this just means all filtering and actions are disabled.
1476 <application>Privoxy</application> is still acting as a proxy, but just not
1477 doing any of the things that <application>Privoxy</application> would
1478 normally be expected to do. It is still a <quote>middle-man</quote> in
1479 the interaction between your browser and web sites.
1483 <sect2 renderas="sect3" id="crunch">
1484 <title>My logs show <application>Privoxy</application> <quote>crunches</quote>
1485 ads, but also its own CGI pages. What is a <quote>crunch</quote>?</title>
1487 A <quote>crunch</quote> simply means <application>Privoxy</application> intercepted
1488 <emphasis>something</emphasis>, nothing more. Often this is indeed ads or
1489 banners, but <application>Privoxy</application> uses the same mechanism for
1490 trapping requests for its own internal pages. For instance, a request for
1491 <application>Privoxy's</application> configuration page at: <ulink
1492 url="http://config.privoxy.org">http://config.privoxy.org</ulink>, is
1493 intercepted (i.e. it does not go out to the 'net), and the familiar CGI
1494 configuration is returned to the browser, and the log consequently will show
1495 a <quote>crunch</quote>.
1499 <sect2 renderas="sect3" id="downloads">
1500 <title>Can <application>Privoxy</application> effect files that I download
1501 from a webserver? FTP server?</title>
1503 From the webserver's perspective, there is no difference between
1504 viewing a document (i.e. a page), and downloading a file. The same is true of
1505 <application>Privoxy</application>. If there is a match for a <literal><ulink
1506 url="../user-manual/actions-file.html#BLOCK">block</ulink></literal> pattern,
1507 it will still be blocked, and of course this is obvious. Filtering is
1508 potentially more of a concern since the results are not always so obvious.
1511 <application>Privoxy</application> knows the differences in files according
1512 to the <quote>Document Type</quote> as reported by the webserver. If this is
1513 reported accurately (e.g. <quote>application/zip</quote> for a zip archive),
1514 then <application>Privoxy</application> knows to ignore these where
1515 appropriate. It is possible, however, that documents that are of an unknown
1516 type (generally assumed to be <quote>text/plain</quote>) will be filtered, as
1517 will those that might be incorrectly reported by the webserver. If such a
1518 file is a downloaded file that is intended to be saved to disk, then any
1519 content that might have been altered by filtering, will be saved too, for
1520 these (probably very rare) cases.
1523 <application>Privoxy</application> does not do FTP at all, only HTTP
1529 <sect2 renderas="sect3" id="seealso">
1530 <title>Where can I find more information about <application>Privoxy</application>
1531 and related issues?</title>
1532 <!-- Include seealso.sgml boilerplate: -->
1534 <!-- end boilerplate -->
1539 <ulink url="../user-manual/seealso.html">user-manual</ulink> for
1548 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1550 <sect1 id="trouble">
1551 <title>Troubleshooting</title>
1553 <sect2 renderas="sect3">
1554 <title id="refused">I just upgraded and am getting <quote>connection refused</quote>
1555 with every web page?</title>
1557 Either <application>Privoxy</application> is not running, or your
1558 browser is configured for a different port than what
1559 <application>Privoxy</application> is using.
1563 The old <application>Privoxy</application> (and also
1564 <application>Junkbuster</application>) used port 8000 by
1565 default. This has been changed to port 8118 now, due to a conflict
1566 with NAS (Network Audio Service), which uses port 8000. If you haven't,
1567 you need to change your browser to the new port number, or alternately
1569 url="../user-manual/config.html#LISTEN-ADDRESS"><literal>listen-address</literal>
1570 option</ulink> in <application>Privoxy's</application> <ulink
1571 url="../user-manual/config.html">main configuration file</ulink>.
1576 <sect2 renderas="sect3">
1577 <title id="flushit">I just added a new rule, but the steenkin ad is
1578 still getting through. How?</title>
1580 If the ad had been displayed before you added its URL, it will probably be
1581 held in the browser's cache for some time, so it will be displayed without
1582 the need for any request to the server, and <application>Privoxy</application>
1583 will not be in the picture. The best thing to do is try flushing the browser's
1584 caches. And then try again.
1588 If this doesn't help, you probably have an error in the rule you
1589 applied. Try pasting the full URL of the offending ad into <ulink
1590 url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info">http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info</ulink>
1591 and see if it really matches your new rule.
1596 <sect2 id="badsite" renderas="sect3">
1597 <title >One of my favorite sites does not work with <application>Privoxy</application>.
1598 What can I do?</title>
1601 First verify that it is indeed a <application>Privoxy</application> problem,
1602 by toggling off <application>Privoxy</application> through <ulink
1603 url="http://config.privoxy.org/toggle">http://config.privoxy.org/toggle</ulink>,
1604 and then shift-reloading the problem page (i.e. holding down the shift key
1605 while clicking reload. Alternatively, flush your browser's disk and memory
1610 If still a problem, go to <ulink
1611 url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info">http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info</ulink>
1612 and paste the full URL of the page in question into the prompt. See which actions
1613 are being applied to the URL, and which matches in which actions files are
1614 responsible for that. Now, armed with this information, go to <ulink
1615 url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status">http://config.privoxy.org/show-status</ulink>
1616 and select the appropriate actions files for editing.
1619 You can now either look for a section which disables the actions that
1620 you suspect to cause the problem and add a pattern for your site there,
1621 or make up a completely new section for your site. In any case, the recommended
1622 way is to disable only the prime suspect, reload the problem page, and only
1623 if the problem persists, disable more and more actions until you have
1624 identified the culprit. You may or may not want to turn the other actions
1625 on again. Remember to flush your browser's caches in between any such changes!
1628 Alternately, if you are comfortable with a text editor, you can accomplish
1629 the same thing by editing the appropriate actions file. Probably the easiest
1630 way to deal with such problems when editing by hand is to add your
1631 site to a <literal>{ fragile }</literal> section in <filename>user.action</filename>,
1632 which is an alias that turns off most <quote>dangerous</quote>
1633 actions, but is also likely to turn off more actions then needed, and thus lower
1634 your privacy and protection more than necessary,
1637 Troubleshooting actions is discussed in more detail in the <ulink
1638 url="../user-manual/appendix.html#ACTIONSANAT">user-manual appendix</ulink>.
1639 There is also an <ulink
1640 url="../user-manual/actions-file.html#ACT-EXAMPLES">actions tutorial</ulink>.
1646 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1647 <sect2 id="dun" renderas="sect3">
1648 <title>After installing <application>Privoxy</application>, I have to log in
1649 every time I start IE. What gives?</title>
1652 This is a quirk that effects the installation of
1653 <application>Privoxy</application>, in conjunction with Internet Explorer and
1654 Internet Connection Sharing on Windows 2000 and Windows XP. The symptoms may
1655 appear to be corrupted or invalid DUN settings, or passwords.
1659 When setting up an NT based Windows system with
1660 <application>Privoxy</application> you may find that things do not seem to be
1661 doing what you expect. When you set your system up you will probably have set
1662 up Internet Connection Sharing (ICS) with Dial up Networking (DUN) when
1663 logged in with administrator privileges. You will probably have made this DUN
1664 connection available to other accounts that you may have set-up on your
1665 system. E.g. Mum or Dad sets up the system and makes accounts suitably
1666 configured for the kids.
1670 When setting up <application>Privoxy</application> in this environment you
1671 will have to alter the proxy set-up of Internet Explorer (IE) for the
1672 specific DUN connection on which you wish to use
1673 <application>Privoxy</application>. When you do this the ICS DUN set-up
1674 becomes user specific. In this instance you will see no difference if you
1675 change the DUN connection under the account used to set-up the connection.
1676 However when you do this from another user you will notice that the DUN
1677 connection changes to make available to "Me only". You will also find that
1678 you have to store the password under each different user!
1682 The reason for this is that each user's set-up for IE is user specific. Each
1683 set-up DUN connection and each LAN connection in IE store the settings for
1684 each user individually. As such this enforces individual configurations
1685 rather than common ones. Hence the first time you use a DUN connection after
1686 re-booting your system it may not perform as you expect, and prompt you for
1687 the password. Just set and save the password again and all should be OK.
1691 [Thanks to Ray Griffith for this submission.]
1696 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1697 <sect2 id="ftp" renderas="sect3">
1698 <title>I cannot connect to any FTP sites. <application>Privoxy</application>
1699 seems to be blocking me.</title>
1701 <application>Privoxy</application> cannot act as a proxy for FTP traffic,
1702 so do not configure your browser to use <application>Privoxy</application>
1703 as an FTP proxy. The same is true for any protocol other than HTTP or HTTPS.
1706 Most browsers understand FTP as well as HTTP. If you connect to a site, with
1707 a URL like <literal>ftp://ftp.example.com</literal>, your browser is making
1708 an FTP connection, and not a HTTP connection. So while your browser may
1709 speak FTP, <application>Privoxy</application> does not, and cannot proxy
1714 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1715 <sect2 id="osxie" renderas="sect3">
1716 <title>In Mac OSX, I can't configure Microsoft Internet Explorer to use
1717 <application>Privoxy</application> as the HTTP proxy.</title>
1719 Microsoft Internet Explorer (in versions like 5.1) respects system-wide
1720 network settings. In order to change the HTTP proxy, open System
1721 Preferences, and click on the Network icon. In the settings pane that
1722 comes up, click on the Proxies tab. Ensure the "Web Proxy (HTTP)" checkbox
1723 is checked and enter <literal>127.0.0.1</literal> in the entry field.
1724 Enter <literal>8118</literal> in the Port field. The next time you start
1725 IE, it should reflect these values.
1729 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1730 <sect2 renderas="sect3" id="osxuninstall">
1731 <title>In Mac OSX, I dragged the Privoxy folder to the trash in order to
1732 uninstall it. Now the finder tells me I don't have sufficient privileges to
1733 empty the trash.</title>
1735 Just dragging the <application>Privoxy</application> folder to the trash is
1736 not enough to delete it. <application>Privoxy</application> supplies an
1737 <application>uninstall.command</application> file that takes care of
1738 these details. Open the trash, drag the <application>uninstall.command</application>
1739 file out of the trash and double-click on it. You will be prompted for
1740 confirmation and the administration password.
1743 The trash may still appear full after this command; emptying the trash
1744 from the desktop should make it appear empty again.
1749 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1750 <sect2 renderas="sect3" id="blankpage">
1751 <title>I get a completely blank page at one site. <quote>View Source</quote>
1752 shows only: <markup><![CDATA[<html><body></body></html>]]></markup>.</title>
1754 This is often the result of a webserver using
1755 <application>PHP</application> that mishandles the request
1756 <application>Privoxy</application> sends to not compress the content
1757 (a <application>PHP</application> bug).
1760 In a default configuration, <application>Privoxy</application> requests all
1761 data be sent <quote>uncompressed</quote>. This is required for the page
1762 filtering and other magic to work. In some rare cases, the browser and
1763 webserver miscommunicate and the result is a totally blank page. The
1764 suggested work around is to selectively turn off this feature for sites
1765 that exhibit such behavior. Example section for <filename>user.action</filename>:
1768 # Make exceptions for ill-behaved sites:
1770 {-prevent-compression}
1771 .example.com</screen>
1780 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1782 FIXME: Commented out until we have something to put here. HB 03/18/02.
1783 <sect1 id="knownissues"><title>Known Issues</title>
1790 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1791 <sect1 id="contact"><title>Contacting the developers, Bug Reporting and Feature Requests</title>
1792 <!-- Include contacting.sgml -->
1794 <!-- end contacting -->
1797 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1798 <sect1 id="copyright"><title>Privoxy Copyright, License and History</title>
1800 <!-- Include copyright.sgml -->
1805 Portions of this document are <quote>borrowed</quote> from the original
1806 <application>Junkbuster</application> (tm) FAQ, and modified as
1807 appropriate for <application>Privoxy</application>.
1810 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1811 <sect2><title>License</title>
1812 <!-- Include copyright.sgml: -->
1814 <!-- end copyright -->
1816 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
1818 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1819 <sect2><title>History</title>
1820 <!-- Include history.sgml -->
1826 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
1829 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1831 <sect1 id="seealso"><title>See also</title>
1833 <!-- Include seealso.sgml -->
1844 Tue 09/11/01 06:38:14 PM EST: Test SGML doc by Hal Burgiss.
1846 Last modified: Mon Sep 10 19:22:09 CEST 2001
1848 This program is free software; you can redistribute it
1849 and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General
1850 Public License as published by the Free Software
1851 Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at
1852 your option) any later version.
1854 This program is distributed in the hope that it will
1855 be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the
1856 implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A
1857 PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public
1858 License for more details.
1860 The GNU General Public License should be included with
1861 this file. If not, you can view it at
1862 http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html
1863 or write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc., 59
1864 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307, USA.
1867 Revision 1.61.2.21 2002/10/10 04:09:35 hal9
1868 s/Advanced/Radical/ and added very brief note.
1870 Revision 1.61.2.20 2002/09/26 01:22:45 hal9
1871 Small additions for LAN setup, content-cookies/SSL, and FTP non-support.
1873 Revision 1.61.2.19 2002/08/25 23:31:56 hal9
1874 Fix one grammatical error. Add brief FAQ relating to tranparent proxies (ie
1875 port 80 setting). Add FAQ on effects of Privoxy on downloaded files
1876 (especially filtering).
1878 Revision 1.61.2.18 2002/08/14 16:39:37 hal9
1879 Fix wrong tag on FAQ addition.
1881 Revision 1.61.2.17 2002/08/14 00:01:18 hal9
1884 Revision 1.61.2.16 2002/08/13 00:10:38 hal9
1885 Add faq to troubleshooting re: blank page syndrome, ie {-prevent-compression}.
1887 Revision 1.61.2.15 2002/08/10 11:34:22 oes
1888 Add disclaimer about probably being out-of-date
1890 Revision 1.61.2.14 2002/08/07 02:53:43 hal9
1891 Fix some minor markup errors, and move one OSX Q/A to troubleshooting section.
1893 Revision 1.61.2.13 2002/08/06 11:55:32 oes
1894 Added missing close tag
1896 Revision 1.61.2.12 2002/08/06 11:43:46 david__schmidt
1897 Updated OSX uninstall FAQ... we have an uninstall script now.
1899 Revision 1.61.2.11 2002/08/06 08:54:03 oes
1900 Style police: Fixed formatting details
1902 Revision 1.61.2.10 2002/08/02 14:00:25 david__schmidt
1903 Made the OSX removal commands far less dangerous
1905 Revision 1.61.2.9 2002/08/02 13:14:45 oes
1906 Added warning about sudo rm -r for Mac OSX deinstallation; moved this item to install section
1908 Revision 1.61.2.8 2002/08/02 02:01:42 david__schmidt
1909 Add FAQ item for MSIE on OSX HTTP proxy confusion
1911 Revision 1.61.2.7 2002/08/02 01:46:01 david__schmidt
1912 Added FAQ item for Mac OSX uninstall woes
1914 Revision 1.61.2.6 2002/07/30 20:04:56 hal9
1915 Fix typo: 'schould'.
1917 Revision 1.61.2.5 2002/07/26 15:22:58 oes
1918 - Updated to reflect changes in standard.action
1919 - Added info on where to get updated actions files
1921 Revision 1.61.2.4 2002/07/25 21:42:29 hal9
1922 Add brief notes on not proxying non-HTTP protocols.
1924 Revision 1.61.2.3 2002/06/09 16:36:33 hal9
1925 Clarifications on filtering and MIME. Hardcode 'latest release' in index.html.
1927 Revision 1.61.2.2 2002/06/06 02:51:34 hal9
1928 Fix typo in URL http:/config.privoxy.org
1930 Revision 1.61.2.1 2002/06/05 23:10:43 hal9
1931 Add new FAQ re: DUN/IE. Change release date from May to June :)
1933 Revision 1.61 2002/05/25 12:37:25 hal9
1934 Various minor changes and edits.
1936 Revision 1.60 2002/05/22 17:17:48 oes
1937 Proofread & added more links into u-m
1939 Revision 1.59 2002/05/15 04:03:30 hal9
1940 Fix ulink -> link markup.
1942 Revision 1.58 2002/05/10 01:48:20 hal9
1943 This is mostly proposed copyright/licensing additions and changes. Docs
1944 are still GPL, but licensing and copyright are more visible. Also, copyright
1945 changed in doc header comments (eliminate references to JB except FAQ).
1947 Revision 1.57 2002/05/05 20:26:02 hal9
1948 Sorting out license vs copyright in these docs.
1950 Revision 1.56 2002/05/04 08:44:44 swa
1953 Revision 1.55 2002/05/04 00:41:56 hal9
1954 -Remove TOC/first page kludge in favor of proper handling via dsl file.
1956 Revision 1.54 2002/05/03 05:06:44 hal9
1957 Add brief Q/A on transparent proxies.
1959 Revision 1.53 2002/05/03 01:34:52 hal9
1960 Fix section numbering for new sections (due to TOC kludge).
1962 Revision 1.52 2002/04/29 03:08:43 hal9
1963 -Added new Q/A on new actions file set up (pointer to u-m)
1964 -Fixed a few broken links and converted old actions as a result of
1967 Revision 1.51 2002/04/26 17:24:31 swa
1968 bookmarks cleaned, changed structure of user manual, screen and programlisting cleanups, and numerous other changes that I forgot
1970 Revision 1.50 2002/04/26 05:25:23 hal9
1971 Mass commit to catch a few scattered fixes.
1973 Revision 1.49 2002/04/12 10:10:18 swa
1976 Revision 1.48 2002/04/10 18:45:15 swa
1979 Revision 1.47 2002/04/10 04:05:32 hal9
1982 Revision 1.45 2002/04/08 22:59:26 hal9
1983 Version update. Spell chkconfig correctly :)
1985 Revision 1.44 2002/04/07 21:24:29 hal9
1986 Touch up on name change.
1988 Revision 1.43 2002/04/04 21:59:53 hal9
1989 Added NT/W2K service/icon situation.
1991 Revision 1.42 2002/04/04 18:46:47 swa
1992 consistent look. reuse of copyright, history et. al.
1994 Revision 1.41 2002/04/04 06:48:37 hal9
1995 Structural changes to allow for conditional inclusion/exclusion of content
1996 based on entity toggles, e.g. 'entity % p-not-stable "INCLUDE"'. And
1997 definition of internal entities, e.g. 'entity p-version "2.9.13"' that will
1998 eventually be set by Makefile.
1999 More boilerplate text for use across multiple docs.
2001 Revision 1.40 2002/04/03 04:22:03 hal9
2002 Fixed several typos.
2004 Revision 1.39 2002/04/03 03:53:03 hal9
2005 Revert some changes, and then make some news, to layout, and appearance.
2007 Revision 1.38 2002/04/02 03:49:10 hal9
2008 Major changes to doc structure and layout. Sections are not automatically
2009 numbered now. TOC is on page by itself.
2011 Revision 1.37 2002/04/01 16:24:07 hal9
2012 -Rework of supported Q/A.
2013 -Set up entities to include boilerplate text.
2015 Revision 1.36 2002/03/31 23:18:47 hal9
2016 More on dealing with BLOCKED.
2018 Revision 1.35 2002/03/30 04:14:19 hal9
2019 Fix privoxy.org/config links.
2021 Revision 1.34 2002/03/29 04:35:56 hal9
2024 Revision 1.33 2002/03/29 01:31:48 hal9
2025 Several new Q/A's and other touch ups.
2027 Revision 1.32 2002/03/27 00:57:03 hal9
2028 Touch ups for name change.
2030 Revision 1.31 2002/03/26 22:29:55 swa
2031 we have a new homepage!
2033 Revision 1.30 2002/03/25 16:39:22 hal9
2034 A few new sections. Made all links relative to user-manual.
2036 Revision 1.29 2002/03/25 05:23:57 hal9
2037 Moved section, and touch ups.
2039 Revision 1.28 2002/03/25 04:27:33 hal9
2040 New section related to name change.
2042 Revision 1.25 2002/03/24 16:08:08 swa
2043 we are too lazy to make a block-built
2044 privoxy logo. hence removed the option.
2046 Revision 1.24 2002/03/24 15:46:20 swa
2047 name change related issue.
2049 Revision 1.23 2002/03/24 12:33:01 swa
2052 Revision 1.22 2002/03/24 11:51:00 swa
2053 name change. changed filenames.
2055 Revision 1.21 2002/03/24 11:01:06 swa
2058 Revision 1.20 2002/03/23 15:13:11 swa
2059 renamed every reference to the old name with foobar.
2060 fixed "application foobar application" tag, fixed
2061 "the foobar" with "foobar". left junkbustser in cvs
2062 comments and remarks to history untouched.
2064 Revision 1.19 2002/03/21 17:01:54 hal9
2067 Revision 1.18 2002/03/18 16:40:31 hal9
2070 Revision 1.17 2002/03/18 03:53:53 hal9
2073 Revision 1.16 2002/03/17 21:32:56 hal9
2074 A few more additions.
2076 Revision 1.15 2002/03/17 07:25:59 hal9
2077 Correcting some of my typos, and some additions.
2079 Revision 1.14 2002/03/17 02:39:13 hal9
2080 A little more added ...
2082 Revision 1.13 2002/03/17 00:22:20 hal9
2083 Adding new stuff, and trying to incorporate stuff from old faq.
2085 Revision 1.12 2002/03/11 20:13:21 swa
2088 Revision 1.11 2002/03/11 18:42:27 swa
2091 Revision 1.10 2002/03/11 13:13:27 swa
2092 correct feedback channels
2094 Revision 1.9 2002/03/10 23:34:04 swa
2095 more info on not hiding ip address
2097 Revision 1.8 2002/03/09 15:55:48 swa
2098 added default config section
2100 Revision 1.7 2002/03/07 18:16:55 swa
2103 Revision 1.6 2002/03/07 13:16:31 oes
2104 Committing changes by Stefan
2106 Revision 1.5 2002/03/02 15:50:04 swa
2107 2.9.11 version. more input for docs.
2109 Revision 1.4 2002/02/24 14:34:24 jongfoster
2110 Formatting changes. Now changing the doctype to DocBook XML 4.1
2111 will work - no other changes are needed.
2113 Revision 1.3 2001/09/23 10:13:48 swa
2114 upload process established. run make webserver and
2115 the documentation is moved to the webserver. documents
2116 are now linked correctly.
2118 Revision 1.2 2001/09/13 15:20:17 swa
2119 merged standards into developer manual
2121 Revision 1.1 2001/09/12 15:36:41 swa
2122 source files for junkbuster documentation
2124 Revision 1.3 2001/09/10 17:43:59 swa
2125 first proposal of a structure.
2127 Revision 1.2 2001/06/13 14:28:31 swa
2128 docs should have an author.
2130 Revision 1.1 2001/06/13 14:20:37 swa
2131 first import of project's documentation for the webserver.