+designer may choose to design his site, and what HTTP header content, and other
+criteria, he may depend on. There is no way to have hard and fast rules for all
+sites. See the Appendix for a brief example on troubleshooting actions.
+
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+8.5.22. Sample Actions Files
+
+Remember that the meaning of any of the above references is reversed by
+preceding the action with a "-", in place of the "+". Also, that some actions
+are turned on in the default section of the actions file, and require little to
+no additional configuration. These are just "on".
+
+But, other actions that are turned on in the default section do typically
+require exceptions to be listed in the latter sections of one of our actions
+file. For instance, by default no URLs are "blocked" (i.e. in the default
+definitions of default.action). We need exceptions to this in order to enable
+ad blocking in the lower sections. But we need to be very selective about what
+we do block. Thus, the default is "off" for blocking.
+
+Below is a liberally commented sample default.action file to demonstrate how
+all the pieces come together. And to show how exceptions to the default
+policies can be handled. This is followed by a brief user.action with similar
+examples.
+
+# Sample default.action file <developers@privoxy.org>
+
+# Settings -- Don't change! For internal Privoxy use ONLY.
+{{settings}}
+for-privoxy-version=3.0
+
+
+##########################################################################
+# Aliases must be defined *before* they are used. These are
+# easier to remember, and can combine several actions into one. Once
+# defined they can be used just like any built-in action -- but within
+# this file only! Aliases do not require a + or - sign.
+##########################################################################
+
+# Some useful aliases.
+# Alias to turn off cookie handling, ie allow all cookies unmolested.
+ -prevent-cookies = -prevent-setting-cookies -prevent-reading-cookies \
+ -session-cookies-only
+
+# Alias to both block and treat as if an image for ad blocking
+# purposes.
+ +imageblock = +block +handle-as-image
+
+# Fragile sites should have the minimum changes:
+ fragile = -block -deanimate-gifs -fast-redirects -filter -hide-referer \
+ -prevent-cookies -kill-popups
+
+# Shops should be allowed to set persistent cookies
+ shop = -filter -prevent-cookies -session-cookies-only
+
+
+##########################################################################
+# Begin default action settings. Anything in this section will match
+# all URLs -- UNLESS we have exceptions that also match, defined below this
+# section. We will show all potential actions here whether they are on
+# or off. We could omit any disabled action if we wanted, since all
+# actions are 'off' by default anyway. Shown for completeness only.
+# Actions are enabled if preceded by a '+', otherwise they are disabled
+# (unless an alias has been defined without this).
+##########################################################################
+ { \
+ -add-header \
+ -block \
+ -deanimate-gifs \
+ -downgrade-http-version \
+ +fast-redirects \
+ +filter{html-annoyances} \
+ +filter{js-annoyances} \
+ -filter{content-cookies} \
+ -filter{popups} \
+ +filter{webbugs} \
+ -filter{refresh-tags} \
+ -filter{fun} \
+ +filter{nimda} \
+ +filter{banners-by-size} \
+ -filter{shockwave-flash} \
+ -filter{crude-prental} \
+ +hide-forwarded-for-headers \
+ +hide-from-header{block} \
+ -hide-referrer \
+ -hide-user-agent \
+ -handle-as-image \
+ +set-image-blocker{pattern} \
+ -limit-connect \
+ +prevent-compression \
+ -session-cookies-only \
+ -prevent-reading-cookies \
+ -prevent-setting-cookies \
+ -kill-popups \
+ -send-vanilla-wafer \
+ -send-wafer \
+ }
+ / # forward slash will match *all* potential URL patterns.
+
+##########################################################################
+# Default behavior is now set. Now we will define some exceptions to our
+# default action policies.
+##########################################################################
+
+# These sites are very complex and require very minimal interference.
+# We'll disable most actions with our 'fragile' alias:
+ { fragile }
+ .office.microsoft.com # surprise, surprise!
+ .windowsupdate.microsoft.com
+
+
+# Shopping sites - not as fragile but require some special
+# handling. We still want to block ads, and we will allow
+# persistant cookies via the 'shop' alias:
+ { shop }
+ .quietpc.com
+ .worldpay.com # for quietpc.com
+ .jungle.com
+ .scan.co.uk
+
+
+# These sites require pop-ups too :( We'll combine our 'shop'
+# alias with two other actions into one rule to allow all popups.
+ { shop -kill-popups -filter{popups} }
+ .dabs.com
+ .overclockers.co.uk
+
+
+# The 'Fast-redirects' action breaks some sites. Disable this action
+# for these known sensitive sites:
+ { -fast-redirects }
+ login.yahoo.com
+ edit.europe.yahoo.com
+ .google.com
+ .altavista.com/.*(like|url|link):http
+ .altavista.com/trans.*urltext=http
+ .nytimes.com
+
+
+# Define which file types will be treated as images. Important
+# for ad blocking.
+ { +handle-as-image }
+ /.*\.(gif|jpe?g|png|bmp|ico)
+
+
+# Now lets list some domains that are known ad generators. And
+# our alias that we use here will block these as well as force
+# them to be treated as images. This combination of actions is
+# important for ad blocking. What the browser will show instead is
+# determined by the setting of "+set-image-blocker"
+ { +imageblock }
+ ar.atwola.com
+ .ad.doubleclick.net
+ .a.yimg.com/(?:(?!/i/).)*$
+ .a[0-9].yimg.com/(?:(?!/i/).)*$
+ bs*.gsanet.com
+ bs*.einets.com
+ .qkimg.net
+ ad.*.doubleclick.net
+
+
+# These will just simply be blocked. They will generate the BLOCKED
+# banner page, if matched. Heavy use of wildcards and regular
+# expressions in this example. Enable block action:
+ { +block }
+ ad*.
+ .*ads.
+ banner?.
+ count*.
+ /.*count(er)?\.(pl|cgi|exe|dll|asp|php[34]?)
+ /(?:.*/)?(publicite|werbung|rekla(ma|me|am)|annonse|maino(kset|nta|s)?)/
+ .hitbox.com
+
+
+# The above block section will probably inadvertantly catch some
+# sites we DO NOT want blocked via the wildcards and regular expressions.
+# Now let's set exceptions to the exceptions so the good guys get better
+# treatment. Disable block action:
+ { -block }
+ advogato.org
+ adsl.
+ ad[ud]*.
+ advice.
+# Let's just trust all .edu top level domains.
+ .edu
+ www.ugu.com/sui/ugu/adv
+# We'll need to access to path names containing 'download'
+ .*downloads.
+ /downloads/
+# 'adv' is for globalintersec and means advanced, not advertisement
+ www.globalintersec.com/adv
+
+
+# Don't filter *anything* from our friends at sourceforge.
+# Notice we don't have to name the individual filter
+# identifiers -- we just turn them all off in one fell swoop.
+# Disable all filters for this one site:
+ { -filter }
+ .sourceforge.net
+
+
+So far we are painting with a broad brush by setting general policies. The
+above would be a reasonable starting point for many situations. Now, we want to
+be more specific and have customized rules that are more suitable to our
+personal habits and preferences. These would be for narrowly defined situations
+like your ISP or your bank, and should be placed in user.action, which is
+parsed after all other actions files and should not be clobbered by upgrades.
+So any settings here, will have the last word and over-ride any previously
+defined actions.
+
+Now a few examples of some things that one might do with a user.action file.
+
+# Sample user.action file.
+
+# Any aliases you want to use need to be re-defined here.
+# Alias to turn off cookie handling, ie allow all cookies unmolested.
+ -prevent-cookies = -prevent-setting-cookies -prevent-reading-cookies \
+ -session-cookies-only
+
+# Fragile sites should have the minimum changes:
+ fragile = -block -deanimate-gifs -fast-redirects -filter -hide-referer \
+ -prevent-cookies -kill-popups
+
+# Allow persistent cookies for a few regular sites that we
+# trust via our above alias. These will be saved from one browser session
+# to the next. We are explicity turning off any and all cookie handling,
+# even though the prevent-*-cookie settings were disabled in our above
+# default.action anyway. So cookies from these domains will come through
+# unmolested.
+ { -prevent-cookies }
+ .sun.com
+ .yahoo.com
+ .msdn.microsoft.com
+ .redhat.com
+
+
+# My ISP uses obnoxious self promoting images on many pages.
+# Nuke them :) Note that "+handle-as-image" need not be specified,
+# since all URLs ending in .gif will be tagged as images by the
+# general rules in default.action anyway.
+ { +block }
+ www.my-isp-example.com/logo[0-9].gif
+
+
+# Say the site where you do your homebanking needs to open
+# popup windows, but you have chosen to kill popups by
+# default. This will allow it for your-example-bank.com:
+#
+ { -filter{popups} -kill-popups }
+ .my-example-bank.com
+
+
+# This site is delicate, and requires kid-glove
+# treatment.
+ { fragile }
+ .forbes.com
+
+