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5 >Privoxy Frequently Asked Questions</TITLE
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33 >Privoxy Frequently Asked Questions</A
43 HREF="http://www.privoxy.org/"
45 >Privoxy Developers</A
51 >$Id: faq.sgml,v 2.47 2008/11/24 18:29:39 fabiankeil Exp $<BR></P
61 > This FAQ gives quick answers to frequently asked questions about
63 HREF="http://www.privoxy.org/"
67 It is not a substitute for the
69 HREF="../user-manual/index.html"
73 >Privoxy User Manual</I
81 > Privoxy is a non-caching
83 HREF="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proxy_server"
87 with advanced filtering capabilities for enhancing privacy,
88 modifying web page data, managing HTTP
90 HREF="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Browser_cookie"
94 controlling access, and removing ads, banners, pop-ups and other obnoxious
95 Internet junk. Privoxy has a flexible configuration and can be
96 customized to suit individual needs and tastes. Privoxy has application for
97 both stand-alone systems and multi-user networks.</P
99 > Privoxy is based on Internet Junkbuster (tm).</P
101 > Please note that this document is a work in progress. This copy represents
102 the state at the release of version 3.0.11.
103 You can find the latest version of the document at <A
104 HREF="http://www.privoxy.org/faq/"
106 >http://www.privoxy.org/faq/</A
112 contact the developers.
124 >Table of Contents</B
129 >General Information</A
135 HREF="general.html#WHO-USES"
136 >Who should give <SPAN
143 HREF="general.html#BESTCHOICE"
144 >Is Privoxy the best choice for
149 HREF="general.html#PROXYMORON"
158 HREF="general.html#OTHERSTUFF"
159 >Does Privoxy do anything more than ad blocking?</A
163 HREF="general.html#NEWJB"
164 >What is this new version of
172 HREF="general.html#AEN79"
176 >? Why change the name from
177 Junkbuster at all?</A
181 HREF="general.html#DIFFERS"
182 >How does Privoxy differ
183 from the old Junkbuster?</A
187 HREF="general.html#WHATSANAD"
188 >How does Privoxy know what is
189 an ad, and what is not?</A
193 HREF="general.html#AEN157"
194 >Can Privoxy make mistakes?
195 This does not sound very scientific.</A
199 HREF="general.html#AEN163"
200 >Will I have to configure Privoxy
201 before I can use it?</A
205 HREF="general.html#LAN"
206 >Can Privoxy run as a server on a network?</A
210 HREF="general.html#BROWSERS2"
211 >My browser does the same things as
212 Privoxy. Why should I use Privoxy at all?</A
216 HREF="general.html#WHYTRUST"
217 >Why should I trust Privoxy?</A
221 HREF="general.html#LICENSE"
222 >Is there is a license or fee? What about a
223 warranty? Registration?</A
227 HREF="general.html#SPYWARE"
228 >Can Privoxy remove spyware? Adware? Viruses?</A
232 HREF="general.html#OTHERADS"
233 >Can I use Privoxy with other ad-blocking software?</A
237 HREF="general.html#JOINTEAM"
238 >I would like to help you, what can I do?</A
244 HREF="general.html#JOINTEAM-WORK"
245 >Would you like to participate?</A
249 HREF="general.html#JOINTEAM-MONEY"
254 HREF="general.html#JOINTEAM-SOFTWARE"
263 HREF="installation.html"
270 HREF="installation.html#WHICHBROWSERS"
271 >Which browsers are supported by Privoxy?</A
275 HREF="installation.html#WHICHOS"
276 >Which operating systems are supported?</A
280 HREF="installation.html#EMAIL-CLIENT"
281 >Can I use Privoxy with my email client?</A
285 HREF="installation.html#FIRSTSTEP"
286 >I just installed Privoxy. Is there anything
287 special I have to do now?</A
291 HREF="installation.html#LOCALHOST"
292 >What is the proxy address of Privoxy?</A
296 HREF="installation.html#NOTHING"
297 >I just installed Privoxy, and nothing is happening.
298 All the ads are there. What's wrong?</A
302 HREF="installation.html#NOTUSED"
305 >"Privoxy is not being used"</SPAN
306 > dummy page although
307 Privoxy is running and being used.</A
313 HREF="configuration.html"
320 HREF="configuration.html#AEN347"
321 >What exactly is an <SPAN
328 HREF="configuration.html#ACTIONSS"
332 > concept confuses me. Please list
340 HREF="configuration.html#AEN370"
341 >How are actions files configured? What is the easiest
346 HREF="configuration.html#AEN379"
347 >There are several different <SPAN
355 HREF="configuration.html#GETUPDATES"
356 >Where can I get updated Actions Files?</A
360 HREF="configuration.html#NEWCONFIG"
361 >Can I use my old config files?</A
365 HREF="configuration.html#DIFFICULT"
366 >Why is the configuration so complicated?</A
370 HREF="configuration.html#YAHOO"
371 >How can I make my Yahoo/Hotmail/Gmail account work?</A
375 HREF="configuration.html#CONFIGFILES"
376 >What's the difference between the
390 HREF="configuration.html#BROWSECONFIG"
391 >Why can I change the configuration
392 with a browser? Does that not raise security issues?</A
396 HREF="configuration.html#AEN474"
400 > file? What is a <SPAN
407 HREF="configuration.html#LANCONFIG"
408 >How can I set up Privoxy to act as a proxy for my
413 HREF="configuration.html#AEN525"
414 >Instead of ads, now I get a checkerboard pattern. I don't want to see anything.</A
418 HREF="configuration.html#AEN542"
419 >Why would anybody want to see a checkerboard pattern?</A
423 HREF="configuration.html#AEN548"
424 >I see some images being replaced with text
425 instead of the checkerboard image. Why and how do I get rid of this?</A
429 HREF="configuration.html#SRVANY"
430 >Can Privoxy run as a service
435 HREF="configuration.html#OTHERPROXY"
436 >How can I make Privoxy work with other
437 proxies like Squid or Tor?</A
441 HREF="configuration.html#PORT-80"
442 >Can I just set Privoxy to use port 80
443 and thus avoid individual browser configuration?</A
447 HREF="configuration.html#TRANSPARENT"
448 >Can Privoxy run as a <SPAN
455 HREF="configuration.html#INTERCEPTING"
456 >Can Privoxy run as a <SPAN
458 >"intercepting"</SPAN
463 HREF="configuration.html#OUTLOOK"
464 >How can I configure Privoxy for use with Outlook
469 HREF="configuration.html#OUTLOOK-MORE"
470 >How can I have separate rules just for HTML mail?</A
474 HREF="configuration.html#SNEAKY-COOKIES"
475 >I sometimes notice cookies sneaking through. How?</A
479 HREF="configuration.html#EVIL-COOKIES"
480 >Are all cookies bad? Why?</A
484 HREF="configuration.html#ALLOW-COOKIES"
485 >How can I allow permanent cookies for my trusted sites?</A
489 HREF="configuration.html#MULTIPLES"
490 >Can I have separate configurations for different users?</A
494 HREF="configuration.html#WHITELISTS"
495 >Can I set-up Privoxy as a whitelist of
503 HREF="configuration.html#NO-ADBLOCK"
504 >How can I turn off ad-blocking?</A
508 HREF="configuration.html#TEMPLATES"
509 >How can I have custom template pages, like the
520 HREF="configuration.html#BLOCKALL"
521 >How can I remove the <SPAN
523 >"Go There Anyway"</SPAN
544 HREF="misc.html#AEN721"
545 >How much does Privoxy slow my browsing down? This
546 has to add extra time to browsing.</A
550 HREF="misc.html#LOADINGTIMES"
551 >I notice considerable
552 delays in page requests. What's wrong?</A
556 HREF="misc.html#CONFIGURL"
557 >What are "http://config.privoxy.org/" and
562 HREF="misc.html#NEWADS"
563 >How can I submit new ads, or report
568 HREF="misc.html#NEWADS2"
569 >If I do submit missed ads, will
570 they be included in future updates?</A
574 HREF="misc.html#NOONECARES"
575 >Why doesn't anyone answer my support
581 >How can I hide my IP address?</A
585 HREF="misc.html#AEN786"
586 >Can Privoxy guarantee I am anonymous?</A
590 HREF="misc.html#AEN804"
591 >A test site says I am not using a Proxy.</A
596 >How do I use Privoxy
597 together with Tor?</A
601 HREF="misc.html#AEN860"
602 >Might some things break because header information or
603 content is being altered?</A
607 HREF="misc.html#AEN874"
608 >Can Privoxy act as a <SPAN
612 speed up web browsing?</A
616 HREF="misc.html#AEN884"
617 >What about as a firewall? Can Privoxy protect me?</A
621 HREF="misc.html#AEN889"
622 >I have large empty spaces / a checkerboard pattern now where
623 ads used to be. Why?</A
627 HREF="misc.html#AEN897"
628 >How can Privoxy filter Secure (HTTPS) URLs?</A
632 HREF="misc.html#AEN911"
633 >Privoxy runs as a <SPAN
637 secure is it? Do I need to take any special precautions?</A
641 HREF="misc.html#TURNOFF"
642 >Can I temporarily disable Privoxy?</A
646 HREF="misc.html#REALLYOFF"
651 out of the picture?</A
655 HREF="misc.html#TURNOFF2"
656 >How can I tell Privoxy to totally ignore certain sites?</A
660 HREF="misc.html#CRUNCH"
661 >My logs show Privoxy <SPAN
665 ads, but also its own internal CGI pages. What is a <SPAN
672 HREF="misc.html#DOWNLOADS"
673 >Can Privoxy effect files that I download
674 from a webserver? FTP server?</A
678 HREF="misc.html#DOWNLOADS2"
679 >I just downloaded a Perl script, and Privoxy
680 altered it! Yikes, what is wrong!</A
684 HREF="misc.html#HOSTSFILE"
685 >Should I continue to use a <SPAN
688 > file for ad-blocking?</A
692 HREF="misc.html#SEEALSO"
693 >Where can I find more information about Privoxy
694 and related issues?</A
698 HREF="misc.html#MICROSUCK"
699 >I've noticed that Privoxy changes <SPAN
706 >! Why are you manipulating my browsing?</A
710 HREF="misc.html#VALID"
711 >Does Privoxy produce <SPAN
714 > HTML (or XHTML)?</A
727 HREF="trouble.html#AEN1079"
728 >I cannot connect to any websites. Or, I am getting
731 >"connection refused"</SPAN
732 > message with every web page. Why?</A
736 HREF="trouble.html#ERROR503"
737 >Why am I getting a 503 Error (WSAECONNREFUSED) on every page?</A
741 HREF="trouble.html#AEN1102"
742 >I just added a new rule, but the steenkin ad is
743 still getting through. How?</A
747 HREF="trouble.html#BADSITE"
748 >One of my favorite sites does not work with Privoxy.
753 HREF="trouble.html#DUN"
754 >After installing Privoxy, I have to log in
755 every time I start IE. What gives?</A
759 HREF="trouble.html#FTP"
760 >I cannot connect to any FTP sites. Privoxy
765 HREF="trouble.html#MACOSXIE"
766 >In Mac OS X, I can't configure Microsoft Internet Explorer to use
767 Privoxy as the HTTP proxy.</A
771 HREF="trouble.html#MACOSXUNINSTALL"
772 >In Mac OS X, I dragged the Privoxy folder to the trash in order to
773 uninstall it. Now the finder tells me I don't have sufficient privileges to
778 HREF="trouble.html#MACOSXIMAGES"
779 >In Mac OS X Panther (10.3), images often fail to load and/or I
780 experience random delays in page loading. I'm using
784 > as my browser's proxy setting.</A
788 HREF="trouble.html#BLANKPAGE"
789 >I get a completely blank page at one site. <SPAN
795 ><html><body></body></html></SPAN
797 Privoxy the page loads fine.</A
801 HREF="trouble.html#NOHOSTNAME"
802 >My logs show many <SPAN
804 >"Unable to get my own hostname"</SPAN
810 HREF="trouble.html#INUSE"
811 >When I try to launch Privoxy, I get an
814 >"port 8118 is already in use"</SPAN
815 > (or similar wording).
820 HREF="trouble.html#DEMORONIZER"
821 >Pages with UTF-8 fonts are garbled.</A
825 HREF="trouble.html#DEMORONIZER2"
826 >Why are binary files (such as images) corrupted when Privoxy
831 HREF="trouble.html#DEMORONIZER3"
835 > and why is it there?</A
839 HREF="trouble.html#WINDOWOPEN"
840 >Why do I keep seeing <SPAN
842 >"PrivoxyWindowOpen()"</SPAN
843 > in raw source code?</A
847 HREF="trouble.html#DNSERRORS"
848 >I am getting too many DNS errors like <SPAN
850 >"404 No Such Domain"</SPAN
852 can't Privoxy do this better?</A
856 HREF="trouble.html#ALLCPU"
857 >At one site Privoxy just hangs, and starts taking
858 all CPU. Why is this?</A
862 HREF="trouble.html#SLOWCRAWL"
863 >I just installed Privoxy, and all my
864 browsing has slowed to a crawl. What gives?</A
868 HREF="trouble.html#PREVENTCOMP"
869 >Why do my filters work on some sites but not on others?</A
876 >Contacting the developers, Bug Reporting and Feature Requests</A
882 HREF="contact.html#CONTACT-SUPPORT"
887 HREF="contact.html#REPORTING"
888 >Reporting Problems</A
894 HREF="contact.html#CONTACT-ADS"
895 >Reporting Ads or Other Configuration Problems</A
899 HREF="contact.html#CONTACT-BUGS"
906 HREF="contact.html#CONTACT-FEATURE"
907 >Request New Features</A
911 HREF="contact.html#CONTACT-OTHER"
918 HREF="copyright.html"
919 >Privoxy Copyright, License and History</A
925 HREF="copyright.html#AEN1402"
930 HREF="copyright.html#AEN1418"
943 SUMMARY="Footer navigation table"
984 >General Information</TD