2 Privoxy Frequently Asked Questions
6 $Id: faq.sgml,v 1.32 2002/03/27 00:57:03 hal9 Exp $
8 This FAQ gives users and developers alike answers to frequently asked
9 questions about Privoxy.
11 Privoxy is a web proxy with advanced filtering capabilities for
12 protecting privacy, filtering web page content, managing cookies,
13 controlling access, and removing ads, banners, pop-ups and other
14 obnoxious Internet junk. Privoxy has a very flexible configuration and
15 can be customized to suit individual needs and tastes. Privoxy has
16 application for both stand-alone systems and multi-user networks.
18 Privoxy is based on the code of the Internet Junkbuster. Junkbuster
19 was originally written by JunkBusters Corporation, and was released as
20 free open-source software under the GNU GPL. Stefan Waldherr made many
21 improvements, and started the SourceForge project to continue
24 You can find the latest version of the document at
25 [1]http://www.privoxy.org/faq/. Please see the Contact section in the
26 [2]user-manual if you want to contact the developers.
27 _________________________________________________________________
30 1. [3]Frequently Asked Questions
32 1.1. [4]General Information
34 1.1.1. [5]What is this new version of Privoxy?
35 1.1.2. [6]Why "Privoxy"? Why a name change at all?
36 1.1.3. [7]How does it differ from the old Junkbuster?
37 1.1.4. [8]What are some of the new features?
38 1.1.5. [9]What is a "proxy"? How does Privoxy work?
39 1.1.6. [10]My browser does the same things as Privoxy. Why
40 should I use Privoxy at all?
42 1.1.7. [11]Is there is a license or fee? What about a
43 warranty? Registration?
45 1.1.8. [12]I would like to help you, what do I do?
49 1.2.1. [14]Which browsers are supported by Privoxy?
50 1.2.2. [15]Which operating systems are supported?
51 1.2.3. [16]Can I install Privoxy over Junkbuster?
52 1.2.4. [17]I just installed Privoxy. Is there anything
53 special I have to do now?
55 1.2.5. [18]What is the proxy address of Privoxy?
56 1.2.6. [19]I just installed Privoxy, and nothing is
57 happening. All the ads are there. What's wrong?
59 1.3. [20]Configuration
61 1.3.1. [21]Can I use my old config files?
62 1.3.2. [22]What is an "actions" file?
63 1.3.3. [23]The "actions"concept confuses me. Please list
64 some of these "actions".
66 1.3.4. [24]How are actions files configured? What is the
67 easiest way to do this?
69 1.3.5. [25]What are the differences between
70 intermediate.action, basic.action, etc.?
72 1.3.6. [26]Why can I change the configuration with a
73 browser? Does that not raise security issues?
75 1.3.7. [27]What is a "default.filter"?
76 1.3.8. [28]How can I set up Privoxy to act as a proxy for
79 1.3.9. [29]Instead of ads, now I get a checkerboard
80 pattern. I don't want to see anything.
82 1.3.10. [30]Why would anybody want to see a checkerboard
85 1.3.11. [31]I see large red banners on some pages that say
86 "Blocked". How do I get rid of this?
88 1.3.12. [32]How can I make Privoxy work with other proxies
91 1.4. [33]Miscellaneous
93 1.4.1. [34]How much does Privoxy slow my browsing down?
94 This has to add extra time to browsing.
96 1.4.2. [35]I noticed considerable delays in page requests
97 compared to the old Junkbuster. What's wrong?
99 1.4.3. [36]What is the "http://p.p/"?
100 1.4.4. [37]Do you still maintain the blocklists?
101 1.4.5. [38]How can I submit new ads?
102 1.4.6. [39]How can I hide my IP address?
103 1.4.7. [40]Can Privoxy guarantee I am anonymous?
104 1.4.8. [41]Might some things break because header
105 information is being altered?
107 1.4.9. [42]Can Privoxy act as a "caching" proxy to speed up
110 1.4.10. [43]What about as a firewall? Can Privoxy protect
113 1.4.11. [44]The Privoxy logo that replaces ads is very
114 blocky and ugly looking. Can't a better font be
117 1.4.12. [45]I have large empty spaces now where ads used to
118 be. Why does Privoxy leave these large gaps?
120 1.4.13. [46]How can Privoxy filter Secure (HTTPS) URLs?
121 1.4.14. [47]Privoxy runs as a "server". How secure is it?
122 Do I need to take any special precautions?
124 1.4.15. [48]How can I temporarily disable Privoxy?
126 1.5. [49]Troubleshooting
128 1.5.1. [50]I just upgraded and am getting "connection
129 refused" with every web page?
131 1.5.2. [51]I just added a new rule, but the steenkin ad is
132 still getting through. How?
134 1.5.3. [52]One of my favorite sites does not work with
135 Privoxy. What can I do?
137 1.5.4. [53]What time is it?
139 2. [54]Copyright and History
142 1. Frequently Asked Questions
144 1.1. General Information
146 1.1.1. What is this new version of Privoxy?
148 The original Internet Junkbuster (tm) is a copyrighted product of
149 [56]Junkbusters Corporation. Development of this effort stopped some
150 time ago as of version 2.0.2. Stefan Waldherr started the ijbswa
151 project on [57]Sourceforge to rekindle development. Other developers
152 subsequently joined with Stefan, and have since added many new
153 features, refinements and enhancements.
155 The new Privoxy started with the same Junkbuster code base, but has
156 changed significantly at this point.
157 _________________________________________________________________
159 1.1.2. Why "Privoxy"? Why a name change at all?
161 Privoxy is for "Privacy Enhancing Proxy". There are possible legal
162 complications from the continued use of the Junkbuster name, which is
163 a trademark of [58]Junkbusters Corporation. (There are no objections
164 from Junkbusters Corporation to the Privoxy project itself though, and
165 they in fact still share our ideals and goals.)
167 The developers also believed that there so many changes from the
168 original code, that it was time to make a clean break from the past
169 and make a name in their own right, especially now with the pending
170 release of version 3.0.
171 _________________________________________________________________
173 1.1.3. How does it differ from the old Junkbuster?
175 All the old features remain. The new Privoxy still blocks ads and
176 banners, still manages cookies, and still helps protect your privacy.
177 But, these are all enhanced, and many new features have been added,
178 all in the same vein.
180 The configuration has changed significantly as well. This is something
181 that users will notice right off the bat. The "blocklist" file does
182 not exist any more. This is replaced by "actions" files, such as
183 default.actions. This is where most of the per site configuration is
185 _________________________________________________________________
187 1.1.4. What are some of the new features?
189 * Integrated browser based configuration and control utility
190 ([59]http://p.p). Browser-based tracing of rule and filter
192 * Blocking of annoying pop-up browser windows.
193 * HTTP/1.1 compliant (most, but not all 1.1 features are supported).
194 * Support for Perl Compatible Regular Expressions in the
195 configuration files, and generally a more sophisticated and
196 flexible configuration syntax over previous versions.
198 * Web page content filtering (removes banners based on size,
199 invisible "web-bugs", JavaScript, pop-ups, status bar abuse, etc.)
200 * Bypass many click-tracking scripts (avoids script redirection).
201 * Multi-threaded (POSIX and native threads).
202 * Auto-detection and re-reading of config file changes.
203 * User-customizable HTML templates (e.g. 404 error page).
204 * Improved cookie management features (e.g. session based cookies).
205 * Builds from source on most UNIX-like systems. Packages available
206 for: Linux (RedHat, SuSE, or Debian), Windows, Sun Solaris, Mac
207 OSX, OS/2, HP-UX 11 and AmigaOS.
208 * In addition, the configuration is much more powerful and versatile
210 _________________________________________________________________
212 1.1.5. What is a "proxy"? How does Privoxy work?
214 When you connect to a web site with Privoxy, you are really connecting
215 to your locally running version of Privoxy. Privoxy intercepts your
216 requests for the web page, and relays that to the "real" web site. The
217 web site sends the HTTP data stream back to Privoxy, where Privoxy can
218 work its magic before it relays this data back to your web browser.
220 Since Privoxy sits between you and the WWW, it is in a position to
221 intercept and completely manage all web traffic and HTTP content
222 before it gets to your browser. Privoxy uses various programming
223 methods to do this, all of which is under your control via the various
224 configuration files and options.
226 There are many kinds of proxies. Privoxy best fits the "filtering
228 _________________________________________________________________
230 1.1.6. My browser does the same things as Privoxy. Why should I use Privoxy
233 Modern browsers do indeed have some of the same functionality as
234 Privoxy. Maybe this is adequate for you. But Privoxy is much more
235 versatile and powerful, and can do a number of things that browsers
238 In addition, a proxy is good choice if you use multiple browsers, or
239 have a LAN with multiple computers. This way all the configuration is
240 in one place, and you don't have to maintain a similar configuration
241 for possibly many browsers.
242 _________________________________________________________________
244 1.1.7. Is there is a license or fee? What about a warranty? Registration?
246 Privoxy is licensed under the GNU General Public License (GPL). It is
247 free to use, copy, modify or distribute as you wish under the terms of
248 this license. See [60]http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html for
251 There is no warranty of any kind, expressed, implied or otherwise.
252 That is something that would cost real money ;-) There is no
253 registration either. Privoxy really is free in every respect!
254 _________________________________________________________________
256 1.1.8. I would like to help you, what do I do?
258 1.1.8.1. Money Money Money
260 We, of course, welcome donations and use the money for domain
261 registering, regular world-wide get-togethers (hahaha). Anyway, we'll
262 soon describe the process how to donate money to the team.
263 _________________________________________________________________
265 1.1.8.2. You want to work with us?
267 Well, helping the team is always a good idea. We welcome new
268 developers, RPM gurus or documentation makers. Simply get an account
269 on sourceforge.net and mail your id to the developer mailing list.
270 Then read the section Quickstart in the developers manual.
272 Once we have added you to the team, you'll have write access to the
273 CVS repository, and together we'll find a suitable task for you.
274 _________________________________________________________________
278 1.2.1. Which browsers are supported by Privoxy?
280 Any browser that can be configured to use a "proxy", which is probably
281 almost all browsers. Direct browser support is not necessary since
282 Privoxy runs as a separate application and just exchanges standard
283 HTML data with your browser.
284 _________________________________________________________________
286 1.2.2. Which operating systems are supported?
288 Right now Win32, Mac OSX, OS/2, AmigaOS, Linux, and many flavors of
291 Source code is available, so porting to other operating systems, is
292 always a possibility.
293 _________________________________________________________________
295 1.2.3. Can I install Privoxy over Junkbuster?
297 We recommend you uninstall Junkbuster first to minimize conflicts and
298 confusion. You may want to save your old configuration files for
299 future reference. The configuration is substantially changed.
301 See the [61]user-manual for platform specific installation
302 instructions. [FIXME: This is meant for after the name change for
304 _________________________________________________________________
306 1.2.4. I just installed Privoxy. Is there anything special I have to do now?
308 All browsers must be told to use Privoxy as a proxy by specifying the
309 correct proxy address and port number in the appropriate configuration
310 area for the browser. See below.
311 _________________________________________________________________
313 1.2.5. What is the proxy address of Privoxy?
315 If you set up the Privoxy to run on the computer you browse from
316 (rather than your ISP's server or some networked computer on a LAN),
317 the proxy will be on "localhost" (which is the special name used by
318 every computer on the Internet to refer to itself) and the port will
319 be 8118 (unless you have Privoxy to run on a different port with the
320 listen-address config option).
322 When configuring your browser's proxy settings you typically enter the
323 word "localhost" in the boxes next to "HTTP" and "Secure" (HTTPS) and
324 then the number "8118" for "port". This tells your browser to send all
325 web requests to Privoxy instead of directly to the Internet.
327 Privoxy can also be used to proxy for a Local Area Network. In this
328 case, your would enter either the IP address of the LAN host where
329 Privoxy is running, or the equivalent hostname. Port assignment would
332 Privoxy does not currently handle protocols such as FTP, SMTP, IM,
333 IRC, ICQ, or other Internet protocols.
334 _________________________________________________________________
336 1.2.6. I just installed Privoxy, and nothing is happening. All the ads are
339 Did you configure your browser to use Privoxy as a proxy? It does not
340 sound like it. See above. You might also try flushing the browser's
341 caches to force a full re-reading of pages. You can verify that
342 Privoxy is running, and your browser is correctly configured by
343 entering the special URL: [62]http://p.p/. This should give you a
344 banner that says "This is Privoxy" and access to Privoxy's internal
345 configuration. If you see this, then you are good to go. If not, the
346 browser or Privoxy are not set up correctly.
347 _________________________________________________________________
351 1.3.1. Can I use my old config files?
353 There are major changes to Junkbuster configuration from version 2.0.x
354 to 2.9.x and later. The older files will not work at all. If this is
355 the case, you will need to re-enter your old data into the new
356 configuration structure. This is probably also a good recommendation
357 even if upgrading from 2.9.x to 3.x since there were many minor
358 changes along the way.
359 _________________________________________________________________
361 1.3.2. What is an "actions" file?
363 "actions" files are where various actions that Privoxy might take, are
364 configured. Typically, you would define a set of default actions that
365 apply to all URLs, then add exceptions to these defaults.
367 Actions can be defined on a per site basis, or for groups of sites.
368 Actions can also be grouped together and then applied to one or more
369 sites. There are many possible actions that might apply to any given
370 site. As an example, if we are blocking cookies as one of our default
371 actions, but need to accept cookies from a given site, we would define
372 this in our "actions" file.
374 Privoxy comes with several default actions files, with varying degrees
375 of filtering and blocking, as starting points for your own
376 configuration (see below).
377 _________________________________________________________________
379 1.3.3. The "actions"concept confuses me. Please list some of these
382 These are all explained in the [63]user-manual. Please refer to that.
383 _________________________________________________________________
385 1.3.4. How are actions files configured? What is the easiest way to do this?
387 The easiest way to do this, is to access Privoxy with your web browser
388 at [64]http://p.p/, and then select "[65]Edit the actions list" from
389 the selection list. You can also do this by editing the appropriate
390 file with a text editor.
392 Please see the [66]user-manual for a detailed explanation of these and
393 other configuration files, and their various options and syntax.
394 _________________________________________________________________
396 1.3.5. What are the differences between intermediate.action, basic.action,
399 Configuring Privoxy is not easy. To help you get started, we provide
400 you with three different default configurations. The following table
401 shows you, which features are enabled in each configuration.
403 Table 1. Default Configurations
404 Feature default.action basic.action intermediate.action
408 de-animate GIFs ? x x x
409 referer forging ? x x x
410 jon's +no-cookies-keep (i.e. session cookies only) ? x x x
411 no-popup windows ? x x
415 content-modification ? x
419 _________________________________________________________________
421 1.3.6. Why can I change the configuration with a browser? Does that not
422 raise security issues?
424 What I don't understand, is how I can browser edit the config file as
425 a regular user, while the whole /etc/privoxy hierarchy belongs to the
426 user "privoxy", with only 644 perms.
428 When you use the browser-based editor, Privoxy itself is writing to
429 the config files. Because Privoxy is running as the user "privoxy", it
430 can update the config files.
432 If you don't like this, setting "enable-edit-actions 0" in the config
433 file will disable the browser-based editor. If you're that paranoid,
434 you should also consider setting "enable-remote-toggle 0" to prevent
435 browser-based enabling/disabling of Privoxy.
437 Note that normally only local users can connect to Privoxy, so this is
438 not (normally) a security problem.
439 _________________________________________________________________
441 1.3.7. What is a "default.filter"?
443 The "default.filter" file is used to "filter" any web page content. By
444 "filtering" we mean it can modify, remove, or change anything on the
445 page, including HTML tags, and JavaScript. Regular expressions are
446 used to accomplish this, and operate on a line by line basis. This is
447 potentially a very powerful feature, but requires some expertise.
449 If you are familiar with regular expressions, and HTML, you can look
450 at the provided default.filter with a text editor and see some of
451 things it can be used for.
453 Presently, there is no GUI editor option for this part of the
454 configuration, but you can disable/enable various sections of the
455 included default file with the "Actions List Editor" from your
457 _________________________________________________________________
459 1.3.8. How can I set up Privoxy to act as a proxy for my LAN?
461 By default, Privoxy only responds to requests from localhost. To have
462 it act as a server for a network, this needs to be changed in the main
463 config file where the Privoxy configuration is located. In that file
464 is a "listen-address" option. It may be commented out with a "#"
465 symbol. Make sure it is uncommented, and assign it the address of the
466 LAN gateway interface, and port number to use:
468 listen-address 192.168.1.1:8118
470 Save the file, and restart Privoxy. Configure all browsers on the
471 network then to use this address and port number.
472 _________________________________________________________________
474 1.3.9. Instead of ads, now I get a checkerboard pattern. I don't want to see
477 This is a configuration option for images that Privoxy is stopping.
478 You have the choice a checkerboard pattern, a transparent 1x1 GIF
479 image (aka "blank"), or a custom URL or your choice.
481 If you want to see nothing, then change the "+image-blocker" action to
482 "+image-blocker{blank}". This can be done from the "Edit Actions List"
483 selection at [67]http://p.p/. Or by hand editing the appropriate
484 actions file. This will only effect what is defined as "images"
486 _________________________________________________________________
488 1.3.10. Why would anybody want to see a checkerboard pattern?
490 This can be helpful for troubleshooting problems. It might also be
491 good for anyone new to Privoxy so that they can see if their favorite
492 pages are displaying correctly, and Privoxy is not inadvertently
493 removing something important.
494 _________________________________________________________________
496 1.3.11. I see large red banners on some pages that say "Blocked". How do I
499 These are URLs that match something in one of Privoxy's block actions
500 (+block). It is meant to be a warning so that you know something has
501 been blocked and an easy way for you to see why. These are handled
502 differently than what has been defined as "images" (e.g. ad banners).
503 If you want them to be treated as if they were images, so that they
504 can be made invisible, then move the offending URL from the "+block"
505 section to the "+imageblock" section of your actions file.
506 Alternately, you could modify the "block" HTML template that is used
507 by Privoxy to display this, and make it something more to your liking.
508 _________________________________________________________________
510 1.3.12. How can I make Privoxy work with other proxies like Squid?
512 This can be done. See the [68]user manual, which describes how to do
514 _________________________________________________________________
518 1.4.1. How much does Privoxy slow my browsing down? This has to add extra
521 It should not slow you down any in real terms, and may actually help
522 speed things up since ads, banners and other junk are not being
523 displayed. The actual processing time required by Privoxy itself for
524 each page, is relatively small in the overall scheme of things, and
525 happens very quickly. This is typically more than offset by time saved
526 not downloading and rendering ad images.
528 "Filtering" via the filterfile mechanism may cause a perceived
529 slowdown, since the entire page is buffered before displaying. See
531 _________________________________________________________________
533 1.4.2. I noticed considerable delays in page requests compared to the old
534 Junkbuster. What's wrong?
536 Using the default filtering configuration, I noticed considerable
537 delays in page requests compared to the old Junkbuster. Loading pages
538 with large contents seemed to take forever, then suddenly delivering
539 all the content at once.
541 The whole content must be loaded in order to filter, and nothing is is
542 sent to the browser during this time. The loading time does not really
543 change in real numbers, but the feeling is different, because most
544 browsers are able to start rendering incomplete content, giving the
545 user a feeling of "it works".
547 To modify the content of a page (i.e. make frames resizeable again,
548 etc.) and not just replace ads, Privoxy needs to download the entire
549 page first, do its content magic and then send the page to the
551 _________________________________________________________________
553 1.4.3. What is the "http://p.p/"?
555 Since Privoxy sits between your web browser and the Internet, it can
556 be programmed to handle certain pages specially.
558 With recent versions of Privoxy (version 2.9.x), you can get some
559 information about Privoxy and change some settings by going to
560 http://p.p/ or, equivalently, http://www.privoxy.org/config/ (Note
561 that p.p is far easier to type but may not work in some
564 These pages are *not* forwarded to a server on the Internet - instead
565 they are handled by a special web server which is built in to Privoxy.
567 If you are not running Privoxy, then http://p.p/ will fail, and
568 http://www.privoxy.org/config/ will return a web page telling you
569 you're not running Privoxy.
571 If you have version 2.0.2, then the equivalent is
572 http://example.com/show-proxy-args (but you get far less information,
573 and you should really consider upgrading to 2.9.x).
574 _________________________________________________________________
576 1.4.4. Do you still maintain the blocklists?
578 No. The format of the blocklists has changed significantly in the
579 versions 2.9.x. Once we have released the new version, there will
580 again be blocklists that you can update automatically.
581 _________________________________________________________________
583 1.4.5. How can I submit new ads?
585 As of now, please discontinue to submit new ad blocking infos. Once we
586 have released the new version, there will again be a form on the
587 website, which you can use to contribute new ads.
588 _________________________________________________________________
590 1.4.6. How can I hide my IP address?
592 You cannot hide your IP address with Privoxy or any other software,
593 since the server needs to know your IP address to send the answer to
596 Fortunately there are many publicly usable anonymous proxies out
597 there, which solve the problem by providing a further level of
598 indirection between you and the web server, shared by many people and
599 thus letting your requests "drown" in white noise of unrelated
600 requests as far as user tracking is concerned.
602 Most of them will, however, log your IP address and make it available
603 to the authorities in case you abuse that anonymity for criminal
604 purposes. In fact you can't even rule out that some of them only exist
605 to *collect* information on (those suspicious) people with a more than
606 average preference for privacy.
608 You can find a list of anonymous public proxies at [69]multiproxy.org
609 and many more through Google.
610 _________________________________________________________________
612 1.4.7. Can Privoxy guarantee I am anonymous?
614 No. Your chances of remaining anonymous are greatly improved, but
615 unless you are an expert on Internet security it would be safest to
616 assume that everything you do on the Web can be traced back to you.
618 Privoxy can remove various information about you, and allows you more
619 freedom to decide which sites you can trust. But it's still possible
620 that web sites can find out who you are. Here's one way this can
623 A few browsers disclose the user's email address in certain
624 situations, such as when transferring a file by FTP. Privoxy does not
625 filter FTP. If you need this feature, or are concerned about the mail
626 handler of your browser disclosing your email address, you might
627 consider products such as NSClean.
629 Browsers available only as binaries could use non-standard headers to
630 give out any information they can have access to: see the
631 manufacturer's license agreement. It's impossible to anticipate and
632 prevent every breach of privacy that might occur. The professionally
633 paranoid prefer browsers available as source code, because
634 anticipating their behavior is easier. Trust the source, Luke!
635 _________________________________________________________________
637 1.4.8. Might some things break because header information is being altered?
639 Definitely. More and more sites use HTTP header content to decide what
640 to display and how to display it. There is many ways that this can be
641 handled, so having hard and fast rules, is tricky.
643 "USER AGENT" in particular is often used in this way to identify the
644 browser, and adjust content accordingly. Changing this now is not
645 recommended, since so many sites do look for this. You may get
646 undesirable results by changing this.
648 For instance, different browsers use different encodings of Russian
649 and Czech characters, certain web servers convert pages on-the-fly
650 according to the User Agent header. Giving a "User Agent" with the
651 wrong operating system or browser manufacturer causes some sites in
652 these languages to be garbled; Surfers to Eastern European sites
653 should change it to something closer. And then some page access
654 counters work by looking at the "REFERER" header; they may fail or
655 break if unavailable. The weather maps of Intellicast have been
656 blocked by their server when no "REFERER" or cookie is provided, is
657 another example. There are many, many other ways things can go wrong
658 when trying to fool a web server.
660 If you have problems with a site, you will have to adjust your
661 configuration accordingly. Cookies are probably the most likely
662 adjustment that may be required, but by no means the only one.
663 _________________________________________________________________
665 1.4.9. Can Privoxy act as a "caching" proxy to speed up web browsing?
667 No, it does not have this ability at all. You want something like
668 [70]Squid for this. And, yes, before you ask, Privoxy can co-exist
669 with other kinds of proxies like "Squid".
670 _________________________________________________________________
672 1.4.10. What about as a firewall? Can Privoxy protect me?
674 Not in the way you mean, or in the way a true firewall can, or a proxy
675 that has this specific capability. Privoxy can help protect your
676 privacy, but not really protect you from intrusion attempts.
677 _________________________________________________________________
679 1.4.11. The Privoxy logo that replaces ads is very blocky and ugly looking.
680 Can't a better font be used?
682 This is not a font problem. The logo is an image that is created by
683 Privoxy on the fly. So as to not waste memory, the image is rather
684 small. The blockiness comes when the image is scaled to fill a largish
685 area. There is not much to be done about this, other than to use one
686 of the other "imageblock" directives: pattern, blank, or a URL of your
689 Given the above problem, we have decided to remove the logo option
690 entirely [as of v2.9.13].
691 _________________________________________________________________
693 1.4.12. I have large empty spaces now where ads used to be. Why does Privoxy
694 leave these large gaps?
696 It would be easy enough to just eliminate this space altogether,
697 rather than fill it with blank space. But, this would create problems
698 with many pages that use the overall size of the ad to help organize
699 the page layout and position the various components of the page where
700 they were intended to be. It is best left this way.
701 _________________________________________________________________
703 1.4.13. How can Privoxy filter Secure (HTTPS) URLs?
705 This is a limitation since HTTPS transactions are encrypted SSL
706 sessions between your browser and the secure site, and are meant to be
707 reliably secure and private. This means that all cookies and HTTP
708 header information are also encrypted from the time they leave your
709 browser, to the site, and vice versa. Privoxy does not try to
710 unencrypt this information, so it just passes through as is. Privoxy
711 can still catch images and ads that are embedded in the SSL stream
713 _________________________________________________________________
715 1.4.14. Privoxy runs as a "server". How secure is it? Do I need to take any
718 There are no known exploits that might effect Privoxy. On Unix-like
719 systems, Privoxy can run as a non-privileged user, which is how we
720 recommend it be run. Also, by default Privoxy only listens to requests
721 from "localhost". It is not itself directly exposed to the Internet in
722 this configuration. If you want to have Privoxy serve as a LAN proxy,
723 this will have to be opened up to allow for LAN requests. In this
724 case, we'd recommend you specify only the LAN gateway address, e.g.
725 192.168.1.1 in the main Privoxy config file. All LAN hosts can then
726 use this as their proxy address in the browser proxy configuration. In
727 this way, Privoxy will not listen on any external ports. Of course, a
728 firewall is always good too. Better safe than sorry.
729 _________________________________________________________________
731 1.4.15. How can I temporarily disable Privoxy?
733 The easiest way is to access Privoxy with your browser by using the
734 special URL: [71]http://p.p/ and select "Toggle Privoxy on or off"
736 _________________________________________________________________
740 1.5.1. I just upgraded and am getting "connection refused" with every web
743 Either Privoxy is not running, or your browser is configured for a
744 different port than what Privoxy is using.
746 The old Privoxy (and also Junkbuster) used port 8000 by default. This
747 has been changed to port 8118 now, due to a conflict with NAS (Network
748 Audio Service), which uses port 8000. If you haven't, you need to
749 change your browser to the new port number, or alternately change
750 Privoxy's "listen-address" setting in the config file used to start
752 _________________________________________________________________
754 1.5.2. I just added a new rule, but the steenkin ad is still getting
757 If the ad had been displayed before you added its URL, it will
758 probably be held in the browser's cache for some time, so it will be
759 displayed without the need for any request to the server, and Privoxy
760 will not be in the picture. The best thing to do is try flushing the
761 browser's caches. And then try again.
763 If this doesn't help, you probably have an error in the rule you
764 applied. Try pasting the full URL of the offending ad into
765 [72]http://www.privoxy.org/config/show-url-info and see if any actions
767 _________________________________________________________________
769 1.5.3. One of my favorite sites does not work with Privoxy. What can I do?
771 First verify that it is indeed a Privoxy problem, by disabling Privoxy
772 filtering and blocking. Go to [73]http://p.p/ and click on "Toggle
773 Privoxy On or Off", then disable it. Now try that page again.
775 If still a problem, go to "Show which actions apply to a URL and why"
776 from [74]http://p.p/ and paste the full URL of the page in question
777 into the prompt. See which actions are being applied to the URL. Now,
778 armed with this information, go to "Edit the actions list". Here you
779 should see various sections that have various Privoxy features
780 disabled for specific sites. Disabled "actions" will have a "-" (minus
781 sign) in front of them. Add your problem page URL to one of these
782 sections that looks like it is disabling the feature that is causing
783 the problem. Re-try the page. There might be some trial and error
784 involved. This is discussed in a little more detail in the
785 [75]user-manual appendix.
787 Alternately, if you are comfortable with a text editor, you can
788 accomplish the same thing by editing the appropriate "actions" file.
789 _________________________________________________________________
791 1.5.4. What time is it?
794 _________________________________________________________________
796 2. Copyright and History
798 Please see the user manual for information on Copyright and History.
799 _________________________________________________________________
803 Please see the user manual for information on references.
807 1. http://www.privoxy.org/faq/
808 2. http://www.privoxy.org/user-manual/contact.html
809 3. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#QUESTIONS
810 4. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#GENERAL
811 5. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#NEWJB
812 6. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#AEN37
813 7. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#DIFFERS
814 8. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#FEATURES
815 9. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#PROXYMORON
816 10. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#BROWSERS2
817 11. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#LICENSE
818 12. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#JOINTEAM
819 13. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#INSTALLATION
820 14. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#WHICHBROWSERS
821 15. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#WHICHOS
822 16. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#NEWINSTALL
823 17. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#AEN151
824 18. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#LOCALHOST
825 19. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#AEN176
826 20. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#CONFIGURATION
827 21. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#NEWCONFIG
828 22. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#AEN192
829 23. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#ACTIONSS
830 24. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#AEN210
831 25. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#CONFIGFILES
832 26. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#BROWSECONFIG
833 27. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#AEN327
834 28. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#AEN339
835 29. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#AEN351
836 30. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#AEN362
837 31. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#AEN367
838 32. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#OTHERPROXY
839 33. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#MISC
840 34. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#AEN386
841 35. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#LOADINGTIMES
842 36. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#CONFIGURL
843 37. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#BLOCKLIST
844 38. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#NEWADS
845 39. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#IP
846 40. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#AEN427
847 41. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#AEN438
848 42. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#AEN448
849 43. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#AEN456
850 44. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#AEN461
851 45. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#AEN470
852 46. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#AEN474
853 47. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#AEN481
854 48. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#TURNOFF
855 49. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#AEN499
856 50. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#AEN501
857 51. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#AEN514
858 52. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#AEN520
859 53. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#AEN538
860 54. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#COPYRIGHT
861 55. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#SEEALSO
862 56. http://www.junkbusters.com/
863 57. http://ijbswa.sourceforge.net/
864 58. http://junkbusters.com/
866 60. http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html
867 61. http://www.privoxy.org/user-manual/
869 63. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/user-manual/configuration.html#ACTIONSFILE
871 65. http://www.privoxy.org/config/edit-actions
872 66. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/user-manual/configuration.html#ACTIONSFILE
874 68. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/user-manual/configuration.html#FORWARDING
875 69. http://www.multiproxy.org/anon_list.htm
876 70. http://www.squid-cache.org/
878 72. http://www.privoxy.org/config/show-url-info
881 75. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/user-manual/appendix.html#ACTIONSANAT