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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 1.65 2002/07/25 21:51:24 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.
54 ========================================================================
60 <article id="index" class="faq">
62 <title>Privoxy Frequently Asked Questions</title>
66 <!-- Completely the wrong markup, but very little is allowed -->
67 <!-- in this part of an article. FIXME -->
68 <link linkend="copyright">Copyright</link> &my-copy; 2001, 2002 by
69 <ulink url="http://www.privoxy.org">Privoxy Developers</ulink>
73 <pubdate>$Id: faq.sgml,v 1.65 2002/07/25 21:51:24 hal9 Exp $</pubdate>
77 Note: this should generate a separate page, and a live link to it.
78 But it doesn't for some mysterious reason. Please leave commented
79 unless it can be fixed proper. For the time being, the copyright
80 statement will be in copyright.smgl.
84 <legalnotice id="legalnotice">
86 text goes here ........
96 <orgname>By: Privoxy Developers</orgname>
105 This is here to keep vim syntax file from breaking :/
106 If I knew enough to fix it, I would.
107 PLEASE DO NOT REMOVE! HB: hal@foobox.net
112 This FAQ gives quick answers to frequently asked questions about
113 <ulink url="http://www.privoxy.org/">Privoxy</ulink>
114 <![%p-stable;[ v.&p-version]]>. It can't and doesn't replace the
115 <ulink url="../user-manual/index.html"><citetitle>User Manual</citetitle></ulink>.
118 <!-- Include privoxy.sgml boilerplate: -->
120 <!-- end boilerplate -->
123 You can find the latest version of the document at <ulink
124 url="http://www.privoxy.org/faq/">http://www.privoxy.org/faq/</ulink>.
125 Please see the <link linkend="contact">Contact section</link> if you want to
126 contact the developers.
130 <!-- Feel free to send a note to the developers at <email>ijbswa-developers@lists.sourceforge.net</email>. -->
136 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
138 <sect1 id="general"><title>General Information</title>
140 <sect2 renderas="sect3" id="newjb"><title>What is this new version of <application>Privoxy</application>?</title>
142 <!-- Include history.sgml -->
149 <sect2 renderas="sect3">
150 <title id="whyprivoxy">Why <quote>Privoxy</quote>? Why a name change at all?</title>
152 <application>Privoxy</application> is the
153 <quote><emphasis>Privacy Enhancing Proxy</emphasis></quote>. Also, its content
154 modification and junk suppression allow you to browse your
155 <quote><emphasis>private</emphasis> edition</quote> of the web.
158 <ulink url="http://junkbusters.com/">Junkbusters Corporation</ulink>
159 continues to offer their original version of the <application>Internet
160 Junkbuster</application>, so publishing our
161 <application> Junkbuster</application>-derived software under the same name
165 There are also potential legal complications from the continued use of the
166 <application>Junkbuster</application> name, which is a registered trademark of
167 <ulink url="http://junkbusters.com/">Junkbusters Corporation</ulink>.
168 There are, however, no objections from Junkbusters Corporation to the
169 <application>Privoxy</application> project itself, and they, in fact, still
170 share our ideals and goals.
173 The developers also believed that there are so many changes from the original
174 code, that it was time to make a clean break from the past and make
175 a name in their own right<![%p-not-stable;[, especially now with the pending
176 release of version 3.0]]>.
181 <sect2 renderas="sect3" id="differs"><title>How does <application>Privoxy</application> differ
182 from the old <application>Junkbuster?</application></title>
184 <application>Privoxy</application> picks up where
185 <application>Junkbuster</application> left off. All the old features remain.
186 The new <application>Privoxy</application> still blocks ads and banners,
187 still manages cookies, and still helps protect your privacy. But, these are
188 all enhanced, and many new features have been added, all in the same vein.
191 The configuration has changed significantly as well. This is something that
192 users will notice right off the bat if upgrading from
193 <application>Junkbuster</application> 2.0.x. The <quote>blocklist</quote>
194 <quote>cookielist</quote>, <quote>imagelist</quote> and much more has been
195 combined into the <quote>actions</quote> files, with a completely different
196 syntax. See the <ulink url="../user-manual/upgradersnote.html">note to
197 upgraders</ulink> for details.
200 <application>Privoxy</application>'s new features include:
203 <!-- Include newfeatures.sgml: -->
209 <sect2 renderas="sect3" id="proxymoron"><title>What is a <quote>proxy</quote>? How does
210 <application>Privoxy</application> work? </title>
212 A web proxy is a service, based on a software such as <application>Privoxy</application>,
213 that clients (i.e. browsers) can use instead of connecting directly to the web
214 servers on the Internet. The clients then ask the proxy to fetch the objects
215 they need (web pages, images, movies etc) on their behalf, and when the proxy
216 has done so, it hands the results back to the client.
219 There are many reasons to use web proxies, such as security (firewalling),
220 efficiency (caching) and others, and there are just as many different proxies
221 to accommodate those needs.
224 <application>Privoxy</application> is a proxy that is solely focused on privacy
225 protection and junk elimination. Sitting between your browser(s) and the Internet,
226 it is in a perfect position to filter outbound personal information that your
227 browser is leaking, as well as inbound junk. It uses a variety of techniques to do
228 this, all of which are under your control via the various configuration
234 <sect2 renderas="sect3" id="whatsanad">
235 <title id="knows">How does <application>Privoxy</application> know what is
236 an ad, and what is not?</title>
238 <application>Privoxy</application>'s approach to blocking ads is twofold:
241 First, there are certain patterns in the <emphasis>locations</emphasis> (URLs)
242 of banner images. This applies to both the path (you wouldn't guess how many
243 web sites serve their banners from a directory called <quote>banners</quote>!)
244 and the host (blocking the big banner hosting services like doublecklick.net
245 already helps a lot). <application>Privoxy</application> takes advantage of this
246 fact by using <ulink url="../user-manual/actions-file.html#AF-PATTERNS">URL
247 patterns</ulink> to sort out and block the requests for banners.
250 Second, banners tend to come in certain <emphasis>sizes</emphasis>. But you
251 can't tell the size of an image by its URL without downloading it, and if you
252 do, it's too late to save bandwidth. Therefore, <application>Privoxy</application>
253 also inspects the HTML sources of web pages while they are loaded, and replaces
254 references to images with standard banner sizes by dummy references, so that
255 your browser doesn't request them anymore in the first place.
258 Both of this involves a certain amount of guesswork and is, of course, freely
263 <sect2 renderas="sect3">
264 <title id="mistakes">Can <application>Privoxy</application> make mistakes?
265 This does not sound very scientific.</title>
267 Actually, it's a black art ;-) And yes, it is always possible to have a broad
268 rule accidentally block or change something by mistake. There is a good chance
269 you may run into such a situation at some point. It is tricky writing rules to
270 cover every conceivable possibility, and not occasionally get false positives.
274 But this should not be a big concern since the
275 <application>Privoxy</application> configuration is very flexible, and
276 includes tools to help identify these types of situations so they can be
277 addressed as needed, allowing you to customize your installation.
278 (<link linkend="badsite">See the Troubleshooting section below</link>.)
284 <sect2 renderas="sect3" id="browsers2"><title>My browser does the same things as
285 <application>Privoxy</application>. Why should I use
286 <application>Privoxy</application> at all?</title>
288 Modern browsers do indeed have <emphasis>some</emphasis> of the same
289 functionality as <application>Privoxy</application>. Maybe this is
290 adequate for you. But <application>Privoxy</application> is much more
291 versatile and powerful, and can do a number of things that browsers just can't.
294 In addition, a proxy is good choice if you use multiple browsers, or
295 have a LAN with multiple computers. This way all the configuration
296 is in one place, and you don't have to maintain a similar configuration
297 for possibly many browsers.
303 <sect2 renderas="sect3" id="license"><title>Is there is a license or fee? What about a
304 warranty? Registration?</title>
306 <application>Privoxy</application> is licensed under the <ulink
307 url="http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html">GNU General Public License (GPL)</ulink>.
308 It is free to use, copy, modify or distribute as you wish under the terms of this
309 license. Please see the <link linkend="copyright">Copyright</link> section for more
310 information on the license and copyright. Or the <filename>LICENSE</filename> file
311 that should be included.
314 There is <emphasis>no warranty</emphasis> of any kind, expressed, implied or otherwise.
315 That is something that would cost real money ;-) There is no registration either.
316 <application>Privoxy</application> really is <emphasis>free</emphasis>
322 <sect2 renderas="sect3" id="jointeam"><title>I would like to help you, what do I do?</title>
324 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="jointeam-money"><title>Money Money Money</title>
326 We, of course, welcome donations and could use money for domain registering,
327 buying software to test <application>Privoxy</application> with, and, of course,
328 for regular world-wide get-togethers (hahaha). If you enjoy the software and feel
329 like helping us with a donation, just <ulink
330 url="mailto:developers@privoxy.org">drop us a note</ulink>.
334 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="jointeam-software"><title>Software</title>
336 If you are a vendor of a web-related software like a browser, web server
337 or proxy, and would like us to ensure that <application>Privoxy</application>
338 runs smoothly with your product, you might consider supplying us with a
339 copy or license. We can't, however, guarantee that we will fix all potential
340 compatibility issues as a result.
344 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="jointeam-work"><title>You want to work with us?</title>
346 Well, helping the team is always a good idea. We welcome new developers,
347 packaging gurus or documentation writers. Simply <ulink
348 url="https://sourceforge.net/account/register.php">get an account on SourceForge.net</ulink>
349 and mail your id to the <ulink url="mailto:developers@privoxy.org">developers
350 mailing list</ulink>. Then read the <ulink
351 url="../developer-manual/index.html">Developer's Manual</ulink>.
354 Once we have added you to the team, you'll have write access to the <ulink
355 url="http://sourceforge.net/cvs/?group_id=11118">CVS repository</ulink>, and
356 together we'll find a suitable task for you.
365 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
367 <sect1 id="installation"><title>Installation</title>
369 <sect2 renderas="sect3" id="whichbrowsers">
370 <title>Which browsers are supported by <application>Privoxy</application>?</title>
372 Any browser that can be configured to use a proxy, which
373 should be virtually all browsers. Direct browser support is not necessary
374 since <application>Privoxy</application> runs as a separate application and
375 talks to the browser in the standardized HTTP protocol, just like a web server
380 <sect2 renderas="sect3" id="whichos">
381 <title>Which operating systems are supported?</title>
383 Include supported.sgml here:
388 <sect2 renderas="sect3" id="newinstall"><title>Can I install
389 <application>Privoxy</application> over <application>Junkbuster</application>?</title>
391 We recommend you un-install <application>Junkbuster</application>
392 first to minimize conflicts and confusion. You may want to
393 save your old configuration files for future reference. The configuration
394 files and syntax have substantially changed, so you will need to manually
395 port your old patterns. See the <ulink url="../user-manual/upgradersnote.html">note
396 to upgraders</ulink> and <ulink url="../user-manual/installation.html">installation
397 chapter</ulink> in the <ulink url="../user-manual/index.html">user manual</ulink>
401 Note: Some installers may automatically un-install
402 <application>Junkbuster</application>, if present!
407 <sect2 renderas="sect3">
408 <title id="firststep">I just installed <application>Privoxy</application>. Is there anything
409 special I have to do now?</title>
412 All browsers must be told to use <application>Privoxy</application>
413 as a proxy by specifying the correct proxy address and port number
414 in the appropriate configuration area for the browser. See below.
415 You should also flush your browser's memory and disk cache to get rid of any
423 <sect2 renderas="sect3" id="localhost"><title>What is the proxy address of <application>Privoxy</application>?</title>
425 If you set up the <application>Privoxy</application> to run on
426 the computer you browse from (rather than your ISP's server or some
427 networked computer on a LAN), the proxy will be on <literal>127.0.0.1</literal>
428 (sometimes referred to as <quote>localhost</quote>,
429 which is the special name used by every computer on the Internet to refer
430 to itself) and the port will be 8118 (unless you have <application>Privoxy</application>
431 to run on a different port with the <ulink
432 url="../user-manual/config.html#LISTEN-ADDRESS">listen-address</ulink> config option).
435 When configuring your browser's proxy settings you typically enter
436 the word <quote>localhost</quote> or the IP address <quote>127.0.0.1</quote>
437 in the boxes next to <quote>HTTP</quote> and <quote>Secure</quote> (HTTPS) and
438 then the number <quote>8118</quote> for <quote>port</quote>.
439 This tells your browser to send all web requests to <application>Privoxy</application>
440 instead of directly to the Internet.
443 <application>Privoxy</application> can also be used to proxy for
444 a Local Area Network. In this case, your would enter either the IP
445 address of the LAN host where <application>Privoxy</application>
446 is running, or the equivalent hostname. Port assignment would be
447 same as above. Note that <application>Privoxy</application> doesn't
448 listen on any LAN interfaces by default.
451 <application>Privoxy</application> does not currently handle
452 protocols such as FTP, SMTP, IM, IRC, ICQ, or other Internet
457 <sect2 renderas="sect3">
458 <title id="nothing">I just installed <application>Privoxy</application>, and nothing is happening.
459 All the ads are there. What's wrong?</title>
462 Did you configure your browser to use <application>Privoxy</application>
463 as a proxy? It does not sound like it. See above. You might also try flushing
464 the browser's caches to force a full re-reading of pages. You can verify
465 that <application>Privoxy</application> is running, and your browser
466 is correctly configured by entering the special URL:
467 <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/">http://config.privoxy.org/</ulink>.
468 This should take you to a page titled <quote>This is Privoxy..</quote> with
469 access to <application>Privoxy's</application> internal configuration.
470 If you see this, then you are good to go. If you receive a page saying
471 <quote>Privoxy is not running</quote>, then the browser is not set up to use
472 your <application>Privoxy</application> installation.
473 If you receive anything else (probably nothing at all), it could either
474 be that the browser is not set up correctly, or that
475 <application>Privoxy</application> is not running at all. Check the <ulink
476 url="../user-manual/config.html#LOGFILE">log file</ulink>.
486 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
488 <sect1 id="configuration"><title>Configuration</title>
490 <sect2 renderas="sect3" id="newconfig"><title>Can I use my old config files?</title>
492 The syntax, number, and purpose of configuration files has substantially
493 changed from <application>Junkbuster</application> and earlier versions
494 of <application>Privoxy</application>. The old files, like <filename>blocklist</filename>
495 will not work at all. If you are upgrading from a 2.0.x version, you will
496 need to port your configuration data to the new format. Note that even the
497 pattern syntax has changed! Even configuration files from the 2.9.x versions
498 will need to be adapted, as configuration syntax has been very much in flow
503 <sect2 renderas="sect3">
504 <title id="actionsfile">What is an <quote>actions</quote> file?</title>
507 <ulink url="../user-manual/actions-file.html">Actions files</ulink>
508 are where various <ulink url="../user-manual/actions-file.html#ACTIONS">actions</ulink>
509 that <application>Privoxy</application> might take while processing a certain
510 request, are configured. Typically, you would define a set of default actions
511 that apply to all URLs, then add exceptions to these defaults where needed.
515 Actions can be defined on a <ulink
516 url="../user-manual/actions-file.html#AF-PATTERNS">URL pattern</ulink> basis, i.e.
517 for single URLs, whole web sites, groups or parts thereof etc. Actions can also be
518 grouped together and then applied to requests matching one or more patterns.
519 There are many possible actions that might apply to any given site. As an example,
520 if you are blocking cookies as one of your default actions, but need to accept
521 cookies from a given site, you would need to define an exception for this
522 site in one of your actions files, preferably in <filename>user.action</filename>
527 <sect2 renderas="sect3" id="actionss">
528 <title>The <quote>actions</quote> concept confuses me. Please list
529 some of these <quote>actions</quote>.</title>
531 For a comprehensive discussion of the actions concept, please refer
532 to the <ulink url="../user-manual/actions-file.html">actions file
533 chapter</ulink> in the <ulink url="../user-manual/index.html">user
534 manual</ulink>. It includes a <ulink
535 url="../user-manual/actions-file.html#ACTIONS">list of all actions</ulink>
536 and an <ulink url="../user-manual/actions-file.html#ACT-EXAMPLES">actions
537 file tutorial</ulink> to get you started.
542 <sect2 renderas="sect3">
543 <title id="actconfig">How are actions files configured? What is the easiest
544 way to do this?</title>
547 Actions files are just text files in a special syntax and can be edited
548 with a text editor. The probably easiest way is to access
549 <application>Privoxy</application>'s user interface with your web browser
550 at <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/">http://config.privoxy.org/</ulink>
551 (Shortcut: <ulink url="http://p.p/">http://p.p/</ulink>) and then select
552 <quote><ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status">View &
553 change the current configuration</ulink></quote> from the menu.
558 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
559 <sect2 renderas="sect3">
560 <title>There are several different <quote>actions</quote> files. What are
561 the differences?</title>
563 As of <application>Privoxy</application> v2.9.15, three actions files
564 are being included, to be used for
565 different purposes: These are
566 <filename>default.action</filename>, the <quote>main</quote> actions file
567 which is actively maintained by the <application>Privoxy</application>
568 developers, <filename>user.action</filename>, where users are encouraged
569 to make their private customizations, and <filename>standard.action</filename>,
570 which is for internal <application>Privoxy</application> use only.
571 Please see <ulink url="../user-manual/actions-file.html">the actions chapter</ulink>
572 in the <ulink url="../user-manual/index.html">user manual</ulink> for a more
573 detailed explanation.
577 Earlier versions included three different versions of the
578 <filename>default.action</filename> file. The new scheme allows for
579 greater flexibility of local configuration, and for browser based
580 selection of pre-defined <quote>aggressiveness</quote> levels.
585 <sect2 renderas="sect3" id="yahoo"><title>How can I make my Yahoo/Hotmail/GMX account work?</title>
587 The default configuration shouldn't impact the usability of any of these services.
588 It will, however, make all cookies temporary, so that your browser will forget your
589 login credentials in between browser sessions. If you would like not to have to log
590 in manually each time you access those websites, simply turn off all cookie handling
591 for them in the <filename>user.action</filename> file. An example for yahoo might
595 <screen># Allow all cookies for Yahoo login:
597 { -<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> }
598 .login.yahoo.com</screen>
603 <sect2 renderas="sect3" id="configfiles"> <title>What's the difference between the
604 <quote>Cautious</quote>, <quote>Medium</quote> and <quote>Advanced</quote> defaults?</title>
606 Configuring <application>Privoxy</application> is not entirely trivial. To help you get
607 started, we provide you with three different default action <quote>packages</quote> in
608 the web based actions file editor at <ulink
609 url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status">http://config.privoxy.org/show-status</ulink>.
610 The following table shows you, which of the most important features are enabled in each
614 <table frame=all><title>Default Configurations</title>
615 <tgroup cols=4 align=left colsep=1 rowsep=1>
622 <entry>Feature</entry>
623 <entry>Cautious</entry>
624 <entry>Intermadiate</entry>
625 <entry>Advanced</entry>
630 <!-- <entry>f1</entry> -->
631 <!-- <entry>f2</entry> -->
632 <!-- <entry>f3</entry> -->
633 <!-- <entry>f4</entry> -->
639 <entry>Ad-blocking by URL</entry>
646 <entry>Ad-filtering by size</entry>
653 <entry>GIF de-animation</entry>
660 <entry>Referer forging</entry>
667 <entry>Cookie handling</entry>
669 <entry>session-only</entry>
674 <entry>Pop-up killing</entry>
681 <entry>Fast redirects</entry>
688 <entry>HTML taming</entry>
695 <entry>JavaScript taming</entry>
702 <entry>Web-bug killing</entry>
709 <entry>Fun text replacements</entry>
720 Where the defaults are likely to break some sites, exceptions for
721 known popular <quote>problem</quote> sites are included, but in
722 general, the more aggressive your default settings are, the more
723 exceptions you will have to make later. See the <ulink
724 url="../user-manual/index.html">user manual</ulink> for a more
730 <sect2 renderas="sect3" id="browseconfig"> <title>Why can I change the configuration
731 with a browser? Does that not raise security issues?</title>
733 It may seem strange that regular users can edit the config files with their
734 browsers, although the whole <filename>/etc/privoxy</filename> hierarchy
735 belongs to the user <quote>privoxy</quote>, with only 644 permissions.
738 When you use the browser-based editor, <application>Privoxy</application>
739 itself is writing to the config files. Because
740 <application>Privoxy</application> is running as the user <quote>privoxy</quote>,
741 it can update the config files.
744 If you run <application>Privoxy</application> for multiple untrusted users (e.g. in
745 a LAN), you will probably want to turn the web-based editor and remote toggle
746 features off by setting <quote><literal><ulink
747 url="../user-manual/config.html#ENABLE-EDIT-ACTIONS">enable-edit-actions</ulink>
748 0</literal></quote> and <quote><literal><ulink
749 url="../user-manual/config.html#ENABLE-REMOTE-TOGGLE">enable-remote-toggle</ulink>
750 0</literal></quote> in the <ulink url="../user-manual/config.html">main configuration file</ulink>.
753 Note that in the default configuration, only local users (i.e. those on
754 <quote>localhost</quote>) can connect to <application>Privoxy</application>,
755 so this is not (normally) a security problem.
760 <sect2 renderas="sect3">
761 <title id="filterfile">What is the <filename>default.filter</filename> file?</title>
763 The <ulink url="../user-manual/filter-file.html"><filename>default.filter</filename></ulink>
764 file is where <emphasis>filters</emphasis> are defined, which can be used to modify or
765 remove, web page content on the fly. Filters apply to <emphasis>anything</emphasis>
766 in the page source, including HTML tags, and JavaScript. Regular expressions are used
767 to accomplish this. There are a number of pre-defined filters to deal with common
768 annoyances. The filters are only defined here, to invoke them, you need to use the
770 url="../user-manual/actions-file.html#FILTER"><literal>filter</literal>
771 action</ulink> in one of the actions files. Filtering is automatically
772 disabled for inappropriate MIME types.
776 If you are familiar with regular expressions, and HTML, you can look at
777 the provided <filename>default.filter</filename> with a text editor and define
778 your own filters. This is potentially a very powerful feature, but
779 requires some expertise in both regular expressions and HTML/HTTP.
784 Presently, there is no GUI editor option for this part of the configuration,
785 but you can disable/enable the various pre-defined filters of the included
786 <filename>default.filter</filename> file with the <ulink
787 url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status">web-based actions file editor</ulink>.
792 <sect2 renderas="sect3">
793 <title id="lanconfig">How can I set up <application>Privoxy</application> to act as a proxy for my
796 By default, <application>Privoxy</application> only responds to requests
797 from <literal>127.0.0.1</literal> (localhost). To have it act as a server for
798 a network, this needs to be changed in the <ulink
799 url="../user-manual/config.html">main configuration file</ulink>. Look for
801 url="../user-manual/config.html#LISTEN-ADDRESS">listen-address</ulink></literal>
802 option, which may be commented out with a <quote>#</quote> symbol. Make sure
803 it is uncommented, and assign it the address of the LAN gateway interface,
804 and port number to use. Assuming your LAN address is 192.168.1.1 and you
805 wish to run <application>Privoxy</application> on port 8118, this line
811 listen-address 192.168.1.1:8118</screen>
815 Save the file, and restart <application>Privoxy</application>. Configure
816 all browsers on the network then to use this address and port number.
820 If you run <application>Privoxy</application> on a LAN with untrusted users,
821 we recommend that you double-check the <ulink
822 url="../user-manual/config.html#ACCESS-CONTROL">access control and security</ulink>
829 <sect2 renderas="sect3">
830 <title id="noseeum">Instead of ads, now I get a checkerboard pattern. I don't want to see anything.</title>
832 The replacement for blocked images can be controlled with the <ulink
833 url="../user-manual/actions-file.html#SET-IMAGE-BLOCKER"><literal>set-image-blocker</literal>
834 action</ulink>. You have the choice of a checkerboard pattern, a transparent 1x1 GIF
835 image (aka <quote>blank</quote>), or a redirect to a custom image of your choice.
836 Note that this choice only has effect for images which are blocked as images, i.e.
837 whose URLs match both a <literal><ulink
838 url="../user-manual/actions-file.html#HANDLE-AS-IMAGE">handle-as-image</ulink></literal>
839 <emphasis>and</emphasis> <literal><ulink
840 url="../user-manual/actions-file.html#BLOCK">block</ulink></literal> action.
843 If you want to see nothing, then change the <ulink
844 url="../user-manual/actions-file.html#SET-IMAGE-BLOCKER"><literal>set-image-blocker</literal>
845 action</ulink> to <quote>blank</quote>. This can be done by editing the
846 <filename>default.action</filename> file, or trough the <ulink
847 url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status">web-based actions file editor</ulink>.
852 <sect2 renderas="sect3">
853 <title id="whyseeum">Why would anybody want to see a checkerboard pattern?</title>
855 Remember that <link linkend="whatsanad">telling which image is an ad and which
856 isn't</link>, is mostly guesswork. While we hope that the standard configuration
857 is rather smart, it can and will make errors. The checkerboard image is visually
858 decent, but it shows you that and where images were blocked, which can be very
859 helpful in case some navigation aid or otherwise innocent image was
860 erraneously blocked. Some people might also enjoy seeing how many banners
861 they <emphasis>don't</emphasis> have to see..
866 <!-- This has changed with the adaptive "blocked" page
868 <sect2 renderas="sect3">
869 <title id="blockedisugly">I see large red banners on some pages that say
870 <quote>Blocked</quote>. Why and how do I get rid of this?</title>
872 These are URLs that match something in one of
873 <application>Privoxy's</application> block actions
875 url="../user-manual/actions-file.html#BLOCK"><quote>+block</quote></ulink>).
876 It is meant to be a warning so that you know something has been blocked and
877 an easy way for you to see why. These are handled differently than what has
878 been defined explicitly as <quote>images</quote> (e.g. ads that are GIF image
879 files). Depending on the URL itself, it is sometimes hard for
880 <application>Privoxy</application> to really know whether there is indeed an
881 ad image there or not. And there are limitations as to what
882 <application>Privoxy</application> can do to <quote>fool</quote> the
887 For instance, if the ad is in a frame, then it is embedded in the separate
888 HTML page used for the frame. In this case, you cannot just substitute an
889 aribitrary image (like we would for a <quote>blank</quote> image), for an HTML
890 page. The browser is expecting an HTML page, and that is what it must have
891 for frames. Such situations can be a little trickier to deal with, and
892 <application>Privoxy</application> may show the <quote>Blocked</quote> page,
893 despite your best efforts.
897 If you want these to be treated as if they were images, so that they can be
898 made invisible, you can try moving the offending URL from the
899 <quote>+block</quote> section to the <quote>+imageblock</quote> section of
900 your actions file. Just be forewarned, if any URL is made
901 <quote>invisible</quote>, you may not have any inkling that something has
902 been removed from that page, or why. If this approach does not work, then you are
903 probably dealing with a frame (or <quote>ilayer</quote>), and the only thing
904 that can go there is an HTML page of some sort.
907 To deal with this situation, you could modify the
908 <quote><filename>block</filename></quote> HTML template that is used by
909 <application>Privoxy</application> to display this, and make it something
910 more to your liking. Currently, there is no configuration option for this.
911 You will have to modify, or create your own page, and use this to replace
912 <filename>templates/blocked</filename>, which is what
913 <application>Privoxy</application> uses to display the <quote>Blocked</quote>
917 Another way to deal with this is find why and where
918 <application>Privoxy</application> is blocking the frame, and
919 diable this. Then let the <quote>+set-image-blocker</quote> action
920 handle the ad that is embedded in the frame's HTML page.
925 <sect2 renderas="sect3" id="alliseeisred">
926 <title>I cannot see all of the <quote>Blocked</quote> page banner. Help.</title>
928 There is not enough available space to fit the entire Blocked page. Try right
929 clicking on the visible portion, and select <quote>Show Frame</quote>,
930 or equivalent. This will usually allow you to see the entire Privoxy
931 <quote>Blocked</quote> page, and from there you can see just what is being
935 As of Privoxy 2.9.14, the Blocked banner page is re-sizeable, and tries
936 to adjust to the allotted space. There may be occassions where there
937 just isn't enough room to display much of anything useful though.
944 <sect2 renderas="sect3">
945 <title id="blockedbytext">I see some images being replaced by a text
946 instead of the checkerboard image. Why and how do I get rid of this?</title>
948 This happens when the banners are not embedded in the HTML code of the
949 page itself, but in separate HTML (sub)documents that are loaded into (i)frames
950 or (i)layers, and these external HTML documents are blocked. Being non-images
951 they get replaced by a substitute HTML page rather than a substitute image,
952 which wouldn't work out technically, since the browser expects and accepts
953 only HTML when it has requested an HTML document.
956 The substitute page adapts to the available space and shows itself as a
957 miniature two-liner if loaded into small frames, or full-blown with a
958 large red "BLOCKED" banner if space allows.
961 If you prefer the banners to be blocked by images, you must see to it that
962 the HTML documents in which they are embedded are not blocked. Clicking
963 the <quote>See why</quote> link offered in the substitute page will show
964 you which rule blocked the page. After changing the rule and un-blocking
965 the HTML documents, the browser will try to load the actual banner images
966 and the usual image blocking will (hopefully!) kick in.
971 <sect2 renderas="sect3" id="srvany">
972 <title>Can <application>Privoxy</application> run as a service
975 Yes, it can run as a system service using <command>srvany.exe</command>.
976 The only catch is that this will effectively disable the
977 <application>Privoxy</application> icon (and its menu!) in the taskbar. You can have
978 one or the other, but not both at this time :(
981 There is a pending feature request for this functionality. See the discussion
983 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>,
984 for details, and a sample configuration.
990 <sect2 renderas="sect3" id="otherproxy">
991 <title>How can I make <application>Privoxy</application> work with other
992 proxies like <application>Squid</application>?</title>
994 This can be done and is often useful to combine the benefits of
995 <application>Privoxy</application> with those of a caching proxy.
997 url="../user-manual/config.html#FORWARDING">forwarding chapter</ulink>
998 in the <ulink url="../user-manual/index.html">user manual</ulink> which
999 describes how to do this.
1003 <sect2 renderas="sect3" id="transparent">
1004 <title>Can <application>Privoxy</application> run as a <quote>transparent
1005 </quote> proxy?</title>
1007 No, <application>Privoxy</application> currently does not have this ability,
1008 though it is planned for a future release. Transparent proxies require
1009 special handling of the request headers beyond what
1010 <application>Privoxy</application> is now capable of.
1014 Chaining <application>Privoxy</application> behind another proxy that has
1015 this ability should work though.
1017 url="../user-manual/config.html#FORWARDING">forwarding chapter</ulink>
1018 in the <ulink url="../user-manual/index.html">user manual</ulink>. As
1019 a transparent proxy to be used for chaining we recommend Transproxy
1020 (<ulink url="http://www.transproxy.nlc.net.au/">http://www.transproxy.nlc.net.au/</ulink>).
1027 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
1030 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1032 <sect1 id="misc"><title>Miscellaneous</title>
1034 <sect2 renderas="sect3">
1035 <title id="slowsme">How much does <application>Privoxy</application> slow my browsing down? This
1036 has to add extra time to browsing.</title>
1038 It should not slow you down any in real terms, and may actually help
1039 speed things up since ads, banners and other junk are not being displayed.
1040 The actual processing time required by <application>Privoxy</application>
1041 itself for each page, is relatively small in the overall scheme of things,
1042 and happens very quickly. This is typically more than offset by time saved
1043 not downloading and rendering ad images.
1047 <quote>Filtering</quote> content via the <literal><ulink
1048 url="../user-manual/actions-file.html#FILTER">filter</ulink></literal> or
1050 url="../user-manual/actions-file.html#DEANIMATE-GIFS">deanimate-gifs</ulink></literal>
1051 actions may cause a perceived slowdown, since the entire document needs to be buffered
1052 before displaying. See below.
1058 <sect2 renderas="sect3" id="loadingtimes"><title>I noticed considerable
1059 delays in page requests compared to the old Junkbuster. What's wrong?</title>
1061 If you use any <literal><ulink
1062 url="../user-manual/actions-file.html#FILTER">filter</ulink></literal> action,
1063 such as filtering banners by size, web-bugs etc, or the <literal><ulink
1064 url="../user-manual/actions-file.html#DEANIMATE-GIFS">deanimate-gifs</ulink></literal>
1065 action, the entire document must be loaded into memory in order for the filtering
1066 mechanism to work, and nothing is sent to the browser during this time.
1069 The loading time does not really change in real numbers, but the feeling is
1070 different, because most browsers are able to start rendering incomplete
1071 content, giving the user a feeling of "it works". This effect is especially
1072 noticeable on slow dialup connections.
1075 Filtering is automatically disabled for inappropriate MIME types.
1080 <sect2 renderas="sect3" id="configurl"><title>What are "http://config.privoxy.org/" and
1081 "http://p.p/"?</title>
1083 <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/">http://config.privoxy.org/</ulink> is the
1084 address of <application>Privoxy</application>'s built-in user interface, and
1085 <ulink url="http://p.p/">http://p.p/</ulink> is a shortcut for it.
1088 Since <application>Privoxy</application> sits between your web browser and the Internet,
1089 it can simply intercept requests for these addresses and answer them with its built-in
1090 <quote>web server</quote>.
1093 This also makes for a good test for your browser configuration: If entering the
1094 URL <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/">http://config.privoxy.org/</ulink>
1095 takes you to a page saying <quote>This is Privoxy..</quote>, everything is OK.
1096 If you get a page saying <quote>Privoxy is not working</quote> instead, then
1097 your browser didn't use <application>Privoxy</application> for the request,
1098 hence it could not be intercepted, and you have accessed the <emphasis>real</emphasis>
1099 web site at config.privoxy.org.
1102 With recent versions of <application>Privoxy</application> (version 2.9.x and
1103 later), the user interface features information on the run time status, the
1104 configuration, and even a built-in editor for the <ulink
1105 url="../user-manual/actions-file.html">actions files</ulink>.
1109 Note that the built-in URLs from earlier versions of <application>Junkbuster</application>
1110 / <application>Privoxy</application>, http://example.com/show-proxy-args and http://i.j.b/,
1111 are no longer supported. If you still use such an old version, you should really consider
1112 upgrading to &p-version;.
1117 FIXME: commented out until we have data. HB 03/18/02.
1119 <sect2 renderas="sect3" id="badfiledesc"><title>I get the message 'Bad File Descriptor', why?</title>
1127 <sect2 renderas="sect3" id="blocklist"><title>Do you still maintain the blocklists?</title>
1129 No. The patterns for blocking now reside (among other things) in the <ulink
1130 url="../user-manual/actions-file.html">actions files</ulink>, which are
1131 actively maintained instead. See next question ...
1135 <sect2 renderas="sect3" id="newads"><title>How can I submit new ads?</title>
1137 Yes, absolutely! Please see the <link linkend="contact">Contact section</link> for
1138 how to do that. Please note that you (technically) need the latest
1139 <application>Privoxy</application> version for this to work.
1144 <sect2 renderas="sect3" id="ip"><title>How can I hide my IP address?</title>
1146 If you run both the browser and the proxy locally, you cannot hide your IP
1147 address with <application>Privoxy</application> or any other software. The
1148 server needs to know your IP address to send the answers back to you.
1151 Fortunately there are many publicly usable anonymous proxies out there, which
1152 solve the problem by providing a further level of indirection between you and
1153 the web server, shared by many people, and thus letting your requests "drown"
1154 in white noise of unrelated requests as far as user tracking is concerned.
1157 Most of them will, however, log your IP address and make it available to the
1158 authorities in case you abuse that anonymity for criminal purposes. In fact
1159 you can't even rule out that some of them only exist to *collect* information
1160 on (those suspicious) people with a more than average preference for privacy.
1163 You can find a list of anonymous public proxies at <ulink
1164 url="http://www.multiproxy.org/anon_list.htm">multiproxy.org</ulink> and many
1165 more through Google. A particularly interesting project is the JAP service
1166 offered by the Technical University of Dresden (<ulink
1167 url="http://anon.inf.tu-dresden.de/index_en.html">http://anon.inf.tu-dresden.de/index_en.html</ulink>.
1170 There is, however, even in the single-machine case the possibility to make the
1171 server believe that your machine is in fact a shared proxy serving a whole big
1172 LAN, and we are looking into that.
1176 <sect2 renderas="sect3">
1177 <title id="anonforsure">Can <application>Privoxy</application> guarantee I am anonymous?</title>
1179 No. Your chances of remaining anonymous are greatly improved, but unless you
1180 are an expert on Internet security it would be safest to assume that
1181 everything you do on the Web can be traced back to you.
1184 <application>Privoxy</application> can remove various information about you,
1185 and allows <emphasis>you</emphasis> more freedom to decide which sites
1186 you can trust, and what details you want to reveal. But it's still possible
1187 that web sites can find out who you are. Here's one way this can happen.
1190 A few browsers disclose the user's email address in certain situations, such
1191 as when transferring a file by FTP. <application>Privoxy</application>
1192 does not filter FTP. If you need this feature, or are concerned about the
1193 mail handler of your browser disclosing your email address, you might
1194 consider products such as <application>NSClean</application>.
1197 Browsers available only as binaries could use non-standard headers to give
1198 out any information they can have access to: see the manufacturer's license
1199 agreement. It's impossible to anticipate and prevent every breach of privacy
1200 that might occur. The professionally paranoid prefer browsers available as
1201 source code, because anticipating their behavior is easier. Trust the source,
1207 <sect2 renderas="sect3">
1208 <title id="sitebreak">Might some things break because header information or
1209 content is being altered?</title>
1212 Definitely. More and more sites use HTTP header content to decide what to
1213 display and how to display it. There is many ways that this can be handled,
1214 so having hard and fast rules, is tricky.
1218 <quote>User-Agent</quote> in particular is often used in this way to identify
1219 the browser, and adjust content accordingly. Changing this now (at least not
1220 further than removing the OS information) is not recommended, since so many
1221 sites do look for it. You may get undesirable results by changing this.
1225 For instance, different browsers use different encodings of Russian and Czech
1226 characters, certain web servers convert pages on-the-fly according to the
1227 User Agent header. Giving a <quote>User Agent</quote> with the wrong
1228 operating system or browser manufacturer causes some sites in these languages
1229 to be garbled; Surfers to Eastern European sites should change it to
1230 something closer. And then some page access counters work by looking at the
1231 <quote>Referer</quote> header; they may fail or break if unavailable. The
1232 weather maps of Intellicast have been blocked by their server when no
1233 <quote>Referer</quote> or cookie is provided, is another example. (But you
1234 can forge both headers without giving information away). There are
1235 many other ways things can go wrong when trying to fool a web server.
1239 Similar thoughts apply to modifying JavaScript, and, to a lesser degree,
1244 If you have problems with a site, you will have to adjust your configuration
1245 accordingly. Cookies are probably the most likely adjustment that may
1246 be required, but by no means the only one.
1252 <sect2 renderas="sect3">
1253 <title id="caching">Can <application>Privoxy</application> act as a <quote>caching</quote> proxy to
1254 speed up web browsing?</title>
1256 No, it does not have this ability at all. You want something like
1257 <ulink url="http://www.squid-cache.org/">Squid</ulink> for this. And, yes,
1258 before you ask, <application>Privoxy</application> can co-exist
1259 with other kinds of proxies like <application>Squid</application>.
1260 See the <ulink url="../user-manual/config.html#FORWARDING">forwarding
1261 chapter</ulink> in the <ulink url="../user-manual/index.html">user
1262 manual</ulink> for details.
1266 <sect2 renderas="sect3">
1267 <title id="firewall">What about as a firewall? Can <application>Privoxy</application> protect me?</title>
1269 Not in the way you mean, or in the way a true firewall can.
1270 <application>Privoxy</application> can help protect your privacy, but not
1271 protect you from intrusion attempts. It is, of course, perfectly possible
1272 and recommended to use <emphasis>both</emphasis>.
1276 <!-- No longer needed
1277 <sect2 renderas="sect3">
1278 <title id="logo">The <application>Privoxy</application> logo that replaces ads is very blocky
1279 and ugly looking. Can't a better font be used?</title>
1282 This is not a font problem. The logo is an image that is created by
1283 <application>Privoxy</application> on the fly. So as to not waste
1284 memory, the image is rather small. The blockiness comes when the
1285 image is scaled to fill a largish area. There is not much to be done
1286 about this, other than to use one of the other
1287 <quote>imageblock</quote> directives: <emphasis>pattern</emphasis>,
1288 <emphasis>blank</emphasis>, or a URL of your choosing.
1291 Given the above problem, we have decided to remove the logo option entirely
1297 <sect2 renderas="sect3">
1298 <title id="wasted">I have large empty spaces / a checkerboard pattern now where
1299 ads used to be. Why?</title>
1301 It would be technically possible eliminate the banners in a way that frees
1302 their screen estate in many cases, by doing all banner blocking with filters,
1303 i.e. eliminating the whole image references from the HTML pages instead
1304 of letting them stay in, and blocking the resulting requests for the
1308 But this would consume considerable CPU resources, would likely destroy
1309 the layout of many web pages which rely on the banners consuming a certain
1310 amount of screen space, and would fail in other cases, where the screen space
1311 is reserved e.g. by tables anyway. Also, making the banners disappear without
1312 a visual trace complicates troubleshooting.
1315 So we won't support this in the default configuration, but you can of course
1316 define appropriate filters yourself.
1320 <sect2 renderas="sect3">
1321 <title id="ssl">How can <application>Privoxy</application> filter Secure (HTTPS) URLs?</title>
1323 Since secure HTTP connections are encrypted SSL sessions between your browser
1324 and the secure site, and are meant to be reliably <emphasis>secure</emphasis>,
1325 there is little that <application>Privoxy</application> can do but hand the raw
1326 gibberish data though from one end to the other unprocessed.
1329 The only exception to this is blocking by host patterns, as the client needs
1330 to tell <application>Privoxy</application> the name of the remote server,
1331 so that <application>Privoxy</application> can establish the connection.
1332 If that name matches a host-only pattern, the connection will be blocked.
1335 As far as ad blocking is concerned, this is less of a restriction than it may
1336 seem, since ad sources are often identifiable by the host name, and often
1337 the banners to be placed in an encrypted page come unencrypted nonetheless
1338 for efficiency reasons, which exposes them to the full power of
1339 <application>Privoxy</application>'s ad blocking.
1344 <sect2 renderas="sect3">
1345 <title id="secure"><application>Privoxy</application> runs as a <quote>server</quote>. How
1346 secure is it? Do I need to take any special precautions?</title>
1348 There are no known exploits that might affect
1349 <application>Privoxy</application>. On Unix-like systems,
1350 <application>Privoxy</application> can run as a non-privileged
1351 user, which is how we recommend it be run. Also, by default
1352 <application>Privoxy</application> only listens to requests
1353 from <quote>localhost</quote> only. The server aspect of
1354 <application>Privoxy</application> is not itself directly exposed to the
1355 Internet in this configuration. If you want to have
1356 <application>Privoxy</application> serve as a LAN proxy, this will have to
1357 be opened up to allow for LAN requests. In this case, we'd recommend
1358 you specify only the LAN gateway address, e.g. 192.168.1.1, in the main
1359 <application>Privoxy</application> configuration file and check all <ulink
1360 url="../user-manual/config.html#ACCESS-CONTROL">access control and security
1361 options</ulink>. All LAN hosts can then use this as their proxy address
1362 in the browser proxy configuration, but <application>Privoxy</application>
1363 will not listen on any external interfaces. ACLs can be defined in addition,
1364 and using a firewall is always good too. Better safe than sorry.
1370 <sect2 renderas="sect3" id="turnoff">
1371 <title>How can I temporarily disable <application>Privoxy</application>?</title>
1373 The easiest way is to access <application>Privoxy</application> with your
1374 browser by using the remote toggle URL: <ulink
1375 url="http://config.privoxy.org/toggle">http://config.privoxy.org/toggle</ulink>.
1376 See the <ulink url="../user-manual/appendix.html#BOOKMARKLETS">Bookmarklets section</ulink>
1377 of the <citetitle>User Manual</citetitle> for an easy way to access this
1382 <sect2 renderas="sect3" id="reallyoff">
1383 <title>When <quote>disabled</quote> is <application>Privoxy</application> totally
1384 out of the picture?</title>
1386 No, this just means all filtering and actions are disabled.
1387 <application>Privoxy</application> is still acting as a proxy, but just not
1388 doing any of the things that <application>Privoxy</application> would
1389 normally be expected to do. It is still a <quote>middle-man</quote> in
1390 the interaction between your browser and web sites.
1395 <sect2 renderas="sect3" id="seealso">
1396 <title>Where can I find more information about <application>Privoxy</application>
1397 and related issues?</title>
1398 <!-- Include seealso.sgml boilerplate: -->
1400 <!-- end boilerplate -->
1405 <ulink url="../user-manual/seealso.html">user-manual</ulink> for
1414 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1416 <sect1 id="trouble">
1417 <title>Troubleshooting</title>
1419 <sect2 renderas="sect3">
1420 <title id="refused">I just upgraded and am getting <quote>connection refused</quote>
1421 with every web page?</title>
1423 Either <application>Privoxy</application> is not running, or your
1424 browser is configured for a different port than what
1425 <application>Privoxy</application> is using.
1429 The old <application>Privoxy</application> (and also
1430 <application>Junkbuster</application>) used port 8000 by
1431 default. This has been changed to port 8118 now, due to a conflict
1432 with NAS (Network Audio Service), which uses port 8000. If you haven't,
1433 you need to change your browser to the new port number, or alternately
1435 url="../user-manual/config.html#LISTEN-ADDRESS"><literal>listen-address</literal>
1436 option</ulink> in <application>Privoxy's</application> <ulink
1437 url="../user-manual/config.html">main configuration file</ulink>.
1442 <sect2 renderas="sect3">
1443 <title id="flushit">I just added a new rule, but the steenkin ad is
1444 still getting through. How?</title>
1446 If the ad had been displayed before you added its URL, it will probably be
1447 held in the browser's cache for some time, so it will be displayed without
1448 the need for any request to the server, and <application>Privoxy</application>
1449 will not be in the picture. The best thing to do is try flushing the browser's
1450 caches. And then try again.
1454 If this doesn't help, you probably have an error in the rule you
1455 applied. Try pasting the full URL of the offending ad into <ulink
1456 url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info">http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info</ulink>
1457 and see if it really matches your new rule.
1462 <sect2 renderas="sect3">
1463 <title id="badsite">One of my favorite sites does not work with <application>Privoxy</application>.
1464 What can I do?</title>
1467 First verify that it is indeed a <application>Privoxy</application> problem,
1468 by toggling off <application>Privoxy</application> through <ulink
1469 url="http://config.privoxy.org/toggle">http://config.privoxy.org/toggle</ulink>,
1470 and then shift-reloading the problem page (i.e. holding down the shift key
1471 while clicking reload. Alternatively, flush your browser's disk and memory
1476 If still a problem, go to <ulink
1477 url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info">http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info</ulink>
1478 and paste the full URL of the page in question into the prompt. See which actions
1479 are being applied to the URL, and which matches in which actions files are
1480 responsible for that. Now, armed with this information, go to <ulink
1481 url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status">http://config.privoxy.org/show-status</ulink>
1482 and select the appropriate actions files for editing.
1485 You can now either look for a section which disables the actions that
1486 you suspect to cause the problem and add a pattern for your site there,
1487 or make up a completely new section for your site. In any case, the recommended
1488 way is to disable only the prime suspect, reload the problem page, and only
1489 if the problem persists, disable more and more actions until you have
1490 identified the culprit. You may or may not want to turn the other actions
1491 on again. Remember to flush your browser's caches in between any such changes!
1494 Alternately, if you are comfortable with a text editor, you can accomplish
1495 the same thing by editing the appropriate actions file. Probably the easiest
1496 way to deal with such problems when editing by hand is to add your
1497 site to a <literal>{ fragile }</literal> section in <filename>user.action</filename>,
1498 which is an alias that turns off most <quote>dangerous</quote>
1499 actions, but is also likely to turn off more actions then needed, and thus lower
1500 your privacy and protection more than necessary,
1503 Troubleshooting actions is discussed in more detail in the <ulink
1504 url="../user-manual/appendix.html#ACTIONSANAT">user-manual appendix</ulink>.
1505 There is also an <ulink
1506 url="../user-manual/actions-file.html#ACT-EXAMPLES">actions tutorial</ulink>.
1512 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1514 <title>After installing <application>Privoxy</application>, I have to log in
1515 every time I start IE. What gives?</title>
1518 This is a quirk that effects the installation of
1519 <application>Privoxy</application>, in conjunction with Internet Explorer and
1520 Internet Connection Sharing on Windows 2000 and Windows XP. The symptoms may
1521 appear to be corrupted or invalid DUN settings, or passwords.
1525 When setting up an NT based Windows system with
1526 <application>Privoxy</application> you may find that things do not seem to be
1527 doing what you expect. When you set your system up you will probably have set
1528 up Internet Connection Sharing (ICS) with Dial up Networking (DUN) when
1529 logged in with administrator privileges. You will probably have made this DUN
1530 connection available to other accounts that you may have set-up on your
1531 system. E.g. Mum or Dad sets up the system and makes accounts suitably
1532 configured for the kids.
1536 When setting up <application>Privoxy</application> in this environment you
1537 will have to alter the proxy set-up of Internet Explorer (IE) for the
1538 specific DUN connection on which you wish to use
1539 <application>Privoxy</application>. When you do this the ICS DUN set-up
1540 becomes user specific. In this instance you will see no difference if you
1541 change the DUN connection under the account used to set-up the connection.
1542 However when you do this from another user you will notice that the DUN
1543 connection changes to make available to "Me only". You will also find that
1544 you have to store the password under each different user!
1548 The reason for this is that each user's set-up for IE is user specific. Each
1549 set-up DUN connection and each LAN connection in IE store the settings for
1550 each user individually. As such this enforces individual configurations
1551 rather than common ones. Hence the first time you use a DUN connection after
1552 re-booting your system it may not perform as you expect, and prompt you for
1553 the password. Just set and save the password again and all should be OK.
1557 [Thanks to Ray Griffith for this submission.]
1562 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1564 <title>I cannot connect to any FTP sites. <application>Privoxy</application>
1565 seems to be blocking me.</title>
1567 <application>Privoxy</application> cannot act as a proxy for FTP traffic,
1568 so do not configure your browser to use <application>Privoxy</application>
1569 as an FTP proxy. The same is true for any protocol other than HTTP or HTTPS.
1578 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1580 FIXME: Commented out until we have something to put here. HB 03/18/02.
1581 <sect1 id="knownissues"><title>Known Issues</title>
1588 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1589 <sect1 id="contact"><title>Contacting the developers, Bug Reporting and Feature Requests</title>
1590 <!-- Include contacting.sgml -->
1592 <!-- end contacting -->
1595 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1596 <sect1 id="copyright"><title>Privoxy Copyright, License and History</title>
1598 <!-- Include copyright.sgml -->
1603 Portions of this document are <quote>borrowed</quote> from the original
1604 <application>Junkbuster</application> (tm) FAQ, and modified as
1605 appropriate for <application>Privoxy</application>.
1608 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1609 <sect2><title>License</title>
1610 <!-- Include copyright.sgml: -->
1612 <!-- end copyright -->
1614 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
1616 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1617 <sect2><title>History</title>
1618 <!-- Include history.sgml -->
1624 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
1627 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1629 <sect1 id="seealso"><title>See also</title>
1631 <!-- Include seealso.sgml -->
1642 Tue 09/11/01 06:38:14 PM EST: Test SGML doc by Hal Burgiss.
1644 Last modified: Mon Sep 10 19:22:09 CEST 2001
1646 This program is free software; you can redistribute it
1647 and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General
1648 Public License as published by the Free Software
1649 Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at
1650 your option) any later version.
1652 This program is distributed in the hope that it will
1653 be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the
1654 implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A
1655 PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public
1656 License for more details.
1658 The GNU General Public License should be included with
1659 this file. If not, you can view it at
1660 http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html
1661 or write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc., 59
1662 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307, USA.
1665 Revision 1.65 2002/07/25 21:51:24 hal9
1666 Warnings on non-HTTP traffic.
1668 Revision 1.64 2002/06/09 16:37:31 hal9
1669 Sync with filtering clarifications in 3.0 branch.
1671 Revision 1.63 2002/06/05 00:31:55 hal9
1672 Mass commit for new entities, most significantly so docs can read version
1673 and code status info from tmp files, so perl is no longer used. Also, docs can
1674 differentiate on alpha -> beta -> stable now.
1676 Revision 1.62 2002/06/03 00:28:16 hal9
1677 Sync with various changes from 3.0 branch. Add two new files for config stuff.
1679 Revision 1.61 2002/05/25 12:37:25 hal9
1680 Various minor changes and edits.
1682 Revision 1.60 2002/05/22 17:17:48 oes
1683 Proofread & added more links into u-m
1685 Revision 1.59 2002/05/15 04:03:30 hal9
1686 Fix ulink -> link markup.
1688 Revision 1.58 2002/05/10 01:48:20 hal9
1689 This is mostly proposed copyright/licensing additions and changes. Docs
1690 are still GPL, but licensing and copyright are more visible. Also, copyright
1691 changed in doc header comments (eliminate references to JB except FAQ).
1693 Revision 1.57 2002/05/05 20:26:02 hal9
1694 Sorting out license vs copyright in these docs.
1696 Revision 1.56 2002/05/04 08:44:44 swa
1699 Revision 1.55 2002/05/04 00:41:56 hal9
1700 -Remove TOC/first page kludge in favor of proper handling via dsl file.
1702 Revision 1.54 2002/05/03 05:06:44 hal9
1703 Add brief Q/A on transparent proxies.
1705 Revision 1.53 2002/05/03 01:34:52 hal9
1706 Fix section numbering for new sections (due to TOC kludge).
1708 Revision 1.52 2002/04/29 03:08:43 hal9
1709 -Added new Q/A on new actions file set up (pointer to u-m)
1710 -Fixed a few broken links and converted old actions as a result of
1713 Revision 1.51 2002/04/26 17:24:31 swa
1714 bookmarks cleaned, changed structure of user manual, screen and programlisting cleanups, and numerous other changes that I forgot
1716 Revision 1.50 2002/04/26 05:25:23 hal9
1717 Mass commit to catch a few scattered fixes.
1719 Revision 1.49 2002/04/12 10:10:18 swa
1722 Revision 1.48 2002/04/10 18:45:15 swa
1725 Revision 1.47 2002/04/10 04:05:32 hal9
1728 Revision 1.45 2002/04/08 22:59:26 hal9
1729 Version update. Spell chkconfig correctly :)
1731 Revision 1.44 2002/04/07 21:24:29 hal9
1732 Touch up on name change.
1734 Revision 1.43 2002/04/04 21:59:53 hal9
1735 Added NT/W2K service/icon situation.
1737 Revision 1.42 2002/04/04 18:46:47 swa
1738 consistent look. reuse of copyright, history et. al.
1740 Revision 1.41 2002/04/04 06:48:37 hal9
1741 Structural changes to allow for conditional inclusion/exclusion of content
1742 based on entity toggles, e.g. 'entity % p-not-stable "INCLUDE"'. And
1743 definition of internal entities, e.g. 'entity p-version "2.9.13"' that will
1744 eventually be set by Makefile.
1745 More boilerplate text for use across multiple docs.
1747 Revision 1.40 2002/04/03 04:22:03 hal9
1748 Fixed several typos.
1750 Revision 1.39 2002/04/03 03:53:03 hal9
1751 Revert some changes, and then make some news, to layout, and appearance.
1753 Revision 1.38 2002/04/02 03:49:10 hal9
1754 Major changes to doc structure and layout. Sections are not automatically
1755 numbered now. TOC is on page by itself.
1757 Revision 1.37 2002/04/01 16:24:07 hal9
1758 -Rework of supported Q/A.
1759 -Set up entities to include boilerplate text.
1761 Revision 1.36 2002/03/31 23:18:47 hal9
1762 More on dealing with BLOCKED.
1764 Revision 1.35 2002/03/30 04:14:19 hal9
1765 Fix privoxy.org/config links.
1767 Revision 1.34 2002/03/29 04:35:56 hal9
1770 Revision 1.33 2002/03/29 01:31:48 hal9
1771 Several new Q/A's and other touch ups.
1773 Revision 1.32 2002/03/27 00:57:03 hal9
1774 Touch ups for name change.
1776 Revision 1.31 2002/03/26 22:29:55 swa
1777 we have a new homepage!
1779 Revision 1.30 2002/03/25 16:39:22 hal9
1780 A few new sections. Made all links relative to user-manual.
1782 Revision 1.29 2002/03/25 05:23:57 hal9
1783 Moved section, and touch ups.
1785 Revision 1.28 2002/03/25 04:27:33 hal9
1786 New section related to name change.
1788 Revision 1.25 2002/03/24 16:08:08 swa
1789 we are too lazy to make a block-built
1790 privoxy logo. hence removed the option.
1792 Revision 1.24 2002/03/24 15:46:20 swa
1793 name change related issue.
1795 Revision 1.23 2002/03/24 12:33:01 swa
1798 Revision 1.22 2002/03/24 11:51:00 swa
1799 name change. changed filenames.
1801 Revision 1.21 2002/03/24 11:01:06 swa
1804 Revision 1.20 2002/03/23 15:13:11 swa
1805 renamed every reference to the old name with foobar.
1806 fixed "application foobar application" tag, fixed
1807 "the foobar" with "foobar". left junkbustser in cvs
1808 comments and remarks to history untouched.
1810 Revision 1.19 2002/03/21 17:01:54 hal9
1813 Revision 1.18 2002/03/18 16:40:31 hal9
1816 Revision 1.17 2002/03/18 03:53:53 hal9
1819 Revision 1.16 2002/03/17 21:32:56 hal9
1820 A few more additions.
1822 Revision 1.15 2002/03/17 07:25:59 hal9
1823 Correcting some of my typos, and some additions.
1825 Revision 1.14 2002/03/17 02:39:13 hal9
1826 A little more added ...
1828 Revision 1.13 2002/03/17 00:22:20 hal9
1829 Adding new stuff, and trying to incorporate stuff from old faq.
1831 Revision 1.12 2002/03/11 20:13:21 swa
1834 Revision 1.11 2002/03/11 18:42:27 swa
1837 Revision 1.10 2002/03/11 13:13:27 swa
1838 correct feedback channels
1840 Revision 1.9 2002/03/10 23:34:04 swa
1841 more info on not hiding ip address
1843 Revision 1.8 2002/03/09 15:55:48 swa
1844 added default config section
1846 Revision 1.7 2002/03/07 18:16:55 swa
1849 Revision 1.6 2002/03/07 13:16:31 oes
1850 Committing changes by Stefan
1852 Revision 1.5 2002/03/02 15:50:04 swa
1853 2.9.11 version. more input for docs.
1855 Revision 1.4 2002/02/24 14:34:24 jongfoster
1856 Formatting changes. Now changing the doctype to DocBook XML 4.1
1857 will work - no other changes are needed.
1859 Revision 1.3 2001/09/23 10:13:48 swa
1860 upload process established. run make webserver and
1861 the documentation is moved to the webserver. documents
1862 are now linked correctly.
1864 Revision 1.2 2001/09/13 15:20:17 swa
1865 merged standards into developer manual
1867 Revision 1.1 2001/09/12 15:36:41 swa
1868 source files for junkbuster documentation
1870 Revision 1.3 2001/09/10 17:43:59 swa
1871 first proposal of a structure.
1873 Revision 1.2 2001/06/13 14:28:31 swa
1874 docs should have an author.
1876 Revision 1.1 2001/06/13 14:20:37 swa
1877 first import of project's documentation for the webserver.