"Privoxy" -- what is is?

Question

Level 2

257 points

"Privoxy" -- what is is?

When I look at Activity Monitor, the only PowerPC app I have running all the time is something called "privoxy".

I've Googled this and and it seems to be some sort of ad-blocking program.

I use Firefox as my primary browser.

Just curious if this is something that I need, or can be deleted (and if so, how to delete it...)

Thanks

MacBook Pro 15", Mac OS X (10.5)

Posted on Jan 25, 2008 5:04 PM

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Answer 1

switheyw

Level 2

169 points

Jan 25, 2008 8:51 PM in response to Argelius

Wonder how it got there in the first place? A proxy (in terms of computers) is a server which stands between you and the web. Some times the proxy is used to hide identity. 'privoxy' is used to intercept junk mail, etc.

You should be able to kill the program from Activity Monitor w/o problems, if Firefox has not been configured to use Privoxy. First check out preferences/advanced/network/settings and remove any settings in the proxy fields.

Unless you track down how privoxy is started, you will have to kill the process by hand after each reboot.

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Answer 2

Network 23

Level 6

12,351 points

Jan 25, 2008 9:26 PM in response to Argelius

Privoxy could be thought of as an ad blocker for advanced users. It takes a little brain power to customize the configuration, unless you are a programmer. But it's pretty good. Its greatest advantage is that it can block whatever you want for any app, not just a single web browser.

Everything Privoxy related is in the folder
/Library/Privoxy/

That's the top level Library on your computer, not the one in your user folder.

However, if you kill it, it will just come back next time you start up. It doesn't come with the Mac, so at some point someone installed it on your machine. If you don't want to run it, you need to uninstall it. You can run this:
/Library/Privoxy/uninstall.command

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Answer 3

Jan 25, 2008 11:17 PM in response to Argelius

You'll want to remove it. If you do decide you want it, download the Intel version. Of course, installing it and configuring it is a bit of a painful experience for a Mac user (it is open source, so nothing is really easy or Mac-like about it). Haven't installed it in Leopard yet, but the Intel 3.0.6 version worked fine in Tiger on my MacPro. And I'm really missing it in Leopard...
Francine

Francine
Schwieder

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Answer 4

Argelius Author

Level 2

257 points

Jan 26, 2008 3:01 AM in response to Francine Schwieder

Thanks, all. That was very helpful.

I have no idea how it got there (unless it might be related to some Firefox AdBlock extension (which doesn't seem likely).

The only other thing I wonder is if it could be related to a Citrix product I use to access my work's computer system (via the Internets).

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Answer 5

The hatter

Level 9

61,031 points

Jan 26, 2008 5:54 AM in response to Argelius

If your system was using Privoxy, then you probably found the home page and setup instructions. It uses 127.0.0.1 and port 8118. I used it for years even on my Mac Pro.

HenWen is also a handy network intrusion detection, based on Snort.

I now use Intego NetBarrier to replace both of those.

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Answer 6

Jan 31, 2008 1:42 AM in response to The hatter

A brief PS--I just got around to installing Privoxy in Leopard. There is a bug which prevents it from launching automatically at startup. I found this at MacOSXHints:

http://forums.macosxhints.com/archive/index.php/t-80784.html

Following the instructions didn't quite do it either. I had to also run the sudo chown command on the file "/Library/Privoxy/logfile" and it now seems to be working OK.
Francine

Francine
Schwieder

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