5. Troubleshooting

5.1. I cannot connect to any websites. Or, I am getting "connection refused" message with every web page. Why?

There are several possibilities:

5.2. Why am I getting a 503 Error (WSAECONNREFUSED) on every page?

More than likely this is a problem with your TCP/IP networking. ZoneAlarm has been reported to cause this symptom -- even if not running! The solution is to either fight the ZA configuration, or uninstall ZoneAlarm, and then find something better behaved in its place. Other personal firewall type products may cause similar type problems if not configured correctly.

5.3. I just added a new rule, but the steenkin ad is still getting through. How?

If the ad had been displayed before you added its URL, it will probably be held in the browser's cache for some time, so it will be displayed without the need for any request to the server, and Privoxy will not be involved. Flush the browser's caches, and then try again.

If this doesn't help, you probably have an error in the rule you applied. Try pasting the full URL of the offending ad into http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info and see if it really matches your new rule. Blocking ads is like blocking spam: a lot of tinkering is required to stay ahead of the game. And remember you need to block the URL of the ad in question, which may be entirely different from the site URL itself. Most ads are hoste