Neat Program - Proxomitron Universal Web Filter

I saw quite a few of you liked the post I made yesterday about blocking ads using the Hosts.txt file. Well in follow up to that I am posting some info on a program I have been using for the past year, that I think has been very useful. I have had no problems with it, and it is extrememly customizable. The program is called Proxomitron. Please don't take this post as a spam trying to promote proxomitron. Like I said, I have been using it, and it works very well, and I am positive that some people here will find the program extremely useful.

I won't go into too much details about the program. But I will explain some basics about it that make it useful. First of all, how proxomitron works is it basically runs some kind of proxy on your computer. Now before everyone starts screaming "security! security!", only the computer that proxomitron is running on can connect to proxomitron. You set your browser to browse through proxomitron, and proxomitron uses the web filters you specify to filter the code that your web browser receives from that site. The web filter's are pretty neat. There are all sorts of pre-made filters that disable intrusive java script code, and pop-up windows. You can freeze animated gifs, and replace banner ads with simple text links.

Now what is great about this program, is those are ONLY the pre-made filters. This is the part that a lot of you might find interesting. Proxomitron has a built in filter language. You can create your own web filters. The language is really simple to learn, and I have used it to create web filters that kill banner ads being loaded only from certain web servers such as flycast.com, and doubleclick.net. And it does work like a charm. It is actually pretty impressive considering how crappy other freeware programs seem to be.

I am pretty sure Proxomitron only works for Windows, not linux. I have checked the internet for vulnerabilities for this program, and I haven't found any. So security wise it seems pretty reliable. So if any of you would like to take a look at it, which I really suggest that you do, below is the link to the distribution web site. I am sure a lot of you will find this program useful, especially if you want to be able to control how you view the web. So enjoy! :D

http://www.proxomitron.org/

I also use this program quite a bit and it is definetely worth the time to download and setup.

Yes.... very useful. The filter language is fun, I wish I had more time to master it. Definitely makes my internet browsing experience better. No more of those damn pop-ups! :)

I forgot to mention that when I first started to use the program I had some trouble with it cause it slowed down my internet connection quite a bit, especially when downloading anything but I managed to fix that problem by messing about with the settings until the problem was solved.

So if you download it and have problems don't dispair, just perservere and you will be rewarded.

Yes if you configure it correctly it wil run well, but sometimes(when I tried it) it blocked certain things needed to load a page, so it´s not entirely 100%

for those who didn't see jared's post here >> http://www.antionline.com/showthread...hreadid=220861

I later pointed out that Proxomitron has a forum http://asp.flaaten.dk/pforum/

and lastly (hopefully) I'll point out to jared that the host file has no .txt extension.

i still think i'd rather use the host file method and update the sites that i wish to block.

works for BeOS/linux/unix/macs/win and is a great solution for network admins

Nice. I'll give it a try.

sumdumguy, thanks for replying. I noticed people were giving me positive anti-points for yesterday's post, so I figured people would be interested in proxomitron too. What's funny is I didn't even see that people were already talking about proxomitron in the other thread. I haven't checked on it since early yesterday. If I noticed I wouldn't have started another thread. Oh well, strange coincidence I guess.

Thanks for pointing out the no .txt extension. I must have accidentally saved it as .txt when I was viewing it in notepad.

no problem jared..
that was a damn good post.. you got greenies from me.
that other link that i threw in there explains a lot more about hosts.
keep up the good work..
:drink:

I'd just like to second that, I've been a long fan of The Proxomitron, and have pretty much given it shamless plugs almost as much as I do for Opera (www.opera.com-- get it now! :D ). I consider it to be a really good combo with IE, since IE needs some of the protection a good filter can give (IE has no native anti-popup support, or cookie filtering, etc.)

I'll agree that Proxomitron is a good product...kind of a pain to get it to work the way that you want it to, but that's half the fun, right?:)
Also, Agnitum's Firewall "Outpost" has a plug-in utility that blocks ads...mind you, it's main criteria for an 'ad' is the window size, but that is adjustable also. Find that here Outpost - Agnitum Ltd.
!!Shameless plug warning!! - It's my new favorite firewall:) Freeware, open architecture, pointy and clicky...makes the pain in the ass of getting it to work the way you like 'pretty':)

Ouroboros