Best Proxy/junkbuster for home lan

Hi

I've a spare win98 machine, and I want to use it as a proxy
server/junkbuster/webwasher for my home lan.

I've used Squid/Privoxy combo before on a win nt machine but Squid sin't
supported on Win98. Can anyone point me to alternatives for win98.

I've tried getting linux (ubuntu) to work, but I'm struggling so I thought
I'd revert to something I'm more familiar with

Thanks

Simon

Soni tempori elseu romani yeof helsforo nisson ol sefini ill des Fri, 02 Sep
2005 07:10:49 GMT, sefini jorgo geanyet des mani yeof do
uk.comp.home-networking, yawatina tan reek esk "Simon Woods"
<(E-Mail Removed)> fornis do marikano es bono tan el:

>I've used Squid/Privoxy combo before on a win nt machine but Squid sin't
>supported on Win98. Can anyone point me to alternatives for win98.

I've been using FreeProxy for the last few weeks:
http://www.handcraftedsoftware.org/index.php?page=5

I've found it really simple to set up and use. It also caches, but I've not
been using that.

deKay
--
+ Lofi Gaming - www.lofi-gaming.org.uk
|- ugvm Magazine - www.ugvm.org.uk
|- My computer runs at 3.5MHz and I'm proud of that
|- "CLART - YOU KNOWS IT"

deKay wrote:
> Soni tempori elseu romani yeof helsforo nisson ol sefini ill des Fri,
> 02 Sep 2005 07:10:49 GMT, sefini jorgo geanyet des mani yeof do
> uk.comp.home-networking, yawatina tan reek esk "Simon Woods"
> <(E-Mail Removed)> fornis do marikano es bono tan
> el:
>
>> I've used Squid/Privoxy combo before on a win nt machine but Squid
>> sin't supported on Win98. Can anyone point me to alternatives for
>> win98.
>
> I've been using FreeProxy for the last few weeks:
> http://www.handcraftedsoftware.org/index.php?page=5
>
> I've found it really simple to set up and use. It also caches, but
> I've not been using that.
>
> deKay
>> - ugvm Magazine - www.ugvm.org.uk
>> - My computer runs at 3.5MHz and I'm proud of that
>> - "CLART - YOU KNOWS IT"

Smoothwall Express is very easy to configure.

--
Alan

(E-Mail Removed)
(viciously spam-filtered)

* Simon Woods <(E-Mail Removed)>:
> I've a spare win98 machine, and I want to use it as a proxy
> server/junkbuster/webwasher for my home lan.
>
> I've used Squid/Privoxy combo before on a win nt machine but
> Squid sin't supported on Win98. Can anyone point me to
> alternatives for win98.
>
> I've tried getting linux (ubuntu) to work, but I'm struggling
> so I thought I'd revert to something I'm more familiar with

This is a shame, when I read your subject line I thought "Squid +
Privoxy on Linux" straightaway. I had that setup a while ago on
a small home lan using Mandrake 10.1, worked fine for Web caching
and filtering (and much besides).

Certainly, I would persevere with Ubuntu a while longer before
considering using Windows 98 as a server OS. The Ubuntu install
is pretty much 'Press Enter 20 times', and the default
configurations for Squid and Privoxy are sensible (assuming
they're similar to Debian), so it shouldn't be that hard.

If you want something easier, try ClarkConnect. It's meant for
use as a firewall / gateway, but comes with a 'module' for Squid
and Privoxy, plus an easy Web interface for managing it all.

--
Andrew Preater

"Andrew Preater" <preater+(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:slrndhk8f6.1lg.preater+(E-Mail Removed)...
> * Simon Woods <(E-Mail Removed)>:
> > I've a spare win98 machine, and I want to use it as a proxy
> > server/junkbuster/webwasher for my home lan.
> >
> > I've used Squid/Privoxy combo before on a win nt machine but
> > Squid sin't supported on Win98. Can anyone point me to
> > alternatives for win98.
> >
> > I've tried getting linux (ubuntu) to work, but I'm struggling
> > so I thought I'd revert to something I'm more familiar with
>
> This is a shame, when I read your subject line I thought "Squid +
> Privoxy on Linux" straightaway. I had that setup a while ago on
> a small home lan using Mandrake 10.1, worked fine for Web caching
> and filtering (and much besides).
>
> Certainly, I would persevere with Ubuntu a while longer before
> considering using Windows 98 as a server OS. The Ubuntu install
> is pretty much 'Press Enter 20 times', and the default
> configurations for Squid and Privoxy are sensible (assuming
> they're similar to Debian), so it shouldn't be that hard.
>
> If you want something easier, try ClarkConnect. It's meant for
> use as a firewall / gateway, but comes with a 'module' for Squid
> and Privoxy, plus an easy Web interface for managing it all.


Thanks Andrew

I had Ubuntu working fine. I'd installed Squid and Privoxy. I could VNC to
it from my Win2K machine and remote control via PUTTY fine. I just couldn't
get Squid working. I dropped a few notes onto various forums but I couldn't
get to the bottom of it and I was struggling to get into the Linux mindset -
though I'd have liked to. Should I try a different flavour of Linux?

S

* Simon Woods <(E-Mail Removed)>:
> "Andrew Preater" <preater+(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:slrndhk8f6.1lg.preater+(E-Mail Removed)...
>> * Simon Woods <(E-Mail Removed)>:
>>> [...] I've tried getting linux (ubuntu) to work, but I'm
>>> struggling so I thought I'd revert to something I'm more
>>> familiar with
>>
>> This is a shame, when I read your subject line I thought
>> "Squid + Privoxy on Linux" straightaway. I had that setup a
>> while ago on a small home lan using Mandrake 10.1, worked fine
>> for Web caching and filtering (and much besides).
>>
>> [...] If you want something easier, try ClarkConnect. It's
>> meant for use as a firewall / gateway, but comes with a
>> 'module' for Squid and Privoxy, plus an easy Web interface for
>> managing it all.
>
> I had Ubuntu working fine. I'd installed Squid and Privoxy. I
> could VNC to it from my Win2K machine and remote control via
> PUTTY fine.

A good start.

> I just couldn't get Squid working. I dropped a few notes onto
> various forums but I couldn't get to the bottom of it and I was
> struggling to get into the Linux mindset - though I'd have
> liked to.

Hmm. I wanted to give you some pointers, but thought it would be
difficult without a Linux machine in front of me. So I booted
from the Ubuntu Hoary live CD. I'm posting from it now BTW.

I decided just to get the Squid part working; after you have that
up and running the rest is gravy: point Privoxy at your Squid
proxy and tweak your configs to taste.

First I installed Squid. Squid's config file is
/etc/squid/squid.conf, I opened it in nano in a gnome-terminal
window and changed it to allow my local machines access to the
proxy server. Not hard, just a case of uncommenting the example
given and changing it to match my network. The default config
only allows access from the squid server itself.

Restart squid to reload the configuration:

# /etc/init.d/squid restart
Restarting proxy server: squid.

'#' is root's prompt. At this stage I wanted to check squid was
awake and listening. This is slightly snipped to keep it under
80 chars:

# netstat -ltp
Active Internet connections (only servers)
Proto Recv-Q Send-Q Local Address Foreign Address State PID/Program name
tcp 0 0 localhost.loca:ipp *:* LISTEN 20205/cupsd
tcp 0 0 *:3128 *:* LISTEN 23710/(squid)

Yep, there it is. I start Firefox on the Ubuntu machine, change
the proxy settings and make sure it works locally. Then I do the
same in MSIE on a Windoze machine on the lan -- it works. Squid
logs everything under /var/log/squid (this is the). Do a:

# tail /var/log/squid/access.log

....to see the last 10 requests that squid handled. Afterwards, I
realised I didn't bother checking for a network connection first.
I guess I'm used to having it "just work"!

Anyway, it's easy. If you can use Notepad, you can use Nano. If
you can use a DOS box under Windows, you can use gnome-terminal.
You even know how to use Squid and Privoxy already, which I
would've thought would be the hardest bit. The paths that files
are stored under may be unfamiliar, I suggest reading the
Filesystem Hierarchy Standard to get an idea of what the
various directories are used for: http://www.pathname.com/fhs/

> Should I try a different flavour of Linux?

Ubuntu is meant primarily as an easy desktop system - if you use
that 'Press Enter 20 times' install, you get a system geared
towards desktop use. It's possible to do a stripped-down
'server' install of Ubuntu, then add whatever you need after. I
don't know how easy it is to strip out all the gumpf from an
Ubuntu 'desktop' install to get something lean-and-mean. Maybe
ask at ubuntuforums.org for that one.

I recommended ClarkConnect earlier, because (a) it's designed in
a modular way, so if you want to use it just as a squid + privoxy
proxy it's easy to just use those parts of it, (b) you have an
easy Web-based front end to configure it all, and (c) you don't
have to learn much about Linux to use it.

That said, there's nothing *at all* to stop you using one of the
popular 'desktop' distributions as a server. If I were setting up
a caching proxy machine now, I'd probably use Debian or Ubuntu,
(and Ubuntu is Debian-derived), but I've happily used Mandrake
and Fedora on servers before.

Cheers,

Andrew

Andrew, this is excellent stuff. Thanks. I'll give it another go.

Simon


"Andrew Preater" <preater+(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:slrndi1dgh.ltj.preater+(E-Mail Removed)...
> * Simon Woods <(E-Mail Removed)>:
> > "Andrew Preater" <preater+(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> > news:slrndhk8f6.1lg.preater+(E-Mail Removed)...
> >> * Simon Woods <(E-Mail Removed)>:
> >>> [...] I've tried getting linux (ubuntu) to work, but I'm
> >>> struggling so I thought I'd revert to something I'm more
> >>> familiar with
> >>
> >> This is a shame, when I read your subject line I thought
> >> "Squid + Privoxy on Linux" straightaway. I had that setup a
> >> while ago on a small home lan using Mandrake 10.1, worked fine
> >> for Web caching and filtering (and much besides).
> >>
> >> [...] If you want something easier, try ClarkConnect. It's
> >> meant for use as a firewall / gateway, but comes with a
> >> 'module' for Squid and Privoxy, plus an easy Web interface for
> >> managing it all.
> >
> > I had Ubuntu working fine. I'd installed Squid and Privoxy. I
> > could VNC to it from my Win2K machine and remote control via
> > PUTTY fine.
>
> A good start.
>
> > I just couldn't get Squid working. I dropped a few notes onto
> > various forums but I couldn't get to the bottom of it and I was
> > struggling to get into the Linux mindset - though I'd have
> > liked to.
>
> Hmm. I wanted to give you some pointers, but thought it would be
> difficult without a Linux machine in front of me. So I booted
> from the Ubuntu Hoary live CD. I'm posting from it now BTW.
>
> I decided just to get the Squid part working; after you have that
> up and running the rest is gravy: point Privoxy at your Squid
> proxy and tweak your configs to taste.
>
> First I installed Squid. Squid's config file is
> /etc/squid/squid.conf, I opened it in nano in a gnome-terminal
> window and changed it to allow my local machines access to the
> proxy server. Not hard, just a case of uncommenting the example
> given and changing it to match my network. The default config
> only allows access from the squid server itself.
>
> Restart squid to reload the configuration:
>
> # /etc/init.d/squid restart
> Restarting proxy server: squid.
>
> '#' is root's prompt. At this stage I wanted to check squid was
> awake and listening. This is slightly snipped to keep it under
> 80 chars:
>
> # netstat -ltp
> Active Internet connections (only servers)
> Proto Recv-Q Send-Q Local Address Foreign Address State
PID/Program name
> tcp 0 0 localhost.loca:ipp *:* LISTEN
20205/cupsd
> tcp 0 0 *:3128 *:* LISTEN
23710/(squid)
>
> Yep, there it is. I start Firefox on the Ubuntu machine, change
> the proxy settings and make sure it works locally. Then I do the
> same in MSIE on a Windoze machine on the lan -- it works. Squid
> logs everything under /var/log/squid (this is the). Do a:
>
> # tail /var/log/squid/access.log
>
> ...to see the last 10 requests that squid handled. Afterwards, I
> realised I didn't bother checking for a network connection first.
> I guess I'm used to having it "just work"!
>
> Anyway, it's easy. If you can use Notepad, you can use Nano. If
> you can use a DOS box under Windows, you can use gnome-terminal.
> You even know how to use Squid and Privoxy already, which I
> would've thought would be the hardest bit. The paths that files
> are stored under may be unfamiliar, I suggest reading the
> Filesystem Hierarchy Standard to get an idea of what the
> various directories are used for: http://www.pathname.com/fhs/
>
> > Should I try a different flavour of Linux?
>
> Ubuntu is meant primarily as an easy desktop system - if you use
> that 'Press Enter 20 times' install, you get a system geared
> towards desktop use. It's possible to do a stripped-down
> 'server' install of Ubuntu, then add whatever you need after. I
> don't know how easy it is to strip out all the gumpf from an
> Ubuntu 'desktop' install to get something lean-and-mean. Maybe
> ask at ubuntuforums.org for that one.
>
> I recommended ClarkConnect earlier, because (a) it's designed in
> a modular way, so if you want to use it just as a squid + privoxy
> proxy it's easy to just use those parts of it, (b) you have an
> easy Web-based front end to configure it all, and (c) you don't
> have to learn much about Linux to use it.
>
> That said, there's nothing *at all* to stop you using one of the
> popular 'desktop' distributions as a server. If I were setting up
> a caching proxy machine now, I'd probably use Debian or Ubuntu,
> (and Ubuntu is Debian-derived), but I've happily used Mandrake
> and Fedora on servers before.
>
> Cheers,
>
> Andrew