Use free Polipo webproxy in Windows for fast and speedy website access. Polipo can be run on a single PC of yours or for a small network for few users or even for multiple users in a quite a large networks. For details on Polipo and features click here
Polipo webproxy is originally a Linux based webproxy but contributors for Polipo has written a Windows installer making it easy for installing and using it on Windows. As there is almost zero configurations required polipo can start running out of the box straight away.
However, advanced configurations can be done using the files “config” & “forbidden” where
“config” holds all functional paramters including DNS, Caching and restricted IP addresses/hosts that can be altered.
“forbidden” holds a list of forbidden websites. This can help avoid unwanted websites or ad sites on websites effectively improving the performance on the site.
Alternatively, use the web interface for the config alterations. Webinterface can be accessed from
http://<ipaddress>:8123/polipo/config
Download Polipo for Windows here
As I said, it can be run on your own PC or a server for multiple PCs on the Network. Even if you are a home user, you can use on your PC to improve performance.
Run the installer and complete the installation. Files are installed under C:\Program Files\polipo\
Once installed, click the shortcut on the desktop for polipo. This starts Polipo and it listens on Port 8123.
On your browser, set the proxy server and its port address (I use “localhost” here for my own PC)
In Internet Explorer,
Open Internet Explorer, Click Tools – Internet Options – Connections – LAN Settings and enter the Proxy server address and port.
In Firefox
open Firefox, click Tools – options – Advanced – Network – Settings under connection and add the proxy server address and port.
Thats it you are ready to start using the proxy.
before launching polipo, enter the following commands at the command prompt to enable local disk caching:
mkdir c:\var\cache\polipo
mkdir c:\use\share\polipo\www
launch polipo and you should not see the messages for disabling disk cache/local tree.
how about dns error (resolv.conf)??
For the resolv.conf issue create a directory C:\etc. Create a new text file called “resolv.conf” within that new
directory (etc). Now enter something like the following:
nameserver 192.168.1.1
Where 192.168.1.1 is your name server. Save it. This will get rid of the freezes and the message about resolv.conf upon startup.