Internet Tips and Tricks

Internet Tips and Tricks

Nikhil Rastogi, May 18, 2008 2155 hrs IST

Read on if you want to overcome those hindrances you face while browsing the net

When browsing the Internet, you often come across sites that don't let you do certain basic things that you have been doing on the net for ages -- things as basic as right-clicking on a page or saving a page. If you wish to overcome these minor hindrances, the following tricks may come in handy.

AnalogX Proxy Firefox trick

If you've ever wanted a small free proxy server which is also easily configurable, then
AnalogX Proxy is for you. I myself have used it for a long time. However, it has one serious drawback -- it doesn't adhere to HTTP 1.1, which is the latest standard developed in 1999.

Normally this isn't an issue but users of Firefox (and Safari) certainly know the pain. Due to AnalogX Proxy catering to only 1.0 protocol, you may get real weird errors while surfing with Firefox (or Safari). It's weird because some sites which worked fine before suddenly present you with an error from AnalogX proxy saying that such and such websites are not available (sorry, I don't remember the exact error message).

There is a real quick fix that can help you avoid this problem -- simply tell Firefox to switch to the older HTTP 1.0 protocol. However, prior to doing this, you can check out the difference between HTTP 1.1 and 1.0 protocols over at Wikipedia's HTTP explanation; it's quite simple and well written.

1. In Firefox, type in about:config in location bar (address bar) and hit Enter.

2. In the Filter box, type in Proxy.

3. All data concerning "Proxy" will come up, about four lines below where it shows network.http.proxy.version, Double-click on it.

4. Enter 1.0 as a value, hit OK to save the setting.

Now surf with ease as AnalogX proxy would not give you the same issue anymore. Unfortunately, as regards Safari, I still haven't figured it out; if any of you know of a solution, do let us know of it in the comments.