AdCruncher™ Proxy©

AdCruncher™ Proxy is a non-caching, filtering, HTTP/1.1 compliant proxy server. Don't let that term scare you! A proxy server is just a fancy term for a program that your web browser talks to, that's all.

AdCruncher™ Proxy's primary purpose is to filter out unwanted banner ads from web pages when you surf the web with your favorite browser, but it can also do a lot more than that too! See details further below!

You see, I hate banner ads. To me, they're annoying. Almost as annoying as unwanted junk e-mail (a.k.a. "spam"). And they must be annoying to you and other people as well, otherwise you wouldn't be using AdCruncher™ and there wouldn't be other similar products out there as well.

One such free product is JunkBusters™, which I have personally tried and feel has some merit. I also feel, however, that JunkBusters -- as well as other similar type products -- have some shortcomings. One such shortcoming of the JunkBusters™ product is that it's only an HTTP/1.0 proxy and not an HTTP/1.1 proxy. That, to me, is a significant shortcoming. (see the Appendix at the end for the reason why)

The long and the short of it is, I don't particularly care for my browser to waste my time and the bandwidth required to download banner ads when I don't wish to see them. Thus, AdCruncher™ doesn't.  At all.

When the browser requests a banner ad, AdCruncher™ doesn't even bother downloading it and returns a small HTML file back to the browser instead. Since AdCruncher™ is usually run on the same computer as your browser, this occurs very quickly and your web pages load faster since it doesn't have to go out to the web to retrieve and download a several kilobyte banner ad that you don't even want to see anyway.

AdCruncher™ also has the ability to "filter out" those annoying, in-your-face "pop up" windows that some web sites use. See the "Popups" and "Scripts Filters" sections further below for more information.

Please be aware that this product is not a commercial product either in form, style or functionality. It's more a labor of love on my part. You see, I like to program and so I thought I'd write my own proxy server along similar lines as the JunkBusters™ product, but better. At least, I hope it's better; you tell me. Your feedback is important to me in order to make this a better product and is much appreciated.

• Filters out banner ads!

  AdCruncher™ filters many of the most annoying banner ads, making your web pages load faster without spending valuable connection time downloading a multi-kilobyte banner ad that you don't want to see anyway!

  
  

• Protects against potentially harmful scripts!

  AdCruncher™ Proxy's default filtering module comes with the ability to disable all scripting (both javascript and vbscript) on every web page you visit, thus protecting you from a wide variety of known security exploits! (And unlike Internet Explorer, AdCruncher™ has the ability to do this on a web page by web page basis, and not just on an entire domain name basis like Internet Explorer's limited "Security Zones" feature does!)

  
  

• Crunches cookies!

  AdCruncher™ can selectively crunch (discard) cookies both coming from as well as those going to remote servers, thus ensuring your web surfing remains anonymous!

  
  

• Kills "Web-Bugs" dead!

  AdCruncher™ also kills (discards) any "web-bugs" that it may come across on any web pages you visit which are increasingly being used today to track your visits and invade your privacy!

  
  

• Disables "Pop-up" and "Pop-under" ads!

  With AdCruncher's ability to disable active scripting (both javascript and vbscript) on any desired web page, "Pop up" and "Pop under" advertisements are now a thing of the past! With AdCruncher™ Proxy on the ball, you can enjoy surfing the web again without having to worry about such annoying distractions!

  
  

• Filters "Referer" headers!

  "Referer" headers can also be used to track your movement over the World Wide Web, but not anymore! AdCruncher™ discards HTTP "Referer" headers too so they can't discover what web page you came from!

  
  

• YOU decide what gets filtered and what doesn't!

  Other web filtering software doesn't let you change what gets filtered and what doesn't! They decide what you see and what you don't, with no way to override their decision! But with AdCruncher™, you can filter whatever you want or nothing at all! YOU are in charge!

  
  

• One-click filter disabling/re-enabling!

  Quickly and easily disable all filtering with a single click of the mouse! Temporarily override all filtering to see everything a web page has to offer (or just a single ad! Your choice!), then re-enable filtering again with a click of the mouse! YOU are in charge!

  
  

• Completely transparent proxying! (optional)

  With AdCruncher's "Transparent Proxying" feature, no browser configuration is needed at all! Every client workstation with the Transparent Proxying facility installed will auto-magically have all of their web accesses filtered through your AdCruncher™ Proxy server, without having to change a single user's browser setting, and with only having to run a single instance of AdCruncher™!

  
  

• Define and run different proxys each with unique filtering rules!

  AdCruncher™ let's you define and run more than one proxy at the same time! Great for home LANs! Define one proxy for you, another for your kids! Each proxy has its own filtering list! That's flexibility!

  
  

• Chain proxies together for added flexibility!

  Chain two or more proxies together (thus combining their filtering lists) to increase your filtering flexibility! Or chain AdCruncher™ with another filtering or firewall product! Your choice!

  
  

• Filter one user or an entire network!

  With the ability to define more than one proxy at different IP and port addresses and chain them together however you wish (with or without using the transparent proxying facility), you can use AdCruncher™ to filter a single user or an entire network of users! Great for small businesses!

  
  

• Heavily multi-threaded and highly efficient / scalable!

  AdCruncher™ is written is take full advantage of Windows's multi-tasking capabilities to ensure your web surfing runs at peak efficiency! From one user to hundreds of users! From a single CPU to multiple CPUs! AdCruncher™ can handle it and won't bog down under stress!

  
  

• Highly extensible and customizable! (Write your own plugin!)

  Extend AdCruncher's filtering capability or completely replace it with your own! See every byte of every web page! Modify web pages on the fly or index them for future reference by writing your own filtering module that interfaces with an external database! Talk about flexibility! No other filtering proxy provides this capability!