Q:  What is a firewall or proxy server?
A:  A firewall acts as a security barrier between your internal network and the Internet, keeping other people on the Internet from gaining access to confidential information on your internal network.
Top

Q:  What is WebWhacker's Proxy server? Can I access whacked sites using an "HTTP://" Url instead of typing the path to the file?
A:  Running WebWhacker's local proxy server allows you to use Urls (http://www...) in your browser. WebWhacker's local proxy server will intercept the request and look up the Url in its database. If there is a match, WebWhacker's local proxy server will serve up the correct file just like a web server would. In WebWhacker go to the Tools menu and select Options, then click on the Proxy Settings tab, and select "Enable Local Proxy Cache".
Top

Q:  What proxy servers does WebWhacker support?
A:  WebWhacker supports CERN, Authenticated CERN, SOCKS 4, and SOCKS 5!
Top

Q:  How do I know if my computer is behind a firewall?
A:  If your Web browser is working correctly, you can look at its configuration to see if it is configured for a firewall. First, make sure WebWhacker is not running. In Internet Explorer 5.0 select Tools then Internet options. In the Connections tab select LAN Settings. In the Proxy Server section a check box is listed next to Use Proxy Server. If this is selected than you are using a proxy server and the address and port numbers will be listed just below it. If you do not have Internet Explorer 5.0 and you would like to install it please click here. In Netscape Communicator 4.x select Edit then Preferences. In the Preferences window select the last item on the list, Advanced. In the Advanced dialog box select Proxies, and it will display whether you have a Direct Connection to the Internet, Manual Proxy Configuration or Automatic Proxy Configuration. If Direct Connection to the Internet is selected than you do not have a proxy. If Manual Proxy Configuration is selected, you can click on View... to see the Address and Port Number of the proxy server. If Automatic Proxy is selected it will display the proxy configuration settings. If you do not have Netscape Communicator 4.5, and you would like to install it please click here. Please note, you do not have to have Internet Explorer 5.0 or Netscape Communicator 4.5 to run a proxy, it will run on various versions of browsers. Another way to determine if your computer is behind a firewall is to ask your Network Administrator.
Top

Q:  I can see the page in my browser, but WebWhacker can't whack it?
A:  WebWhacker maintains its own connection to the Internet that is separate from your Web browser's connection to the Internet. One possible problem is that the proxy server information is not correctly entered into WebWhacker. To view what has been set, select Tools / Options..., and click on the Proxy tab. If you are behind a firewall, that proxy server's IP address and Port number should be in the Remote Proxy fields.
Top

Q:  What do I enter in WebWhacker as the proxy server?
A:  Enter your Browser's proxy server information into WebWhacker by selecting Tools, Options and clicking on the Proxy Server tab. If you do not know your proxy server information please refer to question 22.
Top

Q:  Where do I enter 127.0.0.1 as the proxy server?
A:  If you turn on WebWhacker's local proxy cache it automatically reconfigures your Web browser to use WebWhacker as the proxy server. The IP address of 127.0.0.1 and Port number of 8080 tells the Web browser to look on your own computer for the proxy server, and that's where it will find the whacked data. The only place where 127.0.0.1 should be entered is in your Web browser. That IP address is never to be entered into WebWhacker. (Unless importing WebWhacker 3.2 data.) If 127.0.0.1 is entered into WebWhacker, it will not work correctly.
Top

Q:  My Web browser has the name of a computer as a proxy server instead of an IP address. Why does WebWhacker not work correctly?
A:  Some PC configurations require that WebWhacker use the IP address of the proxy server instead of the computer name. The solution is to add the IP address of the proxy server to WebWhacker by selecting Tools / Options... and entering it on the Proxy Server tab. If you don't know the IP address of the computer that is your proxy server, ask your Network Administrator.
Top

Q:  What if my proxy server requires a username and password?
A:  No problem, simply fill in your username and password on the Proxy tab located under Tools and Options.
Top

Q:  After installing and using WebWhacker, can I access the Web without WebWhacker?
A:  Yes, you can. When WebWhacker quits, it changes the proxy server information in your Web browser back to the way it was before you started running WebWhacker.
Top

Q:  Why can I not access the Web without WebWhacker?
A:  One possible reason is that WebWhacker did not have the opportunity to change the proxy server information in your Web browser back to its original state. To fix this problem, restart WebWhacker then exit. If this did not fix your problem, then make sure WebWhacker is not started and either remove the proxy server information from your Web browser or change it back to its original setting.
Top