The internet: what a wonderful tool for knowledge of anything and everything. Unfortunetly, there are some things that your children, or even you, don't need to see.

My solution? A proxy server that takes just minutes to set up and won't cost you a single penny.

Now before I continue on with this, let me make you understand that I do realize that approx. 90% of personal computer owners use one of the many varieties of MS Windows. Now, to you 90% that use ONLY Windows, this article is not for you.

If you want to do the right thing and go buy a wonderful Apple Macintosh product, feel free to do so and then come back. But OS X vs. Windows is an argument for another day.

So, actual requirements are as follows:

OS: Macintosh OS X (10.3 - 10.5)
App: SquidMan (website)

Below are the lists of approved websites and bad words. They are in ZIP format. The proxy server has to know what to block so please keep in mind that the naughty list has some very naughty words.
Naughty List (download)
Nice List (download)

SETTING UP THE SERVER
Step 1
Download the lastest release of SquidMan. This will be in .dmg format.

Step 2
Once the file has downloaded, mount the image by double-clicking on it.

Step 3
Open the image and drag the SquidMan icon into your applications folder.


Step 4
Eject the image by dragging it to the trash or selecting it and typing Command+E.

Step 5
Go to your Applications folder and launch SquidMan. It will tell you that it needs to install Squid on your hard drive. Continue by entering your admin username and password.


Step 6
Once completed, go to the SquidMan preferences (Click SquidMan in the menu bar, then click Preferences).

Step 7
Set whatever number you want for the port. I chose 5150 which just happens to be the police code for a crazy person. I found it appropriate. Put your name in the Visual Hostname box.


Step 8
Click the Template tab and scroll down until you get to the line that says:

#only allow the cachemgr access from localhost

Right above that line, type this in (replace PATH/TO/ with the actual path to the files):

acl allowed url_regex -i "/PATH/TO/allowed_list.txt"
acl blocked url_regex "/PATH/TO/blocked_list.txt"
http_access deny blocked
http_access allow allowed

and click Save.

Step 9
Click "Start Squid"


SETTING UP THE CLIENTS (the computers that will be monitored)
Step 1
Go to System Preferences > Network > Configure (or Advanced) > Proxies. Enable "Web Proxy (HTTP)" by checking the box.

Step 2
In the Web Proxy Server box, type the IP address of the server. In the box right past the IP address (usually separated by a colon), put the HTTP Port number you set in the SquidMan preferences.
 

Step 3
Save and Apply your settings.
If you are not using Safari, open your browser of choice and go to Preferences. Find the area where you can enter the IP of the proxy server. In Firefox, it's Preferences > Advanced > Network. Type in the IP of the server computer & port. Save & surf.

Trouble-shooting:
If you are unable to access the internet, make sure that SquidMan is running on the server computer. Also make sure the IP and Port you entered on the client computers was typed correctly.

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