Tidal Pool Software

General

The General view allows you enable MacProxy, select the active proxy, and update options.

MacProxy can be enabled or disabled from either the General view or from the menulet. This setting is saved across restarts so if you enable MacProxy and shutdown your Mac, it will re-enable itself on startup.

To change the active proxy, select the proxy from the Proxy popup menu. The menu displays all proxies available from the Proxies tab. The change takes effect immediately.

Enabling Resolve Host Names will forward DNS name resolution requests to the proxy (SOCKS 4a or 5 only). This works by returning "fake" IP addresses (e.g. 0.0.3.131) for domain name requests and then passing along the host name to the SOCKS proxy. Note that if this option is enabled/disabled, applications must be restarted since the cached DNS database will be invalid.

If enabled, the Anonymize Requests option removes HTTP headers that may uniquely identify your computer. The headers include:

HTTP_X_FORWARDED_FOR
HTTP_VIA
HTTP_FORWARDED
HTTP_X_CLUSTER_CLIENT_IP
HTTP_CLIENT_IP
HTTP_PROXY_CONNECTION

Note that this option is currently only supported with HTTP (Non-Transparent) proxy servers.

Checking Show MacProxy in the menu bar will display a menu bar item (or menulet) for MacProxy. This allows you to control and view the current status of MacProxy from the Finder or any application.

The Enable Logging checkbox turns the logging feature on or off. This can be useful for troubleshooting problems and watching the connection status of applications (and their network usage). Click the Open Log File button to display the log in the Console application. The log is located at:

~user/Library/Logs/MacProxy.log

Select Check for updates automatically to periodically check for new MacProxy updates. If enabled, a dialog will appear when an update is available. Note that updates are never installed automatically.

Proxies

The Proxies view allows you to add, edit, and delete proxies. It also includes a convenient proxy checker for determining the protocol a proxy server supports.

To add a new proxy, click the + button. Enter the proxy details including the proxy type, if known (see Proxy Servers below for information on finding proxies). The Host may be either a domain name or an IP address. MacProxy will attempt to determine the proxy protocol if Auto-detect is selected for the Type. MacProxy currently supports HTTP Transparent, HTTP Non-Transparent, and HTTP Connect protocols, SOCKS protocol versions 4, 4a, and 5, and SOCKS 5 over a secure SSH Tunnel. Note that SOCKS 4 does not support DNS name resolution while SOCKS 5 includes support for UDP traffic (SOCKS 4/4a support TCP only). HTTP Non-Transparent proxies do not support HTTPS traffic while HTTP Transparent and Connect protocols do.

The SSH Tunnel/SOCKS 5 proxy type sets up a secure SSH tunnel between your Mac and a remote Mac and then forwards your Mac's network traffic using SOCKS 5. The remote Mac must have Remote Login enabled (under System Preferences -> Sharing) and be visible and accessible to your local Mac. Enter the domain name or IP address for the Mac under Host, the port (usually 22), and username and password to access the remote Mac. All network traffic sent through the SSH tunnel is completely secure from others.

To delete a proxy, select the proxy in the list and either click the - button or press the Delete key.

To edit a proxy, select the proxy in the list and double-click it. Any changes made to the proxy settings will take effect immediately.

The Check Proxy dialog provides a convenient way to determine the protocol a proxy server supports. All HTTP and SOCKS proxy protocols are supported, however, the SSH Tunnel/SOCKS 5 method is not. To check a proxy server, select an existing proxy from the popup button or enter the connection details including username and password, if required. If a supported proxy protocol is detected from the server, the Add Proxy button is enabled to add the server to the proxy list (if it's not already included in the list). Note that the button is disabled when MacProxy is turned on.

The Proxy HTTP Ports dialog displays a list of the HTTP ports that should be proxied. By default, only ports 80 and 443 are proxied. Only the ports listed in this dialog are intercepted and forwarded to the HTTP proxy server. This list only applies to HTTP proxy servers, all ports are intercepted (and forwarded) for SOCKS proxy servers.

Rules

The Rules view allows you to add, edit, and delete rules.

Rules are used to filter what network connections are proxied. Select either Proxy all except to proxy all connections except those that match one of the rules, or Proxy none except to only proxy connections that match a rule.

To enter a new rule, click the + button. Enter the rule details including a name (required), selecting an application, specifying a domain (wildcarding supported using *), IP address range, and port range. Set the enabled checkbox at the top to enable or disable the rule. Note that a single IP address or port may be specified by only setting the first IP address or port field.

To delete a rule, select the rule in the list and either click the - button or press the Delete key.

To edit a rule, select the rule in the list and double-click it. Any changes made to the rule settings will take effect immediately. Rules may be enabled or disable directly from the rule list by selecting the checkbox under the On column in the table.

The Reset button restores the original settings for rules.

The Register view displays registration information (including the remaining trial days) and related links. It also contains buttons to update and uninstall MacProxy.

To register, click the Buy now button to purchase a serial number and type it in the provided text field. The view will display Registered once a valid serial number has been entered. If you have lost your serial number, click the Retrieve Serial Number button to look up your order history. The email address used when the order was placed is required.

To check for MacProxy updates, click the Check For Update button. Note that updates are not automatically installed, any new updates must first be downloaded and installed.

To uninstall MacProxy, click the Uninstall MacProxy button. This will disable MacProxy, move it to the Trash, and quit System Preferences.

To contact Tidal Pool Software, click any of the links on the bottom right.

Menulet

The menulet provides a convenient method to control and view the current status of MacProxy from anywhere in the system.

The icon and the first menu item show the current MacProxy state (enabled or disabled). The icon appears black, if enabled, and grey, if not. To enable or disable MacProxy, select the second menu item.

If MacProxy is enabled, the next set of menu items show connection statistics. This includes the number of active connections, data sent, and data received. Note that these statistics only apply to data proxied by MacProxy.

The next set of menu items is the list of proxies available (if any). The currently selected proxy has a checkmark to the left of its menu item. To change the current proxy, simply select another proxy from the list.

The last menu item, MacProxy Preferences, launches System Preferences and opens the MacProxy preference pane.

Proxy Servers

MacProxy does not include access to proxy servers. There are thousands of free, public SOCKS and HTTP proxies available to users, however. Just search Google for SOCKS or HTTP proxy lists. There are also many paid proxy services available (such as Socksify). Most large organizations (businesses, governments, universities, etc.) also maintain their own proxy servers for internal use. Finally, you can also set up your own proxy server on a home/remote computer. With a remote Mac, simply enable Remote Login to use it as a secure (SSH), SOCKS 5 server (select SSH Tunnel/SOCKS 5 as the type when entering the proxy).