Http_user_agent

[Spearball]

When i visit this site
http://checker.samair.ru/
in the section other info about you where it says http_user_agent it gives me info about my browser and computer. Now is there anyway i can block that from getting requested. All my computers are connected through squid proxy server. Maybe there is something i can block on the proxy so when that info gets requested it blocks it so computers behind proxy stay "private".

Anyone? Thanks

[mjc]

Umm...why do you want to block the UA string?

[Variable]

It's a function of the browser. You can edit the registry to send different info. A quick google search found this site which looks promising. If you use IE the MSDN link is pretty simple to follow. Many sites will have slightly different code for IE or Firefox. So if you mudge the string data and then get images overlapping your menu items on a web page that is probably the reason.

http://www.fiddlertool.com/useragent.aspx

[Spearball]

I found a page that said for firefox you can change the useragent by typing "about:config" in the address bar and i chached the useragent values and now when i visit the site it did work but... some of the info is still there like the first word in the useragent tag (the browser im running) and what type of os i have like windows x64 in the brackets.

Im still using http://checker.samair.ru/ to check.

[Spearball]

Never mind i got it to work.

Thanks guys

[mjc]

Yes, but why?

The UA string is what tells a particular site how to serve up the pages...

There is no real data in it that can be used to trace anything back to any particular person/machine. Besides, if you are using a browser other than IE with a munged UA string, most sites will assume the incorrect string is just IE...do you want up MS's count any more than it already is?

In other words, the UA string is absolutely meaningless for tracking anything other than statistics of what browsers visit a certain page...

[Spearball]

Besides, if you are using a browser other than IE with a munged UA string, most sites will assume the incorrect string is just IE...do you want up MS's count any more than it already is?

Umm what exactly do you mean about this? So i should just leave my UA string the way it is then? So what else can i do to stay private? Disable javascript?

[mjc]

Yes, exactly...and disable JS on a per page basis only...use the NoScript extension for Firefox.

The UA string is about as identifying as wearing shoes in public...