QuickProxy

QuickProxy is an extension that I’ve been working on for Firefox. Quickproxy creates a statusbar button to turn the proxy on and off with a single click. This switches Firefox between the different proxy states that you have selected, which are configured through the Firefox preferences, and the type of proxy that is turned on/off is configured through the QuickProxy preferences window. This extension will not provide a proxy server for you.

Why was QuickProxy created?

The addon was created initially for a few friends, who had to switch between a proxy at work, and no proxy at home (and sometimes the work proxy at home to work remotely). Having to switch the settings that often, going through the menu’s would have been fairly tenuous, so the idea of QuickProxy was born. After writing it and sharing it with them, knowing that this situation would probably be fairly common, I released it here.

What’s next for QuickProxy

Current in-progress features: – PAC reloading – Command line support – Multi-OS full support (System preferences proxy setting, EG Mac-OSX) After this, I want to look into a toolbar shortcut for users that hide the status bar, keyboard shortcuts for toggling the proxy, and extending compatibility to other products under the Mozilla suite. Sadly my current workload is fairly heavy, so I haven’t had much time (beyond updating the extension to 3.5.* compatibility) to work on the extension. Fingers crossed this will change soon so I can implement the few features I want, while keeping the overall use of QuickProxy as simple as possible.

Configuration

After you have installed QuickProxy, there shouldn’t be too much you need to configure on the extension itself. Right clicking on the QuickProxy icon will bring up the settings for it, and in there you will need to select the proxy type that you use, and any automation settings that you want.

After you have configured QuickProxy, you will need to ensure that Firefox is set up with the proxy settings for the type that you selected. To configure this:

  • First go to the options for Firefox.
  • Go into the Advanced tab up the top
  • Go into the Network sub-tab
  • Click on Settings under Connection.

In the Connection Settings window that should display, you will be able to configure the proxy type that you have chosen in QuickProxy. You will need to temporarily enable the proxy type you selected first, and then enter the settings that you are using.

Once you have configured both Firefox and QuickProxy, there should be nothing more to change, and the QuickProxy icon should behave normally when it is pressed, activating and de-activating your proxy server settings as required.

Feedback

If you have any feedback on the extension, or any general requests, let me know by the below form, and I’ll get back to you. For this to work you will need to supply a real email address, so that I can get in contact with you should any further details be required.