Personally, I wish generic caching proxies were still a thing, and easier to set up. I've tried setting up squid several times in the past, and failed miserably every single time--all I want to do is use it as a gateway (ie, make the proxy invisible to the application) for e.g. apt packages, so I just ended up using apt-cache or whatever other appropriate software, but I'd far rather use something generic that just works on 90% of the software I use at home, whether it's reading webcomics or repeatedly installing the same software in a dozen VMs with slightly different configurations, or even just browsing remote filesystems via webdav.