Hi. I'm having trouble collecting proxies and I was
wondering you could help me out.

I copy proxies from sites and then I check them in
Charon. Once I've doubled checked them in Charon I
check them in AAtools to get rid of any proxies which
will leake my IP. Then finally I check the proxies in
Access Driver (you know, for the proxy level and
whether they connect). By the time AD is done, I
barely have any proxies left.

Am I doing something wrong, or should I skip AD?

Personally I would say skip AD, but otherwise you are doing nothing wrong. Multiple checks will undoutabely destroy most lists.

Right but then how would I know which level the proxies are if I don't check them in AD? Or is it not necessary?

I have a very strong view on this, there are very few situations when a Level 5 will not suffice in a situation as apposed to a Level 1. The only extremely important factor is whether or not the Proxy spills your IP or not. Charon quite efficiently tells you if a Proxy is Anonymous or not, I would trust it on this.

I guess I'm sold... sort of.

What about gateways? I think it might actually be the way I've set Charon, but everytime I end up checking a list in AD (after Charon and AA tools), I always find that there are a lot of proxie gateways that weren't caught by Charon.

Like I said, it might have something to do with the settings so I'm not too sure.

That bit is definately something to do with how you have setup Charon. It is normally highly effective at removing gateways correctly.

Are there any specific settings I should use to get rid of gateways?

Ask wer4psu1 when he is around, his knowledge of the specific settings of Charon is far greater than mine given he uses it on a daily basis.