Miscellaneous Hacks - Ban Spiders by User Agent

What this mod does
With this mod you can enter User Agents to watch or ban, you can also recieve emails or have an Output.txt created and updated with time and date of visits. It doesn't just have to be spiders, you can watch, log or ban any useragent!

How to install
Simply import the product ban_spider, the mod is active by default but none of the other options are turned on.

What is a UserAgent?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_agent

Understanding a UserAgent string
http://user-agent-string.info/parse

Genuine User Getting Blocked?
https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showpost....&postcount=105

Tools to help
http://whatsmyuseragent.com/SwitchingUserAgents.asp
http://www.botsvsbrowsers.com/SimulateUserAgent.asp

FAQ
https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showpost....&postcount=137

How does it work?
https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showpost....&postcount=381

What's a bot?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spambot

How do i ban a bot?
https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showpost....&postcount=318
https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showpost....7&postcount=51

Where's output.txt located?
https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showpost....&postcount=216

Bad bot lists
https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showpost....&postcount=259
https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showpost....&postcount=224
https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showpost....&postcount=281

Tested on vb3.7.x, vB3.8.x , vB4.x.x but should work on any version.

__________________________________________________ __________________
Special thanks to:
Lior
KH99
BoP5
for helping me sort out a few issues

...and beta testers
ForceHSS (Special thanks to Force for latest testing)
ozzy47
GreyHost

If you use this please mark as INSTALLED

History
9th June 2011 Orginal xml added
12th June 2011 Added both email notification and text file logging
22nd June 2011 Version 2.0.0, Added create thread on activity

1. Added match facility you can now use something like Yandex and it will match MOZILLA/5.0 (COMPATIBLE; YANDEXBOT/3.0; +HTTP://YANDEX.COM/BOTS)
2. Added clickable link to visited thread

22nd September 2011 added user redirect url selection
08th October Beta testing started for thread creation.
20th October Beta testing started for emailing.
21st October Beta testing complete Ver 3.0.0 uploaded
29th October minor fix added to cope with empty userid on thread creation
30th October Beta testing automatic redirection to spiders/bots IP
31st October New xml uploaded with automatic redirect to IP
25th November Minor fix for blank forumid fixed
26th November 2011 Fixed version check & create thread Off by default
17th December 2014 Version 3.1.0 uploaded, Hook changed extra logging and statistics added by Ozzy47 (Chris)
18th December 2014 Version 3.1.1 uploaded, prevented spiders being counted when mod turned off.
17th December 2014 Version 3.1.2 uploaded, due to rogue code from another mod
The Bad Bots list is now included in the product
Please prune out all those that you wish to be able to see your site (i suggest you definately prune out "DA" and "Custo" :

Support will now only be given to those who have this mod marked as INSTALLED

[Inspector G]

So I think what you are telling me is this...
Since my site forum is at root level to edit as follows...
This...Disallow: /forums/albums.php
to This...Disallow: /albums.php

[Simon Lloyd]

yes if your forum isn't in a folder but simply "on your server" so you dont need to access a folder to get to it then thats correct!

[dog-tag]

After being only installed 10 minutes, I've seen a 20% drop in server load already. I was already blocking them with .htaccess but they were still getting in. According to AWstats bots have been hitting my server MILLIONS of times per month.

Thank you very much from the bottom of my heart, you're very talented!

[Simon Lloyd]

You're welcome, dont forget to remove them from /htaccess now as they will be adding load just being there

[datoneer]

Thank you good mod

[Simon Lloyd]

Glad you like it

[bzcomputers]

Been running this for a little over 8 months now.

This past month it blocked 6,659 bad bots. Which is very close to what it blocked on the first month I had it installed.

Baidu finally stopped coming after about 4 months. They were originally hitting the site at over 10 times an hour. Yandex is still coming but they are down to once or twice a day instead of multiple times an hour.

Most Popular blocked User Agents currently:
FunWebProducts, MSIE 6, MSIE 7, Nutch, Yandex

My Full Blocked User Agent list:

almaden
Anarchie
Artabus
ASPSeek
attach
autoemailspider
BackWeb
Baidu
Bandit
BatchFTP
BlackWidow
BoardReader
Bot\mailto:craftbot@yahoo.com
Buddy
bumblebee
CherryPicker
ChinaClaw
CICC
Collector
CoolWebSearch
Copier
Copyscape
Crescent
DIIbot
DISCo
DISCo\Pump
dotbot
Download\Demon
Download\Wonder
Downloader
Drip
DSurf15a
eCatch
EasyDL/2.99
EirGrabber
email
EmailCollector
EmailSiphon
EmailWolf
Express\WebPictures
ExtractorPro
EyeNetIE
FileHound
FlashGet
FrontPage
FunWebProducts
GetRight
GetSmart
GetWeb!
gigabaz
GNIP
Go\!Zilla
Go!Zilla
Go-Ahead-Got-It
gotit
Grabber
GrabNet
Grafula
grub-client
HMView
HTTrack
httpdown
.*httrack.*
ia_archiver
Ichiro
Image\Stripper
Image\Sucker
Indy*Library
Indy\Library
InterGET
InternetLinkagent
Internet\Ninja
InternetSeer.com
Iria
JBH*agent
JetCar
JOC\Web\Spider
JustView
larbin
LeechFTP
LexiBot
lftp
Link*Sleuth
likse
//Link
LinkWalker
Mag-Net
Magnet
Magpie
Mass\Downloader
Memo
Microsoft.URL
MIDown\tool
Mirror
Mister\PiX
Mozilla.*Indy
Mozilla.*NEWT
Mozilla*MSIECrawler
MS\FrontPage*
MSFrontPage
MSIECrawler
MSIE 2
MSIE 3
MSIE 4
MSIE 5
MSIE 6
MSIE 7
MSProxy
Navroad
NearSite
NetAnts
NetMechanic
NetSpider
Net\Vampire
NetZIP
NICErsPRO
Ninja
Nutch
Octopus
Offline\Explorer
Offline\Navigator
omgili
Openfind
Opera/1
Opera/2
Opera/3
Opera/4
Opera/5
Opera/6
Opera/7
Opera/8
PageGrabber
Papa\Foto
pavuk
pcBrowser
Ping
PingALink
Pockey
psbot
Pump
QRVA
RealDownload
Reaper
Recorder
ReGet
Scooter
Seeker
Siphon
sitecheck.internetseer.com
SiteSnagger
SlySearch
SmartDownload
Snake
sogou
Soso
SpaceBison
speedy
Spinn3r
sproose
Stripper
Sucker
SuperBot
SuperHTTP
Surfbot
Szukacz
tAkeOut
Teleport\Pro
URLSpiderPro
Vacuum
VoidEYE
Web\Image\Collector
Web\Sucker
WebAuto
[Ww]eb[Bb]andit
webcollage
WebCopier
Web\Downloader
WebEMailExtrac.*
WebFetch
WebGo\IS
WebHook
WebLeacher
WebMiner
WebMirror
WebReaper
WebSauger
Website
Website\eXtractor
Website\Quester
Webster
WebStripper
WebWhacker
WebZIP
Wget
Whacker
Widow
WWWOFFLE
x-Tractor
Xaldon\WebSpider
Xenu
Yandex
Yeti
YOUDAOBOT
Zeus.*Webster
Zeus

This new one just showed up and has been attempting to ping my site on average around a hundred times a day (started about 15 days ago):

05-01-2013 16:20:25 . 
Matched bots[135]: . Ping . 
With User Agent:  . A6-INDEXER/1.0 (HTTP://WWW.A6CORP.COM/A6-WEB-SCRAPING-POLICY/) .

Seems some bots come and go, just glad this mod is here!

[Simon Lloyd]

Im very glad you've found this useful, thanks for posting your updated bot list it may help others decide which to block, however i still have to mention that banning bots is a personal thing and you have to decide what it is you want to acheive from the banning and will anything you block prevent legitimate people from viewing your site.

In the above you block MSIE 7, whilst this may be good for you others may want users who still only have IE7 to be able to view their site. All i'm saying to people is think before you block

[bzcomputers]

What is your take on "MSIE 6"? I seem to also be getting quite a few hits from that browser as well.

[Simon Lloyd]

Personally unless you're catering for developing countries (computerwise i mean like eastern block...etc) i'd ban MSIE 6 but again have to stress it's a personal choice.