Anti-Spam Options - Rename register.php by BOP5

Brought to you by BirdOPrey5 / Qapla.com

It's great when you stop spam bots during registration but this mod gives you a chance to stop them BEFORE they even attempt to register.

I have received multiple reports from people who say their "register.php" was getting hammered with spam requests- so much so it was like a denial of service attack. Even if they disabled registration they would waste so much resources their site was slow or worse- had to be taken offline.

What this mod does is allow you to rename the register.php file- my theory is many of the vBulletin spamming bots are hard coded to look for register.php. Using a unique name will throw them off, at least for a while.

To manually change the name of register.php would have meant dozens, maybe hundreds of manual edits to files and templates previously.

This mod makes it as simple as possible. At worst you will need to edit 2 phrases and 1 file, and some people don't need to edit anything at all.

Compatible with VB 3.8.x (and 3.7, and 3.6 probably too) and all VB 4.x.x versions.

Basic Instructions
1) Import XML File
2) Go to mod settings in Admin CP
3) Rename your register.php file via FTP or some other means- make it a unique value but only use basic letters, numbers, underscores, or hyphens. Something like "joeregister999.php"
4) In the mod settings, set the value of register.php to the new file name you chose.
5) If you require email verification during registration follow the next setting in the Admin CP and edit the phrases listed (activateaccount and activateaccount_chnage phrases in Email Body)
6) Finally, if you use Facebook Connect on your forum make the manual file edit of class_bootstrap.php as instructed.

Now enjoy your new filename for register.php, I hope it reduces server load and spam in general.

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Please "Mark as Installed" if you use this.
Donations always appreciated. :up:
Nominate MOTM if you LOVE it!

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Note- if having problems sending activation codes or other Admin CP related activities use the solution in post #197.

[New Joe]

Originally Posted by BirdOPrey5

I don't understand... Perhaps the file had a slightly different name then you entered in the mod?

Do you have VBSEO installed? It should still work but that is the only way I can think you'd be sent to the homepage instead of a 404 error.

FYI (to everyone)- for those not sure if this helps, some people here said it was no help, but at least one guy found it reduced his bandwidth usage by 80%.

http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/forum...different-name

It was installed correctly, I have the vB 4 P Suite, I do have VBSEO installed.
I made the new reg path a few different things but no joy, just redirected to the home page every time...

[migratoria]

Works perfectly in Vb 4.2.1 + Vbseo
Compliments!

[BirdOPrey5]

Originally Posted by djbaxter

BOP5, any other ideas?

Short of disabling every single mod besides this one, no not really.

If all mods disabled but this- see if it works. If ti does, re-enable mods 1 by 1 until it stops working.

Originally Posted by New Joe

It was installed correctly, I have the vB 4 P Suite, I do have VBSEO installed.
I made the new reg path a few different things but no joy, just redirected to the home page every time...

Well the reason you get sent to the forum homepage is because you have VBSEO. VBSEO does that for any missing page.

Your symptoms therefore are simply that of an incorrect file name. There is no logical reason if you specify xxx.php and have a file called xxx.php it shouldn't work.

Remember file names ARE case sensitive on most servers.

If you go to the URL of the new file directly, does that work? Like http://site.com/xxx.php ? If that works the file name exists and is correct. If it doesn't work the file is not correct or not uploaded to the correct location.

[nhawk]

Installed and working on 4.2.1. Voted for MOTM and would highly recommend this mod.

You might want to put a reminder in big bold letters to remember to rename register.php when/if someone upgrades vB. If they forget to do that after an upgrade, they will have problems.

[shaker2003]

Guys, i change register.php everywhere. but look
when i click register on main page, nothing change. when i click a have blank screen.

[BirdOPrey5]

In your Admin CP -> Plugin Manager, Do you have any other modifications that have a plugin on the hook replacement_vars?

If so, temporarily disable those mods and see if anything changes?

[Ophelia]

We had to install this earlier this week due to having DDOS's all weekend. Since installation, the attacks have stopped and our server hasn't had any issues.

[Bubble #5]

If I understand step 5 correctly, you just want us to open up activateaccount and activateaccount_change and change register.php in 3 places in each file, for a total of 6 edits? Correct?

Thanks

[influence]

Originally Posted by Bubble #5

If I understand step 5 correctly, you just want us to open up activateaccount and activateaccount_change and change register.php in 3 places in each file, for a total of 6 edits? Correct?

Thanks

Correct

[TheLastSuperman]

Originally Posted by Bubble #5

If I understand step 5 correctly, you just want us to open up activateaccount and activateaccount_change and change register.php in 3 places in each file, for a total of 6 edits? Correct?

Thanks

Search your phrases for "register.php" as I found a few other locations to edit aside from the two phrases listed and one is a notice as well. This helped a URLJet client, his register.php page was being hammered and I've been recommending this to others with a similar issue regarding register.php activity.

Tips:
- If you're simply being hammered by spam then another anti-spam mod might be your best bet.
- If your register.php page is being what almost seems like ddos'd (denial of service) with so much activity that its causing issues this mod should help.

Nice idea Joe .