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

[stilly]

Very nice mod. Thx.

[BadgerDog]

Originally Posted by baileyjojoms

Just a hint to anyone with Baidu Spider issues. This Mod works great, but after getting 30,000 spider bans I had enough. I contact Baidu via their Spider Complaint section on their webpage, and they have halted crawling my site. This request was processed within 3 working days. I haven't seen a hint of Baidu since then.

Do you have a link?

I can't seem to find the right page....

Thanks ..

Regards,
Doug

[BadgerDog]

Originally Posted by Simon Lloyd

It may be that the mod is conflicting with some other mod, if you want to pm me admin access with permissions i'll take a look for you

I'll try to do that this weekend ... thank you for the offer ..

I also got a complaint from a member that he was redirected, but I can't see any reason for it as he's in the U.S. and uses MSN.

If I turn the mod ON, he gets redirected, if I turn it OFF he gets access. He says he's using IE9...

Regards,
Doug

[Simon Lloyd]

Originally Posted by BadgerDog

I'll try to do that this weekend ... thank you for the offer ..

I also got a complaint from a member that he was redirected, but I can't see any reason for it as he's in the U.S. and uses MSN.

If I turn the mod ON, he gets redirected, if I turn it OFF he gets access. He says he's using IE9...

Regards,
Doug

In that case his UserAgent has been changed to incorporate one of your banned bots names, get your member to go here http://whatsmyuseragent.com/ and copy and paste the UserAgent in a pm to you, you can then see if any of it appears in your list, this mod cannot redirect without there being a match.

[BadgerDog]

Originally Posted by Simon Lloyd

In that case his UserAgent has been changed to incorporate one of your banned bots names, get your member to go here http://whatsmyuseragent.com/ and copy and paste the UserAgent in a pm to you, you can then see if any of it appears in your list, this mod cannot redirect without there being a match.

Good idea ... :up:

The member sent me this ..

Mozilla/5.0 (compatible; MSIE 9.0; Windows NT 6.0; Trident/5.0; FunWebProducts; BOIE9;ENUS)

Does that help?

Regards,
Doug

[Simon Lloyd]

Lol, doesn't help me, but it may help you, check your list to see if any part of the User Agent is in your banned bots list, it could be that his computer has been infected and his UA has been changed, theres a link at the top of the page ( for the link i posted) that tells you how to change your useragent.

[Max Taxable]

Originally Posted by BadgerDog

Good idea ... :up:

The member sent me this ..

Mozilla/5.0 (compatible; MSIE 9.0; Windows NT 6.0; Trident/5.0; FunWebProducts; BOIE9;ENUS)

Does that help?

Regards,
Doug

I bet FunWebProducts is on your list, especially if you copied my list from earlier in this thread.

That's malware by the way, also known to contain trojans, also is a browser hijacker. It's also known as "CoolWebSearch." Your friend's computer is highly corrupted. It is capable of sending his login credentials anywhere, among other things.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Browser_hijacker

Tell him if he's gonna visit alot of pr0n sites, do it with alot more secure browser than IE.

[BadgerDog]

Originally Posted by Max Taxable

I bet FunWebProducts is on your list, especially if you copied my list from earlier in this thread.

Yes, it is ... :up:

So, just for my education, what does the data that's imbedded in his user agent that appears where FunWebProducts mean? Is this just some optional field that shows elements that are being loaded and used by his browser?

Mozilla/5.0 (compatible; MSIE 9.0; Windows NT 6.0; Trident/5.0; FunWebProducts; BOIE9;ENUS)

Thanks for any feedback ...

Regards,
Doug

[Max Taxable]

Originally Posted by BadgerDog

Yes, it is ... :up:

So, just for my education, what does the data that's imbedded in his user agent that appears where FunWebProducts mean? Is this just some optional field that shows elements that are being loaded and used by his browser?

Mozilla/5.0 (compatible; MSIE 9.0; Windows NT 6.0; Trident/5.0; FunWebProducts; BOIE9;ENUS)

Thanks for any feedback ...

Regards,
Doug

I assume you're asking about the bolded, and offhand I would say that's the spammy Bing toolbar. Trident is the microsoft layout engine.

[BadgerDog]

Originally Posted by Max Taxable

I assume you're asking about the bolded, and offhand I would say that's the spammy Bing toolbar. Trident is the microsoft layout engine.

Thanks Max ... :up:

Appreciate the feedback ...

Regards,
Doug