Darko on February 29th, 2008
Whenever a web browser is used to connect to a remote web server it includes a User Agent string that contains details about browser and operating system. This tweak allows you to add or remove additional information from this string.
Changing user agent string is needed when online security is a concern or to bypass web services access restriction for certain type of web browser.
For example, Adobe Reader download site will display different download page according to the web browser that visiting the site, limit or auto pick up Adobe Reader version for the OS type in the user agent string, force Adobe Updater to manage Adobe Reader download progress. So, by changing the user agent string, one can directly download any Adobe Reader version of any platforms or languages with Internet Explorer or Mozilla Firefox, without using the Adobe Updater or Opera web browser!
Another use for changing the user agent data is the ability to read restricted websites and forums.
Some websites & forums will not allow you to read their content without registering first. This requirement gets really annoying and frustrating when you go through it over and over again. But you might or might have not noticed is that these pages are being cached by search engines, because they’re specially designed to allow access to specific search engine’s bots. So, all we have to do is get that page to think that you’re a bot and you do that by changing your user agent. Here’s how you do it:
Mozilla Firefox:
For people using Firefox, changing their user agent is very simple. All you have to do is download and install User Agent Switcher add-on. Then you can simply add different user agents and switch between them directly from the browser.
Internet Explore:
Internet Explorer 6 SP2 on Windows 2000 and IE 7 for Windows XP:
Start > Run > Regedit
HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings\5.0\User Agent
Create theVersion key of REG_SZ type (string type) or edit it if it already exists. Give it one of the following values: Firefox/2.0.0.4 for Firfox , "Googlebot/2.1 (+http://www.googlebot.com/bot.html)", without the quotes for Google Bot.
IE7 in Windows Vista
Copy Paste the following code into Vista’s command prompt:
%windir%\System32\cmd.exe /k %windir%\System32\reg.exe ADD "HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings\5.0\User Agent" /v Version /d "insert user agent here" /f
To revert back to original user agent string value:
%windir%\System32\cmd.exe /k %windir%\System32\reg.exe DELETE "HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings\5.0\User Agent" /v Version /f
Note: Some services may not work correctly by changing your user agent, such as Windows update.
Opera 9.21:
- Type opera:config in the Opera address bar and press ENTER,
- Type Spoof UserAgent ID in the text-box next to Show All
- Change the Spoof User Agent ID to any one of these supported user agent string:
1 = Opera (default user agent string of Opera)
2 = Mozilla
3 = Internet Explorer
4 = Mozilla, Opera not mentioned
5 = Internet Explorer, Opera not mentioned
- Save the change made before exit and restart Opera 9.21
Commonly used user agents
Googlebot 2.1:
* Mozilla/5.0 (compatible; Googlebot/2.1; +http://www.google.com/bot.html)
* Googlebot/2.1 (+http://www.googlebot.com/bot.html)
* Googlebot/2.1 (+http://www.google.com/bot.html)
Slurp, Yahoo Bot:
* Mozilla/5.0 (compatible; Yahoo! Slurp; http://help.yahoo.com/help/us/ysearch/slurp)
* YahooFeedSeeker/1.0 (compatible; Mozilla 4.0; MSIE 5.5; http://my.yahoo.com/s/publishers.html)
* Yahoo-MMCrawler/3.x (mms dash mmcrawler dash support at yahoo dash inc dot com)
Firefox:
Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-GB; rv:1.8.1.11) Gecko/20071127 Firefox/2.0.0.11
Opera:
Opera/9.20 (Windows NT 6.0; U; en)
IE 7:
Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 7.0; Windows NT 5.1)
To view your current Agent String click here, you’ll also find a list of all user agents by following that link.
Mark on February 22nd, 2008
It saddens me that my second real blog on this website is again directed towards DreamHost.
Lately, all i see from them is bad moves and unhappy customers.
It turns out that the populour word press plugin site wp-plugins was hosted by DreamHost. Now when users of wp-plugins.net go to find plugins for their blog they are stopped in their tracks by a message from the founder:
” Due to excessive load on the database, my hosting company (Dreamhost) pulled the plug on this website.
I will be looking into ways to bring it back online as soon as possible…
Sorry…”
I think this is a kick in the teeth for both DreamHost and wp-plugins. Clients of dreamhost were already fuming over the recent over-billing situation, and now they are pulling the plug on clients websites over something that could have been resolved by simply emailing the client asking them to try and cut down on the SQL queries used on their website. Any decent host would have at least given the client a heads up so they have chance to find another host before their website is snatched from them.
Well, that’s yet another downfall of DreamHosts already failing reputation, lets see what they have in store for us next time.
(I promise my next post will be about something other than dreamhost)
Mark on February 18th, 2008
Do you run a hosting company?
If the answer to the above is yes then we have a solution for you!
If you have a plan that you would like to offer our users, drop us an email at “info[at]techachino[dot]com”
Your offer will be placed in the web hosting - offers section for all of our users to see!
Mark on February 18th, 2008
Dreamhost has been running through bumpy downs for quite a while now. Customers have been complaining about frequent downtime, but that’s just a common thing to happen for such a huge web hosting company. Earlier this week, they did something which would virtually kick any web hosting company out of the game.They mistakenly billed all their customers a year in advance. This mistake sums up to around $7.5 million, but their PR folks decided to go through their usual, old-fashioned humorous way to apologize with a blog post entitled “Um, Whoops? Here’s an excerpt of their post:
“We had a teensy eensy weensy little billing error last night… my first clue something was up when I saw this morning’s daily billing report (so far): $7,500,000. It turns out due to my excessively fat fingers, nearly every one of our customers has been seriously over-billed in the last 12 hours”
The mistake happened because they accidentally ran their billing system for 31/12/2008. It should have actually been 2007. This wasn’t a machine error, but a human Error! Instead of admitting it was their fault, they go on to blame the programmer that made their billing system! Apparently it’s their fault for allowing dreamhost to put in future dates.
After reading the comments which follow their blog post, it doesn’t look like the humor worked. I would have been rather annoyed, if I was a Dreamhost customer. Last time, when Lunarpages changed the 404 page of every customer who had a default 404 page, Dreamhost ridiculed them on their blog. I wouldn’t be surprised to see other web hosts do the same to Dreamhost. Bad! Too bad!
This is one mistake that you just CAN’T joke about, this is peoples money we are talking about, not an eensy weensy little mistake. Just imagine how many people had bank charges for over-drafting or bounced cheques! I personally think they should drop the humour and start acting professional about their business.
Update: They’ve asked a better apology in their next blog post. They are willing to pay your bank fees, if you were running on over draft or had your cheque bounced. Those wanting to shut down their Dreamhost accounts will also get a full refund for the unbilled period.
Mark on February 18th, 2008
Hello everyone, my name is Mark.
Me and Darko from techysm.com decided to team up a while ago to create this new blog, TechaChino! Now, not only will you have access to all of the latest tech news and tips that Darko has provided you all, you will also be able to keep track of whats going on in the web hosting business!
Both me and Darko are very excited about this new venture and we hope you are too.
My aim is to bring you all of the latest news, hints/tips, reviews and lots more. If you need something web hosting related, you probably find it here!
Watch this space…
