| Flog Scummy Dishonest Web Promoters |
[Aug. 30th, 2005|08:53 am] |
If I was to search Google for the terms "Weiss" and "Quickplot", I was searching for the most recent version available. Keep in mind that I was searching for a program to help me write a plot, not for a greasy-nosed salesman to hump my leg.
The very first link, was to a site that employs a technique that should be punishable by genital whipping. These scum buckets maintain a URL called www . cotse . com / wordlists / stati (link is spaced so I don't provide anything to these jackasses).
Here's the returned sample of the page to illustrate just how this page was a keyword loaded piece of crap specifically designed to cheat search engines and make the casual browsers job harder than necessary.
...Khosrovshahi Kiaer Kidney-survival Kiefer Kiefer-Weiss Kiefer-Wolfowitz Killed
... Quick-reference QuickPlot Quicker Quickest Quincunx Quirks Quotes RM... </i>
That page was just a truckload of commonly searched for terms that redirects to the page that advertises all their "services". Yay, I've now been misdirected to a site I have no interest in due to a dishonest metadata description, a keyword loaded list page and a redirect so quick most wouldn't notice it happening. It appears that being an internet "security" company gives you the right to completely flout the rules the rest of us obey, to the detriment of our page ranks.
Perhaps the rest of the internet community should ignore the rules too, then we can have the top 100 hits on any topic just returning junk mail crap like I encountered above. That is the consequences of this behaviour going unchecked. |
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| Install eDonkey Overnet on your Fedora Core 2 Linux Box |
[Nov. 5th, 2004|02:41 pm] |
My first attempt to install eDonkey to Fedora Core 2 Linux was ..... a little unpleasant. There was a dependency I just couldn't get right. After a bit of searching around it was clear this was a fairly common problem so I've drawn together all the necessary information and put it all in one place for the Fedora Core 2 users out there.
If you've tried to install eDonkey on FC2 you will have experienced the below error:
error: Failed dependencies:
libexpat.so.1 is needed by ed2k-gtk-gui-0.6.3-2
Below is the answer, thanks to Quentin Dennis for creating an RPM that requires no help.
OBTAIN AND INSTALL EDONKEY
When downloading the below 2 files, ensure that you know EXACTLY where you downloaded them to. If you are using Firefox (as you should be) the files will be downloaded to your home directory unless you tell it otherwise. /home/username
Go to this web page and only download the Linux Command Line client:
http://www.edonkey2000.com/downloads.php
The link to the commandline client takes you to the official eDonkey forums where a sticky thread has links to rpm and deb packages for the eDonkey Linux Command Line client. If those pages make no sense to you skip this step and use the next one.
If you had trouble finding the right rpm yourself and are using Fedora Core 2, just paste the below into the address bar of your browser and it will download the correct command line client to your machine.
http://www.zen18864.zen.co.uk/edonkey/1.0.2/edonkeyclc-1.0.2-1.i386.rpm
Next download this version of the RPM to install a graphical front end that won't whine about libexpat.so.1. It has been altered by Quentin Dennis at to ensure it works with Fedora Core 2 without dragging you through the dependency prickle-patch.
http://abi2005.free.fr/ed2k-gtk-gui-0.6.3-0.i586.rpm
Now simply install both packages with RPM:
- start a terminal session
- switch to superuser
- at terminal prompt type su root
- next you need to enter the administrator password
- now you are logged in as root
- navigate to the directory where you stored the RPM's you downloaded
- at the terminal prompt type rpm -Uvh edonkeyclc-1.0.2-1.i386.rpm
- wait for it to finish
- in the above line there is a space between rpm and -Uvh and a space between -Uvh and edonkeyclc
- at the terminal prompt type rpm -Uvh ed2k-gtk-gui-0.6.3-0.i586.rpm
- wait for it to finish
- start eDonkey by typing ed2k_gui in a terminal, in a shortcut or in the run box.
That's it! You're off and running. Enjoy. |
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| LINUX - Fedora Core Wine Mailwasher AAArghhh! |
[Sep. 22nd, 2004|10:57 am] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| |  busy | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | Dissociatives - Young Man, Old Man | ] |
My wife was sent away to work in a satellite branch to relieve a fellow who has gone on holidays. She's about 100km away from where I live now and for the next 6 weeks or so.
I decided to travel up to her midweek and spend a few days there. My computer is a pain in the butt to disconnect and bring with me so I just brought the little linux server (Fedora). I've been using it to do a Systems Administration subject at uni. It's a little Pentium II 350MHz in an Intel VC820 motherboard. It runs pretty well.
I had to try and get Mailwasher working with WINE on this system while I was down here. I copied the installed directory from the Windows machine to my Fedora box before I left. When I got here I dialled in and the fun started.
I opened a terminal, navigated to the copy of the installed version of Maliwasher and typed wine MailWasher.exe. To my utter amazement it fired up and ran. After a bit of quick mucking around I was ready to go. I downloaded ALL my waiting mail headers. YAY!!!! The junk mail was all marked for deletion and I deleted the lot of it. Everything went perfectly. I shut down MailWasher, started Thunderbird and downloaded the good stuff.
To my dismay, I later tried to run Mailwasher and it didn't work. I had to restart the machine to get it working again. I'm so close to getting the last key application working in Linux. Sooo close.... yet so very far.
I was looking at a great little application called Save My Modem which pretty much a linux version of Mailwasher. It's a little rough around the edges but it was looking good. Unforrtunately it refuses to install on my Fedora Core 1 box ( I know core 2 is out but the uni demands I use core 1 for the duration of this subject). What a pity. I'm still keeping a very close eye on Save My Modem though, as it is the final and most important link in my transition.
To be fair, the only OS I've had trouble installing Save My Modem on is Fedora Core 1. It installed flawlessly on Red Hat 7.1, 7.3, 8 & 9, Debian and Xandros all from RPM or DEB.
I just hope it comes good because I just love this little program. |
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| Old TV Shows On DVD - Magnum PI and The Goodies |
[Jun. 6th, 2004|10:21 pm] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| |  tired | ] |
I watched a Magnum PI DVD last night. The pilot Magnum PI episode and four other episodes. It was great. I haven't seen that stuff in years and the picture quality was great compared to the crappy reception we used to get in the 80s in Mackay on MVQ6. I'm looking out for a Goodies DVD now. I haven't seen the Goodies in years.
Heres a few shows I'd like to find DVDs for:
- Magnum PI
- Monkey (monkey was irrepressible) lol
- The Goodies
- Blakes 7
If you've got a lead on any of these drop me a line. |
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| PRODUCT REVIEW - Avermedia AverTV DVB-T |
[Jun. 6th, 2004|10:21 pm] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| |  relieved | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | Wildflower - The Cult Electric | ] |
I recently purchased an Avermedia AverTV DVB-T for use in Rockhampton, Australia. It was easy enough to install physically and the driver installation went easily. Tuning was a very traumatic exercise with only 2 or 3 channels detected on the first full pass. After replacing my aerial lead the reception was greatly improved and I could tune in every channel except 7. The picture quality was very good but it was constantly stuttering in audio and the picture was displaying bad artifacts in some places and completely tearing in others. I could get all SD channels but if I even passed over a HD channel it locked up everything and I had to restart the application. All up it was flakey, not even consistently crappy!!
The next day I could magically receive Channel 7, hooray, although it was stuttering so badly it was unwatchable. I tried downloading the latest software/drivers from the Avermedia website and installed them. I could suddenly recieve all channels and HD channels were working. YAY! Unfortunately there were still stuttering problems that just wouldn't go away. Channel 9 had flawless reception with perfectly synchronised sound. The worst was Channel 7, something to do with too many GOPS I read in some newsgroup. Who knows but it was terrible anyway. Channel 10 (SC10) was inconsistently flakey which made it even more frustrating than Channel 7 ;)
BOTTOM LINE:- This card is nowhere near ready for sale to the public in Australia. I took mine back to the store I purchased it from. Be aware that you may only have SEVEN (7) days to get a refund so if you're reading this on day 6, GET YOUR REFUND NOW!!! You will need to demonstrate that the product is faulty to get a refund from any computer store and still they'll probably try for store credit or even a restocking fee. Don't be bamboozled, GET A REFUND, THIS CARD IS A DUD!!! Get a copy of their terms and conditions of sale before returning the goods if possible so you can know the conditions under which they accept refunds.
HOW TO GET A REFUND ON THIS CARD IN AUSTRALIA
You must demonstrate that this card is faulty to get a refund in a computer store here. To do that you must also demonstrate that you've taken reasonable steps to try and get it working or they will send you on your way with a trifling piece of advice that takes you one day closer to the seven day cut off. Don't waste your effort trying to get this pig flying, it's a pig, not a bird.
If I know you, and I think I do, these are probably the problems you're experiencing and the steps you've already taken to try and resolve them.
- Symptoms: Video has blocky squares sometimes and freezes completely at others. Perfect on Channel 9 and ABC but not on others
- Symptoms:- Audio is stuttering and pausing INCONSISTENTLY ( NOT at regular intervals) but works perfectly on Channel 9
- Your computer is at least a Pentium3-800MHz, has at least 384MB RAM and at least a GeForce3 video card (can't blame your hardware)
- You've removed all other PCI cards except soundcard (can't blame overpopulated PCI bus)
- You've purchased expensive shielded aerial lead (can't blame your lead)
- You're getting perfect reception on some channels and inconsistently flakey on others (its possible to get a perfect signal so its not the aerial)
- You've downloaded and installed the latest drivers for your video card (can't blame old video card drivers)
- You've hit CTRL-ALT-DEL and CPU Usage is only getting up to 46% while watching TV (processor is coping fine with the load)
- You've uninstalled the whole card, drivers and software in safe mode (F8 at startup) (can't blame bad uninstall)
- You've downloaded and installed the latest software/drivers from the Avermedia website. (can't blame old software/drivers)
- Your signal strength meter is showing > 61% signal even on the bad channels (can't blame weak signal)
- You now can't receive ABC or Channel 7 (inconsistent flakey behaviour)
- You may have even reinstalled Windows completely (can't blame flakey windows install full of other programs droppings and tasks)
- Last but not least, take your card back for refund during the busiest time of the day (niggly problems are usually waived at that time)
This card is not fit for sale in Australia yet and is, I believe, faulty. Ensure you have the driver disk, remote, card and manual when you return it as they will want to sell it to another sucker, I mean customer. This is why you never damage the box or packing on new hardware and always, always, ALWAYS keep your purchase receipts. |
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| QUOTE OF THE WEEK |
[Jun. 6th, 2004|10:21 pm] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| |  amused | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | Leonard Nimoy - Age of Aquarius | ] |
"theres not a bone in my body that helps me understand this decision"
Leading Australian Football Coach
now I'm not into stereotypes, but the urge is so strong..... |
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| XANDROS SWITCHER NEWS:- "Anti-Spam, Mail-Shaper, Delete-On-Server Software" |
[Apr. 5th, 2004|12:21 pm] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| |  excited | ] |
FUNCTION: Middleware Email Client Like Mailwasher
WINDOWS: Mailwasher
XANDROS: Save My Modem
DIFFICULTY: Easy To Use, A Little Hard To Setup
MANUAL: http://savemymodem.sf.net/files/README.pdf
Mailwasher is a fantastic program that has saved me from exposure to hundreds of viruses over the last few months. Mailwasher downloads the headers of emails and allows you to filter them with normal filters and regular expressions, test against internet dns blacklists, against your own black and white lists then to delete on the server, bounce back to sender or leave on the server to download with your normal email client later. This means you don't have to download virus laden emails to your local machine before deleting. If you are fortunate enough to have a server like www.mcs.net.au who spam filters and anti-virus filters your email on the server, your filtering will be very very easy. The best client I can find for Xandros to fulfil this role is called Save My Modem.
I am quite happy with this little program. It has a nice graphical interface. Headers are downloaded and presented just like the inbox of a regular mail client. You select which to keep or delete and then just go offline to remove the marked spam. It's that easy.
Heres how to download and install SaveMyModem:
1. http://www.sourceforge.net/projects/savemymodem
2. Under "latest file releases" click on smm
3. Download the highest options you can, currently that is smm_1.0rc1-1_i386.deb
4. Once downloaded, double click smm_1.0rc1-1_i386.deb and allow it to install.
5. Some extra packages will be required so when it prompts you type in Y for yes and click enter
6. When it's all done there is no shortcut put on the menu so create on for yourself on the desktop with the location of the program being smm. It's on the default path so you don't need to include a full path.
This has been a major stumbling block in my transition to using Xandros full time. Mailwasher is just so good I couldn't move without it being replaced fully....and now it is :) |
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| XANDROS SWITCHER NEWS:- AMZI Prolog |
[Apr. 4th, 2004|11:27 pm] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| | tired | ] |
FUNCTION: Need to run AMZI Prolog for Machine Intelligence Subject At Uni
WINDOWS:Windows Version of AMZI Prolog
XANDROS: Linux Version of AMZI Prolog
DIFFICULTY: Easy If You Stick To The Path
1.Login as administrator.
2.Double click amzi_6-2-13_lnx.tgz.gz
3.Double click a.tar in the window that opens
4.Copy amzi_6-2-13 to clipboard
5.Paste to /usr/local/
6.Rename /usr/local/amzi_6-2-13/ to /usr/local/amzi
7.Open /home/username/.bash_profile with a text editor
8.If it's not visible right click open area in file window and select Show Hidden Files
9.At the bottom of everything add the following:
export TERM USERNAME BASH_ENV PATH LD_LIBRARY_PATH AMZI_DIR AMZI_DEV_DIR
PATH=$PATH:$HOME/bin:/usr/local/amzi/bin
LD_LIBRARY_PATH=$LD_LIBRARY_PATH:/bin:/usr/local/amzi/lib
AMZI_DIR=/usr/local/amzi
AMZI_DEV/DIR=/usr/local/amzi
8.Logout and log back as the username you used above.
/usr/local/amzi/bin/acmp.exe %Prolog Compiler
/usr/local/amzi/bin/alis.exe %Prolog Listener
/usr/local/amzi/bin/alnk.exe %Prolog Linker
PROBLEM WITH KEYBOARD
I couldn't back space in the terminal. It kept inserting ^H so if this happens for you, at the top of the terminal SETTINGS | KEYBOARD | VT420PC worked for me. Then go to SETTINGS | SAVE SETTINGS so you don't have to do it each run.
Have fun. |
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| XANDROS SWITCHER NEWS:- WinModem Software Modem |
[Apr. 2nd, 2004|03:01 pm] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| |  nerdy | ] |
FUNCTION: Need To Use 56k WinModem / Software Modems
WINDOWS: Easy To Find Drivers
XANDROS: Severe Pain In The Butt To Find Drivers
DIFFICULTY: Slaying A Dragon With A Drinking Staw Hard
Ok. You will yell, cry, shriek and eventually break down, huddling into the foetal position on the floor if you attempt to get a WinModem working with Xandros, like most linux kernel after Red Hat 7.1. The answer is very, very simple and it is going to .....ack.....cost you a small amount of money.
Go to Tandy, Dick Smith, Walmart or anywhere that sells computer hardware and buy yourself an external modem. External modem are generally very easy to install on a Linux system. I have the cheapest and scabbiest external modem (FunkyTronExteme made in Managuadore or something lol) that a few pennies can buy and I have installed it easily on every single version of linux I've tried out. Spend about AUD$20 and save yourself a spirit crushing exercise. |
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| XANDROS SWITCHER NEWS:- Office Suite |
[Apr. 2nd, 2004|02:42 pm] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| | refreshed | ] |
FUNCTION: Need Office Suite with Word Processor, Spreadsheet and Slide Show
WINDOWS: Microsoft Office 97, 2000, XP, 2003
XANDROS: Open Office.org 1.1.0
DIFFICULTY: Eyes Closed & Hands Tied BehindBack Easy
Open Office.org has moved ahead well. All the tools are well polished. The word processor and slideshow play nicely with MS Office files as long as you don't use any advanced features. You know, the ones noone uses anyway ;)
WORD PROCESSOR
The word processor is marvellous and does everything you could need it to do. It also has one ace up its sleeve that Microsoft doesn't, You can save to PDF which is marvellous if you're making a read-only document. Woo hoo! I use the RTF (Rich Text File) format which is very well supported by all major Word Processors and allows a good selection of tools.
SLIDE SHOW
Being a university student I look at a LOT of slideshows. Most are quite simple with the content being far more important than pretty slidey effects. Slideshows degrade very gracefully simply dropping effects that aren't supported and leaving the message intact. The slideshow is perfectly functional for utilitarian purposes but a lot of the eye candy that people seem to like to clutter their slideshows with is not supported. Fortunately this does not affect the content in any way.
SPREADSHEET
I personally love this spreadsheet although it has only moderate support for built in fuctions and zero support for MS macros. It will translate back and forth with a simple Excel spreadsheet perfectly. I personally think the spreadsheet program is just as good as Excel.
MACROS
Unfortunately macros will not work in Excel or Word as the scripting language is different. Some built in funtions are also different so there are definitely some issues there for anything but the most basic of spreadsheets. OOBasic is a very simple scripting language so if you're writing your own macros now, you wont find the transition hard.
INSTALLATION
This version is also included in the install disk so it's installed and ready to use once Xandros installation is finished. Just go to :
LAUNCH / APPLICATIONS / OPEN OFFICE.org / Pick The Tool U Want
and you're off.
CONCLUSION
These tools while not 100% compatible are magnificent value for money at $0. The compatability issues are not particularly serious, except in spreadsheeting depending on what functions you use. I suggest taking the plunge and convincing as many people around you as possible to switch too. The only thing stopping everyone from swapping is that not enough people have swapped over yet. If I tell you that you will save around AUD$400 on an OEM version of MS Office and over $700 on a retail version. Thats about just under half the cost of a new computer!! Don't accept a new computer packaged with MS Office as YOU ARE PAYING FOR IT. No matter how much they lie, you are paying for it and you are paying a LOT. Ultimately you need to open some of the files that you use every day in OO.org and see how it handles them, then decide for yourself. I'm a long time OO.org user and I think it's time for the mainstream to start using it. |
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| XANDROS SWITCHER NEWS:- Chat Client |
[Apr. 2nd, 2004|01:39 pm] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| | pleased | ] |
FUNCTION: Need IM client for MSN, AIM, IRC, ICQ
WINDOWS: Trillian
XANDROS: Kopete
DIFFICULTY: Eyes Closed & Hands Tied Behind Back Easy
Ok. Instant Message Chat is not holding you to Windows. Kopete connects to all the above messages services as well as Gadu Gadu, SMS and WinPopUp. All your contacts lists are clearly displayed and ready to use immediately you enter your account details, of course.
Kopete is one of the applications availble during installation under INTERNET. I don't need to tell you anything about using it as it's easier to use than Trillian on Windows. Just start it up from :
LAUNCH / APPLICATIONS / INTERNET / INSTANT MESSAGING
Go to SETTINGS / CONFIGURE KOPETE and select PLUGINS on the left. Here you enter your account details for the IM networks of which you are a member. Thats it. Dead easy. |
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| XANDROS SWITCHER NEWS:- LiveJournal |
[Mar. 28th, 2004|03:33 pm] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| | pleased | ] |
FUNCTION: Need client to post to LiveJournal blogging site.
WINDOWS: Semagic
XANDROS: LogJam
DIFFICULTY: Very Easy
LogJam is a great little client that can be installed directly from the Xandros Networks download site. You will need to change some settings before you can find it though. Connect to the internet and double click the Xandros Networks icon. It needs to download some info so be patient. At the top open the SETTINGS menu and select EXPERT VIEW. The list on the left just grew, a lot. Go to NEW APPLICATIONS / NET and on the right a list of programs appears. Scroll down to LOGJAM and left click on it. In the pane below a description of the program is displayed. Go to the bottom of that description and click on the Install logjam shortcut, select OK in the window that pops up and it will download and install everything itself. Takes about 5 minutes on a dial up connection (56k). A+ |
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| Can You Use XANDROS Linux v2.0 to Replace Windows? |
[Mar. 28th, 2004|03:19 pm] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| | pleased | ] |
I recently installed Xandros OS v2.0. It's a new version of Linux intended to make it very easy for Windows-only users to try out and hopefully stick with a Linux desktop. I am thoroughly impressed by this slick distro that is easy to use and dead easy to install. I intend to download free programs from the Xandros Networks site and other .DEB sources that can replace functions that Windows users presently feel they can't do without. I'll let you all know just how easy or difficult it really is. I've found the grain of articles on software installation is far too coarse. We all need details!
Future articles on this subject will have a subject line prefixed with:
XANDROS SWITCHER NEWS:- specific subject here
to make it easier for the rss feed users out there to filter out my usual stream of drivel and check out the good stuff. |
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| Lifespan Age Calculator Module for Excel Available NOW!!! |
[Mar. 9th, 2004|10:54 am] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| |  hungry | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | Bob Dylan - Baby Blue | ] |
I have finished work on the Lifespan Age Calculator Module for Excel, at last! I spent a little while preparing some nice clear instructions for installation and use, packaged the BAS file, the text instruction file and an example implementation in an Excel spreadsheet, all up into a zip file and uploaded it. It's now available for download from the Lifespan Age Calculator homepage.
There are three (3) basic functions :
- LIFESPAN(date, date, int)
- LIFESPANNOW(date, int)
- LIFESPANMANUAL(int, int, int, int, int, int, int)
The LIFESPAN(date, date, int) function is very simple and is probably the one which will be used most often. It has three arguments. The first date is the start date, the second date is the end date and the final int represents which part of the answer you desire returned (eg the months portion of the age, or the years portion).
The LIFESPANNOW(date, int) function is used to calculate the difference between a given starting date and the current system date. The first date is the start date and the int represents the portion of the answer to be returned. eg. 1=Years 2=Months 3=Days.
The LIFESPANMANUAL(int, int, int, int, int, int, int) function is the one that does all the work. The other two functions are just front ends to make this function easier to use. The beauty of this function is that it's not limited by MS serial dates. Everything is done with integers at a painfully low level that I thankfully only have to look at once in a blue moon. There are seven integers as arguments to this function. They comprise two dates and a single integer to represent the portion of the answer required. The start and end date are split into three integers each. One integer for year, month and day in each date.
I know this is a little long winded and not very well thought through but I'm in a bit of a hurry today. Uni starts again soon and I'm late as usual ;) If you have any comments or would like to suggest an improvement, feel free to comment here or drop me a line. Ok, I hope you all like it. |
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| Medical Spam Forced To Accept the Mighty Shaft of Regular Expressions |
[Mar. 3rd, 2004|05:32 pm] |
This doesn't work on all the techniques out there but it picks up nearly every MED spam I receive (and thats a lot of stiffy pills). These regular expressions work for MAILWASHER but you should be able to modify them for any email program that allows regular expressions. Hope you like them.
For XANAX try these regular expressions:
[Xx][aA4@&áåàâãäÀÁÂÃÄÅÆ].[aåA4@&áàâãäÀÁÂÃÄÅÆ][Xx]
[Xx]=E5.=E5[Xx]
x.n.x
For VIAGRA try these regular expressions:
[vV].?[iIl|!1].?[aAå4@&áàâãäÀÁÂÃÄÅÆ].?[gG].?[rR].?[aA4@&áàâãäÀÁÂÃÄÅÆ]
v..gr.
For VALIUM try these regular expressions:
[vV].?[aAå4@&áàâãäÀÁÂÃÄÅÆ].?[lLiI|1!].?[iIl|!1].?[uU].?[mM]
v....m |
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| Filter Spam With Regular Expressions Pt 2 |
[Feb. 11th, 2004|01:15 pm] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| | mellow | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | BTO - Taking Care Of Business. | ] |
A few offshore pharmacy SPAMs made it past my filters. Upon inspection it's pretty obvious how these losers have done it and quite clear how to beat it. They are splitting the offending word up so we have to find a way to recognise the word, even if split up.
eg: via'gra or V*I*A*G*R*A or any one of a million other variations
Below is a Regular Expression that will weed out every variation of the above technique for Viagra.
[vV].?[iIl|!1].?[aA4@&áàâãäÀÁÂÃÄÅÆ].?[gG].?[rR].?[aA4@&áàâãäÀÁÂÃÄÅÆ]
Below is a Regular Expression that will weed out every variation of the above technique for Valium.
[vV].?[aA4@&áàâãäÀÁÂÃÄÅÆ].?[lLiI|1!].?[iIl|!1].?[uU].?[mM]
If you can see any obvious problems with my logic drop me a line. A bit of advice from someone smarter is always useful. |
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| Spam Filtering With Regular Expressions |
[Feb. 9th, 2004|10:38 am] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| | nerdy | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | Led Zepplin - Rock and Roll | ] |
How on earth did I ever manage to filter spam without regular expressions? With a very very long list of conditions is how. One regular expression can eliminate dozens of individual filters. It's very easy to use, if it's explained properly so here goes.
Lets say I keep getting emails from a group of parasites who sell prescription medication over the internet with no regard for peoples pre-existing conditions. Obviously I would not be wanting email from a low-life lick-spittle organisation such as this, so we'll use this as our example. One very popular drug for these cretins to push is Xanax.
Lets say we wanted to eliminate any email with the word Xanax in it. We could just create a filter to look for 'Xanax' but that would not work on variants like 'X@n@x' or 'X&n@'. You could attach condition after condition to your rules to cover every variation possible but that would be time consuming and ironically counterproductive. This is where regular expressions come into their own.
A regular expression is a lot like a formula for a word or phrase. If you've every played cards you'll know what a wild card is. A card that can represent anything in the deck. So we can put the term 'f..t' as a condition in a filter. This means any word starting with 'f', followed by any two characters (a,b,c...y,z..3,4,5...@,#,$), followed by a 't'. So the words foot, feet, felt and fart all match positively with this regular expression.
You can also pick a set of characters that are allowed to appear in a certain part of the word. For example if you wanted to match on any of the words dog, cog, log, bog, hog you can use [bcdhl]og as the condition in your filter. Anything enclosed within square brackets [ ] is a list of options for that character in the word.
There are lots of other options available for regular expressions but these two are the simplest and most useful when it comes to mail filtering for beginners.
Now, back to our Xanax example. Using the two above techniques we get the below:Any four lettered word starting with X or x, followed by a or A or @ or &, followed by any single character, followed by a or A or @ or &, followed by X or X. This will weed out the vast majority of med spam. Yay!
Maybe you'd like to have a go with the big two, Viagra and Valium. These two have a pretty wild array of variations out there and it's an excellent exercise in learning regular expressions. If you receive email that refers to Valium, Viagra or Xanax and your flash new filters with regular expressions don't catch it, your fun is about to start. Have a look at how this new variation is spelt and alter your expression to fit it in.
For example, we have the existing rule [Xx][aA@&].[aA@&][Xx] . I receive a Med Spam from a sweaty palmed moron pushing Xanax but the filter didn't pick it up. Have a look at how they spelt Xanax. Interesting X@n*x. How do I adjust the above regular expression so it can pick up this variation? Easy and I'm sure you understand by now. Now we can pickup x*n*x, X@n&x, X@n*x and every other combination possible with the sets of characters availble in our regular expression. Now you're ready to filter spam with regular expressions. Bet you didn't think it'd be that easy! I really enjoy finding new variations on medication names. Incidentally here's a few reg exp for Viagra :- v..gr.
- [vV][iI1|][aA@&*]..[aA@&*]
I would be remiss not to say, all filtering and DNS blacklists are remedial actions. The best way to stop spam is :- don't put your primary email address into any online forms
- don't post with your primary address to any usenet groups
- don't put your email address in a signature block at the foot of your emails
- don't write your email address as a contact on any competition forms (on paper)
- do select a username thats longer than 3 letters (lol) and not in any dictionary.
- don't click on any unsubscribe links in spam
- don't click on any links in spam as they will just confirm your address is active
- don't pen an angry reply as most can't read and use their own dung to repel insects
That will take you a long way towards being spam free. If you'd like any more information, feel free to drop me a line and I'll gladly help you out. |
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| Spam - New Anti-Filter Tricks And My Countermeasures |
[Jan. 14th, 2004|09:28 am] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| | pleased | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | Harry McClintock - Big Rock Candy Mountain | ] |
I've recently reviewed my spam folders looking for patterns upon which to base my filters. My long term email address with my ISP has been pummelled with spam for years. My choice of username was very, very bad! It's only three letters. Yes, I know, you must be laughing quite hard at me right now ;)
Username-Guessing Spam is where a spammer selects a domain, in this case MCS, and proceeds to spam every possible permutation of 1,2,3,4 or 5 lettered username email addresses.
eg: a@mcs.com, b@mcs.com....y@mcs.com, z@mcs.com, aa@mcs.com, ab@mcs.com.....zz@mcs.com.
I noticed that while the list of recipients email addresses in the TO: field varied in each email, three email addresses from within my domain were common to nearly every one. Bingo! The other two addresses I didn't recognise which is great news as there's not much chance anyone is sending legit email to me and two strangers from the same domain in the same email. There's the criteria for my new filter to flag this cretin's spam for Mailwasher to terminate with extreme prejudice. lol
My new rule searches for any email that has all three email addresses in it's TO: field, then flags that as spam for blacklisting, bouncing and deletion. When I created the rule I gave it a meaningful Status Name, "SPAM - UN Guesser" and coloured it blue to contrast with the green, yellow and red defaults. Now I'm slightly better informed when my mail finishes downloading and the time I waste every day on spam housekeeping has been reduced a little.
If you're not using Mailwasher or some other email proxy type program between your email client and your mail server you are probably being pummelled with spam and the viruses, worms and trojans that sometimes accompany them. You will massively reduce your exposure to viruses by deleting spam before it ever reaches your computer. Seriously, I'm not on commission....it's that good. Check out my free programs page for links to a free download of Mailwasher |
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| Cutting Edge Dog Repellant Video Card |
[Jan. 12th, 2004|12:18 pm] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| | Hungry | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | Jet - Are You Gonna Be My Girl | ] |
I recently picked up a 32MB TNT2 M64 PCI to put into my wife's computer to replace the integrated graphics in her Intel CA810 motherboard, and to save all the emails it doesn't have an AGP slot. I got it for AUD$30, bargain!!! It runs the frightfully boring games she seems to like, much better than before so we're all quite happy here. I must say though, that the fan on this card makes the machine sound like a hovercraft laying on its side at full throttle and my dog won't go near the computer anymore! lol That would sell, dog repellant video cards. Come on, who hasn't been stunk off the computer by their dog? |
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| Open Office.org Calc Version of Lifespan Age Calculator |
[Jan. 12th, 2004|10:31 am] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| | cheerful | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | Hello Hello by Cat Empire | ] |
A few people have expressed interest in a version of Lifespan Age Calculator for the spreadsheet application Open Office.org Calc.
Obviously the VBA version is not going to work in OOoCalc. I had a look at the scripting language OOoBasic and it looks simple enough. When I get some time I'll prepare a version for OOoCalc. I just know someone's going to ask for a Gnumeric version anyway ;) |
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