I wrote a simple Wordpress plugin to disable the new user notification email. Visit this plugin’s page in the official WP Plugins Directory.

Installation instructions

1. Download disable-wp-new-user-notification.zip
2. Decompress the file contents
3. Upload the disable-wp-new-user-notification folder to a Wordpress plugins directory (/wp-content/plugins)
4. Activate the plugin from the Administration Dashboard

Originally published at TacticalTechnique.com

Disable Wordpress New User Email Notification

The widget includes a control panel to change the title and format the HTML that is inserted before and after each numerical stat and the output as a whole.

Installation Instructions

1. Download sidebar-stats-widget.zip
2. Decompress the file contents
3. Upload the sidebar-stats-widget folder to a Wordpress plugins directory (/wp-content/plugins)
4. Activate the plugin from the Administration Dashboard
5. Open the Widgets page under the Appearance section
6. Drag the Sidebar Stats Widget to the active sidebar
7. Configure the widget options to suit your needs and click Save

This plugin is also available for download from the official Wordpress Plugin Directory here.

Originally published at TacticalTechnique.com

Wordpress Sidebar Stats Widget

I would like to share two small Javascript functions. The first clears out default text box contents automatically when a user clicks on the box. The second restores the default instructional text if the user leaves the box empty.

Implement these functions using onfocus=”wash(this);” and onblur=”checkWash(this);” on your text input control. You may want to avoid the second function on text fields where input is optional, so the user can leave the text box blank.

function wash( anInput ){
if(anInput.value == anInput.defaultValue) anInput.value = '';
}
function checkWash( anInput ){
if(anInput.value == '') anInput.value = anInput.defaultValue;
}

Try it

Look, I made a demo!

Originally published at TacticalTechnique.com

Clear default text from input boxes using Javascript

1. Position the map center on your point of interest
2. Type this into your web browser’s address bar:

   javascript:map.GetCenter()

3. Hit enter or click an appropriate button to query the address

If you are using a browser with a lot of built-in security roadblocks like Internet Explorer, you may have to acknowledge security warnings before javascript code will execute.

Originally published at TacticalTechnique.com

Get Longitude and Latitude from Bing Maps

http://www.gliffy.com/publish/1892404/

Originally published at TacticalTechnique.com

Why are craigslist ads flagged flowchart

Some code like this is useful to record errors in a database:

dim objErrorInfo, errorStringStr
set objErrorInfo = Server.GetLastError
errorStringStr = objErrorInfo.File & ", line: " & objErrorInfo.Line & ", error: " & objErrorInfo.Number & " " & objErrorInfo.Description & ", " & objErrorInfo.ASPDescription & objErrorInfo.Category
errorStringStr = replace( errorStringStr, "'", "''" )

The error pages settings are less convenient than in the previous version of IIS for classic ASP developers. If you would like to use different scripts to handle 404 and 500 errors access Server.GetLastError, I do not believe a classic ASP solution can get the job done. Alas, I figured out how to get the full contents of Server.GetLastError in IIS7 (using one script).

Create one script to log all errors. If you had a few scripts to handle different types of errors, combine them.

Enter the Error Pages module of the website profile, and click “Edit Feature Settings” on the right hand sidebar.

This screen will appear:

Configure yours in a similar fashion, and Server.GetLastError will start working once again. Ignore the settings that allow you to choose a custom URL for each HTTP status code. This setting alone will send all error responses through your script.

UPDATE:

I was mistaken about using multiple scripts to log errors. The only way to get the contents of Server.GetLastError is to use the “Edit Feature Settings” section of the Error Pages control. The other error pages will work, but Server.GetLastError is not available. For example, I just added a status code for 410 Gone to a website using the custom script I describe above. I am not interested in logging 410 errors in my database, so simply adding the 410 status code to point to C:\inetpub\custerr\en-US\410.htm works. As a side note, my Windows 2008 Server Web did not have the 410.htm. I copied it from a Windows 2003 Server installation.

Originally published at TacticalTechnique.com

Classic ASP and Server.GetLastError in IIS7

I installed the Google Adwords desktop editor because it has a built-in keyword multiplier. It sucks. The Goo’s multiplier only combines three lists at a time, and I wanted four. It also automatically removes keywords that have low Google search volume, so if you are using their tool for any other purpose it is rather useless.

I made my own keyword multiplier, and you can use it, too. Please try it out, and let me know if you find it to be a useful keyword tool.

Keyword Multiplier Features

• Fast, easy and web-based
• Apply PPC match types to result lists
• No uploading your keywords to a third party

Try it yourself!

Originally published at TacticalTechnique.com

I made a Keyword Multiplier

More than a year ago, I wrote about some ebay scams that were appearing on craigslist and autotrader. Since then, a few posts on this website have been receiving one to three comments a day. The work moderating these comments grew to be such a burden, that I created a whole scam tracking website to try and handle the traffic. I am still trying to work out the details. The effort I put towards these incoming stories and comments satisfies my desire to contribute to this website, so the result seems to be less new posts.

I am committed to many other old posts, here. I recently updated my hide email code post. This source code helps you publish emails on web pages while shielding the address from most email harvesting robots. The goal is to reduce spam.

Another way to reduce spam that occurs as a result of running websites is blocking the bad robots altogether. I have written a few popular posts on that subject that have inspired some great conversation, and I respond to incoming comments on those posts regularly.

Originally published at TacticalTechnique.com

Back on the blog train

421 Message temporarily deferred

Temporary error from SMTP partner: smtp;421 Message temporarily deferred – 4.16.51. Please refer to http://help.yahoo.com/help/us/mail/defer/defer-06.html.

1. the message you attempted to send exhibited characteristics indicative of spam,and/or
2. emails from your network have been generating complaints from Yahoo! Mail users.

The problem with blocking a whole network is clear–blanket banishment harms innocent users. Do not use Yahoo mail for important messages because innocent people out there are being blocked by Yahoo. A few vandals can cause Yahoo to temporarily ban an entire ISP user base.

Originally published at TacticalTechnique.com

Do not use Yahoo mail for important messages

Some losers send spam email for a living, and will send garbage to any email they can find online. Obfuscating email addresses in character codes cloaks them from some of the leeches. There are plenty of websites that will perform the conversion for you, but this morning I decided to create code to automate this task.

Here is an ASP classic function that will convert a string to ASCII characters. PHP code below. These characters will display as normal text to the casual user. The difference between alphabet characters and ASCII characters is that encoded characters must be evaluated before they look like an email address. This thin veil of secrecy is enough to fight off some email harvesting robodicks.

public function asciiDisguise( string )
	build = ""
	for i=1 to len( string )
		build = build & "&#" & asc( mid( string, i, 1 )) & ";"
	next
	asciiDisguise = build
end function

I will write a PHP version of this code some time soon and update this post.

UPDATE:

Here is the same function in PHP.

function asciiDisguise( $str ){
	$build = "";
	for( $i=0;$i<strlen( $str );$i++ ){
		$build .= "&#" . ord( substr( $str, $i, 1 )) . ";";
	}
	return $build;
}

Originally published at TacticalTechnique.com

Disguise Email Addresses for online publishing